ColorLogic
ZePrA Entry

Description

Do you see everything in true color?

If reliable, accurate and printable reproduction of color is close to your heart, then ColorLogic products are just what you need. ColorLogic solutions range from high-quality monitor calibration, profiling and DeviceLink tools, all the way to an automated color server.

ZePrA is the sophisticated color server for Mac OS X and Windows. It allows you to color convert PDF and Pixel files with ICC or DeviceLink profiles automatically. ZePrA closes the gap between manual color conversion and the use of a complex and expensive workflow solution efficiently. Its practical orientation and ease of use ensures immediate results and avoids long integration phases.

ZePrA Entry package includes:

• Image Conversion
• Hotfolder Processing
• Processes Large Pixel Files
• Automatic Setup

ZePrA 5 provides the most requested features and improvements, such as:

Speed Improvements

ZePrA 5 is a 64-Bit application which allows use of more RAM for processing multiple files at the same time.

New Graphical User Interface

The slider panel has been revamped and additional tools have been added. Some of the tools are from previous versions of ZePrA, e.g. the SaveInk Report and Extract ICC profile. The Spot Color Report feature is a new major feature.

Spot Color Report

The new Spot Color Report feature is helpful to check the spot color conversion before printing. It is now possible to check a specific PDF file with spot colors that needs to be converted or how a spot color library with multiple Pantone or other spot colors would be processed through ZePrA.

New Spot Color Processing Options

The GUI for Spot Color conversion has changed. More features have been added and the dialog looks cleaner compared to previous versions of ZePrA. To enable the advanced Spot Color Conversion simply select the radio button. The alternate color space definition in the PDF document can also be used, which provides a lesser quality result compared to the advanced options with ZePrA. This allows comparison to the default spot color conversion results from basic printer drivers, RIPs or Adobe Acrobat.

Overview Dialog

Sorting for Queue Names, Configurations and Status is now enabled by clicking on the table headers. Previously, sorting of Queues was not possible. In addition, a queue ID has been added which allows for “natural” sorting, e.g. with the newest queue either on the bottom or the top of the list. The section for Processed Jobs has an additional column for the Date and time stamp. This can be very helpful to find a specific data and time a job was processed.

SaveInk Auto Setup Improvements

In the Auto Setup Wizard for Save Inks a new step has been added that allows the user to enable or disable the ink saving calculations. The calculation can slow down the processing time considerably so that users can disable this feature gaining higher performance in the Wizard.

Cloud Features of ZePrA

Companies using ZePrA in multiple locations will benefit from the new Cloud features in ZePrA. By defining a shared folder in the Cloud, (e.g. Dropbox, GoogleDrive, internal Cloud or network) it is possible to share configurations and spot color libraries easily. For example, a Flexo printer continuously adds more spot colors from his ink kitchen, which shall be used in ZePrA’s spot color conversion. By simply saving the spot color library in the shared folder, every location connected to this shared folder with a ZePrA installation will automatically be updated.

Warning Folder

Files that have been marked with a yellow warning message in the Overview dialog of ZePrA are still processed but may have an issue. By default those files are stored in the Output folder. To identify such files easier, manually define a separate Output Folder in case of Warnings in the Queues dialog.

New Flattening Option

In the Flattening dialog a new option has been added that allows to Use the document colors space as transparency color space on page level. This can be helpful if a file with an RGB transparency blending space shall be converted from CMYK to CMYK. In this case a more reliable results will be achieved if the transparency blending space is CMYK and not RGB. The new option will overwrite the transparency blending space on page level and will use the profile defined as Document Color Space in the respective configuration.

Minimal Compression Rendering Intent added

The Minimal Compression rendering has been added as an additional perceptual rendering option for the SmartLink conversion. This rendering is known and appreciated by CoPrA users and is now available in ZePrA.
This rendering intent allows an absolute colorimetric reproduction and compensates only close to the black and white point. This means the maximum black point will be reached and will not simulate white. The rendering intent may be used to achieve a very close reproduction of a print standard, e.g. ISO Coated V2 or GRACoL2006 Coated1v2 on a digital printer.

Improved Soft Proof

The soft proof feature has been greatly improved. Access this by right clicking a converted file in the Processed Jobs section of the Jobs and Queues Overview dialog. It now uses a rasterized version of the file for displaying on screen so that the transparency and overprint are correctly simulated. One of the great new abilities of the dialog is to show multicolor files, e.g. files with a Multicolor output intent, correctly on screen.

Online Help added

Please visit the new and improved Online Help page
Similar to CoPrA and ColorAnt each major dialog in ZePrA 5 has a new question mark sign that leads directly to the help pages of this section providing descriptions and insides with a click of a mouse.

Repeat Job Feature

This option will reprocess a job and in the same queue needing to copy the file manually in the Input folder of the queue. To access the feature right-click to bring up the contextual menu in the Overview window and choose Repeat Job.

Special features of ZePrA

The combination of ZePrA and ColorLogic DeviceLink profiles is currently the world’s simplest and fastest PDF color server when it comes to individual configuration. ZePrA is the first solution to provide full support of the standard tags in ICC DeviceLink profiles and use them to define a workflow. In addition, it is extremely fast.

But ZePrA is not only fast, it also delivers top quality by converting all PDF/X standards (from X-1a to the latest X-4 and X-5n standards). Jobs can easily be monitored in the clearly structured Overview window, which is divided into jobs in progress, pending jobs, and processed jobs. The color quality of the converted file can be verified with the help of an integrated soft proof without requiring any additional third-party tool. ZePrA is, of course, not limited to using the standard profiles. This is just one possible way of creating a workflow.

With the help of the Configurations window, users can manually define any combination of color conversions they need to automate. Individual configurations can be saved and applied to any hot folder, or duplicated and modified for other conversions. There are separate areas for selecting the desired color conversion for every supported color space. In addition, options are available for the targeted handling of spot colors, the definition of PDF-specific settings and, from Version 2.0 on, the new capability to apply correction curves to process and spot color channels with the help of the brand-new Gradations module.

Advantages of SmartLink technology

An additional highlight of ZePrA is the SmartLink module, whose intelligent mechanisms permit reliable color conversion of all data. Instead of “normal” ICC color conversion with device-dependent profiles, SmartLink generates a DeviceLink profile “on-the-fly”, based on the output profiles involved and the rendering intent. ZePrA uses SmartLink not only for RGB-to-CMYK, but also for CMYK-to-CMYK, Gray-to-Gray, Gray-to-CMYK, and CMYK-to-Gray conversion.

Three different methods are available for configuring SmartLink:

In fully automatic mode, SmartLink is activated in ZePrA, and all required conversions are calculated in the background in the form of DeviceLink profiles based on the source and target color spaces for RGB, CMYK and Gray

It is also possible to use specific DeviceLink profile for certain conversions. Whenever these combinations of source and target profiles and rendering intents are detected, SmartLink will use the DeviceLink profiles that you have saved in a specific list. This option is especially interesting for all those customers who want to use their individual, perhaps edited DeviceLink profiles, such as the high-quality ColorLogic DeviceLink Sets.

The third mode combines both options. First, ZePrA searches for appropriate DeviceLink profiles in your list. If no profiles are found, the required DeviceLinks are generated in the background.

Integration with Enfocus Switch

Due to the fact that many users are interested in automating relatively complex workflows, only part of which is covered by color conversion, ZePrA works with the Enfocus Switch automation solution (more information on this integration can be found at www.crossroads-world.com). The ZePrA Basic package is required for Switch integration as it includes CLI capabilities. Other workflow solutions can also access the outstanding color management quality of ZePrA Basic through the included CLI in that package.

ZePrA efficiently closes the gap between manual color conversion of PDF and pixel files and use of a complex and expensive workflow tool. Moreover, it is a perfect supplement to the other products from ColorLogic.

Advantages of ZePrA at a glance:

• Simple, clearly structured user prompting and setup
• Extraordinarily high speed processing of files
• Outstanding quality of PDF processing
• Supports all common PDF/X standards
• Modular solution which allows to start small and add more modules later
• Outstanding quality of color conversion
• Supports color management for all color spaces including Multicolor
• Missing DeviceLink profiles can be build on-the-fly with SmartLink and the integrated CoPrA
• Adjust printer color deviations with the integrated Reprofiler
• Sophisticated spot color handling
• Easy to integrate into Enfocus Switch

Integrate a ZePrA color server into your existing workflow and we are confident that you will be thrilled by the immediate increase in quality and efficiency. With the Auto Setup feature and simple-to-use interface, ZePrA can be implemented easily into most workflows. The ability to handle even multicolor files, apply DeviceLink profiles to any color space conversion and convert spot color on-the-fly makes ZePrA a must have for any production environment.