Global Graphics Software, a developer of platforms for digital printing whose customers include HP, Canon, Durst, Roland, Kodak and Agfa, says its new Harlequin release is the industry’s fastest RIP with new features for large-scale output such as décor, textiles and corrugated packaging.
Version 13 of the Harlequin Host Renderer adds automatic tiling to maximize throughput of large PDF, TIFF and JPEG files such as those generated in the corrugated packaging, wide and grand format, décor and textile markets. Harlequin 13 automatically tiles these large pages – some can be up to 200 meters/650 feet long - to split them across multiple RIPs for increased speed and improved load balancing.
“The new tiling feature is specifically for high-speed digital printing,” says Martin Bailey, Global Graphics Software’s CTO. “Automatic tiling helps in maximizing throughput by splitting the output across several RIPs. It also reduces the cost for a DFE built to handle huge PDF pages, either every day or as an occasional occurrence, because the peak memory usage for a tile can be much lower than that for the whole page.
“Speed continues to be a key focus of Harlequin development, because a faster RIP enables presses with very high data rates to be driven at engine speed and reduces the bill of materials for a digital front end (DFE) or controller.”
Output is continuously streamed to the printer so that print service providers don’t have to wait for the entire page to be RIPped before printing can begin. This new feature minimizes RAM requirements and costs for a digital front end (DFE) processing very large output.
Version 13 also introduces other features including:
- ·Direct printing of PNG files, an important file type in some sectors of wide format and product decoration, in addition to PDF, PostScript, EPS, TIFF, JPEG etc. Consistent colour management and halftone screening can be added for all input formats using a common API.
- ·Enhanced controls over sizing of output from image file formats such as TIFF, JPEG and PNG where the image does not specify a size.
- ·Extended Advanced Inkjet Screens (AIS) with the introduction of Opal; especially good at mitigating artifacts when inkjet printing on absorbent substrates at higher resolutions. AIS increase the perceived quality, and therefore saleability, of inkjet prints, and can enable the use of lower cost substrates.
- ·Extended support for larger DFEs, scaling from a single RIP instance, through multiple RIPs on the same server, to multiple RIPs on each of multiple servers.
“It’s the print engine at the heart of the industry’s highest performing digital presses in products from vendors including Roland, Durst, HP Indigo and HP PageWide, powering their entire fleet,” says a company press release.
Michael Deflorian, business developer at Durst Professional Services, said: "HHR - including screening capabilities - is one of the key technologies for our promise to get the best out of the printer as part of our ‘pixel-to-output strategy.’ We share the same vision of industry-leading quality and performance with Global Graphics. We work closely with the Global Graphics team to provide our customers with the best technology available.”
Roland DG’s VersaWorks 6 RIP software is used across all current models of its printers and printer/cutters. Mr. Motohiro Ikemura, R&D general manager, Roland DG Digital Printing Business Division, said, “We integrated the Harlequin engine into our RIP software in only six months thanks to the cooperation between Global Graphics and our engineering teams. Its performance is outstanding and, because it processes PDF and PostScript natively, it handles files with ease. Support for PDF 2.0 was also an important factor to future proof our workflow. Since we see more and more use of transparencies in customer jobs, Harlequin’s ability to process transparencies natively speeds up production time and reduces waste media. VersaWorks 6 recently added an important new ‘Job Assistant’ function that allows customers to automatically add cut contour lines for PDF design data without returning to the design software.”
Harlequin Host Renderer is supported on 32- and 64-bit Microsoft Windows, 64-bit Linux and Mac OS.
Download the latest product brochure here
Global Graphics Software is a leading developer of platforms for digital printing, including the Harlequin RIP, ScreenPro, Fundamentals and Mako. The roots of the company go back to 1986 and to the university town of Cambridge, England and today the majority of the R&D team is still based near there. Global Graphics Software is a subsidiary of Global Graphics PLC.
