Multi-Threaded Rendering (MTR)

Multi-threaded rendering is designed specifically to improve performance by dividing the compute-intensive work of rendering the interpreted PostScript among multiple independent threads or CPU’s.

With MTR, multiple threads concurrently render the scan lines within a band with the ultimate goal of minimizing the idle time across one or more CPUs. MTR produces noticeable performance gains with jobs that are rendering bound. Typically, such jobs contain large numbers of images, vectors, or gradients.

In Adobe’s recent press release (August 19, 2003), Adobe states “When tested, rendering speeds increased up to 44 percent on dual-CPU systems, and up to 65 percent on quad-CPU systems”.

CIE-Profile Based Color Management

Adobe’s CPSI 3016 offers improved CIE-based color conversion capability. IPTech has expanded this feature to provide a wide-ranging set of controls over how colors are processed and managed:

• Device color input controls allow users to choose ICC input files for the DeviceGray, Device RGB and Device CMYK color spaces.
• CIE-based color input controls allow users to choose ICC input profiles for the four CIE-based color spaces, or to force CIE-based colors to an appropriate device color space.
• Embedded profiles controls allow users to choose whether to honor ICC profiles embedded in EPS, JPEG, or TIFF files.
• Image rendering intent controls allow users to specify a specific rendering intent for images, with the option to choose a Perceptual, Relative Colorimetric, Absolute Colorimetric, or Saturation intent.
• Output Rendering Dictionary controls allow users to choose a default Color Rendering Dictionary (CRD), and to specify whether or not that CRD should override any job-specified CRD.
• Output Color Adjustment controls offer the choice between two OCA modes. Users can specify the use of a specific OCA file, or can route OCA requests to selected RGB an CMYK devicelink profiles
• Enhanced overprinting options allow users to specify overprint behaviors for Black, CMYK, and spot colors in a number of specific situations.

Hybrid Screening

TurboRIP’s Hybrid Screening option combines the best of traditional halftoning with newer “stochastic” techniques, to achieve highly accurate highlight tints, smooth blends and vignette.

Traditional “amplitude modulated” (AM) screening often falls short in rendering highlights and smooth blends, because the smallest dots can disappear on press. “Frequency modulated” (FM) screening does a better job at holding highlights and shadows by randomly placing larger, more printable dots. But FM cannot match the overall visual quality of AM screening, and may present other challenges to proofing and on press.

This feature works as follows: A TurboRIP user determines the capabilities of his imager or press at the two ends of the tint scale, and enters these as the “Minimum dot” and “Maximum dot” for a TurboRIP RIP Setup. TurboRIP uses the specified minimum and maximum printable dots to image tints beyond these values by removing dots in a random manner.

TurboRIP’s Hybrid Screening allows printers who prefer AM screening to extend the gamut of their presses by increasing the range of tint values that can reliably printed on their presses.