PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Visualizing Dimensions of Print

EskoArtworks used the occasion of Graph Expo to unveil not only a new logo for two newly merged companies—Esko Graphics and Artwork Systems—but the firm's structure and significant new offerings.

Esko DeskPack 3-dx, which received a 2007 PIA/GATF InterTech Technology Award and Worth-a-Look honors at Graph Expo, is part of the Esko Software Suite 7 package of prepress software. The suite is a complete update of Esko's design and pre-production software tools entirely based on Adobe PDF and is compatible with Creative Suite 3.

It provides variable-data printing capabilities and JDF integration with business systems, and includes a full range of structural design, graphics design, project management and prepress production tools for packaging.

Esko DeskPack 3-dx is a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator that supports virtual three-dimensional views.

This allows graphic designers to navigate through complex structural designs, almost as if holding a 3D package in their hands. Esko Visualizer was demonstrated live for the first time. It is the first product resulting from Esko's acquisition of Stonecube Ltd. (U.K.) Esko Visualizer builds 2D and 3D visual models from graphic files by adding information about substrates, special inks (like metallic) and finishes (like varnishes). This allows artists to accurately simulate how a finished piece will look, accounting for the effect of lighting and a wide variety of finishes that often cannot be reproduced in a flat proof.

FFEI has launched RealVue 3D, the world's first 3D visual simulation software for print media, created to streamline the communication and approval process involving printers and their clients. With simple operation, RealVue 3D gives printers, creatives and marketers an innovative way to design, present and approve jobs via a unique 3D document viewer. The product's first official unveiling at Graph Expo earned Must See 'em honors.

The output of the system is a platform independent java file that allows any computer user to display the print document, turn the pages, rotate the viewing angle and zoom into detail. In addition, the system enables viewing conditions and print characteristics to be changed, such as stock weight, finish and texture. Accurate simulation of these print features allows their impact to be evaluated before any expenditure on print production.

Andy Cook, managing director of FFEI comments, “Page turning software is already available, but offers only basic functionality allowing a document to be browsed. With our expertise in CTP and imposition, we have taken this functionality to a new level so that design agencies, printers and their clients can almost feel the finished product before they commit to print.”