Serendipity Blackmagic version 3 includes completely new features as well as improvements on old features.
The features which created the most excitement at recent trade shows are described below.
Click on the feature thumbnail images to see a full resolution JPEG screen capture related to that feature.
| User Notes in SoftProof |
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Areas of a job can be marked out and notes attached, allowing (for example) problem areas to be identified and the nature of the problem described. These notes are persistent so other users can see them during the life time of the job.
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| Ink Key View and Press Simulation in SoftProof |
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Once a Press configuration is selected in the SoftProof, ink key values of a job can be viewed. If the Press configuration contains a press ICC profile, a replace colour set or specific white point, those will also be applied to reflect how the job will appear on the press. Press configurations can be created and edited in the Workbench application.
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| View Page Spreads in SoftProof |
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When a publication is loaded into the SoftProof, Spreads view can be activated to show adjacent pages together as they would appear in the final publication. This is similar to a high resolution version of FlipBook.
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| Multiple Imaging and Rendering Processes |
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Multiple imaging and rendering processes can be activated from the System Settings dialog, in the Server Settings section. This dramatically improves through put for constant heavy usage of the server. Up to two times the number of CPUs in imaging and rendering processes can be activated.
See our blog post for an idea of the speed improvement.
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| Tabbed Views in SoftProof |
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SoftProof supports tabbed views to save desktop space. Tabs can be reordered, as well as accept "drag and drop" from the QueueManager and local files. In addition the thumbnail side bar, which also supports "drag and drop", provides a visual representation of jobs and images. The tabs and the thumbnail side bar can be shown and hidden independently.
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| View Back Page in SoftProof |
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When viewing a publication in SoftProof, the back page can be shown with adjustable transparency and rotation, allowing easy checking of alignments and page order.
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| FlipBook |
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The FlipBook application provides a convenient way of viewing publications. Select FlipBook's "View 3D" option and you can literally flip through the publication. The publication can then be exported as PDF or QuickTime movie.
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| Virtual Loupe |
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The SoftProof application has a virtual loupe which displays the job at 100% wherever it is positioned.
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| Monitor Calibration | Scan & Print |
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Use the MonitorCalibrator and any supported spectrophotometer to calibrate your monitor and create monitor ICC profiles which can be used in Blackmagic for dramatically improved colour accuracy. |
Images can be scanned in and submitted for processing using the TWAIN Acquire function in SoftProof. |
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| Duplexing |
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Use any double-sided Postscript[tm] or PCL5 compatible printer to create full-colour or black-and-white "dummies" of your books.
An intuitive user interface lets you select the jobs you wish to deimpose, assign a deimpostion signature to each
and then let Serendipity Blackmagic do the rest for you. No folding and no cutting required.
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| Clustering |
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Especially useful for high-volume production and quick turn-around sites,
the new clustering feature will let you use more than one computer to process jobs.
A master machine will determine how jobs are distributed across a cluster of networked Serendipity Blackmagic slaves so you never miss your deadlines again.
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| Plate Paint Modes |
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Real life inks often have characteristics which are difficult to simulate digitally.
The new Plate Paint Modes are a step towards more realistic simulation. A plate can be assigned any one of these paint modes:
- Overprint, traditional mixing of channels
- Knockout, all channels of the top plate dominate those of the plates bellow it
- Primer, white ink simulation
- Opaque, variable opacity to simulate metallic or other special inks
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| Soft Proofing |
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High-resolution on-screen viewing is now supported. View at the nominated output resolution without any restrictions.
Turn plates on or off and even assign colours to plates on the fly to preview all the new plate paint modes.
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You can even run automatic colour replacement sets to create on-screen blue-line previews for checking trapping features.
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| Re-written & Re-designed Serendipity Client |
We phased out the Java[tm] user interface in favour of a completely re-written and re-designed new native interface.
This means that workstation resources are being used more efficiently resulting in a much faster user interface with highly efficient memory usage.
While at it, we took advantage of the opportunity to add many new features our users have been asking for as well as some we thought you would appreciate:
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 | Colorimetric instruments can be used on any workstation running the Serendipity Client. Example shows the included Spectrophotometer and Densitometer applications. |
 | All lists can have their contents filtered. Example shows list contents filtered on the word "impo". |
 | Multiple work surfaces on the same window. Surfaces can be customised by the user. The example shows a surface set up with output queue monitoring modules. |
 | Multiple work surfaces on the same window. Surfaces can be customised by the user. The example shows a surface set up with source RIP monitoring modules. |
 | Comprehensive and integrated configuration editor. The example shows the 3 settings sections of the Pagesetup Pool editor. Any datatype may be selected for editing from the same window. |
 | New archiving utility. Example shows all items from the database added to the archive in a few seconds. Very memory efficient too! |
 | Edit and create any configuration item from anywhere it gets used directly. The example shows how to edit the pagesetup used by a job directly from the QueueManager. |
 | Instant messaging application for communicating with other Serendipity Clients connected to the same server. |