In ErgoSoft RIPs, Jobs are a visual representation of your print material where you place your image files and position them according to your requirements.
Job compositions can be saved and reopened any time, but keep in mind that Job files do not include the image files themselves, but only the path to the file. If the image file is moved or the system does not have access to the image file (e.g. on a different computer), the image will not be loaded into the Job.
Ctrl+N or go to File > New to create a new, empty Job.
File > New Separation Job opens a new, empy separation
Job. This Job type will automatically separate all imported images into
individual monochrome Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black Channels.
See more Information on Separation Jobs.
Ctrl + S on your Keyboard, or Right-Click > Save on an empty Job area, or go to File > Save to save your current Job composition. Note that this will overwrite the previous save state of this job.
File > Save As will open the save dialog, allowing you to save the job as a copy under a new name.
Ctrl+O or File > Open... opens the File Open dialog and allows you the select a Job file from your local disk or accessible storage location.
File > Recent Jobs shows a list of recently used Job files for quick access. Select one to open it.
File > Import Job from Archive allows you to import archived job files (.pja). These Job archive files can be created manually or automatically from the QueueManager.
Allows you to set up jobs across multiple pages. To use Multi Page jobs, make sure you have set a sheet material size in your media size settings either in Tools > Options > Media Size (Global Default Setting), Print Settings > Media Size (Print Environment Specific Setting) or Job Properties & Actions > Media Size (Job Specific Setting).
Once a sheet medium is set, you will see your Job area ends at the bottom at the specified media length.
New pages can be added by selecting one or more images, then going to Right click > Page per Image. This will put every selected image on an individual page, but leave unselected images where they are.
Images can also be moved between pages by simply selecting and dragging them to other pages.
Allows you to set job specific information related to the print job itself. Any information entered here will be stored in the job when it is saved and be accessible when the job is opened again. Job Info stored in the Job can also be used and automatically printed to together with images in the Job using Print Marks.
Job Info that can be stored is:
Name
Commentary
Barcode
Customer
Responsible
Order Number
Order Name
Project
To add Job Info, simply fill our the fields you want to include and click the Apply button to save.
Importing and Exporting Customer Info Lists in Order Information
You can save customer information as presets to easily access them at any time by selecting them from the dropdown menu. Click the green person icon to the right of the customer text field, then click the green plus next to the dropdown menu. Fill out the fields for you order and confirm. Set a name. You can now easily fill out order information by simply clicking the person icon and selecting your preset.
Filled out lists order information can also be exported into text files and re-imported to easily fill out the Customer Info fields, e.g. if you have several Jobs that share the same client and order number.
Use the Export List button to save your filled out fields into a text file.
Use the Import List button to select a previously saved list and automatically fill our your Customer Info fields.
Contains settings relevant to the production of a job. Here you can set things like the Print- and CutEnvironment, copies, etc. these settings will be saved together with the job and applied automatically if you e.g. reopen the job from a saved file or when switching between different jobs in the JobComposer UI. The following Production Settings are available:
Print Environment: Sets the Print Environment that the Job should be printed with.
Cut Environment: Sets the Cut Environment that the Job should be cut with.
Copies: Number of copies of the Job that should be printed.
Total Length: This field calculates the length of the Job based on the copies, but you can also enter a desired length here to have the software calculate the needed number of copies.
Gap: The dropdown menu lets you set the behavor of gaps between copies (When copies are set).
With gap is the standard behavior, leaving the normal feeding between Jobs of the printer.
Without gap eliminates the gap between copies, printing copies right after one another. If Printmarks are active they are only printed before the first and after the last copies.
Without gap (Repeat Printmarks) prints no gaps except Printmarks around each copy.
Ink Control Strips
Override Setting of the Print Environment: Sets that the setting in Production Settings takes priority over the Ink Control Strips setting of the Print Environment. Check this to enable the Production Strips and Visual Control Strips checkboxes below this one.
Production Strips: Activates Production Strips.
Visual Control Strips: Activates Visual Control Strips.
After setting the desired parameters, click Apply to save you settings and apply them to the currently active job.
Allows you to set job specific information related to the customer. Any information entered here will be stored in the job when it is saved and be accessible when the job is opened again. Customer Info stored in the Job can also be used and automatically printed to together with images in the Job using Print Marks.
Customer Info that can be stored is:
Customer
Responsible
Order Number
Order Name
Project
To add Customer Info, simply fill our the fields you want to include and click the Apply button to save.
Importing and Exporting Customer Info Lists in Order Information
Filled out lists of customer info can also be exported into text files and re-imported to easily fill out the Customer Info fields, e.g. if you have several Jobs that share the same client and order number.
Use the Export List button to save your filled out fields into a text file.
Use the Import List button to select a previously saved list and automatically fill our your Customer Info fields.
Allows you to set job specific information related to the print job itself. Any information entered here will be stored in the job when it is saved and be accessible when the job is opened again. Job Info stored in the Job can also be used and automatically printed to together with images in the Job using Print Marks.
Job Info that can be stored is:
Name
Comment
Barcode
Print Environment
Cut Environment
Allows you to specify and alter the media size of your current Job.
If this dialog is unavailable i.e. greyed out, likely a different media size setting is currently active and takes priority. Check Print Settings > Media Size and deactivate the Use as default for this Print Environment setting to enable direct media size changes to the Job.
The dialog is split into 2 sections:
Show Media Sizes
Sets different filters of what media sizes should be displayed in the dropdown menu:
Currently Appropriate: Only lists sizes that are equal or smaller than the maximum printing width of the currently selected Printer.
Roll Media Only: Only lists roll material, sheet materials are not displayed.
Sheet Media Only: Only lists sheet materials, roll materials are not displayed.
Media Size Selection
Select the media size you want to use from the dropdown menu. The dropdown menu will display all media sizes currently defined in this installation of the ErgoSoft RIP that match the filters selected in Show Media Sizes.
The bottom segment will display the measurements in Width and Height of the currently selected media size.
Save Paper: Will attempt to send a minimum feed command to the printer so as little material is wasted as possible. Though note that this setting is not supported by all printer models.
Rotated: Will rotate the material size, i.e. swap width and height.
Get Media Size from Printer: Will attempt to fetch the currently loaded media size from the printer. Though note that this setting is not supported by all printer models.
Import: Select and import a previously saved media size from a .msz file.
Note that new custom media sizes can be added in Print Settings > Media Size and Tools > Options > Media Size.
Once you are happy with your settings, click Apply to confirm them.
Allows you to set margins for the Job at the left, right, to and bottom edges. This is useful if you want to prevent anything from being printed in this area for whatever reason, e.g. because you already printed something there or you want to hit a specific area of the material. In the Job area of the RIP, these margins will be represented by a gray area at the edges where you defined the margin.
Some Print Environments/Printers have a predefined minimum margin that cannot be removed due to technical limitation of the printer.
Minimum: This sets the margin to the lowest possible margin for the selected Print Environment/Printer. If this is more than 0, then the printer most likely has unprintable margins and does not support borderless printing.
Borderless: This activates borderless printing on the printer and allows for 0 margins. If this is gray/unavailable, this printer does not support borderless printing.
Left, Right, Top, Bottom: Sets the margin at the respective edge of the material.
Once you are happy with the settings, confirm them with Apply.
Governs different settings related to Job Processing, Archiving, temporary data and automatic preflights. To change your Job Processing policies, set the dropdown menu to --Custom Settings—and click the Edit button, or click the Add button to create a new Job Processing Policy. This opens a new window with different tabs:
For general information on the Job Processing Policy. Enter a custom description in the description field to easily identify the contents and purpose of your Job Processing Policy later on.
Settings concerning automatic archiving of Jobs. Archived Jobs are stored on the Harddisk but removed out of the PrintQueue and QueueManager. They can be restored at any time in the JobComposer or QueueManager by going to File > Import Job from Archive.
Delete done Jobs automatically after: After a Job is printed, it will first remain in the PrintQueue and QueueManager for the set number of days. After the number of days is reached, it is automatically deleted from the Queues. If the checkbox is deactivated, the jobs are not automatically removed from the Queue.
Archive Jobs before deleting: Before a Job is deleted due to the Delete done Jobs automatically -rule above, the Job is saved in an archive file (.ppa) so it can be restored at any time from the JobComposer or QueueManager. If this box is deactivated, Jobs are not archived before deleting.
Include Print Environment: If active, will include the Print Environment in the archive file to ensure the Job can be reprinted with the same Print settings/Density/Profile if and when it is restored.
Include Images: If active, will include the image files in the archive to ensure the Job can be reprinted with the same image if and when it is restored.
Include rip data: If active, will include the rastered data in the archive to ensure the Job can be reprinted with the same raster data if and when it is restored. This option ensures that the exact same data can be sent to the printer again. If you are able to ensure consistent printer behavior, this is the best option to ensure color consistency upon reprints.
The Where section controls where archived Jobs will be stored. It should be ensured that the selected location has enough free space available as Job archives may amass large amounts of data:
On default archive folder: Will store all Job archive in the default folder in the ErgoSoft RIP User Data Folder C:\Users\Public\Documents\EsRip\15\Data\Archive.
On Image Folder: Will store all Job archive in the same folder the image file in the Job is located.
On user defined folder: Lets you specify a folder where to store archived Jobs.
Save all Files to Image Folder: Will also store Print Environment archives to the location of the image file.
Defines the preselected options in the Print dialog. These settings can be changed and overwritten on every print if desired.
Keep Rip Data after Printing: Will not delete temporary raster data after print. This can be useful if the same Job needs to be printed several times at intervals as it does not need to be rastered again. Will accumulate large amounts of data.
Suspend RIP: After sending Jobs to print, they will enter the PrintQueue in a Suspend RIP state. Rastering will not begin until manually started from the PrintQueue or QueueManager.
Suspend Printing: After sending Jobs to print, they will enter the PrintQueue in a Suspend Printing state. The Job will be rastered, but printing will not begin until manually started from the PrintQueue or QueueManager.
Dont Suspend RIP after Preflight: When automatic preflight is active, Jobs will automatically be set to the Suspend RIP state after the preflight is complete. Activating this option will not set Preflight Jobs to Suspend RIP, but will start processing them in the Queue without further user input.
# Copies: Sets the number of copies of a Job to be printed.
Repeat Print: Sets how copies should be handled.
With Gap the printer will move the material forward for the standard distance after each copy.
Without Gap removes the standard feed distance after each copy. Each copy is printed right after the other without gap. If Printmarks are active, they are repeated for each copy.
Automatically creates a Preflight of any printed job according to the set parameters. Preflight files are stored in C:\Users\Public\Documents\EsRip\15\Data\Preflight.
Mode sets how the preflight should be created. Select from one of the following options:
RGB Html: Creates an RGB Image file for the preflight and embeds it into an HTML file containing information about the printout.
Separated Html: Creates channel separated Image file for the preflight and embeds it into an HTML file containing information about the printout.
RGB Tiff: Creates an RGB Tiff file for the preflight and stores it in the default folder.
Device Tiff: Creates a Tiff file in the printers color model for the preflight and stores it in the default folder.
Print: Prints a smaller version of the job to the printer specified in the PrintEnv setting.
Print Original size: Prints an original size version of the job to the printer specified in the PrintEnv setting.
RGB Profile: Sets the RGB Profile to be used for RGB Output when using one of the RGB modes. Not available when using one of the print output modes.
PrintEnv: Sets the Print Environment that should be used for output when using one of the print modes. Not available when using one of the file output modes.
Simulate Target Printer: Will simulate the output of the Print Environment selected when launching the print job using the Print button.
Resolution
Pixel Width / Pixel Height: Defines the output size for the To File output modes.
Print Width / Print Height: Defines the output size for the print output modes.
Raster PostScript/PDF for target printer resolution: When activated PS and PDF files will be rastered in the resolution specified in the Print Environment that is selected for printing. If deactivated Preflight will use the specified pixel measurements.
Sets if Ink Control Strips are printed with the Job. These are the same strips found in the Print Environment settings in the Ink Control and will use the same settings as those strips. In order to control the Ink Control Strips from the Job Properties pane, it is required to override the setting of the Print Environment by checking the appropriate box, then turning the desired types of strips on and off.
Note that activating control strips will automatically reserve space for the strips at the left or right edge of the printjob, marked as a gray, unprintable area.
See more information on Ink Control Strips here.
Controls the use of Fotoba Cut Marks for the Job. This type of cutmarks is used specifically for Fotoba cut machines. Enabling Fotoba Cut Marks will automatically add the respective marks (2 bold black lines along each edge) to every image in the Job. After printing, these marks can be read by the Fotoba cutter to determine size and position of the image and align the cut.
To enable the feature, check the Enable box at the top of the dialog. Additionally, there are several parameters that can be adjusted for the cut marks:
Strip Settings
Outter White: Sets the size of the transparent/white margin outside the cutmarks.
Black: Sets thickness of the lines that make up the Fotoba Cut Marks.
Inner White: Sets the inner distance between the marks and the image itself.
Mark Extension and color
Extend Left, Extend Right: Extends the cut marks to the left or right (Only available with 2 or 1 strip).
Color (CMYK): sets the color of the cut mark.
Creats an estimate calculation of the production costs of the currently active Job. This estimate is created based on the ink cost and the printer cost in the Costing tab of the Print Environment settings and the material cost selected in the Media segment of Estimate Production Cost.
Number of Copies
Copies sets the number of copies of the job that should be estimated. Setting e.g. 3 will estimate the cost for printing 3 copies of the currently active Job and display the total length of 3 copies of the Job.
The dropdown lets you set the Gap mode that should be used for the copies.
With Gap: The printer will move the material forward for the standard distance after each copy.
Without Gap: Removes the standard feed distance after each copy. Each copy is printed right after the other without gap. If Printmarks are active, the header mark will be printed before the first copy and the footer after the last.
Without Gap Repeat Printmarks: Removes the standard feed distance after each copy. Each copy is printed right after the other without gap. If Printmarks are active they are repeated for each copy.
Using Without Gap will result in lower material costs as the material does not feed between copies. Using Without Gap repeat Printmarks will result in higher material cost as repeating the printmarks for each copy takes up space.
Lets you select the material that should be used for Cost Calculation. Materials can be defined in the General tab of the Print Environment Settings by clicking the green + for Global media list and entering a cost factor, description and name for the material. It is also possible to assosciate materials to Print Environments, marking them as suitable for this printer.
Checking Show only media suitable for print environment will filter and not display any materials not marked as suitable for this Print Environment.
Select the material you want to use for Cost Calculation from the dropdown menu and click the Calculate... Button to generate your cost estimate and display it in a new window and break it down by Media and Printer costs.
Note that Ink Costs cannot be estimated as they are based upon the the number of ink dots placed on the material and that is not determined until the rastering stage. The Ink Cost will therefore always appear as 0 when using Estimate Production Cost.
To change the currency of the cost estimate, go to Tools > Options > User Interface Preferences and select your desired currency from the dropdown unter Currency
The cost estimate can be exported to a .txt file using the Production Data Report... button at the bottom of the dialog.
Once you are satisfied, use the Close button to close the window.
Creates a Preflight of any printed job according to the set parameters. Preflight files are stored in C:\Users\Public\Documents\EsRip\15\Data\Preflight.
Mode
Mode sets how the preflight should be created. Select from one of the following options:
RGB Html: Creates an RGB Image file for the preflight and embeds it into an HTML file containing information about the printout.
Separated Html: Creates channel separated Image file for the preflight and embeds it into an HTML file containing information about the printout.
RGB Tiff: Creates an RGB Tiff file for the preflight and stores it in the default folder.
Device Tiff: Creates a Tiff file in the printers color model for the preflight and stores it in the default folder.
Print: Prints a smaller version of the job to the printer specified in the PrintEnv setting.
Print Original size: Prints an original size version of the job to the printer specified in the PrintEnv setting.
Output Preflight
Copies and Media Settings... Lets you set a number of copies and Gap mode for the preflight as well as select a material type to display on the preflight.
Render... button will execute the preflight according to the set parameters. HTML Preflights will automatically open in your standard webbrowser. Tiff Preflights are stored in the default preflight folder C:\Users\Public\Documents\EsRip\15\Data\Preflight. Print preflights are directly sent to the currently selected Print Environment/Printer.
View HTML Preflights will open a browser window and list the available HTML Preflights that have previously been generated. This allows you to easily access your preflight history at any moment.
Alters the color output for the entire job based on a gradation curve. The gradation curve will be applied uniformly across the entire job and affect all images and colors.
Note that for this feature, no color accurate preview is possible, output may look quite different from what is shown in the Job Preview window.
To define a gradation curve for the Job, either select -Custom Settings- from the dropdown menu and then click the Edit button, or click the green + button to create a new gradation curve Preset.
In the Job Gradation Curves window, you’ll see the channel setting at the top. This defines which color channel you are altering with the curve. Select the channel you would like to adjust and change the curve as desired. You can alter just one channel, or each individually. You may also use the All Channels checkbox so the same curve is applied to all color channels.
The horizontal axis represents the theoretical channel density. Think of this as the input density, i.e. the density for a channel that is defined in the file. The bottom left corner is zero or no density, the bottom right corner is the full or maximum density for the channel.
The vertical axis represents the output density of the channel. The bottom right corner is zero or no density, the top right corner is the maximum density.
Using this graph lets us map an input density value to an output density, affecting the ink output in that channel. An easy example would be if we notice that a color channel applies too much ink. By adjusting the vertical endpoint to a lower value, e.g. 70%), we specify that the maximum available density (100% on the input/horizontal axis) may not exceed the 70% of the vertical axis. This maps 100% input density to 70% output density effectively limiting the density of the white channel to 70%, decreasing ink application in a linear fashion as a result.
The gradation curve also lets you specify additional points in the curve itself by clicking any point on the line and dragging it to the desired point. This allows for complex adjustments and non-linear density gain to match and customize printer and ink behavior.
Spline Interpolation:
Auto:
Reset: reverts the gradation curve to its original, linear form and discards all changes.
Changes the background color of the Job in order to simulate the material color that an image will be printed on. This can be helpful to evaluate the effect that the material color might have on final output colors and helps you ensure that necessary adjustments can be made before a lot of potentially expensive material is wasted.
To define a Media Background for the Job, either select -Custom Settings- from the dropdown menu and then click the Edit button, or click the green + button to create a new Media Background Simulation Preset.
In the Media Background Simulation window that opens, you have 3 options to choose from:
White Background: The default setting, of the ErgoSoft RIP. Uses regular RGB white (255 255 255) as the background color for display.
Colored Background: Lets you set a custom background color in RGB on a 255 scale either by entering the values numerically or using the sliders. Select this option and click on Specify... to set your background color.
From Image File: Lets you specify an image file to be used as the background. This can be useful for simulating textures or special material properties. Select this option and click on Specify... to set your background image by selecting any image file.
The large example graphic in the Media Background Simulation window will also act as a preview of your selected background simulation. As soon as you have selected a background color or image, it will be applied to the example graphic in the window.
Ink Opacity Factor: Sets the opacity of images placed on the simulated background to simulate ink density/opacity. 1 represent opacity of 100%, lower values lower opacity while higher opacities represent mixing of multiple ink channels, e.g. 1.5 or 150 % may represent 75% Magenta and 75% Cyan printed on top of each other. Applies to all images in the Job. The Reset button will revert Ink Opacity Factor back to the default 1 setting.
Opaque White Printing: Sets white areas of images to be opaque instead of transparent. White areas will be represented like a white underprint in the Job Preview. However note that this is purely a visual representation in the Job Preview. No white will be printed when using this setting. For information on white underprinting, check the Color Replacement section.