The JobComposer serves as the main program window and Job Layout of the Ergosoft RIP, for many users when the reference the Ergosoft RIP, they mean the Job Composer.

The Job Composer can be launched either from its dedicated shortcut in Start > Programs > Ergosoft 17 > JobComposer, or from the Control Center by accessing Home > JobComposer.

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Title Bar

Right at the top of the page is the title bar. It displays the name of the program as well as the name of the currently active job file.

Menu Bar

The Menu Bar is right below the title bar and gives access to nearly all Ergosoft RIP features through a text menu (excluding Image Properties & Actions and Job Properties & Actions). The menu bar contains File, Edit, Image, View, Tools, Window and Help options.

Tool Bar

Made up of buttons for quick access to different features. The tool bar also contains the Print Environment selection dropdown menu that allows you to quickly change the active Print Environment by clicking on it and selecting the appropriate one from the list.

To the left or right of the Print Environment dropdown you’ll also find buttons quick access to the Print Environments Manager dialog (on the left) and Print Environment Settings (on the right).

Show/Hide Tools

The tool bar can also easily be customized to add or remove buttons as needed. To add or remove sections of tools, simply right click on an empty area of the tool bar to bring up the tool bar menu. This menu lets you show or hide individual sections of the tool bar by simply clicking on them. Clicking on an active section will hide it, while clicking on a currently hidden section will activate it in the tool bar. Some sections such as the Cut Environment dropdown menu are hidden by default as they are not always required.

You can also customize Toolbar buttons (The buttons that fold out to show more buttons/shortcuts) to only show the buttons and tools you actually need. To do this, go to View > Workspaces > Enable Workspace Change. This powerful mode will let you enable and disable UI Elements to streamline the interface to your needs. To customize Toolbar buttons, click the button with the left facing double arrow  and select Add or Remove Buttons. Go to the name of the Toolbar button you want to change and add or remove the checkmark next to the button you want to add or remove from the Toolbar button.

Repositioning Tools

Tool bar sections can also be repositioned by clicking on the three dots visible on the left side of each section and then dragging and dropping the section to the desired place.

Active tools and tool position can also be saved as part of a workspace and quickly accessed/switched between on the fly. For more details, see the Workspaces article.

Properties & Actions

The Properties & Actions menu contains many features and options related to editing and altering images and jobs that are required frequently. This section is also context sensitive, depending on whether you currently have an image selected or not, the Properties & Actions section will switch between two completely different sets of tools.

If an image is selected, the Image Properties & Actions menu is displayed. This contains image editing features such as File Comment, Scale, Rotate/Mirror, Position, Print Marks, Crop, AddOns as well as Color Replacement functions and so on.

If no image is currently selected (deselect images by clicking on an empty Job area), the Job Properties & Actions menu is displayed. This contains Job specific settings and production tools such as Media Size, Job Margins, Job Preflight, etc.

It is important to note that generally, settings made in properties & Actions will only affect the currently selected image or Job. These settings will need to be reapplied for the next Job. If you wish to create settings that are always used, you may set them up as Presets, or configure them in Application Defaults.

Selection Window

Another versatile window that adapts to your current task. In most cases the selection window will display a list of the currently selected images in the job and production relevant information relating to the selected images such as the image file name, image size, Position, Color Space, Input Profile, Rendering Intent, Total Size (incl. Printmarks, Margins, etc.) and image number in the Job.

Removing Selection Details

The columns that are displayed are also fully customizable. Simply right click on one of the columns and select Remove Column to delete the column from the listing.

Adding Selection Details

To add a new column (or re-add a deleted one), simply right-click on an empty area in the title bar. You might have to drag the vertical separator bar to the left to make the selection window wider in order to see empty space to click on. The context menu will now display an option Add Column. Place you mouse cursor over Add Column to see the list of available details and select the one you wish to add by clicking on it.

Image Editing Preview

 When using certain image editing features such as Crop, Tile, Mask Image, and Step&Repeat, the Selection window will switch from a file list to a preview window, displaying a preview of the selected image, allowing you to exactly tailor your edits to the image at hand without numerical guesswork. Select your crop area, preview the segments of your tiling to the actual image or see what your Step&Repeat pattern looks like before applying it to the image in the Job.

Image Editing Preview windows also feature a dedicated sets of tools to navigate the preview:

Zoom In/Zoom Out: Enlarges or minimizes the image preview in the window.

Fill Window: Enlarges or minimizes the image preview so it fits the preview window in either width or height.

Hand Tool: Toggles your mouse cursor to a Hand Tool that lets you click-drag you mouse cursor across the preview to move the view focus.

Crop Tool: When using the crop function, your mouse cursor automatically turns into the Crop Tool when hovering over the image preview. The Crop Tool allows you to select an area to be cropped simply by click-dragging over a section of the preview.

Color Preview

When using certain image editing features such as Tune, Replace Colors and ColorManagement, the Selection window will switch from a file list to a preview window, displaying a preview of the selected image, allowing you to exactly see the effects your ColorManagement changes or color replacements have on the image.

Color Preview windows feature a specific set of tools tailored to the task are performing:

Preview: Sets the selection window to show a single preview of the image after the color change is applied.

Current and Preview: Shows both the current state of the image (left) and the preview of the image after color changes (right) side by side.

Printer Previews: Splits the preview window four ways showing the current image (top left), the preview after color changes (top right), the printer preview with both changes and output color management applied (bottom left) and the Gamut Preview (bottom left) that highlights out of gamut colors in the image.

Pixel Color Info: Opens a new Color Info window and turns the cursor into a color picker. The Color Info window will display the current color that the mouse is hovering over in the top segment, the transition LAB color in the middle segment and the projected CMYK output value in the bottom segment. Please note that changes such as Named Color Replacement are not reflected in the CMYK output value as they are done at the raster stage and not simulated by the color info window.

Out of Gamut Color: Hightlights out of gamut colors in the image in bright green.

Production Monitor

This segment acts like a miniature version of the QueueManager in that it displays all Jobs that are currently in the printing pipeline, i.e. waiting to be processed, currently being processed or recently finished processing. Use the tabs at the bottom of the window to switch between the Waiting segment that shows Jobs waiting to be processed or currently being processed/printed and the Jobs in the Done segment that have finished printing and are completed.

The Production Monitor window will also display details of the Jobs currently in processing such as  number of copies and current status.

Removing Job Details

The columns that are displayed are also fully customizable. Simply right click on one of the columns and select Remove Column to delete the column from the listing.

Adding Selection Details

To add a new column (or re-add a deleted one), simply right-click on an empty area in the title bar. You might have to drag the vertical separator bar to the left to make the selection window wider in order to see empty space to click on. The context menu will now display an option Add Column. Place you mouse cursor over Add Column to see the list of available details and select the one you wish to add by clicking on it.

Job Area

 The Job Area can be though of as a virtual representation of your paper or material in the printer. In the Job Area you can set up your Job by importing images, placing them on the material and otherwise preparing your Job for output.

The rulers at the top and to the left show the size of the material as defined in your Print Environment settings. By clicking on either of the the horizontal or vertical rulers and dragging into the Job area you can create guidelines that help you align images in the job. Guidelines can be edited or deleted by rightclicking on them and selecting either edit… or delete.

You can also double click on the rulers to numerically create and position guidelines by adding them to the menu and setting their distance and repeats. Doubleclicking the top ruler creates horizontal guidelines and clicking on the left ruler creates vertical guidelines.

The rulers at the top and to the left show the size of the material as defined in your Print Environment settings. Rulers can be toggled on or off and the measurement unit of the rulers can be changed in Tools > Application Defaults > Display > Unit of Measure.

Note that if image size exceed the width or length of your material, the image will automatically be broken up into fitting pieces. Multiple images are automatically imported from left to right with a line break if an image would not fit anymore.

Right Click Menu

Right clicking in the Job Area will open up a context menu that offers a range of shortcut options. The Right Click menus will show different options depending on if you Right Clicked on an empty area in the Job or if you right clicked on an image. Nearly all features available in the right click menus are also available in other places but made quickly accessible for your convenience. For details on the individual functions of the menus, please see the respective articles on those functions.

Right clicking on an empty area of the Job will show Job related functions such as Saving, Importing Images, Job Elements, Nesting, etc.

Right clicking on an image will show functions related to image editing such as Rotating, Mirroring, Positioning, Duplicating, etc.