This document covers the changes since V2.5.3 and includes bug fixes and new features. Please see previous notes for information on past releases. Where new features are added then this document details the operation of those new items and release notes should always be used as supplements to the manual.
Any comments, queries or suggestions should be directed to support@riponce.com
For product information please see the Serendipity Software web site www.serendipity-software.com.au
All users that are within the one year warranty since original purchase or purchase of an upgrade are entitled the upgrade free of charge. Any users outside of the warranty period are required to pay for the upgrade and should contact the local dealer. Once purchased the user get a further one years warranty. Purchase of additional filters and output drivers does not constitute the same as a software upgrade. If purchasing an output driver for a new printer and the latest software is required, an upgrade will have to be purchased as well if warranty has expired.
Only dealers are allowed access to download updates and patches. The dealers must adhere to the upgrade policy. Anyone purchasing an upgrade will be shipped a CD containing the release unless Serendipity Software are advised that the dealer will be supplying the CD to the customer. The upgrade on the web site does not contain all items and is only supposed to be used for upgrading an existing installation. Serendipity Software recommends that all new installations be done with a full CD release.
If anyone has any queries regarding the policies please do not hesitate to contact Serendipity Software support by email support@riponce.com
Colour calibration - There is a new calibration method that provides for a faster and better calibration procedure including automated linearisation.
On-line instruments supported - Densitometers and Specrophotometers are used to feed information directly into the server for calibration.
Speed improvements - The server is faster than before with improvements in polling, screening, RDT dot sampling, and the user interface.
New Server log - There is a new server log window with the ability to trim the file and save it for email.
Densitometer - There is a new application making use of the on-line densitometers that do not have LCD displays, allowing you to view densities and dot area and save them to a file.
ICC Tweaker - A tool that allows you to tweak your ICC profile to correct the individual colours that ICC profile makers get wrong.
New output devices supported including the Epson 7600/9600 and HP 10/20/50ps.
Epson 10000/10000CF 7500/9500 7000/9000
HP 1055/2000/3000/5000, HP 2500GA
Xrite DTP22 - Digital Swatchbook
This section describes some of the new features of this release.
You now have the ability to error a PS job if it contains RGB images. Before the job would simply print ignoring that there was an RGB image in it.
Select the option from the PageSetup if you want the job to fail if there is an RGB image present. An appropriate error message is displayed in the server log.
There is a better ICC engine option that provides optimised ICC output. This is a selectable option as it does impact on performance.
Select Better ICC Engine Accuracy or Faster ICC Engine. Faster is the same one as in the previous version. Obviously, better will take longer to process.
We have extended the functionality of the Colour Keys to allow you to choose your own combinations. This allows you to select any combination of plates to be combined together up to 50 Specials in a single pass.
Select the Colour Key Combo from the PageSetup.
This will bring up the Colour Key Combo window.
You can select the colour combinations that you want to output and then add them to the list. You can remove items from the list by selecting them and pressing the `remove' button. The Remove all clears the list. The combinations shown on the right are the order that the job will output in one submission. To enable the colour key combo simply select the Print Colour Keys check box as before. If no combinations are enabled in the Colour Key Combo configuration tool then the classic Colour Key is used where each plate is output separately. e.g. if you have a 5 plate job you will get each of the plates output as single pages. To disable the Colour Key Combo's just un-check the Print Colour Keys check box.
There have been a few changes to the Queue Manager. Firstly is the ability to sort and order your jobs in the queue by selecting the title of the column you want ordered. i.e. either select Name, Size, Source or Status.
We have also added a `Select All' button so that all items on the list can be selected. This can be used for either submitting the entire queue or deleting it. You can also Select All items and then do item by item de-selection by holding the Control key and clicking on the jobs in the list.
The other change to the Queue Manager is that you now have the ability to view the thumbnail directly in the Queue Manager without needing to bring up the separate Thumbnail Application.
On this version you have the ability to submit jobs imaged on one printer, to another printer queue of the same type. When you select a job and submit it, you get the submit chooser appear as before.
But now all compatible printers are displayed in the chooser instead of just the single printer that you printed to. This will help people that have more than one of the same machines and have a problem on one of them. Instead of having to re-image the job, you can simply re-direct to one of the other printers.
Note: All the data in the file is as it was when imaged through the pagesetup. e.g. if JobInfo was turned on in the pagesetup whose printer has failed then job info will appear on the job no matter what printer the job is submitted to. More importantly all of the colour management is already applied in the file so if your printers have very different characteristics, the colour will be wrong on the file that gets re-directed.
Multiple jobs can be submitted to another queue in one go. For example, if your printer had problems you can `Select All' jobs in the queue and submit them to another printer.
We have added a new status to the Queue Manager which states when the job is Rotating.
Before the status always displayed imaging when time was really spent rotating the job.
There is a new option for the Epson 7000/9000 for faster output. To select this option go to your pagesetup and select customise.
We have added the ability to adjust the Orange and Green (Hexachrome) in the Gradation editor. You will see another tab
Select the Orange, Green tab to adjust the curves if required. These will only be used in a Hexachrome pagesetup.
There are a couple of changes to the Print Gallery. In particular the speed of displaying of the thumbnails is far faster and they are also scalable. Just below the list of Printers you will see a `Size' button.It also uses less memory.
There is a new option for the Heidelberg input filter where you can ignore orphaned.lhd files. These orphaned files are ones that do not have an associated job.ddc file. They normally show up so you can stitch them together by using Virtual Press if you want to. But sometimes these can be confusing when displayed in the RIP Monitor. So now there is an option not to show them.
In the RIP's control panel, select your Heidelberg RIP setup and click on the customise button. If you do not wish to see the orphaned file, select the option, accept and save. You will need to re-poll to see the new list.
For the Linearisation, Correction and Dot Gain curves the characteristics of the curve are shown in the Curve Chooser.
On all of the lists of configurations used in the various applications you have the ability to resize the list to the desired amount.
All the main printer drivers have been re-written to utilise the new calibration process, but as this can be problematic to some customers as they upgrade from their 2.5.3 version we have also included the last release drivers referred to as `Vintage' drivers.
If you are extremely happy about the current level of colour matching and quality from the 2.5.3 version then you can continue to use the existing drivers with all the additional features and no need to re-calibrate. When the software is first run after an upgrade the drivers are checked and if they are the previous versions the Vintage drivers are selected by default.If you want to utilise all the new calibration procedures then you must select the appropriate driver which have names similar to previous releases (just with different versions). i.e If you have BlackMagic 2.5.3 and running an Epson 10000cf, the first time you upgrade the driver "Vintage Epson Stylus Pro 10000 (2.5.3 compatibility) Rev 1.11" will be selected so you can continue as you did before the upgrade. To use the new calibration, select the driver "Epson Stylus Pro 10000 Rev 3.09"
We have added the ability to add your own slugline or logo to the job. It can be positioned anywhere outside the job and scaled to the desired size. This is accessible through the pagesetup.
The File must be an EPS and all fonts must be included. You may have the logo or slugline at any location on the server where BlackMagic is installed but the default place is in the BlackMagic home directory under lib/sluglines. There is a default slugline there for you to use if you wish.
The logo is attached to the position requested after rotation. i.e. if you specify that you want the logo in the bottom right hand corner then it will always be in the bottom right hand corner irrespective of job rotation. It does not rotate the logo so if you want it down one side you must save the EPS 90 degrees rotated.
The server log has been changed to make it more manageable There is a separate window that can be called up from the Launch Pad which gives simplified log messages. From here you can also trim the log file and save it to a file in HTML format. The log file is automatically trimmed to 2 months as standard housekeeping by the server from now on.
The main server window will not change but the log file that is on the disk in the home directory - Blackmagic.log - has changed format. This means that as soon as you start the new BlackMagic server after an upgrade the current log file will be deleted. The new format of the log file is not easily readable any more. All future submissions of the log file to Serendipity Software or a local dealer should be done by saving the file through the server log window.
One of the main advantages of this, despite the log file never getting too big, is that the client, which can be installed on any machine can view the server log. This is an advantage for remote proofing as you now have full control and server information.
The server log window is started through the Utilities menu on the Launch Pad or by the short-cut keys <Ctrl><Shift>L while the launch pad is selected.
If you want to save what is being displayed in the window, click the `Save' button and you will be prompted for a file name and location.
The file saves in a html format making it easy to read in a web browser. This can be easily viewed or emailed to show problems.
There is a new application that displays density readings and tint values from the range of on-line densitometers that BlackMagic now supports. To start the densitometer, either select it from the pull down menu on the Launch Pad or click the densitometer icon on the front.
Once you have some readings in the list you can export these to a file in either tab or space delimited and either CMYK or KCMY. If you have entered values for the Reference targets, selecting an entry in the list will display the appropriate % tint values. i.e. Enter the paper density, then enter the solid density for say Cyan. Then measure a Cyan patch and the respective Cyan tint value is shown on the Dot area next to Cyan. Also if you select the `Paper Corrected' check box in the Densities section, the densities in the text boxes are paper corrected densities i.e. the density values for each of the four colours read for paper are subtracted from the read values under Colour Info. The values in the list are not corrected and are the real read values.
There is another new application called the ICC Tweaker. This gives you the ability to adjust very specifically certain colours that do not get mapped properly by the ICC profiles. This is a common problem where not all colours always get mapped. This application gives you the ability to enter the value of the colour you want to change and how much you want to affect it.
Start the ICC Tweaker either by choosing the application from the launch menu on the Launch Pad or from the front panel button.
When the window first appears you are presented with a list of existing tweak-sets. You can either select one of these or create a new tweak-set. These next steps take you through creating a new tweak-set.
Select `New' from the Project Menu and you will be prompted through each stage of creating a tweak-set.
Once you have entered all the relevant data the tweak window will allow you to manipulate your colours.
Once you have created the colours for one rendering intent you can select them individually, or multi-select with the use of shift or control key, copy them, change to a different rendering intent and paste them. Once you have your colours created, save the set under the project menu. You then need to select the tweak-set to be used in your pagesetup. Under the colour management selection you will see a new button which allows you select your tweak-set.
This section will describe the steps required in the new calibration process. It will utilise two new applications, the Paper Profile Modifier and the Lineariser and is based around ICC profiles. However, if you prefer not to use icc profiles then the initial stages are the same.
To summarise the process, the steps are as follows:
It all starts with the paper profile. This is a profile of the ink and paper combinations which vary between manufacturers and models. Paper profiles are provided by Serendipity Software or an approved dealer. These normally come as a database file and needs to be loaded through the Database Manager. Once they are loaded into the system, select your pagesetup you are going to calibrate and check that the configuration is correct.
Note: The Light Cyan and Light Magenta is no longer selected through the Colourspace setting on the main pagesetup window. Instead, select the `customise' button and enable the `Use light inks' option.
Make sure that you have the correct paper configured and the resolution and colour space is correct. Select the paper profile for your type of machine by selecting the `Paper Profile' button under the colour management section.
Once selected, save the pagesetup. You are now ready to check Ink Limits.
This section sets the ink limits for the paper. You may not need to complete this section as the Paper profile will already have some ink limits set. We are covering this so you can adjust them if you need to.
Select the Paper Profile Modifier from the Launch Pad.
Print the chart out by clicking the Print Chart button and selecting the pagesetup that you are calibrating. The chart looks like this.
Some of the patches will come out wet and some dry. The ink limits set are the point where the most amount of ink can be placed on the paper without flooding or over saturating. Sometimes you will see a mottling effect so this is too much ink and will result in a poor profile. It is a good idea to check this chart as soon as it has been printed before it has had time to dry. This way you get an accurate assessment of the printers ability of placing ink on that paper.
Adjust the maximum ink limits if you need to and save the paper profile. If you do not want to overwrite the existing one, then choose save as and give it another name. Make sure that you select this new paper profile in the pagesetup though.
Here you create a curve that linearises your paper and ink combinations. To start the lineariser, select the lineariser button from the front of the Launch Pad.
This takes you through a step by step process to create a linearisation curve for your device. Step through the tabs following the instructions. You cannot proceed from one tab to the next without making a selection. Message are displayed at the bottom of the window and there are some instructions in the bottom half.
There are three options on the first tab.
Create a new linearisation curve from scratch - This starts from the beginning to produce an entirely new curve.
Create a new linearisation curve using existing data - Use existing readings but create a new curve so you do not overwrite the one you have.
Update an existing linearisation curve - Change an existing curve.
Choose the first option to create a curve from scratch.
Select the pagesetup that you are currently calibrating, then move to the next tab.
Once you have selected the device you have attached move to the next tab. If you do not have a device connected to the serial port of the server then choose `Manual Data Entry'.
Click the Print Chart button to output the linearisation chart. The chart depends on the device chosen in tab 3 as it suites the instrument you are using to read the patches. The chart is automatically sent to the pagesetup chosen in tab 2.
When the chart is printed leave it for a short time to stabilise before reading. If you are using an on-line device select the `Measure Chart' option. The server will then look for your selected device. Once it finds it will report at the bottom of the lineariser window that it is ready for the black strip. Read the black strip and wait until the server reports that it is ready for the Cyan strip. Repeat until all of the colours have been read. If there is a bad reading at any time the graphical user interface will tell you and get you to re-read the strip.
Once all the strips have been read you are prompted to `Commit the data'.
To see the that the linearisation curve has been attached to the pagesetup simply select the pagesetup you are calibrating again to update the interface. You will see your new curve attached.
If you need to re-measure a strip, select the strip and click the Re-measure Patch/Strip.The server will check for your instrument again and once found get ready to measure.
You are now ready to profile your printer. This is the same as before only there is a linearisation curve attached.
After you have your profiles for your printer and run a press job and assess it. There may be some minor adjustments required. These would either be by applying a correction curve which would change the weights of individual (process) colours or by way of a Gradation curve, which is applied to all process evenly. For example, if you wish to make the overall proof lighter you would apply a process dot gain curve. If you wanted to adjust the weight of the black then you would alter the black curve in the gradation editor and apply it in the correction LUT.
The database manager has changed the format of the file it creates for archiving to make it more memory efficient. This means that archives created with the database manager on v2.5.3 cannot be loaded into the database manager in this version. If you need to restore a database that you archived in the older version to the current release, you can do it with the old client. Here's how:-
Run the client from the 2.5.3 version and start the database manager.
Load the archive that you created in 2.5.3.
Select the item you want to restore and add them to the database (which is v2.6)
Quit the 2.5.3 client and start the v2.6 client for normal operation.
Note: This is the only time you should run an old client with a new server, otherwise you will get errors reported.
The Roland is now fully supported to use all 8 colour inks. This works by converting the incoming file to CMYKOG by way of the ICC Profile. You cannot print in six colours and pass through BlackMagic ICC engine to output. To create the targets for ICC profile you save as a single file DCS 2.0 with hexachrome comments defining the plates which works as it does not go through the ICC engine. You can save any file in this way for printing but you will have to use the Gradation editor to create curves for calibration. This can be done for all six colours now.