_{Click to view a larger image (RDT)}

 

Real Dot Technology

Invented by Serendipity Software in 1996, RDT (Real Dot Technology) made Blackmagic the first software capable of delivering proofs containing exactly the same dot structure as source imagesetter/platesetter RIP files.

RDT remains an integral part of all Serendipity proofing packages and is the most popular feature of the software.

 

Colour Management System & Spot Colour Handling

Blackmagic is built on a full 16-bit engine. The colour management system is ICC v4.2 compliant and is adept at reproducing spot colours within the gamut of CMYK proofers. Unlimited spot colours can be easily imported or created, assigned a paint mode (overprint, knockout, primer, transparent, opaque), a tint level within each mode and a unique dot gain curve. Special colours are handled in an L*a*b* colourspace for maximum accuracy.

 

Multicolour Support

Blackmagic features full multicolour support and can proof any multicolour printing process, be it hexachrome, heptachrome or any custom process. Support for unlimited spot colours means precise proofing for any job, regardless of the complexity.

 

Colour Verification

Blackmagic features a system for creating colour verification charts generated from press ICC profiles or imported from text or CGATS files. Users can define the number of patches making up the chart; process colour, paper and gray balance patch types; and set maximum, average and standard Δe (CIE76, CIE94 or CIE2000), ΔH and ΔC tolerances. Charts can be printed individually or attached to jobs and are auto-formatted to be read by a supported Spectrophotometer. Measurements are compared to target press standard values and the resulting pass or fail for the print is displayed on screen. Detailed Calcheck summaries are stored within Blackmagic and can be printed to a detailed report at any time.

 

16-Bit Processing

Blackmagic has a full 16-bit engine, providing over 250 times the colour depth of regular 8-bit processing during imaging, colour management, screening and rendering. 16-bit images are managed at their native colour depth and 8-bit images are upscaled to take advantage of the benefits of 16-bit. Greater colour depth allows for finer colour control and precise image reproduction.

 

Gray Balancing

Neutral gray balance has long been a goal in printing. Creating gray tones without any colour cast using a CMYK (or simulated RGB) printer ink set is not a simple task. Until now, this has been a task left to ICC profiles, with varying results, depending on printing conditions. Blackmagic's linearisation algorithms are designed specifically to balance your printer's CMY or RGB gray output, while bringing its ink channels to a linear state. Essentially, this means your printer output is gray balanced before it hits the output ICC profile. Blackmagic does the heavy lifting before creating your ICC profile, allowing the profiling software to fine-tune your gray output with greater accuracy - producing optimal gray balanced prints.

 

RGB Support

Blackmagic allows files to be rendered in RGB using industry standard ICC profiles and rendering intents. Blackmagic also supports RGB print modes for supported RGB-enabled printers. Media configurations use RGB output ICC profiles and custom gray-balance focused linearisation.

 

Rendering Effects

Blackmagic features a range of rendering effects that can be applied to a job. These effects include mirroring and rotation, nesting (intelligent image fitting and scaling), cropmarks and borders, tiling for large poster images, and unsharp masking. Watermarks can be applied to images to protect your copyright, or your company logo can be placed anywhere around a job.

 

SoftProof

Blackmagic's SoftProof application uses ICC colour management of the monitor to display colour accurate previews at full output resolution.

 

Multi-core Processing

Built on the latest code and taking full advantage of the increasing power of current and future multi-core CPUs, Blackmagic is made to be fast... very fast. Integral multi-core CPU support allows multiple jobs to be processed simultaneously, while multithreading ensures all CPU cores are hard at work, even on single jobs. Blackmagic has the fastest imaging and rendering times of any RIP on the market. Saving on processing time means more time printing.

 

Clustering

Multicore processing isn't the only feature of Blackmagic able to speed up your proofing workflow. Cluster Nodes, running on additional computers can be seamlessly added to the cluster and are managed centrally via the Blackmagic Server. Each node can be configured to process jobs for specific printers or auto-scheduled, ensuring faster nodes receive and process jobs before slower ones. Nodes can also be run across mixed Linux, Mac OS X or Windows platforms.

 

Printing

Blackmagic provides several methods to submit jobs for proofing, suited to different environments and workflows. Blackmagic can automatically process and print jobs dropped into a DropFolder or polled from a platesetter RIP output folder. For those who like to keep it simple, images can be submitted directly or dragged and dropped a file onto a DropSpot for instant output to a calibrated printer setup. Media and print configurations can be added as standard Windows or Mac OS X printer destinations, allowing desktop design applications to print straight to Blackmagic. Printing to network printers is available via multiple supported network protocols including Bonjour/Zeroconf.

 

AirPrint

With Serendipity's AirPrint support you can print to any device supported by Blackmagic and Megarip, right from your iPad. There's no software or drivers to install - simply select the device from the print dialog, dial in the number of copies and watch it go. AirPrint was added in Apple's iOS 4.2 and allows printing from iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

 

Total Printer Control

Blackmagic uses a paper profiling system that individually characterises proofing media based on colourspace, output resolution, printer ink set and paper being used for proofing. Users can assess and select what dots will be fired by the print head for each ink channel; choose from a number of intelligent ink limiting algorithms; and linearise the printer based on a customisable set of gradation curve points.

 

Screen Printing

Blackmagic features a screen print mode, designed for printing film separations with an inkjet printer. Files are separated into individual plates and each plate is printed as a black separation with halftone dots applied at the colour's respective screen angle. Users have the option of combining two or more overlaid inks for each plate to increase the density or alter the hue of the output film separations. Screen frequency, dot shape and screening angles can be defined and plates printed using standard halftone screening, or Blackmagic's SuperCell mode, which produces better dot shape and higher quality output.

 

Unlimited Printers

Blackmagic supports all major brands of large format printers used for CTP proofing. A driver suite of choice comes with Blackmagic and allows output to any supported printer model made by the selected manufacturer. Extra printer licenses are available separately. In addition, Blackmagic can run as many local or remote printers are as available on your network.

 

De-Imposition

A built-in de-imposition engine allows imposed press files to be virtually cut and proofed at published size, as singles, 2UPs, or duplexed using any supported printer. The user interface features the ability to multi-select individual signatures within a group, allowing mass changes to parameters such as plate offset or page size - invaluable when working with large publications. Users can custom build signature groups or import them from jobs directly in a number of industry formats, such as Dynastrip, Preps and JDF.

 

Nesting

Blackmagic allows users to make the most of available print media with its Nesting feature. Using automatic nesting, print queues are able to collect, intelligently arrange and auto-rotate incoming jobs to best use the space available on your print media, minimising waste. Nesting can be configured according to percentage of sheet coverage, number of jobs, minimum or maximum media length, idle wait time, or can be initiated manually at any time. The Studio application allows images to be nested manually. Jobs are submitted to a queue, waiting to be printed. Studio's visual interface enables the jobs to be placed and arranged on a defined media space. Positioning jobs is as easy as a drag and drop. Images can be spun, sized, shuffled around, placed in a grid or tiled. Users can even create and store libraries of standard nesting templates into which images can be placed. When the layout is ready, the nest is printed, exactly as it appears on screen.

 

Load Balancing

The Server continually tracks the number of jobs assigned to each output device, their total print area, progress status and print time. Using load balancing, print queues can be grouped and incoming jobs automatically allocated to the printer able to print them first. The same function can also assign a job to be output simultaneously by all printers, without the need to resubmit.

 

Media Control & Tracking

Blackmagic's media tracking feature means never having to guess how much paper is left on the roll. Media configurations include the option to define sheet size and quantity or paper roll width and length, then track both the total area of jobs printed and the amount of media used. If your business uses multiple paper types for proofing jobs, Blackmagic allows you to assign a Media paper type to a printer so it only prints jobs for that paper. Other jobs are processed and placed in a holding queue until the appropriate paper type is loaded.

 

Custom User Interface

Blackmagic's user interface can be customised to suit your workflow. With a choice of job management applications - Jobs or Monitor - you can track the progress of a job before, during and after processing. Jobs, the default management application, allows users to access pre-configured layouts for monitoring job progress through the system. Monitor, a legacy job management utility, is a more customisable version of the Jobs application, with Modules available for users to create their own individual layouts. All modules available in either Jobs or Monitor can be opened in a standalone window if preferred.

 

Account Management

Secure account management prevents unauthorised access to Blackmagic applications and functions. Administrators can create groups and user login accounts with permissions tailored to specific roles within your environment. The system allows remote users to securely login and can be configured to notify users of system critical events via email.

 

Future Proof

The print industry is in a state of constant evolution. New standards and technologies emerge to replace the old. Blackmagic's adaptive colour management system uses a device independent profile connection space and is screen independent. It processes files containing halftone, stochastic, hybrid or any other screen type. This ensures the ability to proof data using any current or future screening and colour standards.

 

Multi-Platform

At Serendipity Software, we recognise there are as many computer, network and operating system solutions as there are workflows. That's why Blackmagic Servers, Cluster Nodes and Clients are made to run on any combination of Linux, Mac OS X or Windows systems, straight out of the box.

 

Modules

Serendipity Blackmagic has a series of integrated Modules used to manage jobs as they pass through the colour management system and to monitor Server and Client activity. Each module can be run as a standalone window, or as part of Blackmagic's user-configurable Monitor control panel. Click to view the full range of available Modules.

 

Applications

Serendipity Blackmagic includes a suite of customised Applications designed to provide the user with all the tools required to set up and maintain a digital proofing workflow. Functions include display & printer calibration, onscreen softproofing, configuration backup & transfer and colour verification. Click to view a complete list of the available Applications.