Agfa Graphics is launching a new version of its Apogee workflow software to meet printers’ growing automation and performance demands.
The latest version of the software, Apogee 10, boasts extra features and better performance, with a new user interface for unbound work that aims to enable printers to make optimum use of press sheets and press time. Optimisation is possible for both regular and irregular-shaped print products and takes into account the required run length.
The latest Apogee software version also supports new digital print engines such as the Canon B4000 and Canon B5000 and the new Agfa Graphics Avalon N8-90 CtP. Communications manager Paul Adriaensen said: “A lot has changed in this new release – there’s an increase of throughput while extended capability keeps a higher amount of pages active in the system. Target customers are sheet and web-fed, hybrid and digital printers with Xerox iGen and Ricoh C9100 type of output as well as wide-format print applications from Jeti, Anapurna, HP Latex kit”.
Head of software Andy Grant said: “One of the most important features of Apogee 10, however, is its rejuvenated Digital Quick Strip (DQS) mechanism. By processing pages separately before integrating them into a placeholder, Apogee and DQS turn page revision into a swift and simple task. And the same goes for updating the press sheet layout due to last-minute job rescheduling. Thanks to DQS, printers’ throughput is higher and output resources are utilised in the best way possible.”
Improvements in Apogee 10 included enhanced versioning support and the integration of Agfa’s IntelliTune technology for automatic image correction and image quality improvement. “Apogee 10 allows printers to set up a versioning job based on spot colour input files”, Grant explained. “They can merge different parts of a versioning job on to one single plate to optimise press efficiency. All Apogee improvements aim to meet the ever-growing automation and performance needs of professional printers.” A web-based file upload and page approval portal called WebApproval now shows preflight notifications, page bleed and trim sizes to the connected print buyers. This aims to help users discover potential issues early in the production process to try and avoid costly mistakes. Users can even preview separations online to check if black text is set to overprint or a logo appears on the correct spot colour plate. They can validate complex versioning jobs from within their browser. WebApproval is meant to be an online collaboration tool that strengthens the relationship between the printer and customers.
Apogee also directly links to wide-format devices such as Jeti Tauro, Jeti Mira and the Anapurna family and a range of non-Agfa wide-format engines. In addition to its new features and performance improvements, Apogee 10 will also be available as a cloud-based solution. “With Apogee Cloud, we offer printers the same Apogee products and features, only they are hosted by Agfa’s private and secure cloud”, said Grant. “That is a unique service and it comes with many advantages. There is no need, for example, to provide any local configuration, software installations or hardware expertise. Printers can just leave that up to our Apogee experts and ICT specialists.” Apogee 10 relied on the latest Adobe PDF print engine software, said senior product manager Mark Lewiecki. “Agfa customers are reaping the rewards with Apogee and Asanti workflow solutions, which harness the power of the Adobe PDF Print Engine,” he added.
