Archive for May, 2007
Cottonwood Printing Aims to be Greenest Printer in New Mexico
Printer eliminates hassles and gains marketing edge with pro environment position
Cottonwood Printing Co. in Albuquerque, N.M., has always believed in using technology to enhance quality and help protect the environment. Chief Executive Officer Blake Thies says Cottonwood was the first printer in the state to install computer to plate (CTP) digital technology when it became available to eliminate the need for film. Now the company has added KODAK THERMAL DIRECT Non Process Plates and a KODAK MAGNUS 400 F Speed CTP Device in its quest to become even more environmentally friendly.
“The imaging on the KODAK THERMAL DIRECT Non Process Plate is a step up from what we had in terms of sharpness. It also gives us the chance to use a true process free plate, which reduces our waste stream considerably. Cottonwood wants to be the greenest printer in New Mexico and this is a major step in advancing our environmental philosophy,” Thies said. “We’re doing the right thing by going with the KODAK Non Process Plates, but it also streamlines our prepress operation. We don’t have to use as much space, the area is cleaner, and we don’t have to worry about storing and changing the chemistry.”
The KODAK THERMAL DIRECT Non Process Plate develops on press, eliminating the costs associated with standalone processors, including maintenance, chemistry and chemistry handling, and floor space requirements. Customers save time and reduce variability by decreasing the number of steps in prepress. In addition, THERMAL DIRECT Non Process Plates are compatible with all popular thermal CTP imagers and a wide range of inks and fountain solutions. Read more
Adobe Announces Availability of Acrobat 3D Version 8
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Acrobat® 3D Version 8 software, a major upgrade to the desktop application for driving document-based 3D design collaboration and CAD data interoperability capabilities to virtually anyone inside manufacturing organizations and across the global supply chain.
With Acrobat 3D Version 8, CAD, CAM, CAE, and technical publishing professionals in the aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, heavy machinery, life sciences, and AEC industries can convert virtually any 3D CAD file—including large assemblies of more than 500 megabytes—into a single PDF document. The PDF file can maintain precise geometry or be compressed over 100 times smaller than the original file, depending on the needs of the specific business process. Three-dimensional CAD data can also be easily combined with other critical project information, such as product specifications, spreadsheets and bills of materials, into a more secure PDF document containing product manufacturing information (PMI). PMI is used to convey geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, annotations and other specifications directly on a 3D model. Read more
Extensis Ships First-Available Font Management Plug-ins for Adobe® CS3
Free auto-activation plug-in and update now available for Adobe Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3.
Extensis, a brand of Celartem, Inc., today released free plug-ins for Suitcase Fusion and a free update for Suitcase for Windows to provide the world’s most advanced font activation and deactivation for Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 documents. Extensis is the first font management provider to release plug-ins that have been designed for and tested on Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Standard editions and Web Premium and Standard editions software. The Suitcase Fusion plug-in ensures that any time users open an Adobe Illustrator® CS3 project; the exact fonts are automatically and accurately activated or deactivated. The Suitcase for Windows product update works with both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign® CS3 applications.
“Font Management is a critical need for creative professionals using Adobe Illustrator CS3 and Adobe InDesign CS3,” said Will Eisley, director of product management, Illustration and Layout Products at Adobe. “We applaud Extensis for being the first to bring this benefit to both our customers through font management plug-ins for Creative Suite 3 that enables consistent and predictable font auto-activation.”
Suitcase Fusion™ and Suitcase™ for Windows auto-activation plug-ins utilize Extensis’ patented Font Sense™ auto-activation, allowing users to work fluently with fonts in CS applications and eliminate potential font problems before workflow disruption can occur. Font Sense technology provides a robust and industry-proven mechanism to identify and match exact versions of fonts. Extensis uses this cross-platform technology in its own font management applications to ensure that an application can activate the exact version of a font. Font Sense is available in Suitcase Fusion, Suitcase for Windows and Font Reserve Server and allows for true font identification in Illustrator, InDesign and QuarkXPress documents. Read more