The Lucid Kimosetter Rip runs on all platforms - All versions of Windows from 2000, XP, to Vista AND all Mac platforms including PPC and Intel Mac's.

Are you a current Kimosetter user? If so then we would like your feedback. We are in the process of designing a new Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview application to allow you to preview your plate and image positioning prior to output and we would like to get your ideas about this project.

This project outlines two development projects; a new version of the Kimosetter Rip to include new updates and fixes to the basic Rip, and a new feature for viewing and positioning ripped jobs to the plate size. Sign Up And Send Us Your Ideas Below!

1. To run on Mac and PC.
Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will run as an integral part of the existing rip on all currently supported platforms.

2. To be started by the rip with any selected job.
The view button in the main rip application window will call the new Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview. If the Viewer feature is not installed in the rip environment then the current action of calling the system designated TIFF viewer will continue.

3. To load the job and the current plate settings from the rip.
When a file is sent to the rip queue the result is the rendered TIFF data and the plate setup from the queue for use in positioning on output. With this update the user selects a ripped job and presses the View button; the Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will load the currently selected ripped job and the currently configured plate parameters for this ripped job. The contents of these configurations are modifiable using the Viewer tool. These configuration parameters are then used by the rip print engine to send the final data to the Kimosetter imaging device.

4. To display the job with correct clipping of the imageable area and showing the margins to the edge of the selected plate material.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will render the ripped job onto a window with a canvas defined as the currently selected plate size. The canvas (Plate) will contain "masking" margins equal to the defined margins for the defined plates. These plate definitions are stored in an external XML file to allow for easy future modifications or additions. The defined margins will clip or mask the rendered image so that at all times the viewer will only display that part of the rendered image that falls inside the imageable area for the defined plate.

5. To allow the user to change the plate selection to one of the other supported sizes.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will provide a user interface item similar to the rip to display and allow the user to change the currently selected plate size to any of the other defined plate sizes.

6. To allow the user to change the offset values.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will provide a user interface item similar to the rip to display and allow the user to change the current X and Y offset values. The UI will include either a timed update function to update the preview shortly after the user changes the existing values or an Apply button to effect the changes - as decided during the UI development and approval cycle. In addition these values will also update with positional changes made while using the Hand Tool (item 8).

7. To allow the user to change the centering options.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will provide a user interface item similar to the rip to display and allow the user to change the current centering option. This will update the view to display how the selected centering option will affect the position of the rendered image.

8. To allow the user to be able to zoom in and out at various levels and to update the view with higher res data when zooming.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will provide a zoom tool user interface item where the user can either click in a location to zoom in or Shift Click to zoom out. The zoom tool will also support drag a zoom rectangle which will zoom to the level of showing the selected area into the window area. The window will be updated to the full resolution of the ripped image to provide maximum possible detail.

9. To provide a Hand Tool where the user can move the image as it relates to the plate and update the offset values according to these moves.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will provide a Hand Tool user interface item where the user can click and grab the rendered image and drag the image to another location and release to drop the image into this position. Depending on development and UI requirements this will be implemented by either presenting a "ghost" proxy image during the moving process and then re-render the canvas with the moved image, or to show live image movement, this will be decided during the UI design process.

10. To integrate with Kimosetter Rip return to rip and print as usual.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will function in either modal (must be dismissed before the rip dialog is available), or non-modal (rip dialog and viewer are independent windows) as decided during the UI design process. In either case once the user has finished working with the job in the Viewer tool the changes must be saved to the job before output. This saving will be available as both a UI - "Save" option within the Viewer tool and as a warning dialog if the Viewer Close option is selected while unsaved data is present.

11. To update Kimosetter rip on Mac and PC with newest release of GS.
There is a new version of the underlying rip with a number of improvements; in addition the Viewer integration will require certain changes to the rip application. This proposal will result in new versions of the rip with these updates included.

12. To design GUI to keep the look and feel of the rip and maintain similar language capability.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will be designed to keep a consistent look and feel with the buttons, dialogs, and look of the existing rip.
The Kimosetter "Spot On" Plate Preview will utilize the same or similar language translation capability to allow translation versions of the Viewer to be delivered with the installer.

The diagram below shows the basic workflow for using the Plate Positioning Viewer.

Plate Positioning Feedback We look forward to hearing your ideas about the "Spot On" plate previewer project!   *Your name  Postion  *Company     *Address  *City  State  *Zip Code  *Country     *E-Mail  *Phone  Fax      Please check this box if you are Human! (Spam protection)   Describe your plate positioning ideas here