Xinet readies new version of OPI server
Xinet Inc. is prepping the latest version of its FullPress OPI server software for release this month.
The company said Version 9.0 will improve image handling in QuarkXPress, add support for ICC color profiles and boost prepress file-format compatibility.
Demonstrated earlier this month at Seybold San Francisco, the update will come with Color Verite, Xinet's proprietary ICC-compatible color management engine, which offloads profiling tasks from the Mac to the Unix-based server running on a Silicon Graphics workstation. The company said managers will be able to enable or disable the technology for each print job, which can improve performance when profiles are missing.
Version 9.0 will also include Picture Wrangler, a QuarkXTension that replaces XPress' Picture Usage dialog box for OPI work flows. The software reduces manual tracking and linking of images; it can find and relink moved images for an entire document automatically, Xinet said. It can also round up all the high-resolution or placed images in a document.
The update will feature FullPress XT, an XTension that streamlines handling of OPI placeholder images. The company said the software will let users apply masking and clipping paths to images as well as tint gray-scale replacement images.
In addition, FullPress XT will let users import a wider range of image formats created with prepress systems from vendors such as DuPont Printing & Publishing, Scitex America Corp. and Silicon Graphics Inc.
Xinet also took the wraps off WebNative, a $7,500 image-conversion utility. The company will aim the software at remote distribution of OPI replacement images via the Internet. Offered initially to FullPress sites, Xinet said it eventually plans to offer a stand-alone version.
According to Xinet, WebNative will convert 17 common prepress image formats to either JPEG or GIF. Supported formats include EPS, TIFF, Adobe Photoshop, Contex Eclipse TILE, Contex CT, Dalim CT, Desktop Color Separation 1.0 and 2.0, and Scitex CT and MaskCutter.
FullPress licenses cost $7,500 to $25,000 per Unix server, depending on the number of concurrent users of the server. The company said the update will be free to systems under service contract; for other users it will cost 15 percent of the license fees.
Xinet Inc. of Berkeley, Calif., can be reached at (510) 845-0555; fax (510) 644-2680; sales@xinet.com; http://www.xinet.com.