When converting from GDAPI direct connections to TIFF connections, there are two types of TIFF connections available. Depending on the device, device control software versions, or needs of your workflow, you may choose to convert to either TIFF or “TIFF Direct” connectivity types. This topic discusses the differences between TIFF and TIFF Direct, as well as how to configure a new TIFF connection  in your Prinergy Workflow system to generate the correct output to match what you currently get from a GDAPI connection.

TIFF Connectivity vs TIFF Direct Connectivity

TIFF Connectivity

The main difference between TIFF Connectivity and TIFF Direct Connectivity (also referred to JDF/JMF Connectivity) is that TIFF Connectivity(also called TIFF indirect), is an unmanaged (or “loose”) connection and TIFF Direct Connectivity is a managed (or “direct”) connection. With TIFF Connectivity, the Prinergy Workflow generates a TIFF file that is usually submitted to a TIFF Downloader hot folder of some sort, or written into a location where the TIFFs are collected and submitted to a print queue by a plate operator. In the TIFF Connectivity model, once the TIFFs have left Prinergy, they are no longer tracked by the Prinergy system and are tracked and interpreted solely by the system receiving them. 

More information on configuring TIFF Connectivity can be found in the Configuring plating devices using TIFF connectivity in the Prinergy System Administration guide:

TIFF Direct Connectivity

TIFF Direct, on the other hand, is a managed connection where the TIFFs are generated along with an associated JDF file that contains information for the system receiving the work about associations between the separate TIFF plates and processing information. Once the JDF and TIFFs have been received by the target device queue, a JMF backchannel is opened between the plate device’s control software and Prinergy. Status updates and processing information are sent back to Prinergy from the device control software and appear within Prinergy’s TRACK module. TRACK allows the operator to monitor, and in some cases manage, the output queue and the status of individual jobs and plates sent to any output devices that support TIFF Direct Connectivity and are configured for TIFF Direct with Prinergy. For information on configuring TIFF Direct Connectivity, please refer to the Configuring plating devices using TIFF Direct connectivitytopic in the Prinergy System Administration Guide.

TIFF Direct allows Prinergy to track the status, record plate usage and other device and output-specific information to job history for tracking purposes, and  send this information to MIS systems via connections like Kodak’s Business Link option for Prinergy Workflow.

Converting from GDAPI to TIFF Connectivity

Before disconnecting the GDAPI connected device,  determine which Process Templates need to be recreated using TIFF Connectivity. In many cases, there may be quite a few Process Templates configured on the system, but there is likely only a smaller subset of them that are frequently used. You will use the settings from the GDAPI output Process Templates as a basis for the TIFF output Process Templates.

Basic Guidelines for creating TIFF Connectivity Process Templates: 

• Set offsets in the TIFF Downloader to zero. 
• Make adjustments in Prinergy output PT if necessary, based on position to plate edge or punch, by generating some test plates.
• Determine whether you are imposing to plate or imposing to sheet, as this will determine how you apply offsets in the Process Template.
• Imposing to plate has zero offsets and zero center in the Layout section of the plating process template
• Imposing to sheet specifies offsets and center on width within the Layout section of the plating process template
• Prinergy should be set to generate TIFFs with 90 degrees rotation (heads left) + mirror. This makes migration of settings between direct and TIFF Process Templates much easier, because it matches the behind-the-scenes transformation that GDAPI automatically applies.
• You may have to  adjust the layout settings of the recipient TIFF Downloader software to compensate for the orientation change.
• The rotation is important because Prinergy generates stripped TIFFs, and we want to generate strips that are oriented in the same direction as the fast scan (around the drum) direction of the output device. This generally means that we generate the TIFFs with a 90-degree rotation, and then rotate them back to the get them in the correct heads direction, with strips that match the fast scan direction of the device
• Prinergy’s “Center on width” checkbox really means “Center on width of media”. Therefore, due to the 90-degree rotation in the layout, you need to select “center on height” in your TIFF-based PT when your original GDAPI PT specified “Center on width”. That is, you swap the “Center on” values. See the examples below.
• Prinergy’s “Rotate 270” setting really means “rotate image 270 on the unrotated media”. Therefore, you need to transpose the media values. For example, if your GDAPI PT was for 44” wide by 32” tall, the TIFF PT will need to specify Cut Sheet of 32” wide and 44” tall. See the examples below.
• In order to get the TIFF strips oriented correctly, a plate that is imaged as landscape when standing in front of the plating device needs to be treated as portrait when defining the layout in Prinergy.
• If the punch on your device is on the bottom of the plate when facing the plating device, then treat that edge as the left edge, when defining your layout in Prinergy.

Procedure: Converting GDAPI to TIFF Connectivity

Note: If you are making these changes while you are also running production, you may want to use Imposed Proof Process Templates to generate VPS files during the setup and use existing Proof JTPs for testing. This allows you to continue to use the GDAPI connections for production while you’re confirming that the new settings  create the correct result before sending output to plate.

1. Configure TIFF Downloader hot folders in your device control software (Print Console, Xpose, or Xpo). Consult the online help of your device control software for specific instructions.

1. In Workshop, launch the Process Template Editor.
2. Open the first Final Output PT from the list of Process Templates you will be converting. Make a note of the exact plate size that shows in the Process Template. Do a Save As and give it a new name (example: append “to TIFF” to the name). 
3. Open the new Process Template.
   1. Change “output to” to TIFF. 
   2. Use the default “Proof” pool for the JTP. 
   3. Make the destination folder the device hot folder path for the size of media you noted in the previous step. 
   4. In Processed File Options, enter “%job%.%imposition%.%signature%%surface%.%color%.%extension%” in the filename template field, if it is not already present.
   5. Set compression to LZW in the File Format tab.
   6. Change the Layout\Size pane to match the GDAPI values you noted in the previous steps, but with the width and height values and offsets swapped.
   7. Save the Process Template.
   8. Test output from the Process Template and ensure that the position on plate is as you expect.
   9. Repeat the above steps for all final output Process Templates you plan to convert.

For more information on configuring TIFF Connectivity, please see: the Configuring plating devices with TIFF connections.

A note about PrintLink

If you are using PrintLink with GDAPI direct connectivity and you are converting to TIFF Connectivity, you may have to change the orientation of your PrintLink files to get them to match the orientation of the plates in your press. This is due to the rotation applied in TIFF Connectivity to get the TIFF's strips to align with the fast scan direction of the plating device. PrintLink settings have an independent rotation setting, called Rotation from CTP to Press, that can be used to adjust the orientation for the PrintLink ink key files separately from the TIFF output. For more information on PrintLink rotation settings, please see PrintLink section of the Final Output process template.

Converting from GDAPI to TIFF Direct Connectivity

Before disconnecting the GDAPI connected device, determine which Process Templates need to be recreated using TIFF Connectivity. In many cases, there may be quite a few Process Templates configured on the system, but likely only a smaller subset of them are frequently used. You will use the settings from the GDAPI output Process Templates as a basis for the TIFF Direct output Process Templates.

Basic Guidelines for creating TIFF Connectivity Process Templates: 

• Set offsets in the TIFF Downloader to zero. 
• Make adjustments in the Prinergy output PT if necessary, based on the position to plate edge or punch, by generating some test plates.
• Determine whether you are imposing to plate or imposing to sheet, as this will determine how you apply offsets in the Process Template.
• Imposing to plate has zero offsets and zero center in the Layout section of the plating process template
• Imposing to sheet specifies offsets and center on width within the Layout section of the plating process template
• TIFF Direct applies the rotate and mirror transformations that GDAPI performs in the background. This means you do notneed to manually transpose the Width/Height values and offsets to get output to match GDAPI results.

Procedure: Converting GDAPI to TIFF Direct Connectivity

Note: If you are making these changes while you are also running production, you may want to use Imposed Proof Process Templates to generate VPS files during the setup and use existing Proof JTPs for testing. This allows you to continue to use the GDAPI connections for production while you’re confirming that the new settings  create the correct result before sending output to plate.

1. Configure TIFF Downloader and JDF hot folders in your device control software (Print Console or Xpo) to receive the TIFF Direct file set from Prinergy. Consult the online help of your device control software for specific instructions.
2. If you have not already configured the TIFF Direct plating device in the Prinergy Administrator as a managed connection, please do so. For information on configuring the managed connection for a TIFF Direct device, please see: Configuring Plating Devices Using TIFF Direct connectivity

1. In Workshop, launch the Process Template Editor.
2. Open the first Final Output PT from the list of Process Templates you will be converting. Make a note of the exact plate size that shows in the Process Template. Do a Save As and give it a new meaningful name (example: append “TIFFDirect” to the name.). 
3. Open the new Process Template.
   1. Change “output to” to TIFF Direct. 
   2. Use the default “Proof” pool for the JTP. 
   3. Go to the Device section of your Process Template and select the device you will be generating output to under the Device Name pulldown list.
   4. Under Device Path, define the destination folder for the TIFFs to be written into. Make sure this is located on the device control software’s server/workstation or a network location that the TIFF Downloader can access. 
   5. In Processed File Options, enter “%job%.%imposition%.%signature%%surface%.%color%.%extension%” in the filename template field, if it is not already present.
   6. Set compression to LZW in the File Format tab.
   7. Change the Layout\Size pane to match the GDAPI values you noted in the previous steps.
   8. Save the Process Template.
   9. Test output from the Process Template to ensure that the position on plate is as you expect.
   10. Repeat the above steps for all final output Process Templates you plan on converting.

For more information on configuring TIFF Direct Connectivity, please see Configuring Plating Devices Using TIFF Direct connectivity