When you send pages or sheets to an output device, you may want to include information about that output, such as the name of the color separation, job name, and output date. Variable marks, also known as marks or slug lines, allow this information to be gathered at the time of output.
You can create both sheet and page variable marks. To create variable marks, you can create a marks page in any desktop application and then output the marks page to PostScript and distill to PDF. Once you have created your Marks.pdf, you map to the sheet and page mark PDF files in the output PDF process templates. For more information, see Creating page and sheet mark files that include variable marks.
If you are creating a Preps imposition plan for imposed page-based output, you can create your variable marks using Preps text marks feature. When you print your Preps populated job ticket, Preps also automatically prints a marks PostScript file as well, which you must then distill to PDF. If submitting the populated job ticket via hot folders, you must also submit the Marks.pdf file at the same time. If you are submitting the populated job ticket via the template palette, you only need to submit the populated job ticket. When you submit a JDF (job definition format file) imposition file to any submission channel, you only need to submit the JDF file. Prinergy Evo software automatically assigns the Marks.pdf. For more information, see Outputting an imposed page-based proof, film, or plate.
When Prinergy Evo software activates the output from PDF process template, variable marks are replaced with the correct information.
Variable marks template format
Use the following format:
$[tag<n1, n2>]
where: tag is the name of a variable mark, for example, Job or Color. For supported variable marks, see below. n1 is an optional element and represents the index number, a number that begins at 0 for the left-most character and increases sequentially for each character to the right. For example, if your text reads, "Prinergy" then "P" is index number 0, "r" is index number 1, "i" is index number 2, and so on. n2 is an optional element and represents the maximum number of characters for the variable mark.
For example, if the text is "TestJob", the variable mark $[Jobname<2, 4>] displays stJo. Alternatively, if you use $[Jobname<3, -3>] the variable mark displays est.
Optional parameters
For some variable marks, you can add these parameters:
This Parameter | Can Be Used With These Variable Marks | To Do This |
|---|---|---|
|
| Use this parameter to print a swatch or block of color before the color name. For example, if you use |
|
| Use |
| Any mark | Use this parameter to allow you to shorten long color names. For example, to shorten the color mark "PANTONE-1234" to "PMS-1234" the color mark is |
List of variable marks
The following table lists, in alphabetical order, all valid variable marks and the type of information they represent. Variable marks are not case sensitive.
Page Marks are those that take data from the closest page.
Sheet Marks are those that take data from the surface.
Variable Mark | Mark Type | Information Represented |
|---|---|---|
| Page Sheet | The screen angle applied to a particular separation. |
| Sheet | The name of the Harmony calibration curve used to calibrate the output device. |
| Page Sheet (common) | The proper color name of an individual color separation. In making a composite proof, it is replaced by the word composite. |
| Page | This page mark is replaced with a list of all colors that were on a given page before any color mapping was done. This page mark can be used for separated or composite files. |
| Sheet | This sheet mark is replaced on output with all colors that are present on a surface. The output is in the following format: |
| Page Sheet | This variable mark shows the ColorFlow color setup that was selected in the refine to PDF process template. For more information, see the ColorFlow User Guide. |
| Page Sheet | This mark enables you to print more than one variable mark on a single line for page or sheet marks. |
| Sheet | The name of the output device that produced the proof or plate. If the output was to a file, this mark will contain the directory that output was directed to. |
| Page Sheet | A ColorFlow device condition name is a combination of a device and the operating conditions in which the device captures or produces an image. For more information, see the ColorFlow User Guide. |
| Page Sheet | A ColorFlow device name is an individual occurrence of a physical device that captures or produces an image. For more information, see the ColorFlow User Guide. |
| Sheet | The name of the default or override dot shape used to create the output. |
| Sheet | On output, this mark displays the Staccato pattern number that is used to screen the separation. For example, Cyan may be 1, Magenta may be 2, and so on. |
| Page Sheet | The path and name of the ICC profile used during color management. |
| Sheet | The horizontal bleed size of the imposition. |
| Sheet | The vertical bleed size of the imposition. |
| Sheet | The name of the imposition plan used to create the output. |
| Sheet | The horizontal trim size of the page position closest to the mark as defined in the imposition plan. |
| Sheet | The vertical trim size of the page position closest to the mark as defined in the imposition plan. |
| Sheet | The horizontal raster scaling amount applied to the surface. |
| Sheet | The vertical raster scaling amount applied to the surface. |
| Sheet | The horizontal vector scaling amount applied to the surface. |
| Sheet | The vertical vector scaling amount applied to the surface. |
| Sheet | The Prinergy Evo job name. When you submit a process through the Template Palette, you can specify a job name in the Process Start dialog box, Job name box. |
| Sheet | The Preps job identification. |
| Sheet | The Prinergy Evo job name and process name. When you submit a process through the Template Palette, you can specify a job name in the Process Start dialog box, Job name box. The process name is the text that displays in the Name field in the dialog box. |
| Sheet | Prints out the time of the marks PDF in |
| Sheet | Prints out the time of the marks PDF in |
| Sheet | This displays the names of colors that were mapped to other spot or process colors during output. |
| Sheet | The applied Harmony medium. |
| Page | The value in the Output Comment box on the Process Start dialog box. |
| Sheet | The date the output is created (yy-mm-dd). If you use the $[OutputDate] mark, the format is yy-mm-dd. If you use the $[Date] mark, the format can be adjusted using these tags:
|
| Sheet | Prints the date in %M-%Y format on output. |
| Sheet | The time the output is created (hh:mm:ss). If you use the $[OutputTime] mark, the format is hh:mm:ss. If you use the $[Time] mark, the format can be adjusted using these tags:
|
| Page | Prints the colors that exist in the PDF page that is closest to the variable mark. For example, if a page contains Cyan, Magenta, and Black, this mark will display Cyan (in cyan), Magenta (in magenta), and Black (in black). |
| Page | The date that the PDF page was created. This mark prints the date on each layer if additional layers are present. |
| Page | The name of the PDF page that is closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Page | The time that the PDF page was created. This mark prints the time on each layer if additional layers are present. |
| Page | The name of the PDF page that is closest to the variable mark. This mark will print out the page file name used for each layer, if additional layers (versions) are present. |
| Page | The page position name for the PDF page closest to the variable mark. Page position names are the identifiers used to indicate position within a page set. |
| Page | The page position number for the PDF page closest to the variable mark. Page position numbers are the identifiers used to indicate position within a page set. |
| Page | The horizontal offset of the page closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Page | The vertical offset of the page closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Page | The orientation (0°, 90°, 180°, or 270°) of the page closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Page | The network path for the page associated with the mark. |
| Page | The horizontal scale of the page closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Page | The vertical scale of the page closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Page | The horizontal trim size of the page closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Page | The vertical trim size of the page closest to the PDF file containing the variable mark. |
| Sheet | This mark indicates the plate curve used on output. |
| Sheet | A unique number in case you want to remake an identical version of a plate that you've already created. |
| Page Sheet | When using ColorFlow, you establish the behavior of a particular plate, screening, and plating line by plating a tint ramp, manually measuring the resulting dot area on the plate, and entering the values in the Plate Setups dialog box in the ColorFlow software. For more information, see the ColorFlow User Guide. |
| Page | The page position name for the PDF page closest to the variable mark. Page position names are the identifiers used to indicate position within a page set. |
| Page | The page position number for the PDF page closest to the variable mark. Page position numbers are the identifiers used to indicate position within a page set. |
| Sheet | The order that colors will be printed on press. |
| Page | Name of the process name. The process name is the text that displays in the Name field in the Process Start dialog box, which appears when you add input files to a process template. |
|
| The name of the output process template used to create the output. |
| Sheet | The horizontal resolution of the output. |
| Sheet | The vertical resolution of the output. |
| Sheet | The RIP that was used for output, either Adobe CPSI or the Adobe PDF Print Engine. |
| Sheet | The default or override line screen ruling used during output. For AM screening, this refers to the size of the screen ruling in lines per inch (lpi). For FM screening, this refers to feature size in microns. |
| Sheet | The default or override screening system family name used for the output. |
| Sheet | The sheet number. |
| Sheet | The signature number. |
| Page Sheet | A ColorFlow snapshot captures the state of the entire color database, making its elements available to the workflow, as well as providing a convenient backup. |
| Sheet | The surface ID of the plate. If the plate is the front side, "U" is printed. If the plate is the back side, "L" is printed. |
| Sheet | The letter identifier for the surface. For example, a four-surface signature for a dual web press would be labeled A through D. |
| Sheet | The name of the surface-either Front or Back. |
| Sheet | The list of colors that you'd get for the surface, had you not mapped spots to process. |
| Sheet | Identifies the user that ran the output process. |
| Sheet | The Variable Mainscan Imaging (VMI) resolution that is added to the VMI dpi box. The dpi box is located in the Device section of the output from PDF, output from imposition, and output from TIFF process templates. |
| Sheet | The actual web growth distortion factor on the plate. Use these marks to show the horizontal or vertical web growth expansion factor that was used for the separation as specified by "expansion xpercent" in the XML profile file (with suffix .wpg ). |
| Sheet | Name of the web growth profile used, if a web growth profile is selected in the process template. |
| Sheet | Shows the tower ID for the separation as specified in the tower-color map file. The tower-color file is a text file that specifies the names of the color separations in a file and the number of the press color tower running each color. |
| Sheet | The imposition's workstyle, such as "sheetwise ." |