Compose Releases Star Plate 1.6

We're glad to announce the release of Star Plate 1.6 This new version of Star Plate brings compatibility with the new Epson Stylus Pro 4900, 7890 and 9890 wide format printers. Star Plate is an ideal tool for making screened film or plate output out of an Epson Stylus Pro plotter.

Star Plate uses the actual dots of the original RIPped 1-bit file and preserves its dot patterns, screening and dot gain calibration. With it's high quality dot formation engine, Star Plate can output film or plates at 150 lpi with a high quality hard dot with the density values similar to what's expected from traditional film or plate devices.



Star Plate software runs on any Intel MacOS computer, the most popular platform in graphic art industry. Easy to use, powerful, compatible, stable, secure, easy for installation and configuration. With simple operation features, operators able to manage without pressure.

If you have any questions, please contact us or your local Compose Dealer.

With Star Proof 6 spot color matching is a breeze

By Michael Jahn



Capable of simulating line screens up to 220 lpi, Star Proof is well known for reproducing the sharpest dots possible on an Epson proofer. Star Proof will show the same dot produced by your RIP on your proofer, in just the way they will show once printed on your press. But, did you know that Star Proof can reproduce spot colors with a high degree of accuracy?

The new EPSON Sylus Pro 7900/9900 and WT7900 offer an incredibly larger color gamut than previous plotters. This is due to the additional inks these plotters utilize. Orange and green on the Stylus Pro 7900 and 9900. And white ink on the WT7900. Star Proof 6 takes advantage of this larger color space to accurately reproduce spot colors. Calibrating Star Proof to do this, it's very easy with its optional Packaging Option. Here's how:

With the aid of X-Rite's color port, we create a target made up of all the spot colors that we wish to calibrate. Then we print it and read it using your favorite spectro device - in our case, we used the i1 iSis reader, also from X-Rite.




Then we iterate this process. As we go along, we watch the dE between the actual values and the expected values get smaller and smaller



... and at the end of the process, we have over 1100 spot color definitions with 96% of them under 5 dE. Simple!



Another very cool feature of the Star Proof Packaging option is the ability to add spot colors by using an spot spectrophotometer, like X-Rite's i1. Read it, add it to the spot color list and you are ready to use it.

Think accurate duotones
Have you ever tried to proof a duotone? Star Proof can generate color precise duotones. With Star Proof your press operator can see a proof and know what inks make up a color. Try that with your average proof from a plotter.

Star Proof also enables you to assign the appropriate opacity to each spot color providing ultimate press simulation.

You may be thinking, why a dot proof?

Printing processes that use coarse screening or different screen ruling in the same job will have a major influence on its visual appreance and color gamut.
Actual dot per dot - right down to rosettes, fine line art, text at just 1pt, and even defects such as moire patterns.

Here's how a typical Star Proof workflow looks like:

Click on the image to see a larger view

Star Proof updated for Snow Leopard

Today we released a Star Proof update which brings compatibility with MacOS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard. This update is recommended for Star Proof 6, Star Proof 5 and Star Proof Lite users. Star Proof is Compose's dot per dot proofing system. Star Proof recombines 1 bit tiffs to produce color accurate proof that simulate line screens up to 220 lpi on CMYK and spot colors.
When Star Proof 6 is used with Epson's new Stylus Pro 7900 or 9900 printers, besides generating the best dot shape on an inkjet proofer, it can reproduce spot colors very accurately. Please contact your Compose dealer or Compose USA for download and installation details. To download a Star Proof brochure click here
Stop by our booth 6555 at Print09 to see Star Proof 6 in action.