Star Proof and Star Plate are Roaring

last week Apple launched it's most successful OS ever. Over a million download in just one day. Compose was ready for the event and I'm very glad to tell you that Star Proof and Star Plate have been updated so they are compatible with Lion (MacOS X 10.7).



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 Proof is dot per dot proofing system 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.

This new update allows Star Plate to better and more precisely handle top and left margins. Up to four decimal places.

Previous versions of Star Proof and Star Plate where unable to save license the file on OS X Lion, this has now been fixed. Keep in mind that you will have to install Java Runtime as it's not installed by default with the standard Lion installation procedure.

For more information e-mail me at alvaro@composeusa.com

Star Plate & iCTF Calibration Results

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.

On this video we check the film density and calibration. On an Epson Stylus Pro 7900 and using Compose's iCTF we can achieve densities that hover at 4.0.




For more information e-mail sales@composeusa.com

PaSharp Nested Step & Repeat

As you might have seen on my previous post, PaSharp offers a very powerful set of trapping tools. Now we'll talk about nested step and repeat for packaging. PaSharp offers a tool that does just that.

From within Adobe Illustrator, using PaSharp you can quickly step & repeat your jobs by coordinates or you can directly import a CAD layout file, PaSharp supports DXF and CFF2 formats. Its interactive step & repeat tools allow you to automatically add station numbers with specified sequences. Plus PaSharp provides modes for adjusting bleeds & overlaps.





On this video Michael Jahn shows us how to use the PaSharp nest feature to step & repeat a job in Adobe Illustrator.

PaSharp Trapping Tools

PaSharp has a powerful set of professional trapping tools designed to meet the expectation of packaging professionals.

On these videos Michael Jahn shows us how easy it is to use Adobe Illustrator® and PaSharp to trap from very simple elements to highly complicated ones. Including trapping of image and vectors.
















If you have any questions, please contact your local Compose dealer or e-mail us at sales@composeusa.com

InfoFlex 2011, see you there

May 2nd and 3rd I'll be at the InfoFlex show at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN. This is the #1 show for the packaging and converting industries. I'll be at the Anderson Vreeland booth showing the latest Compose products. Including Express Label Print. Anderson Vreeland recently became OKI 510 DW dealers and as you know this product uses the Compose Express Label Print.



If you're going to be at InfoFlex 2011, stop by.

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.

Compose Releases Star Proof 6.5

We are proud to announce the release of Star Proof 6.5. Star Proof is Compose's dot per dot proofing solution. Capable of generating proofs up to 220 lpi. Star Proof does this by recombining 1 bit tiffs or ESKO LEN files. This new version of Star Proof brings compatibility to the new Epson Stylus Pro 3880, 4900, 7890 and 9890 plotters.

The Epson Stylus Pro 4900 is designed to offer professionals a powerful combination of performance, flexibility and ease-of-use. It includes automatic switching between roll and cut-sheet media, allowing users to have both the front paper cassette and roll feeder loaded with different media types and automatically switch between them with a simple driver selection. In addition, the high-capacity paper cassette holds up to 200 sheets of 8.5”x11” to 17”x24” sized sheets.



The Epson Stylus Pro 7890 and 9890 offer the same leading technology found in the Epson Stylus Pro 900-series, including ePlaten™ automatic media loading, spindle-free roll media loading, a roll media tracking system, front control panel with 2.5-inch color LCD, rotary cutter, fabric catch bin, and robust printer stand. The printers also feature Epson’s latest ink-repelling coating and auto nozzle verification technologies to virtually eliminate clogged nozzles, and use nine individual high-capacity ink cartridges up to 700 ml. In addition, these new models are capable of handling virtually any media type, in roll or cut-sheet. Both models are available with an optional SpectroProofer® spectrophotometer.

All these printers including the 3880 can swap black inks without having to remove any print cartridges. This is very important for those customers who switch back and forth between glossy and matte media.

Star Proof takes full advantage of the features included in these printers.

If you have any questions about this contact me directly or your Compose dealer.

Live from the press room

Dear Reader,

I'm at a very large flexo printer in Mexico doing a Star Proof calibration. So far our result our results on the Epson WT7900 have been great. We are doing two calibrations, one on Epson Clear Proof Film, the other on Epson Metallic Proof Film. On the Epson Clear Proof we have over 97% of our Pantone® guide (1126 colors) matching. While on the Epson Metallic Proof Film we have over 90%.



The next step is to calibrate Star Proof to their presses. But before we get to that, we calibrated their press to G7. As I write this, we are are reading the values from the confirmation run. So far the numbers look great.

The idea behind G7 on a flexo press is to have a shared appearance with SWOP 3 and GRACoL. In other words, the idea is that what's printed on a G7 calibrated flexo press looks like things printed in other presses.

By the time I leave this customer, they will have their presses calibrated to G7, their proofer matching their presses and better Pantone® color accuracy on proofs than ever before.