Find out in this article,
- which requirements must be met to carry out this Fixup and
- how to apply the Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Fixup Convert Page Content to an Image is available in the Workflow. The aim of this Fixup is to convert the entire page content into a pixel image.
2. General
The Fixup Convert Page Content to an Image can be used to convert the complete page content into a pixel image in the selected Color Space - CMYK, RGB or Grayscale. This can prevent unwanted effects during ripping or the integrated RIP from crashing.
By converting to a resolution that is sufficient for output, complex data structures are much easier to process for output. Thus, possible errors are made visible even before the RIP process.
The Fixup is located in the selection menu Optimize in the detail view of the Print Item in the footer of the settings area Document Information. Alternatively find the Fixup in the Data Preparation tab of an Article, Order or Production Job by:
- entering the name of the Fixup in the Filter area,
- activating the option Image in the Category area,
- activating the option Convert or Optimize in the Action area,
- activating the option Images in the Search area.
3. Description
This Fixup converts the entire page content into a pixel image in the selected Color Space. Selected elements - text, Spot Colors or both - can be excluded from the Fixup, for example to avoid an unwanted color shift in a Spot Color.
3.1. Requirements and Functionality
For the Fixup to do what it promises, no special requirements need to be met.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Convert Page Content to an Image
The following options can be used to convert the page content into a pixel image:
- Template [1] – settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and thus applied to other Articles/Print Items.
-
Exclude Object Type [2] – select whether and which objects should be excluded from the conversion to a pixel image. The following options are available:
- None – all objects are included in the conversion
- Text – all texts are excluded from the conversion
- Spot Color – all Spot Colors are excluded from the conversion
- Spot Color and Text – Spot Colors as well as texts are excluded from the conversion
-
Variable Content [6] –select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the value for the selection of excluded objects should be retrieved. The following values must be present in the selected field for the selection to be created:
Allexclude Textexclude Spotexclude Spot and Text
- Resolution [3] – enter the desired target resolution in dpi that the pixel image should have after conversion. For the Variable Content [7], select the desired placeholder - Database field or User-defined field - from which the value for the resolution should be retrieved.
-
Color Space [4] – select the Color Space for which the conversion should be carried out in the selection menu. The following options are available:
- CMYK – the color space is converted to CMYK
- RGB – the color space is converted to RGB
- Grayscale – the color space is converted to Grayscale
-
Variable Content [8] – select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the value for the Color Space selection should be retrieved. The following values must be present in the selected field so that the selection is created:
CMYKRGBGray
- Apply to Page Range [5] – for multi-page files, it is possible to select the pages that should be scaled. Examples for entering the page selection are provided in the info box [9]. The following entries can affect the page selection:
- All – all pages are converted into a pixel image.
- 8 – page 8 is converted into a pixel image.
- 1-6 – pages 1 to 6 are converted into a pixel image.
- -3-1 – the last three pages are converted into a pixel image.
- even – all even pages are converted into a pixel image.
- odd – all odd pages are converted into a pixel image.
- 1-5,8,13-16 – pages 1 to 5, page 8 and pages 13 to 16 are converted into a pixel image.
Figure 2: Left: values in the selected field for the option Exclude Object Type; Right: values in the selected field for the option Color Space
3.2. Before/After
To experiment with this function, refer to the sample file "Sample_Add Dieline from Center.pdf". The eyes of the frog were created as the Spot Color "Eyes orange". There is also a line of text in the file. This file is now to be converted into a pixel image.
After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Add Dieline from Center_End.pdf" is created, in which the entire page content except for the Spot Color has been converted into a pixel image. The values from Figure 1 were used.
Figure 3: Left: initial file; Right: edited file where the page content was converted a pixel image
Article update: Workflow 1.18.0 – 08/2024