In Step & Repeat Impose mode, you can now also set Captions for Print Items Per Row. Previously, it was only possible to use them per Print Item, Print Items and Artboard.

To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Automation > Impose Editor.
2. Create the desired imposition in Impose Mode Step & Repeat and add the desired Print Items to the imposition.
3. Set the desired number of Columns and Rows in the Artboard tab [5].
4. Open the Markers tab [6].
5. Add a Text caption in Captions [7].
6. In Origin select the new Per Line entry [8].
7. Add the desired placeholders and text in the text field [9] and click on Update [10].
8. The settings are adopted for the imposition.

Figure 2: A Step & Repeat imposition with External ID added for the Production Job with the selected origin Per Row

In Step & Repeat Impose Mode, Captions and Marks can now be added for the Last Row only. This is particularly useful for multipage Impositions, for adding information for the last page, e.g. marks to identify a job change or information on the job number, etc.

Proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Automation > Impose Editor.
2. Create the desired Imposition in Step & Repeat Step & Repeat mode and add the desired Print Items to the Imposition.
3. In the Artboard [11] tab, set the desired number of Columns and Rows.
4. Open the Marks [12] tab.
5. Under Marks [13], add the Rectangle mark and select the Last Row entry [14] in the Origin option.
6. Then add a Text Caption under Captions [15] and select the Last Row entry [16] in the Origin option.
7. Insert the appropriate content for the Caption – see the previous description.

Figure 3: An imposition in Step & Repeat mode with added Caption, Mark and selected Origin Per Row

For Marks and Captions, the Horizontal Origin (Horiz. Origin) the starting position on the X-axis  can be set from this version onwards. Up to this version, the position of captions and marks was always set to the selected origin.

Up to now setting a Rectangle Mark for the Origin Print Items positioned the mark on the Y-axis at the top edge of the first Print Item and on the X-axis at the selected distance from the Print Item. It was not previously possible to set the mark at the left/right edge of the artboard or at the left/right edge of the Impose Sheet. The new Horizontal Origin option allows you to do this by offering the following choices:

• Print Item – corresponds to the previous implementation.
• Artboard – positions the Mark or Caption the selected spacing from the left/right edge of the artboard.
• Sheet – positions the Mark or Caption the selected spacing from the left/right edge of the impose sheet.

To do this, complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to Automation > Impose Editor.
2. Create the desired imposition in Impose Mode Step & Repeat or Nesting and add the desired Print Items to the imposition.
3. In the Artboard tab [17], select the desired settings for the selected Impose Mode.
4. Open the Marks tab [18].
5. Add the Rectangle mark from Marks [19] and select the Print Items entry [20] in the Origin option.
6. Then select the desired entry in the Horizontal Origin option [21].
7. In the Settings area, Settings [22], then enter the desired X Offset for the starting point of the mark.
8. Then proceed in the same way for Captions [23]. The same options are available there.

Figure 4: An Imposition in Step & Repeat Mode with added Caption and Mark with Horiz. Origin selected

From this version onwards, the degree of utilization is calculated based on the effectively used area of irregular Print Items. Furthermore, the results are displayed more conclusively. This makes it easier to assess the effectiveness of Shape Nesting. The correctly calculated utilization is displayed as usual in the Imposition's Overview in the Impose tab of a Production Job.

Figure 6: The display of the results before and after Shape Nesting

Version 1.19.1 offers users the option of using multiple rotations for Print Items when optimizing the Nesting. The following options are now available – up to this version, only 4 rotations were considered:

• 4 rotations – 90°
• 8 rotations – 45°
• 16 rotations – 22.5° and
• any number of rotations – User Defined

Please note that this function is only available for Non not rotate uniformly and Rotate uniformly!

To select the possible rotations, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Automation > Impose Editor.
2. Create the desired imposition in the Nesting Impose Mode.
3. Make sure that the used Print Items have been prepared for Shape Nesting.
4. Open the Artboard [25].
5. In the Settings section, set the option Imposition based on [26] to Shape or Shape + Bleed.
6. In the Nesting Options settings area, in Rotation [27] select either Uniform Rotation or Non-Uniform Rotation.
7. Now select the desired number of rotations from the Number of Rotations [28] selection field.
8. Only then start the Shape Nesting – you won't be able to increase the number of rotations afterwards!

Figure 7: The Artboard tab with the Nesting Options and the Number of Rotations option

As of version 1.19.1, the Impose Editor actively prompts the user to select the desired Spot Color for Print Items that have not yet been prepared for Shape Nesting. Based on this information, the Print Item is prepared for Shape Nesting. Up to this version, the user was not actively notified!

To prepare Print Items in the Impose Editor for Shape Nesting, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Automation > Impose Editor.
2. Create an Imposition in Nesting Impose Mode.
3. Add the desired Print Items to the Imposition. The Print Items do not need to be prepared for Shape Nesting beforehand!
4. Open the Artboard tab [25] (Figure 7).
5. In the Settings area, set the Imposition Based On [26] option (Figure 7) to Shape or Shape + Bleed.
6. Click Start Shape Nesting.
7. The Prepare for Shape Nesting dialog opens if there are Print Items in the Imposition that have not yet been prepared for Shape Nesting.
8. Select the desired Spot Color for each Print Item [29] that should be used to create the Shape Nesting path.
9. Click Apply to adopt the settings and start the Shape Nesting.

Figure 8: The Prepare for Shape Nesting dialog, which allows the user to select a Spot Color for the path.

In version 1.19.1, the same logic for automatically adjusting the height – as already implemented in version 1.12.0 for standard Nesting – is also provided for Shape Nesting. This allows Print Items that are imposed on a roll substrate and are too large for the currently set height of the Imposition to be used by enlarging the Imposition length.

Note that the imposition height is only increased if:

• a roll substrate is used.
• the printer's preferred height is initially used.
• the imposition height is cropped to the imposed height.
• a document larger than the printer's preferred height is placed.

In version 1.19.1, the same logic for grouping and sorting Print Items – as already implemented in version 1.15.0 for standard Nesting – is also provided for Shape Nesting. This means that users now also have this option in Shape Nesting.

To perform a user-defined grouping and sorting for a Shape Nesting, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Automation > Impose Editor and switch to the Impose Mode Nesting.
2. Create an Imposition with different Print Items that have been prepared for Shape Nesting from different Orders and Order items.
3. Proceed as described in the Article Grouping and Sorting and use the Job Number as a criterion for grouping.
4. Click on Start Shape Nesting. The Print Items are now grouped.

As a first step, users have to create the desired user-defined fields in Workflow.

To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Administration > Settings.
2. Open the User-defined Fields [42] settings section.
3. Select the Category [41] for which you want to create a user-defined field.
4. Use the Add [43] button to add the desired user-defined field. When creating a user-defined field for an Automation Variable, the Field Type String [44] is recommended.
5. After saving the user-defined field, restart the Workflow so that the user-defined field is available for input via both the user interface and the API.

Figure 13: The User-defined Fields settings area of the Administration > Settings menu

Before you create a Production Configuration for which you want to use an Automation Variable, first create the Automation Variable in the system. To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Automation > Automation Variables. The list of Automation Variables is displayed.
2. Click on Add [45] to create a new Automation Variable.

Figure 14: The list of Automation Variables of the Automation > Automation Variables menu

3. In the now open Add Automation Variable dialog, specify the following information:
4. Name [46] – enter a self-explanatory name for the Automation Variable
5. Description [47] – optionally add a description
6. Type [48] – specify the type of the Automation Variable. The following options are available:
   • Selection of an N-Up
   • Impose Template for Impose Mode "Die Cut"
   • Impose Template for Impose Mode "Nesting"
   • Impose Template for Impose Mode "Step & Repeat"
   • Impose Template for Impose Mode "Tiling"
7. For our example, select the Selection of an N-Up [48] entry.
8. The user-defined field intended for this purpose still has to be entered in Referenced value for variable [49]. To do this, click on Add Placeholder [50].
9. In the Select Placeholder dialog that opens, select the desired User-defined Field. After clicking on the placeholder, the dialog closes and the selected user-defined field is adopted.

Figure 15: The Edit Automation Variable dialog with the available placeholders

5. Click Save [51] to apply the settings. The Automation Variable is now displayed in the list.

The created Production Variables can now be used in the Operations Create Production Job and Impose as well as Create Impose in a Production Configuration.

To select an Automation Variable in the Operation Create Production Job and Impose, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to Automation > Production Configuration.
2. Add a new Production Configuration or edit an existing one.
3. Open the Operations [52] tab.
4. Add the Operation Create Production Job and Impose [53] and select all the required parameters.
5. To select the Die Cut Automation Variable, first select the Die Cut Impose Mode [54].
6. Selecting this Impose Mode displays the N-Up [55] selection field.
7. Now either enter the unique number for the N-Up in this field or refer to all Automation Variables created for this Type in the Workflow by clicking on the Variable Content [56] symbol in the selection menu.
8. Select the desired Automation Variable.
9. Click Save [57] to save the Production Configuration.

Figure 16: The Add Production Configuration dialog with Automation Variable selected