In this article, you will learn
- how Substrates are structured, and
- how you can create Substrates within the Workflow.
1. Structure of Substrates
Print output is always performed on a designated Substrate. This Substrate serves as the basis for numerous production-related settings in the application. These include the fiber or feed direction and the assigned ICC profile. Changes to Substrate properties can significantly affect the color reproduction of the print.
In the Workflow, Substrates are organized in the following structure:
- Substrate Category – represents the overarching group of Substrates. Typical categories include, for example, Paper, Cardboard, Corrugated Board, Textiles, etc.
- Substrate – refers to the specific printing Substrate on which the print is applied. Substrates such as Blueback Paper, Gardamatt, Avery Top Clear, etc., can be grouped under their respective Substrate Categories.
- Substrate Definition – describes reproduction-specific parameters, such as length, width, thickness, fiber direction, printable sides, and the distortion factor. A Substrate can exist in multiple Substrate Definitions.
2. Creating Substrates
Before you can start characterizing (Profiling) a Substrate, the Substrate to be profiled must first be available in the Workflow. There are three ways to create a Substrate:
- Create Substrates manually in the Workflow.
- Create Substrates by importing from the printer's media list.
- Create Substrates via the leading ERP system using a defined interface (REST API).
This ensures that all common options for Substrate creation are available in the Workflow. In your Workflow process, make sure that only one system – either the printer or the ERP system – is used as the leading system for the Substrate Creation. This helps to minimize confusion in the Substrate and media lists.
2.1. Creating Substrates Manually
The most common method of creating a Substrate in the application is the manual approach. To create a Substrate manually, select the tab Substrates in the menu item Administration > Substrates. This tab is divided into three settings areas – Substrate Categories, Substrates, and Substrate Definitions.
To display both Substrates and their Definitions for a specific Substrate Category, first select a Substrate Category [1]. In the Substrates [3] settings area, all Substrates already created under this category are displayed. Next, click on the desired Substrate to view its corresponding Definitions in the Substrate Definitions [5] area.
Figure 1: The tab Substrates in the Substrate Management interface, showing the three settings areas
2.1.1. Creating Substrate Categories
To create a Substrate Category, proceed as follows:
- Navigate to Administration > Substrates.
- Select the tab Substrate Category [1].
- Click + Add [2] (Figure 1) in the header bar of the Substrate Category [1] settings area. The dialog Add Substrate Category opens.
- Enter a name for the category in the dialog and optionally add a comment.
- Click Save to create the Substrate Category.
Figure 2: The dialog Add Substrate Category
2.1.2. Creating Substrates
To create a Substrate, proceed as follows:
- Select an existing or previously created Substrate Category in the Substrate Category settings area [1] (Figure 1).
- Click + Add [4] (Figure 1) in the header bar of the Substrate settings area [3] (Figure 1). The dialog Add Substrate opens.
- In the dialog, enter the Name [7] and the Supplier [9] for the Substrate. If you selected the wrong category, you can change it under Category [8] and select the correct entry.
- Enter the RGB color value used to display the Substrate color in the Impose Editor in the Display Colors field, or optionally add a Comment for the Substrate.
- Click Save to create the Substrate.
Figure 3: The dialog Add Substrate
2.1.3. Creating Substrate Definitions
To create a Substrate Definition, proceed as follows:
- Select an existing or previously created Substrate in the Substrate [4] settings area.
- Click + Add [6] (Figure 1) in the header bar of the Substrate Definition [5] settings area. The dialog Add Substrate Definition opens.
- In the tab General, enter the Name [10], Width [12], and Height [13] for the Substrate Definition. If the Substrate is a roll Substrate, enable the option Roll Media [11] under Substrate Type. The dialog will then adjust, and instead of Height, the Roll Length must be entered.
- Optionally, enter or select an External ID, the Weight, the Thickness, and the Printable Sides.
- For production purposes, account for distortion during rendering of the print data or PDF output. If the Substrate may distort in width or height due to factors such as water, heat, etc., enter the distortion values in the tab Distortion under X Distortion and Y Distortion [14].
- Click Save to create the Substrate Definition.
Figure 4: The dialog Add Substrate Definition
2.2. Importing Substrates
Depending on the selected Printer, Substrates can be retrieved and imported from the printer's media list. Note that all printing systems support access to their media list. To import Substrates, proceed as follows:
- Select the tab Import Printer Substrates in the menu item Administration > Substrates. The tab is divided into the settings areas Substrates, Import Substrate, and Substrate Description and Classification [15].
- Select the desired printer from the first dropdown menu [16]. All Substrates already configured for this printer will be displayed.
- Then select the desired Substrate from the dropdown menu [17] in the Import Substrate settings area and then click Import [18].
- The Substrate will be added to the Substrate structure of the Workflow. You can then switch to the tab Workflow Substrates to adjust additional parameters. Note, however, that changes made in Workflow Substrates are currently not sent back to the printing system.
Access to the tab Import Printer Substrates
Note that the access to the Import Printer Substrates tab is currently available only in the old user interface (v1) of the application. This limitation will be fixed in future versions.
Figure 5: The tab Import Printer Substrates in the Substrate Overview
3. Making Substrates Available for Multiple Printers
In order for the application to recognize which Substrate can be used with which printer, or which Media ID is stored in the Printer for the Substrate, the Substrate Definitions must be linked to each relevant Printer.
If Substrates have been imported from a Printer, the Media ID should already be set correctly. However, for manually created Substrates with Substrate Definitions, this must be configured manually. To do so, proceed as follows:
- Select the tab Workflow Substrates via the menu item Administration > Substrates.
- Select a Substrate Definition in the settings area Substrate Definition [19].
- In the "..." menu, select Link to Printer [20]. The dialog Link to Printer opens.
Figure 6: The Substrate Definitions settings area
- In the dialog Link to Printer, you must first select the Printer [21].
- For the Source [22], select the option Custom. This enables you to enter the Media ID stored in the printer into the Substrate ID [23] input field.
- To link the Substrate Definition with the printer, click Save.
- Repeat these steps for all printers that can also process the Substrate.
Figure 7: The dialog Link to Printer
Article Update: Workflow 1.21.0 – 08/2025