The PitStop Pro 2019 Adobe Acrobat plug-in, PitStop Server 2019 hot-folder based server product and PitStop Library SDK 2019 PDF will be commercially available towards the end of April.
The Belgian developer’s latest release contains a raft of new features, including tools to handle complex files that can cause bottlenecks in a workflow.
Selective Rasterization enables pre-press operators to select specific elements within a PDF page, such as very complex vector art, and rasterise only that selection, leaving the remaining content untouched. Enfocus said this enables users to simplify complex pages while maintaining the highest quality.
When rasterising multiple objects, this new function uses advanced logic to ensure that the visual appearance of the result is maintained at all times. This helps to ensure optimum quality while reducing the complexity of the document and the time it takes a RIP to process.
“Designers can create very nice graphics in Illustrator and InDesign that are too complex when they go to the RIP. All of the engines and the CTPs are getting faster and faster and the RIP has to keep up,” said Enfocus senior product manager Andrew Bailes-Collins.
“We’ve been working towards this ability for a few years. It gives a very granular control where you can just pick the complex objects that you want and convert those to an image, taking out the bottleneck.”
Also new is the Object Browser, a feature that Enfocus said its customers have requested for many years. A PDF file is made up of many stacked objects, called the Object Stack, that interact through methods like overprint, masking, clipping and transparency blending.
When editing objects in PitStop Pro, an object first has to be selected. Enfocus said that making this selection is often difficult because the required object is obscured by those in other layers in the PDF, or the required selection may consist of several objects in different places.
The Object Browser displays the PDF Object Stack in a list tree view and enables the operator to select the required element in the Object Browser, which then selects the corresponding object, or multiple objects using the shift key, in the PDF.
Additionally, a specific pre-flight profile for digital printers has been included that optimises and reports the number of clicks that each page will generate. This profile automatically handles objects that look black and ensures they only create one click.
“We’re quite customer-focused and the new features are based on feedback that they’ve given us. There’s a whole host of things in it which are designed for solving customer problems or improving features that are already there,” said Collins.
“And we’ve got an active beta group, who it’s nice to use a sounding board. It’s good to get real users with real files backing up what we think.”
The new version of PitStop also provides official support for new operating systems and the latest versions of Acrobat.
PitStop Pro 2019 will be available on a subscription basis for £286 on an annual contract or £33 per month on a monthly contract while PitStop Server 2019 will be available on a subscription basis for £1,191 on an annual contract or £119 per month on a monthly contract.
Perpetual licenses are also available for both while upgrade pricing will depend on the user's current version.
From now, customers who purchase a new license of PitStop Pro or PitStop Server will receive a license key for PitStop 2019, which means they can install and use PitStop 2018 and then install and use PitStop 2019 following its release without the need for a new license.
