"""
Knowledge about pre-press workflows for packaging production.
"""

title = "Pre-Press Workflows"

content = """
Pre-press transforms customer design files into production-ready printing
plates. Efficient workflows minimize errors, reduce turnaround time, and
ensure print quality expectations are met.

**File Reception and Assessment:** Incoming files arrive in diverse formats:
native design files (Adobe Illustrator, InDesign), PDF/X compliance levels,
or legacy formats. Initial assessment verifies file completeness: fonts,
images, spot colors, bleed, and die lines. Preflight tools automate
checking against production requirements, flagging issues for correction.

**PDF Normalization:** Print-ready PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 files provide the
most reliable foundation. Normalization converts incoming files to standardized
structures, flattens transparencies, embeds fonts, and optimizes images.
This process eliminates version-dependent behavior and ensures consistent
output across different source files.

**Imposition Planning:** Imposition arranges individual pages or designs
on the press sheet for efficient printing, cutting, and finishing. Work-and-turn,
work-and-tumble, and sheetwise impositions balance press sheet utilization
with binding requirements. Packaging imposition considers die patterns,
grain direction, and finishing sequences. Software automates imposition with
parameterized templates.

**Color Separation:** Four-color process images separate into CMYK plates.
Spot colors generate additional plates. Extended gamut separations (fixed
orange, green, violet) reduce spot color requirements. Trap settings compensate
for misregistration. Undercolor removal (UCR) and gray component replacement
(GCR) optimize ink usage and drying.

**Proofing and Approval:** Digital contract proofs simulate final output
on calibrated inkjet or laser devices. Customers review proofs for content
accuracy, color match, and finishing orientation. Approval may be physical
signature or digital confirmation. Proofing logs maintain audit trails for
quality disputes.
"""

version = "0.0.1"
