KB186680315: AE Connect - Xeikon X-800 Integration

Description

This article describes how to submit print jobs from Automation Engine to a Xeikon digital press with a Xeikon X-800 DFE. Automatic job submission avoids re-keying of data that are available in Automation Engine in the X-800 user interface. This increases productivity and avoids operator errors.

Three different use cases are described:

1. Submitting a pre-imposed PDF (a S&R PDF) to the Xeikon press.
2. Submitting a collection of one-ups to the Xeikon press, step and repeat done on the X-800.
3. Submitting a VDP job to the Xeikon press, step and repeat done on the X-800.

The interface between the Automation Engine and the X-800 is a uni-directional HotFolder interface. A bi-directional JMF link is out of scope.

Besides instructions and workflows to setup the Automation Engine part of the integration, the article also contains configuration instructions for the Xeikon X-800.

Integration Concept

• A workflow in Automation Engine creates a ZIP file containing all data for a print job. The ZIP contains a JDF and the PDFs that need to be printed. The JDF is an XML document describing the metadata for the print job.
• The printjob ZIP file is  dropped on a HotFolder input channel of the Xeikon X-800 DFE.
• The Xeikon X-800 DFE unpacks the ZIP, checks the routing instructions in the JDF and forwards the printjob accordingly to an X-800 route. The print job will be created and processed on the X-800 using the Xeikon print job ticket associated with that route. Print job parameters specified in the JDF will overrule corresponding parameters in the printjob ticket associated with the route.

Xeikon X-800 Setup Instructions

Setup

The X-800 HotFolders and job collections need to be placed on the default shared location. This location gives Read/Write access, the default hot folder location is:

\\<computername>\GStore\HotFolderInputChannels

The computername corresponds with the required Automation Engine Press, the HotFolders are addressed by Automation Engine via the PressPreset. For more information, consult the X-800 Operator Manual that is installed together with the X-800 software.

Setup your main X-800 input channel

1. Create your main X-800 input channel that corresponds with the desired workflows via SYSTEM > INPUT > Create Job Tickets.
2. Enable Create Hotfolder and Create Job Collection checkboxes to create these with exactly the same name.

3. Finally click Create Job Ticket. This creates the job ticket workflow settings for this input channel.

   Both HotFolders and Job Collections need to be created on the default location (G:\ drive) since these will be used and addressed by the AE Connect software.
4. Define your common and generic settings that are applicable for all your workflows, like APPE RIP, Trapping, No imposition scheme, etc….
5. Finally click Save which creates the used job ticket. The HotFolder, Job Ticket and Job Collection are ready to be used.

Setup your remaining derived X-800 input channel

Go back to the SYSTEM > INPUT > Create Job Tickets window to complete all required and necessary input channels. Create an input channel for all derived input channels that need to be addressed via the JDF route command (known as Automation Engine PressPreset). Since the jobs first pass the main HotFolder, it is important that you define in the X-800 the settings with the overrule option (red labels). These derived workflow settings contain the specialized workflows settings like:

• How the job need to be RIPped?
  
  • RIP, Extended gamut with XeikonRed.
  • RIP, More Color with XeikonGreen.
  • RIP, Page separators etc....
  • What kind of RIP metadata needs to be applied onto the pages or page separators?
  • How the job needs to be imposed?
  • What kind of RIP metadata needs to be applied onto the signatures?
  • Print settings that need to be applied.
  • What kind of print metadata needs to be applied onto the sheets or sheet separators?
  • Or any specific workflow setting or programmed hold settings that are required. For more information, consult chapter 6 of the X-800 Operator manual.

Advanced workflow settings

Many settings are passed via the JDF job from AE Connect, these settings can be used by X-800 for further automation or metadata decoration on page or sheet separators like

• Customer settings.
• Customer Comments.
• Media name (this can be used in conjunction with the Print Queue filter that only allows to print job that matches with the loaded Mypress Medium settings.
• Quantity etc....

These need to be specified as well in one of the defined input channels.

Submit the jobs from Automation Engine

All created HotFolder can now be specified into AE Connect (PressPreset), it is important that all these workflows are verified in advanced with a test file.

Automation Engine Workflows and Setup Instructions

For each use case, a print job submission workflow is described.

• These workflows are intended to be inserted as referenced workflows in the actual master workflows of the customer generating the PDFs for printing. You can read more about  referenced workflows in the "Workflows" chapter of the Automation Engine documentation at http://docs.esko.com/docs/en-us/automationengine/16/userguide/home.html?q=
• These workflow will assemble a JDF ticket for the X-800 using:
  • Job parameters.
  • SmartNames.
  • Workflow parameters from the master workflows referencing these print job submission.
• The following job parameters are used to create a print job on the Xeikon. Job Name, Order ID and SubOrder ID should have meaningful values. The other data can be used on the Xeikon as job metadata for display purposes in lists of print jobs. Some of the data can also be used to print in slug lines. 
  • Job Name
  • Order ID, SubOrder ID
  • Project ID
  • Description
  • Due Date
  • Customer ID
  • Customer Name
  • Customer Description
  • Job Customer Contact 1
  • Job Customer Email 1

Setup Instructions

1. Download the Print Job Submission Automation Engine ticket corresponding with the customer's use case.
2. Open the ticket and modify the destination path of the Copy or Move File task to the location of the Xeikon HotFolder.
   
3. If the units for the Comments element (see below) have to be changed to Inch, open the ticket and modify the Units workflow parameter to Inch: using the Manage Workflow Parameters function in the workflow editor.
4. Import the ticket in the Automation Engine Pilot using the Tickets > Import Tickets option.
5. Make sure the job parameters listed with each Print Job Submission ticket are appropriately set for the Automation Engine jobs in the customer workflow.
6. Insert the Print Job Submission ticket in the master production workflow(s) of the customer as a referenced workflow.
7. Make sure the master production workflow of the customer provides the listed workflow parameters.

Sample master workflows

• With each use case a sample master workflow is provided. These sample workflows  illustrate how the print job submission workflows can be used in master production workflows.
• They are by no means intended to be final master production workflows that can be used 'out of the box' at a customer site.

Automation Engine WorkFlow 1: Submitting a pre-imposed PDF (a S&R PDF) to the Xeikon press

This workflow can be used to submit a step and repeat PDF for printing on a Xeikon press.

Input for the workflow is a PDF, Normalized PDF or PDFPLA. Normalized PDFs and PDFPLAs will be made self-contained before submitting to the X-800 DFE. The workflow will modify the TrimBox of the PDF to match the MediaBox to make sure all content including marks is printed on the Xeikon.

The workflow will construct a JDF for the X-800 DFE containing:

• Job admin data.
• Customer Information.
• Due Date.
• The target press.
• Media to be used on the press.
• The # copies to print.
• The X-800 route to use for the job.

The amount of copies to print is expressed in sheets or repeats. It is assumed that the master production workflow or the MIS will calculate the right amount of sheets or repeats from the ordered number of one-up copies taking the number of instances on a sheet/repeat into account.

Media selection on the X-800 uses fuzzy matching. The string specified in Media node in the JDF is compared to the names of substrates available for that press. The first substrate that has a name that contains the string in the Media node is selected.

• E.g.: "Fasson" would match any substrate that has "Fasson" as a substring. The first one will be selected.
• E.g.: "Fasson 150gsm" would match any substrate that has "Fasson 100gsm" as a substring.

The workflow uses the following workflow parameters. 

Pint Job submission workflow 1

The print job submission workflow can be downloaded here:  Print_S&R_on_Xeikon.zip

A sample ZIP file generated by the workflow can be downloaded from here: 012345678_01_17143.zip

Example workflow 1

An example workflow using the Print Job Submission workflow as a referenced workflow can be downloaded from here: Xeikon_FC_IDP (repeats with stations).zip

The workflow has the following Shuttle UI:

The example workflow 1 illustrates a folding carton example. It can be used for labels or flexibles just as well. 

• The workflow assumes that the ArtiosCAD MFG files for an Automation Engine Job is stored in a subfolder shape of the job folder.
• Drag and drop a list of one-up PDFs on the Shuttle workflow (e.g.: the Carton_Lumi_Green and Carton_Lumi_Gray PDF from the provided sample job).
• The # stations in the die needs to be entered in "NrStations".
• The Stations entry is expected to have a semi-colon separated list of the filename (no extensions) of the one-ups for each station in the die (arranged in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom fashion).

Automation Engine WorkFlow 2: Submitting a collection of one-ups to the Xeikon press, step and repeat done on the X-800

This workflow can be used to submit a collection of one-up PDFs for printing on a Xeikon press. The step and repeat (imposition) will be executed on the Xeikon.

Input for the workflow is 1 or more one-up PDFs or one-up Normalized PDFs and a JDF RunList. Normalized PDFs will be made self-contained before submitting to the X-800 DFE. The JDF RunList specifies the quantities for the one-ups.

An example RunList is shown below. The DocCopies attribute indicates the number of copies to print for each label.

The workflow will construct a JDF for the X-800 DFE containing:

• Job admin data.
• Customer Information.
• Due Date.
• The target press.
• Media to be used on the press.
• The # copies for each individual one-up PDF.
• The X-800 route to use for the job.

The amount of copies to print is specified for each one-up individually. The X-800 will execute an automatic S&R using one of its layout algorithms.

Media selection on the X-800 uses fuzzy matching. The string specified in Media node in the JDF is compared to the names of substrates available for that press. The first substrate that has a name that contains the string in the Media node is selected.

• E.g.: "Fasson" would match any substrate that has "Fasson" as a substring. The first one will be selected.
• E.g.: "Fasson 150gsm" would match any substrate that has "Fasson 100gsm" as a substring.

The workflow uses the following workflow parameters.  

Pint Job submission workflow 2

The print job submission workflow can be downloaded here: Print_1-ups_on_Xeikon.zip

A sample ZIP file generated by the workflow can be downloaded from here: 012345678_01_17152.zip

Example  workflow 2

An example workflow using the print job submission workflow as a referenced workflow can be downloaded from here: Xeikon_Labels_IDP (1-ups).zip

The workflow has the following Shuttle UI:

The example workflow 2 illustrates a label example.

• Drag and drop a list of one-up PDFs on the Shuttle workflow (e.g. the GET SET_BOTTLE PDFs from the provided sample job).
• In the Quantities text area, provide a semi-color separated list with the quantities for each label sorted in alphabetical order.

AE WorkFlow 3: Submitting a VDP job to the Xeikon press, step and repeat done on the X-800

This workflow can be used to submit a collection of one-up PDF/VTs for printing on a Xeikon press. The step and repeat (imposition) will be executed on the Xeikon.

Input for the workflow is one or more one-up PDF/VTs generated by the Expand Dynamic VDP task and a JDF Runlist.

An example RunList can be seen below for submission of four PDF/VTs in the correct sequence:

The workflow will construct a JDF for the X-800 DFE containing:

• Job admin data.
• Customer Information.
• Due Date.
• The target press.
• Media to be used on the press.
• The X-800 route to use for the job.

The amount of copies to print of each page is one. The X-800 will execute an automatic S&R using one of its layout algorithms.

Media selection on the X-800 uses fuzzy matching. The string specified in Media node in the JDF is compared to the names of substrates available for that press. The first substrate that has a name that contains the string in the Media node is selected.

• E.g. "Fasson" would match any substrate that has "Fasson" as a substring. The first one will be selected.
• E.g. "Fasson 150gsm" would match any substrate that has "Fasson 100gsm" as a substring.

The workflow uses the following workflow parameters.  

Pint Job submission workflow 3

The print job submission workflow for submitting VDP jobs is identical to the print job submission workflow 2 for submitting one-ups. In this case, multi-page PDF/VTs are used at the input and the #copies to print for each one-up is set to 1.

A sample ZIP file generated by the workflow can be downloaded from here: 012345678_01_17165.zip

Example  workflow 3

An example workflow using the print job submission workflow as a referenced workflow can be downloaded from here: Xeikon_Labels_IDP (VDP).zip

The workflow has the following Shuttle UI:

The example workflow 3 illustrates a label VDP example:

• Drag and drop a CSV VDP database on the Shuttle workflow (e.g. the Salmon2012_short.txt from the provided sample job).
• In the "VDPTemplate" provide the name (no extension) of the VDT template. The workflow assumes that the VDP template is stored in the "input" folder of the job.