Esko has announced a major new release of its packaging and labels prepress editor, ArtPro+. Built on decades of experience – with over 25,000 Esko prepress editors currently in use – this latest version is designed to fit the needs of today’s prepress production.

ArtPro+ is part of the Esko Software Platform 2018, the latest version of Esko’s portfolio of integrated software solutions for design, prepress, workflow automation, color management and supply chain collaboration in the packaging, labels, display and sign markets.

With this version of ArtPro+, prepress operations complete the editing work 40% faster. This new version of ArtPro+ requires fewer clicks to complete tasks, features faster opening and saving of files with native PDF, and has faster trapping.

As Isidore Leiser, CEO of French label converter Stratus Packaging, confirms, “The majority of the PDF artwork we receive today is processed through ArtPro+. It works just great to run our prepress production. We measured an increase in productivity and improved our service and customer satisfaction. The very fast Trapping tool, Preflight and Action Lists are just a few of the unique features we use a lot. And what’s more, it is very simple to use. The implementation was really easy – as new operators didn’t need much training time. Last but not least, ArtPro+ is seamlessly integrated with the Esko packaging management platform WebCenter, where our customers can connect, review and approve the artwork, significantly improving delivery time.”

ArtPro+ is built bottom-up with automation in mind. Most label and packaging tasks today can be automated using the prepress editor for quality assurance and exception handling tasks. Not only can ArtPro+ be run through Esko’s Automation Engine, tasks can now also be highly simplified through automation within the editor, without any need for scripting.

Automation not only dramatically improves production speed, but it also further drives down the risk of human errors. The combination of the new ArtPro+ and Automation Engine gives print service providers and label and packaging converters the solution they need to effectively deal with the faster turnaround times and ever-shortening print runs that have become common in today’s printing and converting environment.

Key new features
The new release includes three new feature updates that are unique in the marketplace and key to operator productivity:

• Operators can build PDF Action Lists without any special know-how or IT skills: Do it once in the editor and then repeat many times to cope with repetitive tasks. This automated action can be done by anyone and gives every operator a productivity boost at their fingertips.
• Searching and managing fonts locally for the many different designs the operators are working on takes a lot of time and creates one of the biggest risks for errors. With a new font management connector for ArtPro+, everyone can now have immediate access to the fonts needed, when needed, to achieve quality output for designs. Other than Adobe, this integration with Extensis Universal Type Server is unique in the industry. As a result, prepress professionals can make real-time edits to fix critical, last-minute text changes, reducing expensive print errors and costly press delays.
• In other prepress editors, output for specific purposes, such as proof, reporting, production and finishing, require a variant of the master file. ArtPro+ uses the intelligence of structural design inside the editor. ArtPro+ leverages the intelligence of the CAD data to maintain only a single file for all output purposes, eliminating file duplication, errors, and the need for redundant tasks. The benefit is that everything is kept together in one file – the same file that is used to drive output.

ArtPro+ will be commercially available with the release of Esko Software Platform version 18 in June 2018. All ArtPro and PackEdge customers under maintenance contract worldwide are entitled to free upgrades to the ArtPro+ 18 version. The new ArtPro+ release can also be tried through the Esko store 30 days free of charge.