What is the best software for wide format?

There are many different types of software available, but which are most appropriate for wide format use?

One of the side effects of the digitisation of print is that software now plays a critical role, even more so than the printer hardware. There are several different classes of software, and many different options within each of those brackets, which gives wide format printers a great deal of freedom to choose how they want to build their workflow to suit the needs of their business.
To start with, every printer needs a RIP or Raster Image Processor, which translates images into a page description for the specific printer in use, including how to mix the available colours, what size ink drops to produce and exactly where to place them. This sort of capability varies from one model of printer to the next, meaning that you will need a RIP for each printer in use.

Large format RIP servers differ from other print sectors in that they also include a great many functions normally found in a prepress workflow, such as the ability to edit files, manage colours and nest graphic elements together. Some RIPs can serve several printers, typically not more than four, and usually only printers of the same type. The advantage of this is that it gives you a single print queue and the ability to automatically balance the work-load between the different printers.

Alternatively you can use workflow software, such as Agfa Asanti or PrintFactory, to carry out the RIP functions for several printers, but you will still need a driver for every print engine in order to handle the characteristics of that printer. The main advantage of running all the print devices from the same workflow is that it makes it easier to calibrate the colour output from all the engines.

One of the most important and often overlooked types of software is the preflight or file checker. Dropping incoming customer files onto a preflight server will save you a lot of headaches further down the line. These programs will check the files against a long list of common errors, such as missing fonts, unexpected colour spaces, low resolution images, poor trapping, thin lines and so on. Most preflight software can be configured to automatically fix many of these errors and to issue warnings for those they can’t fix. This ensures that only reasonably good quality…