In the run up to drupa, Hybrid Software, along with partners GMG Color, Cerm and Creative Edge, invited its UK and Ireland based customers to a packaging-focused workshop to give an overview and demonstrations of the products that will be unveiled at the show.
In his welcome speech at The National Space Centre in Leicester, sales manager Paul Bates described Hybrid Software as an IT company that understands packaging and a packaging company that understands software. He said, ‘We are committed to our customers and we are here to listen. You tell us what you need and we’ll develop it. This relationship is crucial.’
One such customer request was for closer integration with Adobe Illustrator (Ai), and this has been addressed in Packz 4.0. Known as RoundTrip, a new function creates a two-way link between native Ai files and the industry-standard native PDF format, so that even Ai files that are not saved with PDF compatibility can be opened and edited in Packz, then returned to the brand owner as a native Ai file containing all of the production features added, such as trapping, extended gamut colour mapping, step & repeat, barcodes, live or vectorized text, etc.
Another of the highlights for drupa is warping and 3D capabilities for shrink sleeve and carton applications. The integration between iC3D from Creative Edge and the Packz editor now offers a full library of 3D shapes and the ability to import a new shape. After the model is created in iC3D, it is imported into Packz via a simple click on the toolbar.
Packz also has a new Kiosk module where users can build their own web forms and a new free-to-download PDF viewer, Packz View, which will be available from drupa and onwards.
Cloudflow meanwhile has a new interface and updated approval system, which keeps a record of the email trail when proofs are sent out for approval. Comments and annotations can be made in the file by all stakeholders, and the system will automatically notify the administrator of all activity. Also in response to a customer, software licences can now be shared among users and across multiple sites as they are stored in the cloud.
A new partnership with Cerm means that Cloudflow receives an interface to the Cerm server, based on JDF standards. It will enable a 1-up approval cycle for new labels, with Cerm MIS operators and Web4Labels users (brand owners) having the option to utilise Hybrid’s remote soft proofing system, Proofscope. It will also use step and repeat information from the MIS system to create a step and repeat for output.
Hybrid is inviting customers to send them print jobs ahead of the show, so they can come on stand for a demonstration of how quick it can be processed in Packz.
3D in real time in the same way computer games render is the concept behind iC3D from Creative Edge. Developed by a UK team of programmers, many of whom have worked in the gaming industry, the software boasts Smart Wrap for 3D objects that maps itself to the shape and makes it possible to move objects around more easily. It also offers image-based lighting, which calculates accurate and realistic lighting effects on packaging, in-store and on shelves.
Version 4 of the software will be introduced at drupa and start shipping at the end of June. This includes new Light Map Editor, which can recreate studio lighting, and Dynamic Background that merges 2D photos with virtual 3D objects so virtual packaging can be placed in the real store. Employing ray tracing technology Creative Edge can now render glass to photorealistic quality, a first for packaging.
See also /digital-labels-and-packaging/features/dlp-2016/may-2016/16-05-16-software-news.aspx#.Vz2Nfdf9UXo for more on Hybrid’s integration with GMG Color.
