Glossary · Docs | AutomatePrint

The print and production words used across the app and these docs, with what each one means here.

The words below are used in the app and in these docs. Where the print trade uses a word in several ways, the definition says what it means here.

Terms from A to Z#

1-bit TIFF#

A plate file already screened into dots: one bit for each device pixel of the platesetter, dot or no dot. A screening job makes one per separation and page.

1-up#

A single copy of an artwork, prepared once (its die, bleed and separations) and then repeated in the layout. You prepare it in the 1-up editor.

AM screening#

Halftone dots on a regular grid that grow larger for darker tints (amplitude modulated). An AM screen is set by its ruling, its angle and its dot shape.

API key#

A secret that lets another system call the API as you, in every team you belong to. Created and revoked on your profile.

Approver and viewer#

The two roles of a reviewer on a share link. An approver's decision counts toward the link's status: everyone emailed the link, and anyone who approves or rejects on it. A reviewer who only comments is a viewer and never holds an approval up.

Artwork#

A file you upload: a PDF or an image of the thing to print. In an imposition job each artwork has a quantity and is laid out as many times as needed.

Bed#

The working area of a cutting table. On a conveyor cutter a long roll layout is cut one bed-length at a time.

Bed policy#

Whether pieces may cross from one cutter bed to the next, or must each stay within one bed. A job can follow the cutter's own setting.

See also: Bed, Roll, Rolls, beds and lanes

Bleed#

Artwork that runs past the cut line, so a slightly off cut never shows a white edge. The app can add bleed around a die when the file has none.

Burst strength#

The pressure corrugated board takes before it bursts, the older way of rating boxes (for example 200 lb test).

Caliper#

The thickness of the board or stock, in millimetres. In 3D it sets how far folded panels sit apart.

Crash-lock bottom#

A glued bottom that locks itself as the flat carton is opened, for heavier products. Needs a folder-gluer with a crash-lock section.

Cut file#

The file a digital cutter or plotter reads to cut the pieces out: PDF with a spot-colour cut path, DXF or CF2.

Cut program#

The ordered list of guillotine cuts for an N-up form, with the position of each cut, which you can export for the operator.

Densitometer#

A tool that reads the ink percentage of every plate at a point or over an area, with their total. The Advanced proof and the plate viewer have one.

Designer link#

A private link that opens one estimate in the Takeoff designer without an account, so a customer or a salesperson can draw the parts. It can hide prices, expire, and be revoked.

Die#

The line along which a piece is cut out, and the tool that cuts it. In a PDF it is usually drawn in a spot colour, and you tell the app which paths make it up.

Dot gain (TVI)#

Dots print larger on paper than they are on the plate, so tints print darker than in the file. The increase is measured as tone value increase (TVI), and press compensation makes up for it.

ECT#

Edge crush test: how much load corrugated board takes on its edge before it crushes, in pounds per inch. Boxes are sold by it (for example 32 ECT).

Effective resolution (ppi)#

An image's pixels divided by the size it prints at, in pixels per inch. An image of 1200 × 900 px placed at 4 × 3 in prints at 300 ppi; scaled up to 8 × 6 in, at 150 ppi.

Efficiency factor#

A cutting machine's multiplier on its estimated motion time, fitted from a timed job so cut times match your machine.

Estimate#

A quote being built in Estimating: the customer's drawing, the parts traced on it, their materials and the price.

File version#

One saved state of a file in Files, numbered v1, v2, v3 and so on. Uploading a file with a name that is already in the folder adds the next version. Every version is kept, the highest number is the current one, and proofs and jobs keep the version they were made with.

Finding#

One problem a preflight check found, with a severity (error, warning or note), a message, its page and up to 25 places on the page. Errors fail the report.

Finish#

Varnish, foil, embossing or white ink, usually drawn in the PDF as a spot plate of its own. The 3D view shows such a plate as the finish it makes instead of as a printed colour.

See also: Spot colour, Separation, Finishes

Flute#

The wavy middle layer of corrugated board, and its size: E is thin, B and C thicker, and double wall (EB, BC) glues two layers of flutes together.

FM screening#

Dots of one size, more of them for darker tints, in an irregular pattern with no ruling or angle (frequency modulated, also called stochastic), so FM plates don't make the moiré patterns of angled screens.

Folder default#

A property value set on a folder. Files that arrive in the folder, or in one of its subfolders, get the value when they don't have one yet, so every file in "Customers / C-102" can carry the customer C-102.

Form#

One distinct sheet layout. Every sheet printed from a form is identical, and a job may need several forms to reach every quantity. In an offset run each form needs its own set of plates, so Max plates limits how many forms a layout may use.

See also: Plate, Run length, N-up, Offset press runs

Full overlap container (FOL)#

A slotted box whose outer flaps run the full width of the box and overlap completely (FEFCO 0203), for strength.

Gang run#

Printing several different artworks together on the same sheets or roll. An imposition job with more than one artwork is laid out as a gang run.

Grain#

The direction of the fibres in paper or board. Pieces that must follow the grain are only turned in ways that keep it.

Half slotted container (HSC)#

A regular slotted container with no top flaps (FEFCO 0200).

Ink zones#

Equal strips across the width of the sheet. Screening measures every plate's ink coverage in each zone, so the ink keys of an offset press can be preset from it.

Joint lap#

The strip where a box's glue flap overlaps the panel it is glued to. With plant allowances it takes about one board thickness of inside length along its width.

Kiss cut and thru cut#

A kiss cut goes through the top layer only (such as a label face) and leaves the liner whole. A thru cut goes through the material and any liner.

Knife stage#

One round of guillotine cuts in the same direction. Two stages cut the sheet into strips and then the strips into pieces; more stages allow more complex N-up layouts.

Knocked down (KD)#

A carton or box glued at its seam and folded flat for shipping, ready to be opened and filled.

Lane and band#

Strips on a roll. A lane runs down the length of the roll; a band runs across it.

Layout#

One arrangement of pieces on sheets or on a roll. A run can find several layouts, and the Report compares them by sheets, utilisation, time and cost.

Lead-in and lead-out#

Roll material left free before the first piece (lead-in) and after the last one (lead-out).

Lift and stroke#

A lift is the stack of sheets the guillotine cuts at once; its height limits how many sheets fit under the knife. A stroke is one cut of the knife through a lift.

Line type#

What a path of the die drawing does: cut, crease, perforation, score, kiss cut and so on, or a non-cutting role such as bleed, varnish or annotation.

Lower bound#

The fewest printed sheets any layout could possibly use for a job, worked out without making a layout: for N-up from a relaxed version of the problem or the size that needs the most sheets, for offset from the total area. The Report shows it under the layouts, so you can see how close the best one is.

Machine direction (MD) and cross direction (CD)#

Machine direction is the way the fibres run in board, the grain; cross direction is across it. Board folds more cleanly and stiffly one way than the other, so blanks keep their direction on the sheet.

Makeready and spoilage#

Makeready is the sheets used to set up the press for a form before good sheets come off it; spoilage is the extra sheets allowed for waste during the run, as a percentage. Offset runs print the run length plus makeready, increased by the spoilage percentage, for every plate.

Manufacturer's joint#

The glued (or taped or stitched) seam that closes a box's tube: a glue flap on one end panel fixed to the other.

Margin#

The edge of a sheet or roll that is kept free of pieces, for grippers, feeding or marks.

Material group#

All the parts of an estimate that use the same material. Each group is nested on its roll and priced with its nested length and cut time. Not related to ganging or item properties.

Method#

How an imposition run lays pieces out: Auto, True shape, N-up (guillotine) or Strips. Auto picks N-up when every artwork is a rectangle on sheets, and True shape otherwise.

See also: True shape, N-up, Strips, Run type

Minimum dot and bump#

The smallest dot a plate or press holds. A bump lifts smaller dots up to it, blending back into the curve, as flexo usually needs; the alternative cuts them off to paper.

Misregistration#

Plates printing slightly out of line with each other, by a fraction of a millimetre. It shows as white gaps or coloured fringes where inks meet, which traps close.

Moiré#

An unwanted pattern where two screens, or a screen and a pattern in the image, interfere. Screen angles are chosen to avoid it, and the plate viewer can show it.

MSF#

A thousand square feet: how corrugated board is bought and priced. A blank's area in square feet is the MSF per thousand blanks.

N-up#

Rectangles in rows and columns that a guillotine can cut apart, with a knife program. The name comes from the number of copies (N) on each sheet.

Neutral density (ND)#

How dark an ink prints, from 0 for paper upwards. In trapping the lighter ink (the lower ND) spreads into the darker one. The app measures it from the ink's colour, and you can type your own for a spot colour.

Output intent#

A statement inside a PDF of the print condition it was made for, such as a coated offset standard. PDF/X files must have one.

Overprint and knockout#

An object that overprints is printed on top of the inks beneath it; one that knocks out clears them first. Solid black text and technical lines should overprint, and white must not, or it disappears. Browsers and many PDF viewers don't show overprint, so the app draws such files from their separations.

Overrun and underrun#

How far a piece's produced quantity may go over (overrun) or under (underrun) the quantity ordered, as a percentage. Offset runs use them because every copy on a form gets the same run length.

Page boxes#

The rectangles a PDF page declares: the MediaBox is the whole page, the CropBox the part viewers show, the TrimBox the finished size after cutting and the BleedBox the trim plus its bleed. Preflight checks them and can set them for you.

Panel and hinge#

The fold lines of a die (its creases, scores and perforations) divide a carton into panels. Two panels that meet along a fold line are joined by a hinge, which is where the 3D view folds them.

Panelling#

Splitting a part that is wider than the roll into overlapping panels that are printed and cut separately and joined side by side.

Part#

One shape to produce. In Estimating it is a rectangle or polygon you trace on a drawing, with a material and a quantity. In the nesting API it is an outline with an id and a quantity.

Piece#

One placed copy of an artwork or part in a layout. An artwork ordered 500 times becomes 500 pieces spread over the sheets or the roll.

Plate#

A printing plate carries one ink (one separation) of a form; a four-colour form needs four plates per side. In the offset run settings a plate means one form's set of plates, and each set is printed for its own run length.

Plate curve#

The mapping from each tint in the file to the dot on the plate, per separation: a tone curve, press compensation, limits and plate linearisation, in that order. Without curves a 40 % tint makes a 40 % dot.

Platesetter (CTP)#

The computer-to-plate device that images printing plates from screened files or from a PDF its own RIP screens. Its resolution, in dots per inch, sets how fine the screens can be.

Point (pt)#

1/72 of an inch, the unit PDF files use. The app stores imposition lengths in points and shows them in your unit.

Preflight#

An automatic check of a print PDF against a profile before it goes to press: fonts, image resolution, colour spaces, ink coverage, bleed and more. It gives a report with every finding and its place on the page.

Preflight fix#

A change preflight makes to a copy of the file for you, such as setting its page boxes or downsampling its images. The original is never changed: an approval artwork gets the fixed file as its next version.

See also: Finding, Page boxes, Preflight fixes

Preflight profile#

One of the five built-in presets plus your team's changes to it: which checks run, their severity and their settings. The team default profile is used when nobody chooses one; without a default, preflight picks a preset suited to the artwork.

Preset#

A ready-made printer or cutting machine with the manufacturer's published figures and estimated starting values, which you adjust or calibrate.

Press compensation#

A plate curve computed from a measured test form, so the printed sheet reaches its aim despite dot gain.

Print mode#

A printer's quality setting with its speed in square metres per hour and its number of passes.

Print-ready file#

The PDF the 1-up editor makes from an artwork: the original with its bleed, spot renames, page boxes, technical-ink overprint and traps applied, ready to impose and print. It is kept next to the original, which never changes.

Process inks (CMYK)#

Cyan, magenta, yellow and black, the four inks most colours are printed from. Their tints are combined on the sheet to make every other colour.

Proof#

What a reviewer checks before anything is printed: the artwork in the browser from a share link, flat, and for a carton shared in 3D also folded.

Property#

A field your team defines for files, such as customer, SKU or substrate, with a type (text, number, date, choice and so on). Every file can have a value for each property, and other apps can read them.

Registration colour#

A colour that prints at 100 % on every plate, meant for crop and registration targets outside the trim. Inside the artwork it would print solid on every plate, so preflight flags it there.

Regular slotted container (RSC)#

The standard shipping box (FEFCO 0201): four panels with top and bottom flaps of equal length, the outer flaps meeting in the middle.

Reverse tuck end (RTE)#

A folding carton whose top and bottom tuck flaps close from opposite sides, so the flat carton nests well on the sheet. The most common retail tuck box.

Rich black#

Black ink with other process inks added under it for a deeper black. It suits large areas; small text in rich black blurs when the plates misregister, so set it in black alone.

Roll#

Media fed from a roll: a fixed width and as much length as the layout needs. Layouts on a roll are measured by the length they use.

See also: Lead-in and lead-out, Bed, Panelling

Rotation#

The angles a piece may be turned to in a layout: none, 0° or 180°, quarter turns, any angle, or a list you give. Fewer angles keep a direction; more angles save material.

Run length#

The number of good sheets printed from one form (one plate, in an offset run).

Run type#

Digital or Offset. Digital runs print exactly the quantities ordered. Offset runs plan plates, run lengths, makeready and overruns.

Safe area#

The zone inside the trim where text and logos are safe from the cut. The 1-up editor shows it as a dashed line; it is a guide only and changes nothing in the file.

Scale#

How lengths on a drawing map to real lengths. You set it by drawing a line over a known length, or by entering a ratio.

Score allowance#

The extra length added at each fold of corrugated board so the inside of the box comes out on size; it grows with the flute.

Screen angle#

The direction of an AM screen's rows of dots, in degrees. Each separation gets its own angle so the screens don't interfere, such as cyan 15°, magenta 75°, yellow 0° and black 45° in the built-in offset profiles.

Screen ruling (lpi)#

How fine an AM screen is, in lines of halftone cells per inch. Screening needs a resolution of at least 4 times the ruling: at 600 dpi, 150 lpi at most.

Seal end#

A folding carton whose end flaps are glued shut when it is filled, as on cereal and food cartons.

Separation#

The part of the artwork printed by one ink, such as cyan or a spot colour, and the plate that prints it. Finishes and technical lines have separations of their own too. The 1-up editor and Advanced proofs show them one at a time, and screening makes one plate file per separation and page.

The web address of the proof of one artwork version. Anyone who has it can open the proof, comment and decide, without an account. Every version has a Simple and an Advanced link; links emailed from the app add a personal part for each invited address.

Slug#

The part of the page outside the trim and the bleed, for colour bars, targets and job notes. It is cut away, so preflight leaves it out of the artwork checks.

Snap-lock bottom (1-2-3)#

A bottom closed by folding four interlocking flaps in order, with no glue on the bottom.

Spacing#

The gap left between pieces in a layout. Also called the gutter. N-up layouts can instead butt pieces together so neighbours share one cut.

Spot colour#

An ink mixed to one exact colour and printed on a plate of its own, such as PMS 185 C, instead of being built from cyan, magenta, yellow and black. PDFs also use spot colours for things that aren't ink colours: varnish, foil, white and die lines.

Straight tuck end (STE)#

A folding carton whose top and bottom tuck flaps both hinge on the same panel, so both ends open from the front.

Strips#

Pieces kept in straight strips between slit lines, so the sheet or roll can be slit first and then cut. On a roll, strips are lanes or bands.

Takeoff#

Measuring the parts of a job from a drawing, and the Estimating workspace where you do it: set a scale, trace rectangles and polygons, and see the quote update.

See also: Scale, Part, Takeoff: tracing parts

Team#

Your shop in the app. Everything you create belongs to one team, and its Team ID is part of every app address and API path.

Technical plate#

A technical ink, plate or layer marks a line for finishing instead of printing: cut, crease, perforation, glue, dimensions and the like. The app recognises it from its line type or its name, and leaves it out of the bleed, the 3D print, ink coverage, trapping, preflight's artwork checks and screened plates.

Total ink coverage (TAC)#

The sum of the ink percentages at one point, such as 100 % cyan, 90 % magenta, 80 % yellow and 100 % black: 370 %. Presses set a maximum, because too much ink dries slowly and sets off. Technical inks and finishes don't count.

Trap and trapping#

A trap is a thin overlap where two inks meet: the lighter ink spreads slightly into the darker one, so misregistration on press leaves no white gap between them. Trapping adds the traps to the print-ready file as a layer of their own, which prints on offset and flexo presses and is switched off for digital.

True shape#

Nesting pieces by their actual outlines, interlocking them to save material. Suited to die-cut and contour-cut work on digital cutters.

Utilisation#

The share of the sheet or roll area covered by pieces. Higher means less waste.