The plate viewer

The plate viewer shows a job's plates as they will be imaged, from the whole sheet down to single device pixels, with the plates combined like inks on paper. Use it to check dots, curves, registration, moiré and ink before a plate is made.

Open it with Open viewer on a job, the magnifier in the job's row on the Screening page, or a page's thumbnail (which opens that page). Expired jobs have no viewer.

Before and after screening#

While a job is being configured, or before it is done, the viewer shows the preflight's 50 dpi preview: "Preview at 50 dpi from the preflight: screen the plates to inspect dots, registration and moiré." You can check which inks are where and their coverage; what needs real dots (16:1, the Loupe button, the screen analyser, Gaps, Overlaps and Moiré) is greyed out. Once the job is done, the viewer shows the screened plates.

Around the viewer#

• The header: back to the job, the job's name, the page and resolution, the status, a page menu for jobs with several pages, the keyboard shortcuts and a ⋯ menu (downloads, Report, Job settings).
• Plates (left): every plate of the page with its swatch, name, ruling and angle, coverage and key.
• The toolbar: the tools, zoom, the loupe, the checks (Gaps, Overlaps, Moiré, Zones) and the output view (Mirror, Negative).
• The status bar (under the sheet): the pointer's position in mm, each plate's dot percentage under it, the detail level shown and the zoom.
• Inspect and Job (right): Inspect holds the readings of the tools (see Plate viewer tools); Job holds the output settings, each plate's screen, actual screen and curve, and the files of the page. Hide them with the arrows to see more of the sheet.

On a phone the plates are in the Plates menu of the toolbar, and the Inspect and Job tabs open over the sheet.

Zoom and move#

• Fit (F) shows the whole sheet.
• 1:1 (Z) shows one screen pixel per device pixel: from here on the view is exact, dot for dot.
• 16:1 shows 16 screen pixels per device pixel, to see the shape of single dots.
• + and − zoom by steps; ⌘ or Ctrl with the mouse wheel, or a pinch, zooms at the pointer.
• The wheel pans, and so does dragging with the Hand tool. Hold Space to pan with any tool.

Below 1:1 the viewer shows each plate averaged, which is right for tone but hides rosettes and moiré: use the Moiré check for those (see Plate viewer tools).

Plates, solo and film#

• Tick or untick a plate to show or hide it. The keys 1 to 9 toggle the first nine plates, and 0 shows them all (All does the same).
• The S button of a plate, or Alt-click on it, shows that plate alone; do it again to show the others.
• Film shows every plate in black, like a film or a plate, instead of in its ink colour.

As delivered#

Mirror and Negative in the toolbar show the plates mirrored or negative, as the files are delivered. They only change the view: the viewer's positions and readings stay right-reading, and the files are what the job's output settings say (see Output settings).

Keyboard shortcuts#