Adobe launches new PDF Print Engine

Adobe has released version 7 of its Adobe PDF Print Engine rendering platform which adds a range of new features designed to streamline workflows and improve overall print quality.

New features in Engine 7, which were first officially announced at this year’s FESPA Global Print Expo, include in-RIP multicolour transparency blending, which is reportedly an industry first.

The feature is designed to overcome the technical hurdles of transparency blending for expanded colour gamut (ECG) print jobs. The tool can blend transparency and separate plates for presses with CMYK plus any combination of inks, for example orange, green, and violet (CMYK+OGV).

Jobs that contain one or more transparent elements can take full advantage of the press gamut with the feature designed to enable the images and graphics in the job to appear more vivid.

The merging of variable product data has also been added, developed for consumer package goods (CPG) manufacturers that need connected packaging to fight counterfeiting and track distribution logistics.

In-RIP rendering of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator job files are available in version 7 for designers who use Illustrator and Photoshop to submit jobs in native format instead of PDF. With the function, prepress operations can eliminate the manual steps of opening the job in the design application and converting it to PDF.

Bleed generation features have also been added for jobs that will be trimmed but were submitted with graphics that stop at the trimline. A bleed can now also be generated as part of the rendering stage, eliminating the need for interactive pre-RIP remedies.

For wide-format applications, an in-RIP cutline expansion is now available for jobs that will be printed on a wide-format press before being finished on a cutting table. For this, the perimeter cutline can be automatically modified to account for the thickness, angle, and pressure of the cutting implement as well as the flexibility of the substrate, aiming to eliminate the need for manual preparation.

The new functions are integrated directly into the rendering pipeline inside the RIP, aiming to reduce the need for specialised skill sets and eliminate separate prepress operations.

By combining pre-RIP functions with in-RIP rendering, Engine 7 intends to facilitate fewer manual interactions, more automation, and faster production.

The beta release of PDF Print Engine 7 was made available to Adobe print RIP software development kit licensing partners in April, with the final Gold Master edition due to be distributed to them in August. Adobe expects that industry-leading OEMs and RIP vendors will begin to release products powered by version 7 in 2026.

Naveen Goel, vice president of products and general manager of Adobe, says: “Adobe is excited to bring the powerful innovations in version 7 of the PDF Print Engine to our solution partners, and the entire print industry.

“Printers need to process more jobs in the same amount of time. Commercial printers, packaging converters, textile/garment printers, and product manufacturers will realise the timesaving and cost-saving benefits of the Adobe Print Services platform, combined with the new features in Print Engine 7.”

Alongside the new engine, a pre-release preview of the new Adobe Print Services platform was demonstrated at this year’s FESPA. The new AI-powered platform will automate pre-RIP conversion tasks with its integration into the prepress workflow designed to optimise the PDF Print Engine.

Adobe Print Services will be made available to Adobe print partners in the near future, with further announcements expected in due course.