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Esko's DeskPack is a suite of folding packaging design and production tools that run as plug-ins to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop Creative Suite 2 (CS2). It's modular, so you can add as much or as little as you want, but the full package will duplicate most of the design, layout and production capabilities of Esko's dedicated PackEdge system. DeskPack includes the exciting forthcoming 3-dx plug-in for CAD integration, live 3D design and export to 3D PDF proofs.

DeskPack was first announced at Ipex 2002 and has been progressively extended with new modules. It is part of Esko’s strategy to move out of its pre-press niche, says Frank Adegeest, Esko’s senior product manager for packaging application software. “Traditionally, Esko supplied the pre-press parts in the middle. However, this can now be largely automated. So now we are adding new features at both ends of the process sequence – design applications in front, with filling, palletisation and filling preparation for the back end.”

Eliminating waste
“The technology used in packaging design is fairly mature,” he adds. “Illustrator and FreeHand do good jobs on the desktop, while PackEdge or ArtPro are good professional solutions. CTP and CTF output is fast.

But there’s a lot of waste at the margins, particularly with file conversions. We wanted a start-to-finish solution from creative asset to production without conversions. We concluded that the only solution was something like DeskPack, which can build packaging layers on top of the design. If there is a change, you can hand it back to the designer, who makes the changes in Illustrator and then returns it for re-application of the packaging layers.”

Esko’s Scope family (in which PackEdge and DeskPack are included) allows end-to-end PDF and JDF working. Other components include ArtiosCAD structural design software, FastImpose imposition, Plato plate layout, WebCenter online collaboration and BackStage 3.0 automated workflow server. Last year, Agfa became a global reseller of DeskPack and Plato to accompany its ApogeeX workflow and offset platesetters. Esko has its own FlexRip RIP for output to either its own Kongsberg sample cutters and CDI flexo platesetters or third-party litho and flexo imagers.


DeskPack is a modular suite of plug-ins, mostly for Illustrator CS1 or CS2 but with a couple for Photoshop CS1/CS2, all running on Mac OS X or Windows 2000/XP. Esko can supply the complete set as a 30-day trial, after which you can buy full licences for any modules you wish.

The suite is divided into standalone and client-server modules. TrapX, ViewX and InkTools ideally work with a separately supplied workflow server. Prices vary between the modules, but all are available in single-user form or with licence packs for five, 10 or 30 users. Upgrades are free with the maintenance contract, which costs 8–10% pa.

The star of the show is 3-dx, a breakthrough product that adapts the interactive 3D working of PackEdge for Illustrator. Although it will only officially ship on 17 July, it’s already in live production in a handful of test sites and was demonstrated at Ipex in April. This module will cost around £1,700.

The 3-dx tool provides a 3D working window with a bi-directional link to a conventional Illustrator 2D design window. An operator would use two monitors side-by-side, but the windows can be displayed on a single monitor if needed. Changes made to the pack design in either window are reflected in the other as they refresh. A designer might work in the intuitive 3D environment with any changes automatically applied to the correct position and orientation on the 2D flat. Alternatively, the 2D window can be used for image creation and fine positioning that’s then applied to the 3D pack.

Esko distributes two free plug-ins that allow ArtiosCAD structural files to be imported into Illustrator, or Illustrator files to be exported to ArtiosCAD as guides during packaging creation. The 3-dx product can assemble and fold a CAD structure file into a 3D model. Flat images created in the Illustrator window are rendered onto the 3D model. Different viewing modes can display the internal and external structure, hidden sides and the rendered image. There are features for handling flaps and for automatic splitting, positioning and alignment of image elements across joins or tuck-in flaps.

Design solutions
Even more clever is the ability to start with a 3D CAD file of the product destined to go inside the package, then automatically create a folding carton to fit around it. Esko usually demonstrates this with a complex 3D binoculars model and creates an e-flute pack around it, including an internal retention card with an automatically calculated and irregular cutout area. The flat pack can be exported to ArtiosCAD and used to create the cutting and creasing die.

It’s possible to export a proof as a 3D PDF. This can be opened in the standard free Adobe Reader 7.0, which means customers don’t need special software to view proof files and add comments. The 3D PDF carries a menu to set the lighting type and a choice of views. You can rotate the package and zoom into details.

Most other DeskPack tools are already available, though WrapX (for wraparound or continuous packaging) and ScreenX (assigns separate screening parameters to different object types) are yet to ship.

BoostX contains tools for selection and alignment, plus spot and special colour tools that improve on Illustrators’ own. Crosshair lets you align objects to each other even at angles. The selection tools help you select just the objects you want, which can be difficult in a complex Illustrator document. The Gradient tool lets you position points in a multi-colour blend numerically, so an identical blend can easily be repeated elsewhere. Ink Mix lets you assign mixtures of spot colours to objects, even blends.

CheckX is a pre-flight tool that inspects the Illustrator file for parameters that are defined by the operator. It can also collect all job elements for output together with a preflight report file. BarX generates barcodes for all common standards with built-in compensations for ink spread and the like, and automatic prevention of inappropriate colours or wrong numbers (using a checksum). These remain interactive within the file, so you can change them by editing the number. Numbers are written into XMP metadata, so they can be searched for later.

TrapX is based on Esko’s flagship ColorStitch trapping technology. It runs in a background server while Illustrator remains available for further editing. Traps are non-destructive and held on a separate layer, so they can be removed or revised later. Automatic gap detection saves tedious manual repairs at small holes. Operators can also force the order of traps so they will always run under opaque inks, including white, or they will never run under important house colours.

Pinpointing problems
ViewX is a previewer that shows separations, progressives and dot patterns. It includes a prediction of the actual flexo plates by separation so you can see potential problem areas, such as breaking out highlights, ragged edges and isolated dots groups. This is valuable for flexo platesetters where there’s no film that can be checked before output.

The FlexoTools package combines ViewX with FlexoClean for removal of scum dots plus FlexoFix, a filter that can fine-tune tone curves and highlight dots for flexo plates.

StepX is a template-based step-and-repeat module. It includes Esko’s SmartMarks, which generates sets of printer’s marks that automatically adjust to changes in sheet or board size, plate size and the number of inks.

InkTools is a Photoshop plug-in that needs an Esko workflow server, which adds new spot/special colour creation and composite previewing tools to Photoshop. It also lets you re-separate CMYK contones into special ink combinations.

Jan de Roeck, Esko’s director of product management software, says that an Illustrator-based DeskPack installation will cost approximately the same as an equivalent set of PackEdge functions. But the DeskPack total cost of ownership will be lower, he says. “There are a lot of Illustrator operators out there so you won’t have to train them to the same extent as for PackEdge.” DeskPack modules have similar user interface and underlying concepts as Illustrator, so they’re easy to pick up.

DeskPack isn’t yet a complete replacement for PackEdge. “Some niche applications such as shrink sleeves or metal distortions are only available for PackEdge, though we will add these to DeskPack in future,” says de Roeck. “Also the PackEdge colour model is better than Illustrator’s. But we are trying to get DeskPack to the point where it will eventually replace PackEdge.”

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SPECIFICATIONS
Platform Adobe Illustrator CS/CS2
Price from £140 (BarX) to about £6,000 for a full set of modules – 3-dx will be about £1,700
Contact Esko 0032 9 216 9211 www.esko.com

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THE ALTERNATIVE
Artwork Systems InPDF
There’s no direct alternative to the DeskPack design and production plug-ins for Illustrator and Photoshop. Artwork Systems has adopted a different method with its InPDF (Intelligent PDF) plug-in for Illustrator. This allows a PDF generated by Illustrator to preserve all its native editing features (layers, spot colours, groups, external links) if they are taken into a third-party editor or workflow such as AWS ArtPro, Nexus or OdyStar Packaging and then taken back into Illustrator for correction work.
Platform Adobe Illustrator CS/CS2
Price not available
Contact Artwork Systems 01527 592550 www.artwork-systems.com