Harlequin^® Host Renderer SDK

The Harlequin Host Renderer is a new generation “Digital” Harlequin RIP from Global Graphics^®. It provides high performance components with which to build Digital Front Ends (DFEs) for digital production presses and other host-based Page Description Language (PDL) rendering solutions.

Independent speed tests carried out by the Rochester Institute of Technology and published in a White Paper by InfoTrends in May 2012 show that Harlequin Host Renderer has plenty of processing power head-room over the industry’s highest performing digital presses, delivering pages far in excess of the print devices’ rated speeds.

This power means that manufacturers can achieve rated engine speed with less processing power, with a concomitant reduction in the costs for hardware, operating systems and other associated software.

• manufacturers of light and medium production devices can reduce time to market by using a single RIP;
• vendors of high and ultra-high volume devices can minimize the costs of their DFE using multiple RIPs.
• Print shops can drive a broad span of digital presses at full engine speed, only stopping for scheduled maintenance.

Light and medium volume press

Drive faster printers with a single RIP solution.

Multi-threading - the Harlequin Host Renderer makes full use of multiple core chips

High volume press

Minimise the hardware and infrastructure cost for a RIP farm solution.

Multi-RIPs - the Harlequin Host Renderer harnesses the power of multiple RIPs

Performance

To demonstrate the power of the Harlequin Host Renderer Global Graphics commissioned independent speed tests carried out by the Rochester Institute of Technology. These tests show that Harlequin has plenty of processing power head room over the industry’s highest performing digital presses, delivering pages far in excess of the print devices’ rated speeds.

The test file suite, developed by RIT, and created using InDesign, QuarkXPress, XMPie, and GMC, was composed of files in six different categories: label, transactional, direct mail, photo book, commercial and publication. For each category, multiple test files were created with different page counts and characteristics to reflect the variety in real-world production jobs.

The RIP Core

• Native interpreting paths for PostScript^®, PDF and XPS. An OEM may choose to take all three Page Description Languages, or any one or two. Native support for all formats within a single RIP greatly simplifies integration of color management, screening etc, reducing engineering cost and time to market. It also ensures efficient and consistent rendering regardless of which PDL is used
• Infrastructure for an OEM to build a PDF/VT compliant solution around the Harlequin Host Renderer. Harlequin OEMs have been shipping DFEs supporting PDF/VT since Ipex 2010
• Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) and image file formats such as JPEG and TIFF^™ are also supported, enabling implementation of a PPML/GA solution with consistent rendering of all required data elements
• A highly optimized multi-threaded architecture, to make maximum use of compute horsepower available, and therefore minimize the cost of hardware required to reliably achieve engine speed
• A flexible memory model makes maximum use of RAM supplied, but allows performance to degrade gracefully if insufficient memory is available to process a job optimally, ensuring that correct output is still produced
• Configurable raster output formats, offering a wide variety of color spaces, channel interleaving and bit-depth and including multi-bit screening
• Extremely flexible control and configuration interfaces, including boilerplate system code that can be amended or replaced by the OEM as required
• Built-in font rendering, color management and screening that can be replaced with an OEM's own IP or third-party libraries.
• Cross-platform support enabling porting to any suitable hardware and operating system.

Highly configurable RIP core

• Highly configurable RIP core

  The RIP supports a rich, high-level configuration language for all of a client system’s per-job, per-page, per-process and persistent configuration requirements. This includes job control, color management, screening, font handling, imposition, etc.

• A complete solution for production print

  As part of the Harlequin RIP family the Harlequin Host Renderer brings with it a variety of in-RIP features designed for production print. These include:

  • ColorPro, for accurate color management of all your jobs, in combination with built-in application of calibration tables
  • Screening; a wide range of powerful and tunable halftone technology can be supplied, including multi-bit screens for inkjet presses. An OEM may also install their own screening as encrypted font caches or using an API for programmatic halftone technology
  • TrapPro, a full-featured trapping solution
  • Font emulation, patent-pending technology for when that job just has to be out now, even if required fonts were omitted when the PDF was made
  • Simple imposition, enabling fast and efficient fully automated creation of simple imposition layouts.

• A complete solution for variable data print

  • Harlequin VariData™, to accelerate printing of variable data jobs that were saved as regular PDF. This is configurable to hold retained rasters within the RIP or to deliver them to OEM technology for reconstruction of final pages, offering the choice of an easy route into high-performance VDP, or maximum throughput for those OEMs who already have aggregation technology. Harlequin VariData is an expanded and improved replacement for the PDF Retained Raster functionality provided in earlier Harlequin RIPs
  • Infrastructure for an OEM to build a PDF/VT compliant solution around the Harlequin Host Renderer. Harlequin OEMs have been shipping DFEs supporting PDF/VT since Ipex 2010
  • Ability to render all four graphical formats required for PPML/GA (EPS, PDF, TIFF & JPEG), enabling an OEM to build a complete PPML solution around the Harlequin Host Renderer.

• Cross-platform

  Global Graphics has a long history of providing cross-platform technology and in the Harlequin Host Renderer cross-platform support is provided through an OS abstraction framework, allowing deployment in host-based solutions on a wide variety of operating systems and hardware. It is available on Windows, enabling easy integration into many existing solutions, and on Linux, avoiding the requirement for costly Windows licenses. Other platforms available on request.

• Time to market

  The Harlequin Host Renderer will assist you to deliver your project on time and on budget.

  • Support for multiple page description languages within a single SDK minimizes integration work required to achieve consistent results
  • Inclusion of a boilerplate framework and configuration code allows developers to make rapid progress from day one
  • A wide variety of raster delivery formats mean that the Harlequin Host Renderer can be easily configured to deliver the data you require.

• Performance

  Global Graphics’ technology is renowned for its high performance and reliability. The Harlequin Host Renderer is built on mature technology: it uses a new iteration of the RIP kernel found at the heart of the Harlequin RIP, with significant expansion and optimization.

  Version 3 of the Harlequin Host Renderer includes:

  • extensive multi-threading of transparency compositing and rendering
  • Harlequin Parallel Pages™, which allows a page to be interpreted while the previous pages are still being rendered. This ensures that processor cores are kept busy, ensuring the highest possible throughput.

  The Harlequin Host Renderer is exceptionally fast and efficient so you can achieve rated engine speed with less processing power, with a concomitant reduction in the costs for hardware, operating systems and other associated software.

• Complementary technology

  The Harlequin Host Renderer addresses your needs for rendering PostScript, PDF and XPS within a larger, server-based system. The same core is available in other forms for other users: the Harlequin Server RIP provides a server-based RIP with a prebuilt graphical user interface, and the Harlequin Embedded SDK is designed for use on controller boards within printers.

• Standards-based

  The Harlequin Host Renderer ensures compliance to a broad array of color- and print-related standards, including PDF/X, PDF/VT, ICC, OpenType etc.

  At the same time, Global Graphics recognizes that some creation applications make non-compliant files, and the Harlequin Host Renderer is also written to be compatible with the output from a wide variety of such tools. The emphasis on both compliance and compatibility results in outstanding output quality across all jobs.

Native interpretation of:

• PostScript (including EPS)
• PDF (including ISO 32000-1)
• XPS
• TIFF
• JPEG
• Processing & validation of PDF/X-1a:2001 & 2003; PDF/X-3:2002 & 2003; PDF/X-4 & 4p 2008 & 2010; PDF/5g & 5pg 2008 & 2010
• OEM partners can build PDF/VT compliant digital front ends (DFEs) around the Harlequin Host Renderer.

Extensive configuration capabilities, accessible from all PDLs

• Effectively unlimited resolution, including unequal fast and slow scan
• Supercell, stochastic (FM) and hybrid screens available, including multi-bit. OEM screening IP installable as screen caches or through an API
• In-RIP imposition
• Extensive font substitution and emulation capabilities
• Internal and external modes to PDF Retained Raster for optimal VDP performance
• Thread count usage control
• C API for interfacing between layers and core.

Color

• Mono, CMYK & spot, RGB, RGBK, sRGB, CMY, K & spot output, support for N-color (inc. HiFi, photoink and custom) or rendered content description
• Raster depths output: 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits
• Planar, band interleaved, or pixel interleaved output
• Internal Color Management support, (ICC 4.0) or user defined via CMM API
• Output of object map data to inform downstream color management or screening processes, etc
• Multiple calibration curve options.

Cross-platform support through an OS abstraction framework

• Currently supported on 32- and 64-bit Microsoft Windows and 64-bit Linux; ask if you have requirements for other operating systems.

Market leading performance