The Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG), Ghent, Belgium, announced the release of four new GWG Specifications for the large-format digital printing and screen-printing markets. They’re additions to the GWG 2005 v3 specifications, which offer best practices for PDF file exchange in graphic-arts and publishing applications.

“As a group, we are really pleased with the progress and speed with which we’ve collaborated and developed these best practice PDF specifications for practical production applications,” says Andy Den Tandt, technical product manager for Enfocus and co-chair of the GWG Specifications Subcommittee. “The goal of the Ghent PDF Workgroup is to make it easy to produce reliable digital documents that can be used from creation to final print production. To accomplish this, the Ghent PDF Workgroup considers the entire workflow and all the steps that influence the final result.”

In the large-format digital printing arena, the specifications address specialized high-resolution print productions using screen rulings higher than 150 lines/in. or special screening technologies such as FM and stochastic. The specifications include very high resolution (CmykVeryHiRes_1v3) and CMYK+spot (SpotVeryHiRes_1v3). In the standard GWG CMYK HiRes specifications, color and grayscale images shall not be less than 100 dpi and should not be more than 300 dpi. For special productions, the use of higher frequency screens, FM screening, stochastic screening, or a combination of these technologies may require higher image resolutions to result in the best possible fine detail in print. For these projects, GWG recommends using the CmykVeryHiRes and SpotVeryHiRes specifications.

For screen-printing applications (graphics and industrial), the specifications address using screen resolutions from 15 lines/in. (outdoor) up to 150 lines/in. (indoor). The specifications include CMYK (ScreenPrintCmyk_1v3) and CMYK+spot (ScreenPrintSpot_1v3). To download free specifications, visit www.gwg.org.