FirstPROOF is Hamillroad's family of pre-press soft-proofing products, consisting of FirstPROOF Standard and FirstPROOF Professional. When added to a Harlequin, Esko-Graphics or any TIFF based RIP it provides a powerful high performance post-RIP system, that will consistently save the user time and money through an improved workflow, reduced proofing costs and reduced errors on press.
FirstPROOF Standard is an entry-level pre-press soft-proofing product that allows for easy tracking, viewing and checking of ripped jobs prior to output. When added to an existing Harlequin, Esko-Graphics or any TIFF based RIP, it provides a sigificant improvement in proofing jobs before output.
FirstPROOF Professional is a colour accurate pre-press soft-proofing product built on top of FirstPROOF Standard that includes colour accurate soft-proofing, a larger tool set and significant additional features. When added to a Harlequin, Esko-Graphics or any TIFF based RIP, it provides a post-RIP workflow with a number of extremely sophisticated capabilities. The Colour Management capabilities in particular, significantly removes or reduces the need for slow and costly hard-copy proofs.
For CtP RIP users in particular, FirstPROOF is a critical component of a modern computer to plate RIP workflow. With direct imaging of plate data before printing, FirstPROOF allows the user to check many things that were previously done with film, but with plates are no longer possible; for example with film one used to check the content, overlay film to check for moire, measure objects on film, rotate or mirror the film if required, make a chromalin from the film, etc...
Support for Harlequin PGBs allows FirstPROOF to work with any Harlequin RIP, providing a tightly integrated workflow. Support for standard TIFF files allows FirstPROOF to connect to almost any high end RIP system.