Frustrated by the delicate balance of wanting maximum printing speed, but being slowed by data processing needs, Printing Industries of America is drawing the attention of the printing and communications industries to the PDF/VT standard by explaining how its benefits can offer a solution.
“The PDF/VT standard designed for both variable and transactional document printing is built upon PDF/X-4 and PDF/X-5 and thereby supports the imaging within these PDF versions,” wrote the group. “Of importance with this is the support for transparency blending modes, layers and ICC color management.”
“There are a number of flavors of the PDF/VT format with PDF/VT-1 being a single self contained file with the advantages that this offers; PDF/VT-2 allows external PDF objects to be referenced while PDF/VT-2s supports live streaming allowing segmented sections of data to be processed,” wrote the group. They believe PDF/VT will take several years to take hold but look to realize real-world benefits in the next 18 months.