Elpical Releases Claro Layout InDesign Plug-in

By: E&P Staff The Netherlands-based Elpical Giesbeek has released Elpical Claro Layout for those who work with Adobe InDesign. The latest addition to Elpical's line of automated image enhancement and image management solutions, the plug-in offers automated quality analysis and image enhancement without leaving the InDesign application environment.

Claro Layout allows InDesign users to focus on creative work and document layout without first worrying about image quality. They can simply use the RGB image for designing the document, and only when the layout is ready, use Claro Layout to optimize and convert to CMYK.

Using Elpical's advanced Individual Image Analysis, Claro Layout first automatically and analyzes each image and enhances each inside the InDesign document according to its particular requirements, and it applies the desired crop, resolution and color space.

Claro Layout's ability to enhance an image and add it as an extra layer makes its easy to switch between original and enhanced images. So users can work on the original InDesign file, which limits the number of work versions. Clipping paths, transparencies and masks are respected.

Images in documents can greatly increase file size. Claro Layout will, if required, crop, resize and optimize a picture and keep only the resulting image as part of the document rather than retaining the unwanted parts by storing the full original picture. For very-high-resolution images, Claro Layout also will resize the image file, so that only the number of pixels needed for a satisfactory print remain.

Claro Layout is available in the Americas through Tools4Media (www.toolsformedia.com). A trial version of can be downloaded at www.elpical.com/products/claro-layout. Established in 1997 when management bought out the Electronic Imaging department of Victor Hasselblad AB, Elpical develops and markets software to automate image production, manipulation and optimization, as well as image workflow processes.