Epson america has made several drivers available that are both Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) and 64 bit compatible.   We are very excited to see drivers coming quickly as our new version (ImageNest 2.0) will be a full 64 bit RIP.   With ImageNest 2.0 several major new features will be included.  Among them are:

Application color managemet

Soft Proofing

New and Improved automatic layout

Re-Designed Interface

Snow Leopard Compatibility

Full 64 bit processing (Major Speed and Memory Increase)

Borders with Color Fill

File Annotation with over 20 options

PDF Creation

Vertical and Horizontal Flipping feature

Printing of Embeded JPG’s within DNG files and more !

Here is a listing of the Current (as of September 20th 2009) snow leopard (64 bit) drivers available on Epson printers.

Epson Sylus Pro 11880 Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) Driver:

Epson Sylus Pro 9900 Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6)Driver:

Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6)Driver:

Epson Stylus Pro 9880 Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) Driver:

Epson Stylus Pro 7880 Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) Driver:

Epson Stylus Pro 4880 Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6)  Driver:

Epson Stylus Photo R1800 Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) Driver:

Mac OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) becomes available August 28th and ImageNest will not be far behind with our new Snow Leopard compatible version.   ImageNest 2.0 will be 100% ready for Snow Leopard when we release in mid to late September and will be fully 64 bit compatible.   By going to 64 bit ImageNest will be able to take advantage of the massive speed and memory improvements gained with 64 bit processing.   Prior to upgrading to Mac OSX 10.6 users should make certain that their current printer has a driver compatible with 64 bit applications.   As of today,  the only two drivers that we have seen that are 64 bit compatible are for the Epson 7900 and Epson 9900.   Hopefully we will see new drivers in the near future.

The release of version 2.0 is getting closer every day !   One of the newest features available (and it is a free update) is adding a background to images.   Backgrounds can be any color and any size and will automatically be added to any image in the layout.

Easily do a simple half inch background around any image in the layout

Adjust borders to any size you wish !   They can be the same size or as in the example differen sizes for length and width.   Use any color you wish or use a color that is in one of your images by using the color picker (the magnifying glass) feature.

Automatically add a border to all images in the layout !   Everything is batched processed so making a change to all images take less than 5 seconds !

One of the features that has been most requested is the ability to place image meta data around each image automatically.   We where listening and have included annotation in our next FREE update coming sometime in September.   ImageNest’s annotation feature is unique in the fact that it can place annotation data  Above, below, or to either  side of an Image.   The data can be left justified, centered, or right justified and then placed either inside cut marks or outside a set of cutmarks.

In addition to all these options users can also format the date and time to their preference and choose any installed system font, color, or size.

Our new Annotation feature includes options for:

Image Filename

Image Creation Date and Time

Image Modification Date and Time

Image Format

Image Resolution

Image Dimensions

Embed ICC Profile Name

Print Date and Time

Printer Used

and the ability to add a custom comment

In our next free update (scheduled in September) ImageNest graduates to becoming a fully integrated hotfolder workflow for PDF files.   ImageNest’s new PDF creation feature really packs a workflow punch with the ability to:

1.  Create single or multipage PDF files from a nested layout:   This means you can use all of ImageNest’s nesting power to create a file.   That file can then be sent to your printer or dropped to a proofing system.  This has been a major request from our proofing customers who use a SWOP or Gracol certified solution to run their printer.   ImageNest can create an imposed PDF faster and better than any of the competition and can automatically drop to a hotfolder.

2:  Auto length Sizing:   When creating a layout of several images no one ever knows exactly how long a page needs to be.   No one that is, except for ImageNest !.   ImageNest will automatically size your page length so that you need not figure out how many inches of page you need.

3:  Extra Margin Option:  Automatically add extra white space at the bottom if you need.

ImageNest RIP and Epson Advanced Black and White Mode:  Epson’s advanced black and white mode functions without any ICC color management so any output (printer class) profile should not be applied.   Clicking on the “Epson Color Controls” will allow the Advanced Black and White to work properly.   Epson’s Advanced black and white mode will not work if “ColorSync is selected as the ColorSync controls will try to apply an ICC profile which interferes with Epson’s Advanced Black and White mode which is a non-ICC process.