AVA LATEST VERSION 5.4 AT HEIMTEXTIL WITH FULL SUPPORT FOR HP STITCH AND ROLAND HAPTIC PRINTERS

Image Courtesy of AVA Cad-Cam

AVA, the UK based design software experts,  will launch their new Mac based design software, version 5.4, at Heimtextil in Frankfurt January 7th—10th 2020.

AVA are also pleased to announce that AVA 5.4 has full support for macOS Catalina.

So, as well as all the great features AVA have worked on for the designer in AVA, they can now take advantage of the new features of macOS Catalina, such as Sidecar, which allows them to use their iPad as an extra display and graphics tablet.

There are numerous changes to the way applications interact with the system in Catalina that meant our full suite of applications needed to be amended.

These improvements are mostly related to security and continue Apple’s theme of moving towards a more focussed and secure system.

These changes have taken a significant amount of development time, but this is essential to future-proof the software.

Once the designer has installed AVA 5.4 they can then download and use macOS Catalina.

New in AVA 5.4

Support For 16-Bit Layers

AVA 5.4 now has support for 16-bit layers.

Whilst in the previous version of AVA the designer could open 16-bit files, the data was reduced to 8 bit.

With 5.4 the designer will retain the full depth of data scanned.

This can give many advantages such as smoother gamut mapping and virtually no posterisation, no matter how severe the colour curves.

This is because a 16-bit layer has over 65 thousand levels of grey compared to the 256 used in an 8-bit layer.

In the example below AVA  had the same image on an 8 bit and 16-bit layer, then applied an extreme curve to give more contrast; you can see obvious posterisation in the 8-bit layer on the left, yet the 16-bit layer on the right is perfectly smooth.

New Wrap Around Repeat Feature

This replaces the old Overview window.

Wrap Around Repeat is now integrated into the main design window.

This means the designer can use all the modern functions of the software while fixing repeat.

It is more efficient and far more intuitive to use.

CMYK Separation Tables

Users now gain an extra level of control when separating CMYK with AVA 5.4.

With the CMYK Table Maker, users can adjust the amounts of each colour, control the GCR and amount of black used.

This is intended to give the separation artist better data from the process channels, which can then be used as part of a spot colour separation.

Multiple Pipette Points

For precise tonal work the designer can now set multiple pipette points, these are shown in the Info window, allowing the designer to directly compare different points in the design simultaneously.

As the designer adjusts the gamma they can see how changes in one area affect another.

Gripping Functions Added To The Brush

This allows designers to increase or decrease the thickness of lines or shapes with a brushstroke.

This will help when balancing fine textures in artwork.

All New Printer Cal

PrinterCal has been rewritten from the ground up.

This gives immediate benefits to the user, more closely aligning with other modern Mac Applications.

Additionally, in the new version, you can now see the colours you’re measuring immediately, so if you make any mistakes you can make the correction there and then, rather than waiting to see the graph at the end.

There are also advanced profile options to give you more accurate colour or better colour saturation for image printing workflows.

We’ve also added support for Xrite’s new i1Pro 3 in Printer Cal and ColourSys.

This instrument can give more accurate profiles, particularly if you’re printing on fabric.

Performance Improvements

Some the most commonly used filters now use the more modern API available on newer Macs to improve their performance.

An example of this is the Gaussian Blur filter; with most files, the effect is now applied virtually instantaneously.

AVA  performance tests showed AVA 5.4 was over 3 times faster than the previous version.

The resulting blur is now smoother and can go up to 300 pixels.

New Palette Tasks

Have allowed AVA to make existing Palette actions far slicker as well as giving the designer new functions that were not possible in previous versions.

In AVA 5.4 Palette actions can be more interactive.

For example, an option to choose how many Layers to add while the script is running could now be included. I

n previous versions, the designer would have had to find the number of layers in the palette action and edit it for each job.

In addition to those the designer may wish to create for themselves , they will see an updated set of Palettes available for them to download from AVA Assist.

New HP Stitch

AVA’s Digital Print RIP now has support for the HP Stitch; HP’s new sublimation printer. Also included are drivers for the latest Roland haptic printers.

AVA  hope you are as excited about AVA 5.4 as they  are and they look forward to sharing it with you in the new year.

This overview is merely a short introduction to some of the new features, but there are many other improvements throughout the software that we think will make designing, separating, colouring and printing in AVA easier and also make the designer more productive.

AVA will be exhibiting at Heimtextil in Hall 3.0 Stand F 73