EFI is now shipping Prep-it, its shape-based nesting tool for wide-format output on devices driven by any DFEs, not just EFI’s Fiery line. The software is claimed to be up to 90% faster than manual nesting and to achieve greater than 10% saving in media usage compared to other ‘true-shape’ nesting solutions.

Announced by EFI’s Toby Weiss at the Connect user event in Las Vegas, Prep-it is said to be able to pay for itself through more efficient use of media in as little as two months, particularly if the current option in use is based on rectangular shape nesting. Jobs from different sources such as web-to-print portals, MIS or prepress workflows can all be prepared for print-and-cut production, with varying degrees of automation available using presets and hot folders or full ‘hands-off’ data interchange. Prep-it supports 1-degree rotation increments and is said to offer accurate double-sided nesting.

‘Efficient, accurate, and fast true-shape nesting for cut jobs such as stickers, road signs, and more, are three critical capabilities for a display graphics workflow product,’ said John Henze, vice president of sales and marketing for EFI Fiery. ‘Fiery Prep-it software excels over other products because it delivers all three at an affordable price, saving our customers hours of prepress time while reducing material usage.’