PDF/VT is an international standard published by
ISOThe International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
in August 2010 as ISO 16612-2. It defines the use of PDF as an exchange format optimized for
Variable Data Printing (VDP)Variable-data printing is a form of digital printing, including on-demand printing, in which elements such as text, graphics and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next, without stopping or slowing down the printing process and using information from a database or external file...
and transactional printing. Built on top of PDF/X-4, it is the first VDP format which ensures modern
ICC-Political:* International Control Commission, which oversaw the 1954 Geneva Accords ending the First Indochina War* International Communist Current, a communist organization* Interstate Commerce Commission, a now defunct US Government regulatory body...
-based color management through the use of ICC Output Intents. It adds the notion of encapsulated groups of graphic objects to support optimized efficient processing for repeating text, graphic or image content. Introducing the concept of document part metadata (DPM), it enables reliable and dynamic management of pages for High Volume Transactional Output (HVTO) print data, like record selection or postage optimisaton based on metadata.
While PDF/VT-1 always consists of a self-contained file, other variants of the standard support the use of external graphic content (PDF/VT-2) as well as streaming through the use of multi-part MIME packages (PDF/VT-2s). In addition to being a digital master for VDP printing, it can be shared, viewed and interactively navigated by human operators using a normal PDF reader, though completely accurate rendering requires a PDF/X-4 or PDF/VT conforming viewer.
After several vendors had announced support for PDF/VT in 2010 right on the day of the standard's publication, meanwhile the first products can already be put on trial:
- PDF/VT producer: The vendor PDFlib since April 2011 provides to interested developers a preliminary version of their PDFlib 8 VT Edition which is able to generate valid PDF/VT data.
- PDF/VT validator: callassoftware has upgraded its Pre-flight (printing) application "pdfToolbox" version 5 with the option to check for PDF/VT conformity.
- PDF/VT consumers: Adobe have upgraded their RIP software Adobe PDF PrintEngine (APPE) to add support for efficient PDF/VT processing. APPE is embedded and built into many high speed printers made by different vendors. Global Graphics
Global Graphics SA is a group of companies known for their digital printing products, including the Harlequin and Jaws RIPs. In May 2009 the company launched gDoc Fusion, an edocument builder software application designed for ease of use to create, review, edit, share and archive PDF and XPS...
have supported PDF/VT in their Harlequin RIPThe Harlequin RIP was first released in 1990 under the name “ScriptWorks” running as a command-line application to render PostScript language files under Unix...
since v8.2, which was launched at Ipex in April 2010 by Hewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
in the DFE driving the Indigo Digital PressIndigo is a series of digital offset printing presses manufactured by the Hewlett-Packard company in Ness Ziona, Israel.HP Indigo presses are used for general commercial printing, direct mail, photo, publications, labels, flexible packaging, folding cartons and specialty printing...
.
However it is expected that more PDF/VT tools and solutions in significant numbers will only emerge publicly towards the end of 2011, with
DrupaDrupa is the largest printing equipment exhibition in the world, held every four years at Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, City of Düsseldorf, Germany....
in May 2012 potentially becoming the first industry event with a substantial number of PDF/VT offerings on display.
The ubiquity of PDF, as well as the fact that PDF itself now is an
ISOThe International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
standard (ISO 32000-1:2008) clearly work in favor of PDF/VT. Nevertheless it is currently difficult to predict where in the industry PDF/VT will be adopted and how fast that will happen, and how it will be positioned vis-à-vis other formats and architectures for variable data printing.