How Freeform Works; Creating The Master Document - Sharp AR-C360P Printing Manual

5
72 Printing Variable Data Documents
define master documents and assign them to variable data jobs
sent to the Fiery.

How FreeForm works

The basic premise of FreeForm variable data printing is that the
master-element data for the job can be sent to the Fiery and
rasterized separately from the variable-element data. The master-
element data is stored on the Fiery in rasterized form as a
FreeForm master, and can be used as often as needed with
multiple sets of variable-element data. Because the FreeForm
master job is preRIPped and stored on the Fiery, the only RIP time
required for variable data print jobs is the time needed to RIP the
variable-element data. You can use FreeForm masters for any
fixed-element data you might combine with different data from
day to day. For example, a letterhead template can be stored as a
FreeForm master and used repeatedly as the background for
different letter content (the variable-element data).
FreeForm allows you to create the master and variable documents
using any application. You can create the two documents using
different applications or computer platforms. To create the master
document, you can use a page layout or graphics application. To
create the variable document, you can use a word processing
application that has a mail merge feature, a page layout
application that supports scripting, or a database application.
FreeForm functions are controlled with two print options: Create
Master and Use Master. You can set these options in the printer
driver when you send a job, or instruct the operator to set them
with job overrides from the job management tools. You can also
use Command WorkStation/Command WorkStation LE to monitor
and manage all the FreeForm masters stored on the Fiery. For
more information, see Chapter 3 of the Job Management Guide.

Creating the master document

Before you can use FreeForm, you must create a master
document and a variable document. This includes creating the
layout for the combined document, as well as the elements
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