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9
Variable Data Printing jobs
About VDP document formats
Variable data printing
jobs
Variable Data Printing (VDP) is a form of on-demand digital printing
that produces customized or personalized documents targeted to a
specific individual. Within a single document design, elements such
as text, graphics, and images are changed from one printed page
to the next based on recipient information garnered from a
database. These documents can include bills, targeted advertising,
and direct mailings.
VDP jobs are composed of booklets, which are personalized
copies of a document. A booklet can consist of one or several
pages, but the entire document is targeted at a specific individual
or address. For example, a booklet can be either a single-page gas
bill or a multi-page personalized document.
Each page in the booklet is constructed as a collection of
individually RIPed elements that may differ from booklet to booklet,
including text, graphics, pictures and page backgrounds. These
elements are self-contained graphical entities that may be line art,
text, RIPed images, or a combination of these. There are two types
of elements in VDP jobs:
Unique elements are used only once for a specific individual or
●
purpose. An individual's name is an example of a unique element.
Reusable VDP elements can be used more than once in
●
different pages, booklets, or jobs. A company logo is an
example of a reusable element.
Pages are assembled from the pre-RIPed reusable elements and
the RIPed unique elements just before printing. Then the job is
printed in the same way as all other jobs.
VDP jobs are created using VDP authoring programs that support
Variable Print Specification formats. Most VDP authoring programs
can convert VDP files to conventional PostScript files, which can
also be processed by the CX print server although less efficiently
than Variable Print Specification files. Each authoring program
creates VDP code that instructs the RIP where to place the VDP
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