The ProLab and Minilab markets are tough, and getting tougher.

• The customer's pricing expectations are continually moving lower,
• The technical knowledge and capabilities of the customer are getting higher,
• Software that allows customers to work on their own images is improving and getting cheaper,
• Printing options continue to expand, and get cheaper and move into the customer area.

To be successful you need to have highly efficient workflows, high quality product options, low pricing, and the ability to provide each customer with a product that matches their personal preferences and expectations.

dScope can help you streamline your process and gives you the capability to create highly personalise settings for a customer, then recall and apply those settings whenever required. dScope also has a range of tools to help you create new products to offer your customer base. It has the ability to submit work to all the major print solutions through their native bulk submission systems.

Print Preparation and Submission

dScope Image is basically a bulk image management tool that allows you to handle large numbers of images effectively and efficiently. There is no limit on the number of images you can load into the system at one time, and once loaded, you can batch modify those images in many different ways. dScope has all the standard image modification tools as well as a few special capabilities.

In dScope, a series of modifications to an image is called a transform. A transform can be made up of any number of individual adjustments made ina a particular order. These transforms can be saved within dscope and recalled whenever necessary. There is no limit to the number of different transforms that can be saved within dScope at any particular time. Transforms can be used to create particular presentation types and to apply special imaging effects. They can also be used to prepare prints for printing according to particular settings. These are often a series of settings that will produce images that match a particular clients preferences. Once a transform is stored in the system it can be aplied to a single image or to any number of images as a bulk transform.

One of the advantages of preparing images in dScope is the increased printer efficiency. Image modifications require a very large number of calculations. A modification to a standard 8X10 at 300 dpi requires the recalculation of approximately 22 million individual numbers. Using dScope to prepare the images means that all these calculations are moved onto the dScope software and the hardware it is installed on. The printer and its software can then simply concentrate on printing. This will result in higher printing speeds and better printer efficiency.

dScope can link to all the major brands of printers through their native bulk submission process/software. This includes all models of Agfa dLabs (via dWorkflow), Noritsu printers (via 'Hot Folder'), Fuji Frontier (via C8), Konica Minoltas (via Fenix and using the native pCollection table), Agfa MSC (via the watch folder), and to any other printer that has a standard windows interface (which includes the dye sublimation options). By using the native process offered by those printers, it means you retain all the levels of conmtrol you would have on those printers when submitting through other processes. Print jobs will simply appear in the appropriate print queues and can be managed like any other print job.

Fast Print Options

As pricing pressures increase and customer get access to more image management software, there is a growth in the number of customers looking for minimum price, no interaction printing. These customers want to prepare their own images and then have thiose images printed without any preparation or management performed by the printer.

dScope allows you to offer a well managed and fast solution via the fast print method. The customer can submit a set of images along with a simple excel based file defining all the print sizes and quantities required. dScope will read the image files and the order file then submit the full job to the printer in a single action. The job will be sorted for the most efficient printing by nininmising paper changes or other halts to the process. The resulting products can then simply be bundled and passed back to the customer.

To improve the services you offer to these customers, a transform could also be used to create a product that is futher customised to meet that that customer's preferences. This transform can be managed by dscope with no extra work on the part of the operator.

Packaging Tools

The Packaging module within dScope lets you offer extended services to your customer base and to expand the printing options you can offer. The Packaging tool is template based with the built in capability for the operator to create their own templates as required. You do not have to purchase templates from dscope or any other provider, nd you can create as many or as few templates as you need.

The template builder is extremely flexible with the capability to create both image and text boxes as part of the design. The image boxes can use both static and dynamic images. Images within any text box can be simply the image as provided, or can be modified versions of that image. Each image box within the template can have an image transform applied to it. In simplest terms this would allow you to have a single package page with colour, black and white and sepia versions of the image. The upper range of this capability are limited only by your own creativity.

Once a Package Template has been created, you can apply that template to as many images as you require in a single action, then submit the full set of results to the printer as a single print job.

Working With Other dScope Users

Given that dScope has full capabilities for School, Kinder, Event and Santa photography operators, there is a significant opportunity for Labs also running dScope to offer extended services to business' which are also running dScope at the image capture end. You can build a relationship withe these other dScope operators that will streamline both their business process and yours. Within the whole 'end to end' process, there are a series of workflow steps starting with package design and data setup, and ending with the print process and distribution. You can negotiate with the customer to perform any part of that process. At one extreme the customer might be reduced to being a marketting and booking agency, leaving all other steps (even including the photography itself) to you as a service provider. At the other extreme the customer could perform all the steps right up to the final print stage, then hand the dScope folder to you for printing. Between these extremes there is hundreds of different options for the way you might want to work with these customers and the services you can offer them.

Other dScope Modules

There are a lot of other modules in the system that can be used to improve your business workflow or to offer other products to your customer base. Examples include

To learn more you can download a fully functional trial version from the downloads page and contact us to ask questions or organise a demonstration.