Dalim Software announces the launch of ES 4.5, a significant
update of its popular and long-standing production automation software. The new
features in ES extend the software's reach beyond its traditional print
production and image workflows to support photo studios, retailers, brand
owners and their respective media service providers-in short, anyone whose
marketing communication efforts or packaging production starts with a single
asset. In doing so, production automation is expanded from business process
management to final file processing-from preproduction to image handling to
video.
Ranging from the traditional file types used in office
documents, video, sound, and print production, to RAW images uploaded right
from the location of the photo shoot, and even 3D Collada files, ES 4.5 takes
care of storing, revision management, cataloging, transforming and sharing. All
that, combined with the sophisticated business processes for approval
workflows, provides a complete content lifecycle in the cross-media production
workflow.
ES 4.5: New features extend ES internal media production
platform into a media asset management system, making job production and review
of files even easier and faster.
ES (Enterprise Solution) is an integrated media production
platform-a media asset management (MAM) platform and a web collaborative
platform offering a complete solution for the management and production of the
many aspects of media services, regardless of final output. This includes brand
owners and retailers who need efficient communication throughout the media
production supply chain (who consist of marketing services, designers and
production services), who can save time by conducting advanced searches through
the ES integrated MAM. The ERP and storage-friendly combination of technical
workflow production along with business process management results in a highly
flexible centralized platform for all participants in the media production
lifecycle.
ES 4.5 can work with referenced content including revisions
on a local or remote file system-particularly helpful for those who need to
produce very large video files or work with external storage devices. The ES
MAM features can automatically catalog, enrich and share images and other
assets, such as video or e-pubs, or can be included in 3D augmented reality
models.
ES 4.5: An asset database
ES 4.5 can also be used as an online photo portal, with easy
tools to edit and manage thousands of images and hours of video. While
originally just a customer-facing web based production management solution, ES
has evolved to allow users to centralize all their assets and data in a
database-or in the cloud. To support this, ES always has effectively handled
and managed standard metadata formats. In ES 4.5, extended enterprise asset
management capabilities include the ability to support custom metadata to
improve production processes.
With ES 4.5, it is also possible to build a collection of
assets, along with sets of private collections. The full feature set offers
comprehensive basket order management for content distribution, reformatting
and the creation of contact sheets. ES can convert a selected group of image
files, either for download, or as a new private asset collection for use on the
Web, mobile applications or print. The Clipboard can collect files from several
projects and file systems to move to other collections, or for display to
review in Dialogue Engine (for example, to compare different jobs).
With ES, a user can either add a new file from a production
workflow or select a user action to select and place images into a collection
that can be used, shared via email or download link, or posted on social media.
Users can conduct an advanced search, using tags or a rating system to filter
any kind of asset in the database. This is extremely helpful when a photo
studio, for example, can filter preferred images from tens of thousands of
photos for a customer's electronic 'catalog' in a web store or print. These can
be linked to social media (shared on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+,
for example).
ES 4.5 includes an easy to connect API, so that supporting
solutions such as Wordpress or Drupal can be easily integrated. The same API
makes it easy for companies to brand their own portals, offering a standard way
to communicate with asset management.
ES 4.5: Focus on user experience
With the help of customer feedback, Dalim Software built ES
4.5 with extended features and a new interface with a simple and user-friendly
way to access files for review and approval.
A dynamic approval cycle allows just about any user easy
access to a file within the system. ES 4.5 provides a simple way to let the
complete supply chain interact with projects. With new, easy to configure
SmartView items known as 'Components', ES provides a complete view of all
projects for packaging, image workflows, video, print-whatever is being
created. Meanwhile, the customizable dashboard-part of ES SmartViews-controls
all aspects of projects and reports, ranging from approving or confirming
production steps to uploading new data into that particular project. A
Milestone Progress 'Component' offers more intuitive project tracking and
interaction-the perfect way to monitor project progress and approval status-all
within the dashboard view. These flexible components can significantly simplify
content views for specific users, whether photographers, production departments
or content originators. Depending on the role, the ES Smartview will display
only the features and functionality that the user needs.
Dialogue Engine: A faster and easier soft-proofing system
Dialogue Engine is an excellent closed-loop soft proofing
application available for stand-alone integration or within ES. Dalim Software continues to improve its performance and capabilities with super-fast HTML5
access-which no longer requires the need for Java- leading to simpler support
and operation for end users. This allows companies to view-and comment-on
materials for approval directly from a web page. People away from the office
can review materials on smartphones and tablets.
New HTML5 tools in Dialogue Engine 5 include annotation,
color management, and document metadata. The user will benefit from an extended
list of supported file formats, ranging from RAW images to retouched native
Photoshop files, including their layers, just to name a few.
Text annotations now also come with 'track changes',
allowing users to easily see what has been added or removed in a document. Dialogue Engine also allows users to see trim, bleed and art boxes. And to
assure color is viewed accurately, the preferences menu offers a drag and drop
list of monitor profiles.
"In the past few years we have been building automated
production solutions to extend Dalim Software's involvement into video,
web-based and mobile content, well beyond print-centric production,"
explains Carol Werlé, CEO, Dalim Software. "To support all of these
requirements within one system for the enterprise, we have made a conscious
decision to implement a functional form of asset management to help manage
production, workflow and the business process. This has helped to make ES and
TWIST even faster, and has provided more features between all the
applications."
ES 4.5 and Dialogue Engine 5 are available to customers
immediately. For more information, please visit http://www.dalim.com.
