Prepress & Nesting

Prepare & group files before production

Prepare all your files for production

In digital printing, prepress refers to the processes and tasks taking place before the actual printing of the design. It involves preparing and optimizing the digital files for production, by checking the format, resolution, transparency, fonts, bleed, cut marks, nesting, and more. Overall, prepress plays a critical role in ensuring the quality and consistency of the final output. 

Caldera offers tailored solutions to optimize the preparation of print & cut files. Our software PrimeCenter automates repetitive prepress tasks so that you don’t need to open and edit each file manually in your design software.  

A more efficient production starts at the prepress stage 

PrimeCenter automates file preparation for printing and cutting. Streamline repetitive preparation tasks without having to open each individual file in your design software.

PrimeCenter 4.0 Mockup

Cut media waste with the best Nesting engine on the market

Nesting refers to the process of optimizing the placement of multiple items of different sizes and shapes onto a larger sheet or roll of print media to maximize media usage, minimize waste and improve production efficiency.  

Caldera PrimeCenter features the most powerful nesting engine on the market:  

✓ Nest rectangular & complex shapes
✓ Compare layouts with the media coverage indicator  
✓ Group & prioritize jobs automatically with metadata

Tips about Prepress and Nesting

difference between nesting and imposition
Prepress— all you need to know about imposition and nesting 
In digital printing (and more specifically in prepress), we often hear about nesting, imbrication, imposition, ganging or nesting, but what do they mean? In this article, we will explain the differences between all these words with concrete examples. 
Print more using less media 
How do you achieve the most cost-effective print layout? Certainly not by spending hours manually arranging your images on a design software. Let’s see a smarter alternative to save time, cut down on media waste and reduce production costs.
3 powerful ways Caldera PrimeCenter saves you money
Everyone loves a product that promises cost savings— but what about one that delivers them in triplicate? By optimizing your print production workflow, PrimeCenter helps you save money in three critical areas: media usage, labor efficiency, and error reduction. Read more.
DTF cutting
Automate your DTF Cutting Workflow with PrimeCenter
DTF printers opt for cut and print workflow automation. It helps surpass difficulties and bid farewell to the manual tools that have made their routines so monotonous. By using a prepress automation software like PrimeCenter, you can cut a full DTF roll in few minutes, rather than hours.  
prepress ebook mockup
How to make your prepress more effective 
Where are your print operators spending most of their time? If it’s on laborious and repetitive prepress tasks, reading our free eBook could revolutionize the way you work.
Prepare print & cut files for POS displays with PrimeCenter
How to prepare print & cut files for your Point-of-Sale displays
In this article, we will guide you through some tips and tricks to save time producing your double-sided POS displays! Learn how to prepare print and cut files to guarantee perfect results.
PrimeCenter 3.1
Prepare double-sided banners & DTF files in PrimeCenter
Caldera unveiled the latest update for PrimeCenter, its prepress software for printing and cutting. The update 3.1 brings new features allowing users to prepare double-sided banners and Direct-to-Film files.
Caldera PrimeCenter vs. Adobe Illustrator for Nesting
Reduce Media Waste with Nesting 
If you’re new to large-format digital printing, there’s much to learn. But one of the most important concepts you’ll encounter is nesting. Whether printing simple rectangular shapes or intricate designs, mastering nesting can help you drastically reduce media waste and optimize your production costs. Taking just two minutes to read this article will definitely be worth your while!
Why choose Caldera PrimeCenter for job preparation and nesting
Top 3 reasons to use a prepress software for large-format printing
In this article, we explain why prepress software a must-have tool for any print business aiming to produce high-quality results. Discover how it can help you reduce your costs, streamline your production, and achieve better printed products!
Caldera PrimeCenter
Top 3 reasons why PrimeCenter is the best choice to prepare your print & cut jobs
Discover how Caldera PrimeCenter could transform your workflow, save time and improve your bottom line.

Achieve significant time and media savings with PrimeCenter

Prepare jobs 3 times faster

PrimeCenter processes multiple files at once, eliminating time-consuming, repetitive file preparation with your current design software. Whether it’s for recurring jobs, unique projects, or any type of application, create custom recipes to automate file preparation and streamline your workflow.

Reduce waste by up to 20%

Stop wasting hours manually nesting your files on your design software! PrimeCenter analyzes your files and automatically generates the most cost-effective layouts. Automatically nest images of varying sizes and shapes to save time and cut down on media waste.

Say goodbye to manual errors

PrimeCenter automates repetitive tasks like preflighting, adding bleed, creating cut contours, adjusting dimensions, and more. Save time with a solution designed to optimize your file preparation process!

Why our customers love PrimeCenter

Using PrimeCenter saves me anything from 20 minutes to 2-3 hours a day by not having to set things up manually. While it’s processing, I can get on with another task or help somebody else in the shop. Then I come back and it transfers everything into the RIP and straight to the printer.
MK Signs Mike Kasold Owner of MK Signs
We are a small e-commerce company. As we have a large flow of files to print every day, we use PrimeCenter to organize files ordered via our webshop. It has simplified our work considerably. We drag the files into the recipe and it’s basically ready-to-print.
logo Namly Design Namly Design with PrimeCenter Pro
Our customers love PrimeCenter— it’s the missing piece between our prepress workflow solutions and their RIP, and the ideal tool to automatically optimize nesting while preparing cutting operations. Powerful, fast and customizable, PrimeCenter is perfect for digital printers who wish to optimize their media usage. 
Hervé Schwertz Hervé Schwertz Co-Manager & Sales Director, Pixel Tech
We use PrimeCenter to automatically nest incoming print files, and we use a separate computer running CalderaRIP for ripping. The recipe feature has been very convenient and allows us to automate our production process. It’s great that it works with Optiscout to generate cut files.
TeacherGeek logo TeacherGeek CalderaRIP & PrimeCenter user
We use PrimeCenter to prepare artworks before submitting them to CalderaRIP for printing. We are happy with its integration into our workflow. It helps with our file manipulation and setup prior to the printing process. Two improvements that we have noticed right away were nesting complicated files and shapes more efficiently to save media, and visually inspecting for cut paths in the Studio window. The fixups are also a life-saver.
menu icon PrimeCenter PrimeCenter user Anonymous user
We use PrimeCenter to expedite the production process between the design department and the printing department. Daily tasks for designers are minimized as they don’t have to carve out time for print file setups and can focus on design setup and client communication for proofing. 
Logo Throttle Syndicate Throttle Syndicate PrimeCenter User

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