The present disclosure provides a computer-implemented method for generating an application executable by a three-dimensional (3D) printing system to print a 3D object. The method may comprise providing at least one electronic file comprising a plurality of operations of the 3D printing system. An operation of the plurality of operations may be associated with a configuration of at least one component of the 3D printing system. The at least one electronic file may not comprise a source code usable to generate the application. The method may comprise using the at least one electronic file to generate at least another electronic file comprising the source code that is usable to generate the application.

An image forming apparatus that analyzes and prints a job including a plurality of documents, comprises: a management unit configured to obtain information of a page to be printed, which is designated in the job, and manage the information as a print range; and an analysis unit configured to analyze each of the plurality of documents included in the job, wherein the analysis unit calculates the number of pages of each of the plurality of documents, and based on the number of pages of each of the plurality of documents, specifies the page to be printed indicated by the print range out of the plurality of documents.

An image forming apparatus includes a user interface, circuitry, and an image forming device. The user interface receives, from an applicant, an instruction for selecting a desired application form having an entry field in which personal information is to be entered, and receives an input of individual authentication information of the applicant. The circuitry unlocks an IC card based upon the individual authentication information of the applicant to acquire personal information of the applicant from the IC card, and generates an application form for output from a template of the selected application form and the personal information acquired from the IC card. The image forming device outputs the generated application form.

An image processing apparatus includes a file specification acceptance section, a form storage section, a placement area storage section, a placement area acceptance section, a save location storage section, a data extracting section, and an image generating section. The save location storage section stores a save location indicating a location in a file accepted by the file specification acceptance section, the location being where a piece of data to be placed in a placement area accepted by the placement area acceptance section is saved. The data extracting section extracts, from the accepted file, the piece of data saved in the location in the file indicated by the save location stored in the save location storage section. The image generating section generates an image in which the extracted piece of data is placed in the accepted placement area in the document stored in the form storage section.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions that are executable by a computer in an information processing apparatus is provided. The information processing apparatus has a display interface, an operation interface, and a communication interface, and is connected with a printer through the communication interface. The computer readable instructions, when executed by the computer, causing the computer to control the display interface to display a setting screen to accept entry of print settings applicable to the printer, including a first special setting which is feasible to a first channel but infeasible to a second channel, and in response to a specific operation related to the first special setting to the setting screen through the operation interface, determine the first channel to be a processing channel to be used to cause the printer to print the image.

An image forming system includes a first information processing apparatus, a second information processing apparatus, and an image forming apparatus. The image forming system is capable of performing a process of transmitting PDL data acquired by the first information processing apparatus to the second information processing apparatus and, then, transmitting the PDL data to the image forming apparatus to use the PDL data for image formation and a process of transmitting the PDL data acquired by the first information processing apparatus to the image forming apparatus in response to a request from the image forming apparatus without transmitting the PDL data to the second information processing apparatus to use the PDL data for image formation.

An ink-jet printer includes a conveyor, a carriage, a recording head, an ink receiver, a command receiver, and a controller. The controller executes: determining an ink amount that the recording head should discharge to the ink receiver; executing a flushing process that moves the carriage to an area facing the ink receiver and causes each of a plurality of nozzles to discharge ink of the determined ink amount; and based on the flushing process having finished, executing a recording process. The controller, based on the determined ink amount being less than a first threshold value, causes the recording head to discharge ink of the determined ink amount in a times of the flushing processes, and based on the determined ink amount being the first threshold value or more, causes the recording head to discharge ink of the determined ink amount dispersed in β(β>α) times of the flushing processes.

Provided is a print controller connectable to each of a cut paper printer and a continuous paper printer, the print controller including a receiving unit that receives a print job in a job ticket format from a print work flow system, a test print instruction unit that generates a print job of a new test print based on the print job and instructs the cut paper printer to execute a print process to execute a test print using print data included in the print job, a holding notification unit that notifies the print work flow system of an effect that the print job is held, and a real print job instruction unit that sends the print data included in the print job and a print parameter to the continuous paper printer and instructs the continuous paper printer to execute a real print job.

Systems and methods are provided for generating workflows for printing systems. The system includes a memory that stores requirements for sequencing each of multiple activities available at a print shop into workflows. The system also includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) able to graphically present a workflow. The workflow includes an ordered subset of the activities to perform for processing a print job. The GUI is further able to graphically present the available activities, and to enable a user to drag the available activities onto the workflow to alter the workflow. The system also includes a processing system able to detect an activity being dragged by a user, to determine locations in the workflow where requirements for the activity are met, and to operate the GUI to highlight the determined locations.

An information processing system includes an update unit and a management unit. The update unit updates, in a case where a processing procedure relating to image formation is a new processing procedure for pre-formation image information before formation on a recording medium, the pre-formation image information being generated in accordance with a previous processing procedure, the pre-formation image information with new image information that is generated in accordance with the new processing procedure. The management unit includes a distribution section, the distribution section distributing, in a case of accepting, from a recipient that is associated with the new processing procedure, a formation instruction for an image that is associated with the new image information used by the update unit, the image associated with the new image information to an image forming unit, among image forming units, that is operated by the recipient.