Method for preflighting a graphics artwork file

A computer system for preflighting a graphics artwork file, the system comprising:

• at least one computer processor;
• a first module of computer memory in communication with the at least one computer processor and having stored therein a set of machine-readable expressions of one or more rules corresponding to one or more objects, each rule relating to at least one predetermined value for a predetermined characteristic of the one or more objects;
• a second module of computer memory in communication with the at least one computer processor and having stored therein a set of machine-readable expressions corresponding to one or more recognition inputs corresponding to one or more features for identifying the one or more objects;
• an input port connected to the computer processor for receiving a graphics artwork file corresponding to a desired design;
• a third module of computer memory for storing the graphics artwork file to be preflighted;
• an output port connected to the computer processor;
• a fourth module of computer memory programmed with machine readable rendering instructions for causing the computer processor to create one or more digitally rendered images from the graphics artwork file;
• a fifth module of computer memory programmed with a set of machine readable machine vision algorithms for causing the computer processor to perform machine vision;
• a sixth module of computer memory programmed with machine readable instructions for causing the computer processor to perform the steps of:
• a) rendering the one or more digitally rendered images;
• b) reading the one or more digitally rendered images using the machine vision algorithms;
• c) identifying a representation of at least one object in the one or more digitally rendered images using the one or more recognition inputs;
• d) identifying one or more characteristics embodied in the graphics artwork file, the rendering corresponding to the identified representation, or a combination thereof, and for each identified characteristic, determining a value corresponding to the characteristic;
• e) checking the value of each of the one or more characteristics identified in the representation against the corresponding predetermined values of the predetermined characteristics embodied in the rules;
• and
• f) providing an output report via the output, the output report based upon results of the checking step.