Color management issues

[Artgunner]

I have a JV33, signLab, and using a photoshop file for print. Before I bought my printer I out sourced the job to a Mimaki and an HP printer with I guess Flexi. The HP/flexi had problems but could correct them to get close and work. I understand all printers are not the same and that to do this right I need to guage a monitor and get icc files correct.

My monitor looks right but when I go to print it comes out with way to much yellow and browns for the gray areas in short. I understand this can be a lenghtly subject and the SignLab tech had tons of different this and thats that could be the problem and what I should do. I have tried my best to correct them with no good responce. Also have looked through this board for answers. I am in my thrid day of trying to correct this problem and at the end of my rope.

Is there a quick fix or could someone email or I call to help me. Need to get this job out the door before I lose a client and I have a stroke.

Thanks in advance,

Art
creative designs

 

[signage]

Have you printed out a color chart? When you do this it shows you the colors that the printer prints for that particular color setting then you choose that color in your design software. Or you need to get someone in to do color management for all your equipment.

 

[Artgunner]

Brian, can you explain a little more about the process of the color chart? ...then you choose that color in your design?; don't understand this.
Thanks in advance, Art

 

[Signsforwhile]

Go here ----> http://printingdigital.net/forums/local_links.php?action=links&catid=27

There are a lot of color charts available. You're going to want to print out the one with the pallet you use. For example if you are using a pantone uncoated pallet, download the appropriate chart, treat it as any other print job and run it on any media with the appropriate profile. Then you can adjust your montior to the color chart. You should be able to get pretty close without having to spend any big bucks on color management software. If you're looking to go further you're going to want to look into x-rite products - http://www.xrite.com

 

[Mike Paul]

Check your rendering intent in your rip.
Set bitmap to perceptual and everything else to spot or no color correction.

 

[Artgunner]

Mike, yes checked that and it is preceptual for bitmaps. It is a bitmap issue.

Are you using SignLab/VPM for rip?

Art

 

[Mike Paul]

Flexi and VersaWorks.

 

[Rooster]

Get custom profiles done and your problems disappear.

End of story.

Even with "accurate" canned profiles your gray balance will be iffy at best. Neutral grays are the most difficult thing to achieve in the print process. They are also the most important when it comes to matching color. If they are not spot on your images take on what is called a color cast. Typically it's cool or blue (too much cyan), warm (too much magenta and possibly yellow/absence of cyan), or green (too much yellow, absence of magenta).

You can correct the images by hand any number of ways either in a photo editor, or in the rip, but the fine balance of colors necessary to achieve a balanced neutral gray scale is so difficult to achieve without color management that it's pretty much pointless to try. You WILL waste more time and materials chasing color than it will cost you to set your medias up correctly with custom profiles.

Correcting one area of grey (ie: quarter tones) in your image often changes the balance for the worse in another area (ie: three quarter tones). This only adds to the frustration. Compounding the difficulty is when you get what appear to be stripes of color cast running through different narrow regions of your grayscale. As long as your image doesn't use that particular shade everything can appear fine, but as soon as you have an area that makes use of that shade, corrections to neutralize it throw the rest of the image out of whack.

Profiling equipment and software can be expensive, as can having an outside service provide them be, but mark my words. It will be the best money you've ever spent on anything to do with your print process. Premium equipment and software will provide superior results as I have found over the years. If you've spent two days chasing color on one job, you've already spent far more than it would cost to profile the media.

If you're a moderately busy shop with picky customers that are causing you grief you can expect to pay off your investment in 1-3 months, working less hours than you are now. After that your profit margins will soar as your wastage rate plummets.