Question Finding my color balance with Onyx and Epson S80

[GiveUsSigns]

We have a Epson S80600 with Onyx as our RIP. We utilize Illustrator for most all work.
So, when we load in RGB/CMYK counterpart colors to try and match the Pantone color codes, when we go to print, everything seemed to look fine. So we took our printed test color panels and matched them up against the Pantone book of color chips and they were quite a bit off.
After some research, mainly here, We found the Onyx color correction panel and experimented with some color shifts and after some arduous work and printing panels adding colors and such, We determined that we were lacking Red, When I added Red in the color correction panel in ONYX, they almost were perfect to the Pantone color chips.
So, my question is, how and or why is this happening. We use pretty much Substnace X1 Vinyl and have that loaded into our media profile. We are mainly a MX graphics shop and need to match factory colors quite a bit.
We routinely shake the ink and clean everything as required and are reminded by the pretty smart Epson.
We contacted the vendor we bought it from, and they were little to no help and referred us to Epson, which, so far, also have been little to know help. This is the best place for info we have found. So thank you everyone here.
Any help or tips would be valuable.

 

[Pauly]

Are you using canned profiles or are you making them yourself?

 

[jfiscus]

You are going to need to make your own profiles. Onyx has a process you go through to create and adjust your printer's profiles.
Be sure to profile using your primary materials AND laminate combination as the laminate does shift the colors slightly.
I assume you have an up-to-date physical Pantone Color Bridge swatch book to compare your prints to.

After that I suggest you print out a Pantone color chart from your printer, on your various materials, using your Illustrator's color settings and that profile and use it for reference around your shop.
We keep those for reference against the book.

FWIW, we also have a "color bump" setting that we use to achieve some of the richer Pantone colors that the regular settings don't hit on our 60600. It is a 15% ink density increase in Onyx (overall), we print out a color chart for that setting also, but remember that adjusts all colors in your artwork and also uses more ink. It does keep things simple this way only having two basic profiles that we use for ALL materials, we've never had a complaint on color issues.

 

[danno]

We found that after writing custom in house profiles, our S80 has been great for PMS colour matching. When needed, we will custom match customer supplied colours and assign them in ONYX and in Illustrator to keep everything correct. About once a quarter, season change, we recalibrate to make sure everything stays accurate.

 

[GiveUsSigns]

Well, Sadly, guess we get the newby tag here now, so to be honest, we are fairly new to this process and my question is how do you write a color profile? and where do you put it when done?
When we had the S80 installed, we got zero training, because of well, Covid. We got the most minimal training then masked strangers rode off into the dark.
So, any help here would truly be appreciated.

Quick Update, I went to the SubstanceInc website and dang if I did not find the color profile for the Epson printer and our vinyl media, So doing that part now.

 

[Pauly]

Well, Sadly, guess we get the newby tag here now, so to be honest, we are fairly new to this process and my question is how do you write a color profile? and where do you put it when done?
When we had the S80 installed, we got zero training, because of well, Covid. We got the most minimal training then masked strangers rode off into the dark.
So, any help here would truly be appreciated.

Firstly, "writing" a colour profile is not the right term. You create them with software. You "build" them.
You generally don't get trained on colour profiles with new printers either, that's something entirely different.
Anywho.
I suggest you learn about colour profiles. go onto Onyx's youtube channel, there's a lot of info there. you can also pay for some classes from onyx to learn further. but the youtube vids will get you far enough.

You'll need a spectrophotometer like an Xrite i1pro3. You can just get the device or get a whole package. on a budget, you can just get the device and use it with onyx. getting a "publish" package will give you more features with Xrites i1profiler software which can be useful.

You basically use a spectro to measure colour patches to limit inks, and create & build icc profiles.
It becomes your best friend if you're serious about colour matching.
good luck.

 

[ColorCrest]

Any help or tips would be valuable.

First, print your Onyx quality evaluation pdf found in your Onyx folder. We’ll wait.