Getting colours right

[Alex1991]

Hi all
I'm having a bit of an issue getting colours correct from design to printing. I'm using coreldraw and a Roland sp300i.
I've printed a Roland colour pallette, I match and use the (dark blue) colour I want in coreldraw, when I print a large design the colour comes out lighter? By quite a bit.
What would people recommend I do to ensure I get the correct colour? All I've come up with is printing loads of manually adjusted different blues and then saving the one I think is closest. Unless there is a better method
Thanks a lot

 

[Pauly]

Yes, there's easier methods out there.
Most will require a spectrophotometer like an X-rite i1pro.

Ideally you want the printer calibrated first.
Then your colours should be a lot closer already.

From there, there's a few ways.
You can either do your way again but it'll probably be easier with a calibrated machine.
You could print out a pantone chart instead.
You can use Spot/Named colours. Pantone or make your own. (there would be instructions in versaworks how to do that
You can use the spectrophotometer to measure the colour your printed, get the LAB values and enter them in coreldraw. this has worked for me a fair few times when in a rush.

 

[Alex1991]

Yes, there's easier methods out there.
Most will require a spectrophotometer like an X-rite i1pro.

Ideally you want the printer calibrated first.
Then your colours should be a lot closer already.

From there, there's a few ways.
You can either do your way again but it'll probably be easier with a calibrated machine.
You could print out a pantone chart instead.
You can use Spot/Named colours. Pantone or make your own. (there would be instructions in versaworks how to do that
You can use the spectrophotometer to measure the colour your printed, get the LAB values and enter them in coreldraw. this has worked for me a fair few times when in a rush.

Thanks a lot for the reply
If I've printed the Roland colour library chart and it's not accurate would that mean the patone one will be off too? I'm happy to use the patone chart if it is correct!
I'm also happy to get tha x rite i1 too, I'm just worried somewhere between coreldraw and the printer it changes the colour values.
Finally, what do you mean by calibrating my printer? Thank you

 

[Joe House]

You have to make sure that "Convert Spot Color" is checked on the File Format tab of the plotter defaults for the spot colors to work. You also have to have the chart printed on the same material that you're using for production and finally make sure that you're using the same profile that is used to print the chart - it will state the profile on top of the chart.

Good Luck

 

[Alex1991]

I wasn't aware of these points. Thanks a lot

 

[Baris CINGIZ]

Thanks a lot for the reply
If I've printed the Roland colour library chart and it's not accurate would that mean the patone one will be off too? I'm happy to use the patone chart if it is correct!
I'm also happy to get tha x rite i1 too, I'm just worried somewhere between coreldraw and the printer it changes the colour values.
Finally, what do you mean by calibrating my printer? Thank you

Calibrating the printer -> spectrophotometers like xrite i1 is used for that.

for detailed information.

 

[netsol]

alex1991
you should watch the mark rugan video on "soft proofing" .