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Good color management!
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GK
New Member
You won't be disappointed Jason. Slight learning curve (as all tech has) after that you will wonder how you managed without it.
GK
New Member
Your a step ahead of most people then buying a digital printer. Most forget about this crucial step. Here are a few links worth browsing through.
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/resources/color.html
(don't need to purchase the tools they push, but it has some valuable links)
http://www.wide-format-printers.org/color_management_series/0020030801_color.pdf
(has a large glossary of color management jargon etc)
http://www.adobepress.com/articles/article.asp?p=1315593
(some guides to sync your Adobe workflow)
GK
New Member
LoL thats the typical salesman move. To start printing...yeah...you really don't have to do any color management, however...when it comes time to start matching colors you will be in a world of trouble. Not to mention the more familiar you are with your printer when it comes to setting ink limits and writing your own profiles for the media you will get better overall end results then using the stock profiles from the printer/media manufacturers.
We bought 3 machines several years back, all the same...not one of them out of the box were printing the same colors using the stock profiles. They all needed to be tweaked and tuned to some degree. Not to mention they were laying down tons of ink to begin with causing drying problems and wasting money. So it definitely will help you out to learn this.
heyskull
New Member
I have played around with color management for years now.
I even have made my own profiles!!
But once you have sorted a color out another color goes wrong.
As far as calibrating monitors go, that is the most elusive thing in the world.
I mean how do you make a RGB monitor emulate a CMYK printer at best it is always going to be a compromise.
Until they bring out a CMYK monitor or a RGB printer it will always be a compromise.
I have spent lots of money on equipment, software and advice and still have to make do with an it'll do.
The colors we are trying to get are always going to be at best an almost match with only using CMYK. I know some of the new printers have added other colors but this may just throw a spanner in the works.
As I say to our customers we cannot color match on our printer but we can come close.
It is our best guess.
If they want something color matched I can arrange for it to be screen printed but the costing for a one off will be outrageous.
My friend is a screen printer and 3 years ago invested in a JV3 I used to get calls of him all the time about matching a color now he is doing exactly like me.....
SC
I even have made my own profiles!!
But once you have sorted a color out another color goes wrong.
As far as calibrating monitors go, that is the most elusive thing in the world.
I mean how do you make a RGB monitor emulate a CMYK printer at best it is always going to be a compromise.
Until they bring out a CMYK monitor or a RGB printer it will always be a compromise.
I have spent lots of money on equipment, software and advice and still have to make do with an it'll do.
The colors we are trying to get are always going to be at best an almost match with only using CMYK. I know some of the new printers have added other colors but this may just throw a spanner in the works.
As I say to our customers we cannot color match on our printer but we can come close.
It is our best guess.
If they want something color matched I can arrange for it to be screen printed but the costing for a one off will be outrageous.
My friend is a screen printer and 3 years ago invested in a JV3 I used to get calls of him all the time about matching a color now he is doing exactly like me.....
SC
I have worked in prepress departments of 3 different companies and have operated various proofing machines and wide format printers. I have worked with both calibrated and non calibrated monitors. In my opinion if you know your colors by the numbers, know what good color is by the numbers, you don't need calibrated monitors. I would not spend my money on it. Good profiles are a must. Sometimes that means making your own, sometimes canned profiles are great. Depends on printer, rip, who made them and so on. Way to many variables with solvent printing for a canned profile to look the same on everyones printer, doesn't mean the color won't be acceptable to 98% of your customers. I think alot of these problems come from designers using Pantone colors, which are really a special mix of pigments and not made up of cmyk.
Jim
Jim
sjm
New Member
Sure can you tell me what CMYK values I should use to match PMS 485 on my Samsung SyncMaster 920W? Or perhaps tell me how I can describe celery green to a client across the world?
CheapVehicleWrap
New Member
"Or perhaps tell me how I can describe celery green to a client across the world?"
FedEx a stalk of celery would be my first guess.
FedEx a stalk of celery would be my first guess.
sjm
New Member
I like your humour but that option gets rather expensive after after a couple International Fedex Shipments.
The easier method is for your client to use a rather inexpensive monitor calibration package for example such as an iDisplay2. Likewise you are calibrated too.
Taking it a step further you can supply your client with your trusty printer ICC profile which they install on their system being either a MAC or PC. Presuming Illustrator CS3 for the moment under proof set-up have them select that printer profile you supplied and finally proof colours.
The mystery of the celery green colour is history.
Have them pick a Pantone, check the Pantone Color Bridge swatchbook and describe the shift (if they don't have their own) when printed process color.
Heck of a lot easier to use industry standards than to assume technical competence on the part of your clients like having them install ICC (though it's a great option for those unicorn clients that ask for it).
Edit: To expand on that, by using Pantone swatches, you can do things like printing an example swatch and sending them a scan of your best-match next to the actual swatch for a comparison reference, or you can mail them a physical sample and a pantone chip from one of the chip books. There's really no reason not to use the Pantone standards especially since so many of the industry RIPs come with at least the coated PMS colors in the color tables straight from default install.
Heck of a lot easier to use industry standards than to assume technical competence on the part of your clients like having them install ICC (though it's a great option for those unicorn clients that ask for it).
Edit: To expand on that, by using Pantone swatches, you can do things like printing an example swatch and sending them a scan of your best-match next to the actual swatch for a comparison reference, or you can mail them a physical sample and a pantone chip from one of the chip books. There's really no reason not to use the Pantone standards especially since so many of the industry RIPs come with at least the coated PMS colors in the color tables straight from default install.
Comparison reference only, as long as you know how to scan correctly and aren't using a cheap scanner with a tiny gamut, it's a useful shift comparison technique--not a color match or color sample technique, obviously. Both sides know the color of the pantone--the other side just doesn't know how bad the shift is from that pantone to your "best match" on your equipment/media. It's just one way of describing, visually, color shift to a remote client. Mailing them physical samples is superior but not always possible. We're getting into a bit of a derail though so I'll leave it there.
To get back on track, how we handle color management depends highly on the particular job. In-house design is done in a fully managed environment (can give details if anyone is interested), but client files can be all over the board--sometimes we're able to maintain color management, sometimes not.
When we can we simply do as little conversion as possible throughout the process, preferring to preserve originating profiles until the final Onyx processing/conversion. Spot colors we use the Onyx spot tables, adjusting the tables as/when necessary.
When it's not possible to maintain management (such as client provided eps files), we find it's best to reduce complexity down by converting to device independent CMYK and printing with ICC Off.
When we can we simply do as little conversion as possible throughout the process, preferring to preserve originating profiles until the final Onyx processing/conversion. Spot colors we use the Onyx spot tables, adjusting the tables as/when necessary.
When it's not possible to maintain management (such as client provided eps files), we find it's best to reduce complexity down by converting to device independent CMYK and printing with ICC Off.
I've done profiles using Onyx Production House 7, great software. I've also used Wasatch, and I like it more because it requires less steps and particularly has relative colorimetric with black point compensation (Onyx lacks this), which renders a better result. Both RIPs are great, but Wasatch is easier.
sjm
New Member
You sure Onyx lacks BPC?
baxter gamble
New Member
Does anyone have a suggestion for a spectrophotometer? I'm running Onyx and the Epson GS6000.