Low Tech Color Management

[BPI Color]

Just checked your public profile. You don't have a RIP posted. So, here's how I approach this and I hope it's helpful to you. I employ Onyx 732. I make custom profiles for each media. When I work in CMYK, I RIP to that internal ICC profile with Relative Colormetric intent. I also enable the internal Pantone matching system. I hit about 75% of the PMS colors my clients give me. I track my spot colors in an Excel file cross-referencing the spot color and media.

 

[P Wagner]

Been wanting to take the plunge into color management. But I am afraid that the system I buy will not be universally compatible. Or worse yet be obsolete in a couple months. We run Versaworks and Ergosoft right now, but may switch to Caldera.
Looked at the iOne Extreme to do monitors, printers cameras etc... still not sure if it is a smart purchase.
Maybe the Colour Nazi would like to chime in?

Check out www.xrite.com, specifically the i1 portfolio of products. i1 XTreme is no longet a current product, but it has essentially been replaced by i1 PublishPro at roughly the same price point (give or take 20%).

No worries about it becoming outdated or imcompatible with the various RIPs in the marketplace, although Roland Versaworks (still) has not adapted the ICC v4 standard. Be sure to use ICC v2 with that RIP.

Zieg heil.

 

[Terremoto]

Zieg heil.

Too Funny!

Seriously though..., Printing out a colour chart to pick your colours from - in no way, shape, or form - is most certainly not a substitute for proper profiling. We have an i1 -older but still perfectly good - and I can assure you that once you get the hang of it your colour output will be "predictable" and "consistent".

One thing that helped me a lot was reading through the PDF at the following link:

http://coreldraw.com/wikis/howto/designer-s-guide-to-color-management.aspx

Although it's CorelDraw specific - and more specifically for CorelDraw X5 - the information is completely valid for any "design" software.

I confess that I used to print out the colour chart thing and try and match colours that way. Now that I understand colour profiling and ICC compliant workflows I can say - without a doubt - that trying to pretend that printing out the colour charts and matching colours is some kind of "low tech colour management" is nothing short of self-delusion. Defending the practice of so called "low tech colour management" is nothing short of stupidity.

Get am i1, get on board, and start making some serious coin instead of trying to "eke" out a living with your high-priced digital printer with its high-priced consumables.

Dan

 

[Rooster]

You're reading to much into what i am saying. Ease back a little.



I will say that if i had a bigger shop and would be relying on multiple employees for production that i would invest in a system that would be consistent no matter who was using the machines. But since i am a small shop with one or two employees. I am the one who allways does the printing, using the low cost method of printed charts works just as well as a shop who is set up with color management software.

I am confident that i can put my portfolio next to any shop and be just as good if not better than many out there.

Your method is good .. So is mine.

I'm a one man operation and wouldn't ever consider trying to run my business without the colour management system I have in place now and have had since I started doing large format work.

As a small one-man shop, time is my most valuable resource. I use the method I do because I know it saves me time and money and improves the quality of my product. I've done it both ways. You're welcome to your opinion, but we'll have to agree to disagree when it comes to your conclusion.

 

[StarSign]

We do the same here with our flatbed, a chart for Production, Quality and Fine Art. Plus we have our "Book of Colors".

 

[Perks]

If a file is tagged then does it have an ICC profile? Adobe Creative suites offers color settings for working spaces / color management options and color profiles assignments such as Adobe RGB (1998) or a choice that is more relative to the printing device and paper bond material. In Adobe bridge some Pdf files are untagged. Still not sure if that is really important for printing pdfs and expectations for accurate color. This old OCE 2044 color printer we use tends to print with a little too much yellow, but not lately.

 

[rjssigns]

Check out www.xrite.com, specifically the i1 portfolio of products. i1 XTreme is no longet a current product, but it has essentially been replaced by i1 PublishPro at roughly the same price point (give or take 20%).

No worries about it becoming outdated or imcompatible with the various RIPs in the marketplace, although Roland Versaworks (still) has not adapted the ICC v4 standard. Be sure to use ICC v2 with that RIP.

Zieg heil.

danka herr kommandant!

 

[Ponto]

Interesting and entertaining comments........and if I may, I would think "consistency" in whatever workflow for color management an office chooses to employ would be the key. Tweaking either form to the "n"th degree would reflect just how well the operator understands color and the vast challenges that the topic presents almost on a daily basis!!!!

JP