Pantone colors chart ??

Coated color bridge. They have uncoated if you print on matte.

https://www.amazon.com/PANTONE-COLO...38988&sprefix=pantone+color+br,aps,217&sr=8-4

 

Mirroring u/Texas_Signmaker, I just purchased that Pantone color bridge and it is probably what you need. It has worked for my needs thus far!

 

I have the bridge chart and I honestly question some of the color differences between the real pantone color and the cmyk version. Most are so out of whack I really don't understand how they formulate the cmyk versions and call it a match.

 

Well, your are correct in regards to really not understanding. The point is to show the colors match or that they do not match.

 

I agree, I have been able to tweak the color, to make it a much closer match than what the bridge shows.

 

If you're using the CMYK values from the chart, realize your color space needs to be the same used by Pantone AND your printer needs to be in the same spec used by Pantone. Same goes for the RGB values.

 

No, I wasn't talking about using their CMYK numbers, what I meant was; many times I could get closer to the PMS spot color, than the process color that they showed on the bridge.

 

Yea but at least the CMYK versions will give you or the customer a hint if the match would be really far off or not.

 

Gotcha, and good for you. That's because your printer has more color gamut than the printer of the swatch book.

 

We have this same issue. You are better off printing the Roland color chart and using that. If you want you can build the Pantone equivalents next to each Roland color. As mentioned, the point of the swatch book is to show what it will look in conversion. If we need to match a PMS color will do it in Corel by selecting the RGB Model and adjusting from there.

 

What I meant by the comment was...First off, how do they come up with a cmyk value for a pantone colour? If it were some form of automated process then I could understand the huge color shifts from color to color, but if it is done visually by testing different cmyk percentages, then I say the committee doing it is color blind....lol I'm sure there is a scientific explanation on how it is done...but it is not done well.

 

I'm pretty sure that they used a process similar to how a RIP software would. They know the LAB value of the color they're trying to match and they get as close as they can within the gamut of the CMYK system that they use to print the books. Any wide format printer that I've had access to will blow away the gamut that is used for those - probably SWOP of some kind. Don't think that you're CMYK capabilities are the same as theirs. It's not.
As mentioned above, the cross reference books are a good tool to set proper expectations for customers, which you will probably be able to exceed 99.9% of the time.

 

If I were to publish a skinny little guide book and charge hundreds of dollars for it, I would put information at the beginning to help users make good use of it.

Let us all know if Pantone was helpful in that way.

 

Doesn't the Roland printers print Pantone colors? In my experience, if you save a file from Illustrator with Pantone colors specified and send it through Roland's VersaWorks the machine will hit pretty close to the swatch in the Pantone book. Make sure you select a Coated color in Illustrator.

 

You are correct. Roland does have Pantone Look Up Tables and will use those values when ripping a file as long as the color names match and you have checked the box for "Convert Spot Color" in the file format tab of the queue default settings before importing the file.

 

I have never been able to print Pantone , What is the full process of doing this ? Export into CYMK and use Convert to spot color ? is this all you need to do ?

 

the basic functionality is: you use a swatch color that uses "PANTONE 353C" as the swatch name, then when said art is exported, the printer will match the used swatch "PANTONE 353C" to the RIPs "PANTONE 353C" and ensure the closest match using its own conversion table. simply matches the swatch name to its equivalent. The caveat is that these are all CMYK builds and not true PANTONE. they are close matches and thats it.

Pantone inks are mixed individually to ensure uniformity, your printer does not operate as such.

 

Download and print your own Pantone chart. At the bottom of the chart write down your profile settings. Then compare that to you Pantone book.
Then you can bring the chart into your art program and see what the CMYK values are and adjust you colors to match you Pantone book.
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