Roland Color Swatches and Versaworks...

[cgsigns_jamie]

Advice please... Sorry i'm new at this. Been clicking in Versa works on some pics and the " File format, convert spot colors" is locked. Doesn't allow me to tick.

You have to set the Queue Properties, not the Job properties.

To do this:
Click the "EDIT" menu at the top of the screen
Then select Queue A (or B) Settings
Then the "File Format" button on the left of the Properties screen
Now you should be able to check the "Convert Spot Color" box

 

[Bigdawg]

Thats 3 now...anyone know if that can be used with photoshop??

Thanks!

in theory you should be able to set up a spot color channel in photoshop that would work - haven't tried it though. You would have to have a channel for each color which could really be a PITA.

Have to try it when I get back to work next week.

 

[dasnootz]

Here's a screen shot from Versaworks. This is under the File Format window. Note that it tells you how it will print the color in CMYK.

Just assign the swatch as a spot color in your program and you should have no problem

Thank you so much.... I found this thread after spending hours trying to figure out why when I printed spot colors from Illy they came out drastically different that the Roland Color Chart printed directly from VersaWorks.

Who'd of thunk it... one little check box could hold so much power.

 

[will61]

So can the roland color swatch be set to default in illustrator, PS CS5 instead of the default? ( if so how?)

I tend to draw and design fairly easy, then print and shake my head " what happened to my colors..." I seem to waste alot of time at the printing end of things

Still very green at using my roland vp300i

Also thanks for the Checkbox tip, tried it out and wow what a difference in color lol.

 

[TresL]

Set as "Persistent"

 

[Colin]

When you print out the swatch samples it is set up so you can cut it on your table, punch holes through them, put them on a zip tie or big key ring & use it like a pantone swatch, it even has your printer serial number on it. It is nice to have to hand to your customer so they can pick out the color they want, just write down the number select it in illy & you take out the guess work. You can print a different swatch for all the medias you use , banners, vinyl & specialty

Indeed. I had it printed off on the LG vinyl I'm using since getting my new machine, but had it cut into 8.5" x 11" sheets and 3-hole punched into a booklet/folder, but I've now learned that it also has tiny crop-marks to cut it into a swatch size. I made a front & back cover using some black Sintra too. See the result:

 

[bayshorecreations]

It is nice to have and use but for the life of me I cant understand why they don't just use Pantone colors like the rest of the graphics world.
I get a lot of supplied artwork from my customer base and it is all done using Pantone colors because that is the "standard" and to sit here with a pantone book and the roland swatches trying to match every color and re-map them is a PITA.

 

[Mainframe]

It is nice to have and use but for the life of me I cant understand why they don't just use Pantone colors like the rest of the graphics world.
I get a lot of supplied artwork from my customer base and it is all done using Pantone colors because that is the "standard" and to sit here with a pantone book and the roland swatches trying to match every color and re-map them is a PITA.

They could just use pantone colors & you could just select the pantone number in illy or any design program & you would be on your way , except for one small catch, the printer would probably cost 250, to 300 grand or more! Every printer, monitor, operating system & design program "sees" color with a different interpretation. The Roland swatch method is a way to get you a certain color basically " guaranteed" by the swatch you picked, this eliminates guessing for you and your customer. It is a way for you to "hit" a color that is needed for a production piece. Keep in mind when you print out your swatch, I print out my swatch, & Bigdawg prints out her swatch, the colors with a certain number will all look a little different, (most likely). You just need the one from your printer, then you can try to match a color with your pantone chart & assign it to your prints. I was told to reprint the swatch every 6 months because my printer will change over time.

 

[bayshorecreations]

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
http://www.extremeinkjet.com/SpotOn_GMS_p/spotongms.htm

 

[Colin]

Keep in mind when you print out your swatch, I print out my swatch, & Bigdawg prints out her swatch, the colors with a certain number will all look a little different, (most likely). You just need the one from your printer, then you can try to match a color with your pantone chart & assign it to your prints.

Keep in mind too that each swatch is only good for the particular media it was printed on. If you switch brands (or perhaps even sheen) you will need to make a new swatch for that media. Having said that, sometimes the changes in color are minimal; I printed a job onto banner material using the swatch made on gloss white LG vinyl, and the colors were ok.

shrug

I was told to reprint the swatch every 6 months because my printer will change over time.

Really? I wasn't told that. Hmmm

 

[Mainframe]

Keep in mind too that each swatch is only good for the particular media it was printed on. If you switch brands (or perhaps even sheen) you will need to make a new swatch for that media. Having said that, sometimes the changes in color are minimal; I printed a job onto banner material using the swatch made on gloss white LG vinyl, and the colors were ok.

shrug




Really? I wasn't told that. Hmmm

I mentioned the different medias in an earlier reply to this post.

 

[Colin]

I suppose I should just go ahead and test this, but someone might be able to save me the trouble:

I also have the Pantone Bridge swatch. If I were to apply the Pantone color (referring to the Pantone color swatch) to a vector fill, would it print pretty dang close to what the swatch shows, regardless of the media? The swatch also has a CMYK equivilant right next to the Pantone number version; which one to use?

 

[bayshorecreations]

I suppose I should just go ahead and test this, but someone might be able to save me the trouble:

I also have the Pantone Bridge swatch. If I were to apply the Pantone color (referring to the Pantone color swatch) to a vector fill, would it print pretty dang close to what the swatch shows, regardless of the media? The swatch also has a CMYK equivilant right next to the Pantone number version; which one to use?

In theory it should! This is what I don't understand about this whole subject. In my experience, it is all about how you convert the PMS colors to CMYK in its original software such as Illustrator or Photoshop you will get much better results.
Unfortunately with digital printing there are a lot more issues that occur such as head alignment, ink densities in your color profiles, etc, etc.
However if you think about it logically, no matter if you use a Pantone spot color or Roland spot color it will convert to and print in CMYK.

 

[Correct Color]

It is nice to have and use but for the life of me I cant understand why they don't just use Pantone colors like the rest of the graphics world.

The reason is simple: VersaWorks is a free, entry-level RIP, and as such, Roland didn't pay the licensing fee to include a PMS Library in it.

Simple as that.

It's certainly not that the printer would cost any more to include it. You can buy Onyx or Caldera or any number of other RIP's that do have a PMS Library, drive your printer with it, and then the issue of how close you can get to ideal becomes simply a matter of how good your profiles are.

In theory it should! This is what I don't understand about this whole subject. In my experience, it is all about how you convert the PMS colors to CMYK in its original software such as Illustrator or Photoshop you will get much better results.

Actually, no. Converting to CMYK in an application is the last thing you want to do. The proper CMYK mix for your printer on any particular media at any particular resolution is unique to that situation, and unless you're using that particular printer-media-resolution profile as your working CMYK space in your application when you make the conversion, you're going to make it wrong.

For any interested, here's a series of blog posts on pretty much this very subject:

Matching PMS Colors in Large And Grand Format Digital Printing

 

[Colin]

Great article CC (Mike), but now my head hurts.

 

[J Hill Designs]

For some reason I cannot get Corel to keep the spot color name so when I export it to EPS, versaworks does not see it as a spot color. Anyone have a fix for this?

In the eps export dialogue, just make sure you go to advanced and uncheck convert spot color to process

 

[niksagkram]

It is nice to have and use but for the life of me I cant understand why they don't just use Pantone colors like the rest of the graphics world.
I get a lot of supplied artwork from my customer base and it is all done using Pantone colors because that is the "standard" and to sit here with a pantone book and the roland swatches trying to match every color and re-map them is a PITA.

Not all PANTONE colours are acheivable in CMYK. (If you take a look at your Pantone swatch book, some colours have 4 dots below them to show that that colour IS acheivable in CMYK) Simply speaking, ALL Versaworks/Roland colours are just CMYK colours with fancy names that Versaworks recognizes.

Mark

 

[graywoulf]

Printing Roland spot color swatches

Well many thanks to Bigdawg and others on this subject. I am using Flexi 10 Pro and of course VersaWorks together all of the time but I am just getting in line of using the spot color system. I have heard something about "Spot Color Mapping" which I am searching for information on. But I am mostly overwhelmed with the huge number of colors in the main Roland spot color library that is built into Flexi. I have not tried to count them and that is not really an issue but I have always worked with color names such as "Fire Red" and "Vivid Blue" and "Forest Green" and such easy to remember names and now all I see are letters and numbers such as "RVW-PR01K" and since there are no corresponding spot color numbers to red, yellow, and blue and such it is going to be difficult for me to get used to so many colors and their various shades. I know that there is a way to print out the swatches in Versaworks but I have not figured that out as of yet either. I would appreciate any tips on how to accomplish printing the swatch chart and even more so how to group the swatches into the primary colors that are more commonly used everyday. Thanks in advance for any a all tips and suggestions and of course, your time in doing so.

 

[niksagkram]

Graywoulf, to print the Roland Color Library Swatches, in Versaworks, go to Media/Color Selector and you will see them there.

Mark

 

[Signed Out]

You can use rvw spot colors in gradients, but only one at a time. you can fade a red to a pink. when you are making the gradient you have to use a percentage of the spot color(use the color guide). so basicaly you can only make gradients with one spot color to white or a lesser value of that spot color.