Why are my colors so different?

[K2]

If I RIP from flexi to production manager my colors seem to be vibrant and are true to color but if I rasterize it my colors are all washed out and dull. They are all a few shades off. It doesn't matter if I use CMYK, RGB, or Pantone my colors rip to PM just fine but if a rasterize,,,,well, the colors suck. Any suggestions?

 

[Solventinkjet]

Flexi usually defaults to different rendering intents for vector and raster. My first thought is to change the raster image rendering intent to the same as the vector to see if that improves it.

 

[myront]

What software are you using to rasterize it? May be your color setting within the software.

 

[K2]

What software are you using to rasterize it? May be your color setting within the software.

Using Flexi to create and to also rasterize. Then send it to Production Manager via Flexi.

 

[myront]

Using Flexi to create and to also rasterize. Then send it to Production Manager via Flexi.

Had to ask. We only use Flexi Production Manager to handle the prints but design in Corel. We export as pdf to a "hot folder" for our Print Tech to sort thru. Only time we rasterize is if we get a file that was all raster to begin with or it's too complex for pdf to handle.

 

[K2]

Had to ask. We only use Flexi Production Manager to handle the prints but design in Corel. We export as pdf to a "hot folder" for our Print Tech to sort thru. Only time we rasterize is if we get a file that was all raster to begin with or it's too complex for pdf to handle.

Well I started making it a point to rasterize because I am one of those horror stories I am sure you heard about with Flexi 19. Had to reprint a whole wrap over because all the panels had different shades of colors and apparently this is caused by soft shadows. They made it right but was a major headache and went back to 12. I'm just being cautious .

 

[myront]

...Well I started making it a point to rasterize because I am one of those horror stories I am sure you heard about with Flexi 19. .. was a major headache and went back to 12..

We did the exact same. Had to fight tooth and nail with our Print Tech over it. Wasn't until I forwarded an email I had received directly from SAi telling me to go back to 12 that persuaded him to comply.

 

[Solventinkjet]

They made it right but was a major headache and went back to 12

All the more reason to check your rendering intents. They probably reset to defaults.

 

[myront]

All the more reason to check your rendering intents. They probably reset to defaults.

Tried that too as suggested by SAi. No go. It was more than color shifting. Transparent png's were no longer transparent. All had "ghosting" of a background. However, I understand there have been some updates to 19 since but....we're too scared to mess with it.

 

[citysignshop]

I have both 12 on one machine, and 19 on the other.
what the hell is a 'rendering intent'?
I've always used Versaworks as the RIP, and always have problems with transparencies...any kind of 'effect' makes that off-color box around the graphic. Word was it's a 'pdf' problem, and they are 'dealing with it'. Hah. a year later....nothing?

 

[Solventinkjet]

what the hell is a 'rendering intent'?

It tells the RIP how to render the print job but you can make it render different aspects in different ways. Your transparency issues are probably caused by the vector and bitmap rendering intents being different.

An example would be you have a vector background and a raster image or effect that contains a transparency on top. If the rendering intent for vector and raster are different, you get that off color box around because the background is being rendered one way and the foreground is being rendered in another and then combined whereas the rest of the image is only being rendered using a single method. If the rendering intents are the same, that off color box will go away.