x-rite

[Tovis]

I just got off the phone with X-rite and I'd like to get into using a calibrator and making some profiles to get better results.

Does anybody have any experience with x-rite, or calibration with Vuteks or Dye-Sub?

 

[HaroldDesign]

I use the X-Rite DT-P70 for a Mutoh VJ1604. Whatever model is most suitable for you - GET ONE. DO NOT LIVE WITHOUT IT!

 

[GK]

I just got off the phone with X-rite and I'd like to get into using a calibrator and making some profiles to get better results.

Does anybody have any experience with x-rite, or calibration with Vuteks or Dye-Sub?

Lots, your best bet would be to get the i1Basic package. When you want to upgrade from there (if needed) i1Match modules will do that.

 

[MyShop]

They Suggested the:

I1 Basic
ProfileMaker 5 Platinum

A lot of our clients are finicky about PMS colors, after you built your profiles does they hit pretty right on?

How do you create a bad profile, (So I now how to not create a bad one?)

Colorburst should do a pretty good job, though I have no experience with I1Basic so I can't be of much help there.

Assuming you are using OEM in with the Vuteks, you should be able to hit a fairly large gamut of PMS colors very accurately. We had great success on our 3360, and fairly good success with the PV200.

As far as creating a good/bad profile, you have the ability to tweak some of the settings along the way, and it really is subjective. More of a trial and error than anything else I guess.

 

[Dice]

i1Basic here as well

 

[Tovis]

i1Basic here as well

Do you like yours?

 

[dlndesign]

i1, and works great, I save so much ink, its insane! Get one. I work with Versaworks and Roland VP-540.

 

[Tovis]

i1Basic here as well

Lots, your best bet would be to get the i1Basic package. When you want to upgrade from there (if needed) i1Match modules will do that.

Do you like yours?

 

[rfulford]

Lots of experience with colorburst and the 5300s here but I never used I1 Basic. I have always had ProfileMaker Publish. Measure tool in publish has a feature that is critical for the 5300s if you plan to do strip reading. There is a a checkbox called "Low Test Chart Resolution" which I found to be critical. I1 Basic may have this feature but I am not familiar. You can create profiles directly in colorburst for Vutek if you want but without the low res feature, you will become frustrated with all the read errors you get. Also if using colorburst, be sure to get the UV-cut Eye-one. This is or used to be ColorBurst's dirtly little secret. Chroma based linearizations will not work with non-uv spectros and the profiling built in to colorburst does / did not have the ability to compensate for UV brighteners.

 

[MyShop]

Lots of experience with colorburst and the 5300s here but I never used I1 Basic. I have always had ProfileMaker Publish. Measure tool in publish has a feature that is critical for the 5300s if you plan to do strip reading. There is a a checkbox called "Low Test Chart Resolution" which I found to be critical. I1 Basic may have this feature but I am not familiar. You can create profiles directly in colorburst for Vutek if you want but without the low res feature, you will become frustrated with all the read errors you get. Also if using colorburst, be sure to get the UV-cut Eye-one. This is or used to be ColorBurst's dirtly little secret. Chroma based linearizations will not work with non-uv spectros and the profiling built in to colorburst does / did not have the ability to compensate for UV brighteners.

They have built in compensation in Colorburst since version 7.something. A neat little checkbox about chroma if i remember correctly. I've used both a DTP41 (out-dated) and one of their newer Eye-One's with similar results.

Not familiar with the low resolution thing, we printed 360dpi and 180dpi profiles with out 3360 and never had a problem reading the data on the DTP41.

 

[GK]

Do you like yours?

Love it, worth every penny. I was able to get very good pricing through NAPP so I purchased as part of a package as the i1 bundle and Profilemaker 5 Platinum as well as the color checkers and SpectaLight III Light Booth (i do a lot of Photography as well which was one of the main reasons for all the color correction/management, Giclée prints).

Trust me, just the basic bundle with software will get you a step ahead of most. Yes, there is a learning curve as there is with everything else, but once you realize the benefit of it -- a year down the road (maybe sooner) you will be wondering why you didn't do it sooner.

 

[P Wagner]

The X-Rite i1 Basic package is terrific for monitor profile creation, but cannot create CMYK printer profiles without optional modules (read more $). This may be a moot point if your RIP itself can create the ICC profile.

 

[rfulford]

They have built in compensation in Colorburst since version 7.something. A neat little checkbox about chroma if i remember correctly. I've used both a DTP41 (out-dated) and one of their newer Eye-One's with similar results.

Not familiar with the low resolution thing, we printed 360dpi and 180dpi profiles with out 3360 and never had a problem reading the data on the DTP41.

DTP41 will work like a charm for this since it is designed for strip reading. When using an eye-one and a ruler however, I found the low res option to be indispensable.

Are you sure about compensation for optical brighteners? The profiling guide for version 9 of the queued version still recommends a UV-Cut spectro.

Edit: Queue is not the same as pro for vuteks but it is the guide I have access to.

 

[Dice]

Do you like yours?

Ya it gets the job done. Can't complain.

 

[MyShop]

No, I'm not entirely sure, but I know at some point they changed to allowing chroma and non chroma based linearization. I haven't been at the company I used to manage since March so this is all from memory =)

 

[rfulford]

Sorry, I think we misunderstood each other. Without the UV Cut spectrophotometer, chroma based linearizations used to give you a yellow tint. Until I purchased the I1 UV, I was forced to do density based linearizations in ColorBurst.

 

[ChiknNutz]

If you get an EyeOne (i1) which has been rebadged as the X-Rite equivalent, you need the PROOF model at minimum (that's the one I have).

 

[astro8]

Sorry, I think we misunderstood each other. Without the UV Cut spectrophotometer, chroma based linearizations used to give you a yellow tint. Until I purchased the I1 UV, I was forced to do density based linearizations in ColorBurst.

That's what I've been hearing for years with Colorburst also...

 

[sfr table hockey]

I picked up the Eye one Extreme almost a year ago. I was unable to get the new inks in my waterbased printer to work until I made my own profiles with the Eye one Extreme. Now they are great and by using the new (lower priced) inks it paid for half the Eye One and by using new inks in the solvent printer it saved enough to pay for the other half. Solvent profiles have been a bit harder to get going but I think its more of me getting the heat settings right on the media I print the test pages on. It's nice to have the monitor profiled as well. With the Extreme it makes the profile on its own so its ready to add to your rip. I'm sure it's not the best out there but it gets the colors right with 3rd party inks.

 

[P Wagner]

Optical brighteners are sometimes present on coated print media, which fools the eye into looking 'whiter' than uncoated media. These optical brighteners actually impart a blue cast into the media, which thus look brighter and whiter. These coatings also can fool the ICC profile into thinking that there is too much blue, and the profile adds yellow to correct it, causing a cast.

The 'yelow cast' issue caused by optical brighteners (coatings) present in the media itself is not a RIP-specific issue, but can occur in all RIPs. GretagMacbeth/ X-Rite can correct for optical brighteners in one of two ways: One option is to put a UV cutoff filter into the spectrophotometer itself, and the other is to use software to perform the same function. Correction for optical brighteners is available in current versions of ProfileMaker and i1Match from X-Rite, as well as Monaco products.

 

[Tovis]

Wow, thank you for all the input.

So with the calibration equipment that I assume I'll be able to make blue skies look blue and make an apple red. That is all relative color. I'd prefer something more absolute. Like PMS 300 Looking like PMS 300. Even better PMS 300 to look like PMS 300 on the monitor and then print like PMS 300.

I know that in the photography realm relative color is acceptable or even optimal to make photos look more dramatic or contrasty. In the graphic world I've learned that if a company has a logo with a specific color like PMS 300, then thats what they want. So I'd love to pick that color in Illustrator and have the output look great, this would save time with printing samples, and save on materials too.

Is this possible in our line of work yet?