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Focussing on colour
Preparation is vital for good digital printing results. The key to achieving perfect prints every time is making sure you have the perfect workflow, including colour management. Here we look at its importance and what is available to help, by Tracey Rushton-Thorpe
Technical marketing manager for Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Products, Johan Spies, opened the discussion: “Colour management for large-format digital print is about adjusting your complete workflow to achieve the best possible results. That means taking all the individual elements into account: workstation, software, media, inks, even the ambient environment.”
Although Avery Dennison's range of Avery Digital Print Media is optimised for a variety of digital printers, the company also publishes detailed ICC profiles for each material via a dedicated search engine on its website. Data is updated on a weekly basis to ensure it is up-to-date, as are new printer/RIP/media combinations.
Johan said: “We believe that technical support and training are critical for success in this fast-moving imaging sector. We see it as central to our role as leading media suppliers in the digital print arena. Downloading an ICC profile gives you 80 per cent good colour management. However, to achieve the extra 20 per cent that gives you perfection you need a measurement device to linearise on your chosen print medium. That will give continuous high-quality output, every time you use the same combination: there's no need to reset the profile. You can also enjoy lower ink consumption, less downtime and repeat printing: and an emptier waste bin!”
In addition to its online support, Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Products is putting together a schedule of colour management workshops at locations across Europe.
Print perfect
Not surprisingly getting the right results can take time and effort. However, most people agree it is worth it because they can guarantee each and every print which comes off the machine will be perfect.
There are lots of solutions available and it is worth looking around to see which is the best one for you. One solution which continues to score highly comes from GMG which cemented its reputation this year, with the highest monthly sales in the company’s history recorded in June.
GMG is well known for its flagship GMG ColorProof solution. However, it also provides a range of colour management and workflow solutions fine-tuned to specific industry needs, including the GMG ColorServer (launched earlier this year).
Increasing digitisation in prepress has required a way to automatically convert data from an existing colour space to a different target colour space for a variety of applications. For example, the acceptance of digital photography is leading to RGB workflows supplementing classic CMYK production environments.
The printing process, inks used, reproducible colour space, individual dot gain and paper all play a decisive role in colour space transformation. Therefore, the manual conversion of data to a different colour space involves both a great deal of technical knowledge and investment in time.
With GMG ColorServer, the possibility of simultaneously resizing, sharpening and separating RGB images for the right CMYK colour space is offered, eliminating expensive and time-consuming manual work steps as a result of automatic colour.
The package has automatic hot folder technology and provides a number of re-separation functions and is therefore designed to resolve the dilemma of poor colour conversion between two different colour spaces, such as RGB and CMYK.
Importantly, GMG re-separation profiles create a uniform standard for colour composition, where incoming data is automatically re-separated in the same colour space, without the colour being changed. This results in shorter make-ready times, less time to colour and less paper waste.
Maximising investment
As technology continues to amaze us, so too do the ever shorter deadlines customers impose. This means time saving is a factor which ranks high when setting up a workflow. If you are currently running a Vutek machine, you’ll be pleased to know that EFI has a solution designed for Vutek superwide printers to handle today’s higher volume and tight turnaround times.
The solution harnesses EFI and Bestcolor Technology’s software to deliver speed, productivity and colour quality to the superwide printing segment. It is also designed to maximise IT investment because it improves output and reduces production time, translating into greater profits, shorter run times and increased customer satisfaction.
The Fiery XF’s processing speed increases output, causing the potential for business to grow, while its user interface offers advanced production features such as nesting, tiling, step and repeat and colour adjustment.
Nesting, for example, saves materials and money by producing any number of files together in one single job: even if they are in different colour spaces. The preview window also makes daily work easier by showing the nesting layout and supporting a wide range of functions.
Fiery XF is based on the universally accepted ICC standards, helping users produce consistent, accurate colour. It works seamlessly with spectrophotometers such as GretagMacbeth or X-Rite to ensure predictable colour every time.
The significant thing about this solution is that it produces great prints from the start and includes an advanced colour adjustment feature to allow you to manually influence and fine-tune colours: change settings such as brightness or contrast and directly preview colours before printing, giving you the confidence that you will produce the perfect image every time.
Digital market
You might think I’m labouring the point of perfect images, but the fact remains there is a huge amount of competition in the digital market and if you can’t produce the perfect image your customers will go elsewhere.
It isn’t hard to get it right because there are some exceptional solutions on the market such as the latest from Alwan Colour Expertise which has recently launched CMYK Optimizer V3, its solution for colour pre-flighting, standardisation and optimisation for CMYK separations and data.
Version 3 expands on CMYK Optimizer's technological advantages, thanks to full support of the latest ICC colour management system, Adobe PDF v8 library and Alwan Dynamic DeviceLink Profiles.
Founder and president of Alwan Colour Expertise, Elie Khoury, said: “It’s all about controlling colour at every stage of the workflow, where standardisation is key. With version 3, Alwan takes CMYK Optimizer to the next level by providing tools to assess and standardise files, proofs and prints automatically. This results in faster make-readies, better, more consistent proof matches and noticeable reduction of print cost. An increasing number of companies are adopting ISO 12647 as a standard for graphic arts. Colour management, and specifically ICC-based colour management, is one of the layers on which ISO standardisation can rely and work efficiently within fully digital workflows. Version3 makes it happen.”
Alwan CMYK Optimizer helps design and prepress companies quickly and accurately produce documents for problem-free printing. Users gain the ability to control and improve the printability of jobs by optimising separations according to the process, press and paper used. Files standardised using CMYK Optimizer generate accurate proofs that are easy to reproduce on press while facilitating optimal printability.
The need to standardise and control colour at every production stage has taken Alwan and its colour management software into a range of markets and in addition, a number of companies have established OEM relationships, either bundling Alwan products or integrating Alwan technologies.
And finally
I hope this short piece gives you an idea of some of the colour management solutions on the market, but more importantly I hope that it has confirmed the importance of getting it right. Too many people are entering the market thinking it is an easy way to make money. As professionals in the industry know, this isn’t the case, but as competition continues to increase you can still get the upper hand by ensuring that your images are perfect every time.
