Software - Colour Management

Max Derhak, Vice Chair of the International Color Consortium (ICC), Principal Scientist at Onyx Graphics and wide-format colour management expert, will be at FESPA Digital to help visitors gain greater control of their printing environments. Onyx Graphics is offering visitors to its stand (B2-140) a free ’Meet the Expert’ one-to-one session with Max.  Appointments will be reserved on a first come basis and interested parties should book via www.onyxgfx.com/meet-the-expert.

By achieving accurate colour management, companies can improve customer satisfaction and heighten competitive edge. A private, complimentary meeting with Max allows visitors to set the agenda and ask questions specifically related to their unique printing environment, focusing on the colour topics that matter most.

A seamless colour management system is crucial to success and, during these private meetings Max Derhak will offer advice on a wide range of colour management challenges. His advice will help companies optimise their devices to increase profits, production efficiency and decrease material waste.

For those specifically interested in colour management for textiles, Max will also be presenting a session in the Fabric Hub at FESPA Digital at 15.30-16.00 on Tuesday 20th May. During the session - titled "Everything you need to know about colour and textiles - but were afraid to ask" - Max will lift the lid on textile colour management, explore the common problems and provide his top tips on how to solve them and achieve perfect colours every time.

Onyx Graphics, Inc. says it will 'answer your challenging colour management questions' and provide exclusive demonstrations of the latest ONYX 11 software at FESPA Digital (Munich, May 20-23, 2014, stand B2-140).  Visitors to the stand will also be able to see the new ONYX Textile Edition, developed specifically for the large format textile printing marketplace, which makes its global debut at the show. 

A seamless colour management system saves time and money and is crucial to success for many companies and. At FESPA Digital, Max Derhak, Vice Chair of the International Color Consortium (ICC) and Principal Scientist at Onyx Graphics, will provide visitors with practical advice on calibration, generating a colour profile and maintaining colour management parameters across devices. His advice will help print companies gain control of their printing environments to increase profit, decrease material waste and heighten their competitive edge.

At the show, Onyx Graphics will demonstrate ONYX 11 software, the next generation of its wide-format workflow and RIP products.  Built on the proven platform of X10 RIP software and ONYX Thrive workflow software, ONYX 11 can increase operator productivity, reduce waste and offers tools to help print providers gain a greater insight into their printing operations. Specifically developed to make printing more predictable, ONYX 11 software enables print operators to print jobs right the first time. Included are 21 new features and enhancements, such as Color SwatchBooks, Custom Sewing Marks and ChromaBoost, that simplify wide-format print production and optimise colour quality.

Throughout FESPA visitors will also see ONYX 11 software managing the print workflow of selected printers from leading vendors including Epson, Seiko, HP, Canon and Mutoh.

ONYX Textile Edition is developed specifically for the large format textile printing market.  New functionality in ONYX Textile Edition software helps you to achieve target results quickly and easily.  ONYX Textile Edition software includes all the functionality of ONYX 11 with the addition of textile specific features, such as Step-and-Repeat, Colorways and Ink Configuration Builder, that will save time and reduce waste.

GMG Color has appointed Reprocentre as a fully-accredited GMG solutions provider in Ireland with immediate effect.

“Reprocentre is Ireland’s market leading supplier of equipment and consumables and has a tremendous reputation for delivering first rate products and service to its customers,” says Toby Burnett, MD, GMG UK. “This is a strong partnership that unites GMG’s proofing and colour management solutions with Reprocentre’s wealth of technical knowledge in all aspects of proofing and the printing process.”

Based in Dublin, with an operation in Belfast, Reprocentre has a combined staff of 21, eight of whom are field service engineers. “Our relationship with our customers and our suppliers is of utmost importance to us,” says Eoin Honan, Sales Director, Reprocentre. “Since most of our customers rely on us for routine supply of consumables and service, we have a responsibility to ensure that the systems we sell are professionally maintained. We can do this because we employ fully trained and experienced engineers who work across the whole of Ireland.”

Reprocentre’s customers are split between the lithographic and sign and display markets. Addressing their proofing needs over the years, supplying DuPont Cromalin in all its analogue and digital variants, has given Reprocentre a thorough understanding of the important role a standardised proof plays in the printing process. Reprocentre acknowledges that GMG has become the ‘gold standard’ of the industry and will introduce GMG’s professional colour management solutions to customers alongside GMG’s proofing software.

As a leading developer and supplier of high-end proofing and colour management software solutions, GMG fits in very well with Reprocentre’s list of world class suppliers which includes names such as Agfa, Canon, Esko, HP, KBA and Mimaki. With GMG software solutions, Reprocentre’s customers can be assured that they have the right tools at their fingertips to ensure smooth-running, high-quality production in the various stages of the proofing and print process.

Brian Crawford, MD, Reprocentre, says, “We are delighted to have been appointed to represent GMG in Ireland and we see it as a great opportunity to help our customers produce top quality product by attaining a recognised international standard. Consistency of result will bring savings and strengthen their relationship with their clients.”

UK-based Absolute Digital Print has invested in GMG ColorProof and GMG ColorServer to offer a higher quality, consistent print and proofing service across its fleet of digital, B2 litho and wide format print devices.

Absolute Digital initially started as a purely digital print services provider, with the proposition of addressing the quality end of the local short-run market. Within a short space of time, clients were turning to the company to address more and more of their print requirements – including longer-run jobs that lend themselves better to litho printing. “Our ethos is to provide a diverse range of high-quality print services with the focus on offering exceptional customer service,” says Jon Wallbank, Director at Absolute Digital. “We found ourselves investing in B3, and later B2, sheet offset presses to enable us to increase on the range of services we offered.”

As well as serving local markets in the North West of England, Absolute Digital boasts blue-chip clients such as Reebok, The North Face, Lowe Alpine and The National Trust. Short-run digital is handled by a Canon ImagePress, while wide format duties are shared between an HP Scitex FB-500 and Epson Stylus Pro 11880 devices. Of particular note is that the company has standardised on stochastic screening for all of its B2 litho work.

“The main reason we came to GMG was a need for standardisation and achieving colour consistency across our print processes,” says Jon. “With a growing investment in a diverse range of output devices, we needed a way to reference the output characteristics of all our printers to allow us to deliver consistent results regardless of which machine or media the job was printed on.

“We went directly to GMG – we didn’t even consider any other supplier – since we knew of GMG’s reputation within the industry and were confident that they could deliver the results we expected.”

GMG proposed a solution based on GMG ColorProof and GMG ColorServer, designed to offer Absolute Digital device-independent output that would be easy to manage on a day-to-day basis, and would manage output against their target print colour space of FOGRA 39L or ISO 12647-2.

For more than 20 years GMG ColorProof has established itself as the premier software solution for the production of high-accuracy digital contract proofs. Key to GMG ColorProof’s success in the proofing market is its unique 4-D colour transformation engine that ensures the highest possible quality and production reliability.

GMG ColorServer automates the colour normalisation of PDF files, providing highly-accurate CMYK to CMYK, RGB to CMYK and spot colour to CMYK conversions while preserving the integrity of the black channel. The result is a standardised and simplified colour management model that delivers consistent print results across any print process and substrate.

After a smooth installation and training period, Absolute Digital couldn’t be happier with the results. “I have to be honest that there was some internal scepticism that - from the litho side – all we had to do was run to a given ink density and the press sheet would match the proof. Also that once the digital devices were calibrated, the results would match not only other digital devices, but the offset press as well. However, seeing is believing and the results have been amazing. GMG has taken the issue of the variations in colour perception, print process and print substrate out of the equation. It’s allowed us to work more methodically and scientifically to offer a greatly-enhanced proof and print service to an ever-more demanding client base.”

Toby Burnett, MD, GMG UK, says: “Absolute Digital is a great example of the new next-generation of print services provider looking for fast, accurate, device-agnostic output that’s easy to use and maintain. Implementing GMG solutions has enabled the company to remove output inconsistencies and standardise on a single user interface across all devices, which brings significant colour management benefits, productivity gains and delivering time and cost savings throughout the production workflow.”

[Image shows Jon Wallbank, Director at Absolute Digital]

Swiss manufacturer Digital Information will be unveiling its new SpectroPocket for Android, the world’s first system for measuring single colour patches on different substrates using commercially available spectrocolorimetry and displaying the recorded colour values on any mobile Android device, at IPEX 2014,  on booth N4-B359.

Prior to the release of the SpectroPocket, PC hardware and operating systems such as MS Windows or Mac OS restricted flexibility and mobility when measuring colour. The introduction of Digital Information’s SpectroPocket for Android represents a great stride in the portability and functionality of colour measurement technology. For the first time, it is possible for smartphones or tablet computers to connect directly to scanning spectrophotometers via an external USB interface. Users can now measure colour virtually anywhere with lightweight equipment — on-site at a customer facility, in the office, at the laboratory, on press — or, wherever your business takes you.

SpectroPocket for Android is a compact, portable, box-shaped device with integrated software and rechargeable USB battery which connects directly to the spectral measuring device via USB. Communication between the SpectroPocket and the mobile Android device is transferred via Bluetooth technology. Spectral values are then interpreted and displayed on the Android smartphone or tablet computer using an Android App.

All display modes necessary can be viewed on the Android device: spectral remission values as figures and curves, as well as LAB, density, XYZ and RGB values. Colour differences between two measurements are shown as Delta E. Perfect colour densities derived from spectral measurements are calculated by the BestMatch function. For further use on the web or in the Cloud, the entire series of measurements can be easily exported or imported as standard CxF™ (Color Exchange Format) format files, or transmitted to another Android device. Currently, SpectroPocket for Android supports the i1 Pro™, i1Pro 2, and ColorMunki™ Design scanning spectrophotometers from X-Rite.

The cost-effectiveness of purchasing the complete SpectroPocket for Android solution bundle including the SpectroPocket hardware and software, supported spectrophotometer, Android-enabled device, and SpectroPocket App represents a significant savings over the purchase of far more costly portable measuring instruments currently available on the market.

Looking ahead, Digital Information will be launching SpectroPocket Report, an Internet-based database. Evolving from Digital Information’s world-class InkZone Report, SpectroPocket Report is a colour database developed to enable customers to view and manage the color data from their SpectroPocket on the web.

SpectroPocket for Android™ Technical Specifications:

• Supports i1Pro, i1Pro 2 and ColorMunki Design from X-Rite via USB.
• Runs on Android from version 4.1
• Delta E calculated from CIE 1976, CIE 2000, CIE 1994 and CMC 2:1

SpectroPocket for Android™ will be available in the second quarter of 2014.

The Norwegian Opera & Ballet has achieved great success by combining Wasatch's SoftRIP TX software with a d.gen Artrix GT Digital Textile printer.  Developed exclusively for textile printing and producing rich vibrant colours on fine fabrics, Wasatch SoftRIP TX has enabled The Norwegian Opera & Ballet to create extraordinary costumes and accessories for their productions. SoftRIP’s powerful colour tools and ease of use allow for complete control so the creative design is never compromised.

SoftRIP TX gives the Norwegian Opera & Ballet all the features they need to get their complex production running smoothly. The demand for premium colour is no problem with SoftRIP’s 16-bit rendering and PSS halftoning. The highest quality of colour is reproduced with the greatest level of intricacy. SoftRIP’s efficient workflow, easy setup, and real time status of each job with Queues Management allow the Norwegian Opera & Ballet to focus on what really matters - their performances.

The specialised tools in SoftRIP TX give the Norwegian Opera & Ballet flexibility to be creative without worrying about reaching beautiful life-like colours. Plus, with Wasatch's Efficient Repeats they can customise their design directly in SoftRIP with advanced drop and slide controls, saving time and reducing file size. This is possible with SoftRIP’s halftoning and re-sampling algorithms that ensures seamless repeats.

"Wasatch SoftRIP and the d.gen Artrix printer give us more possibilities. We now can customise our costumes to exactly how we envision them,” says Kari Alette Baekkevold, the Head of Print and Dyeshop. “We print on a wide variety of fabrics. For our last production we printed on silk, viscose velvet, and silk pongee. It made beautiful costumes!"

Since detail is important, Swarovski stones and gold elements are added to the costumes resulting in exquisite designs that leave a lasting impression.

SoftRIP’s easy-to-use color management tools make it effortless to achieve the desired colour. When an exact colour is needed, Kari Alette utilises the Color Atlas Generator by specifying a range of colour swatches and printing on the target fabric. She then uses the Spot Color Replacement tool to enter LAB values. The result is a perfect colour match.  Another feature Kari Alette finds useful is SoftRIP’s Correction Curves. Easy colour adjustments are made in the Color Transform window to make the colours really pop.

For more information on The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, please visit www.operaen.no/en.

[Photo caption: Wasatch SoftRIP and the d.gen Artrix GT printer create crisp designs with rich blacks. The company only picked fabric that could withstand many performances and washings.]