Software - Colour Management

X-Rite has announced a £85/€100 cash back promotion for X-Rite customers who want to upgrade their i1Match, ProfileMaker or MonacoPROFILER software to i1Publish before the end of October 2011.  The new version contains the next generation i1Profiler colour management software - an entirely new, flexible user-defined experience to generate the highest quality ICC profiles for unrivaled colour accuracy.

Fully supporting the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system, the latest version of i1Publish is a fully-featured ICC profiling solution that includes i1Profiler software, ColorChecker Camera Calibration software, PANTONE Color Manager software and two ColorChecker targets – ColorChecker Classic and ColorChecker Proof. i1Publish quickly and easily creates custom profiles for cameras, monitors, digital projectors, and RGB, CMYK and CMYK+4 printers, ensuring colour accuracy from capture to output. It also features new assurance validation and verification functions using digital standards. 

Users of i1Match, ProfileMaker and MonacoPROFILER users will see improved colour quality thanks to a new engine that creates highly accurate profiles for the truest colour all the way from capture to output. A new user interface features both basic and advanced modes to give users the flexibility they need. It’s easily customised and enables users to save and share workflows or workflow components.

Enhancements include:

• Improved colour quality - new colour engine creates highly accurate profiles for the truest colour from capture to output 
• New user interface – basic and advanced modes provide the ultimate flexibility; easily customise, save and share workflows or workflow components 
• Accurately capture colours every time with included ColorChecker Camera Calibration software and target 
• Accurately view colours every time on your monitors and projectors 
• Accurately print colours every time on RGB, CMYK and CMYK+ printers 
• New Quality Assurance Tools
• Fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system

Through October. 31, 2011, X-Rite is offering customers a £85/€100 cash back rebate on the i1Publish Upgrade A or Upgrade B for European customers who have i1XTreme, i1Proof, i1XT, i1Pro OEM, i1Photo Pro, i1Photo LT, i1Photo, i1Photo SG, i1Design LT, i1Basic, i1 Basic Pro, ProfileMaker 5, MonacoPROFILER 4.

For more information about the i1Publish upgrade and rebate, please visit www.xrite.com or www.xritephoto.com.

Pantone and EFI Announce Fiery Now Natively Supports PANTONE PLUS

Pantone LLC, an X-Rite company and EFI today announced Fiery digital print servers and solutions support for PANTONE PLUS. A long-time Pantone partner, EFI was the first vendor to implement PANTONE Calibration for digital colour devices and has now expanded its built-in colour libraries to include PANTONE PLUS Colours, available to current Fiery users.

Over the years, Pantone and EFI have worked closely to continually provide designers and print professionals with the best colour tools and workflows for accurate digital colour printing. Fiery technology, together with PANTONE PLUS, provides the best colour reproduction possible from every output device - ensuring that spot colours are accurate and dependable. Fiery servers come preloaded with PANTONE Colour Libraries, including all colours found in the PANTONE PLUS SERIES, to achieve optimal output whenever a document is printed.

"Eliminating guesswork and costs associated with reworking printing projects is  a key component to running a successful printing business," said Andy Hatkoff, vice president of technology licensing for Pantone. "By incorporating PANTONE PLUS on Fiery servers, customers are guaranteed to get spot colours that are accurate and consistent for all jobs."

"The Fiery implementation of PANTONE PLUS streamlines colour workflows for million of Fiery users worldwide," said John Henze, vice president of marketing for EFI Fiery. "Fiery users get the right spot colour the first time without the need to manually determine tint values for matching colours in the industry standard Pantone libraries."

With Fiery Spot-On(TM) for Fiery servers, users can match colour accurately and  modify corresponding CMYK values to produce desired "in gamut" colours. Spot-On also allows users to print entire spot colour libraries, including PANTONE Colour Libraries, which are delivered as industry-standard named colour ICC profiles, to ensure users know exactly how PANTONE Colours will be reproduced. PANTONE Colour Libraries are used with Fiery output profiles to automatically colour manage each PANTONE PLUS Colour into the gamut of the Fiery driven output device.

Pricing and Availability

PANTONE PLUS SERIES Products can be purchased from the Pantone website at www.pantone.comor from PANTONE resellers worldwide. Every PLUS SERIES purchase includes COLOR MANAGER Software free of charge upon registration.

PANTONE PLUS SERIES is also available now from EFI's website at http://w3.efi.com/resources/educational-downloads/fiery-pantone-library-download

PANTONE PLUS SERIES

A modern evolution of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM®, the PANTONE PLUS SERIES offers designers and printers new features and capabilities to fulfill their creative desires. Enhancements include the chromatic arrangement of colours for more intuitive selection, an expanded palette of spot colours, the addition of new premium metallics and a broader range of neons. For more information on the PANTONE PLUS SERIES, go to http://bit.ly/96DUzo

GMG has announced that the GMG ColorProof contone and GMG DotProof/FlexoProof halftone proofing solutions now fully support the Mimaki UJF-706 inkjet printers to enable the production of top-quality contract-level packaging proofs, prototypes and short-run production.

Core proofing applications of the GMG/Mimaki solution include:

• mock-up/prototype creation on a vast array of substrates ranging from 0.02 mm up to 150 mm, including cardboard, corrugated, plastic, metallic and synthetic papers, foils, OPP, PE and PET film, even leather and fabrics
• personalised packaging and short runs
• creation of prototype labels

The Mimaki UJF-706 inkjet printer series features extremely resistant inks as well as varnish for special effects and simulating embossing on a wide range of substrates. Its print media versatility is unique.  In combination with GMG colour management, this solution opens design agencies, repro and print houses as well as brand owners in the packaging and label markets to completely new dimensions for packaging proofing applications.

The colour management technology implemented in GMG ColorProof/DotProof/FlexoProof ensures maximum production reliability and opens up numerous opportunities to save costs compared to traditional proofing systems for the packaging and label markets, such as the DuPont Cromalin analogue proofing solution and Kodak Approval.

 

X-Rite and its wholly owned subsidiary Pantone have announced a US$150 cash back promotion for X-Rite customers who want to upgrade their i1Match, ProfileMaker or MonacoPROFILER software to i1Publish which contains the next generation i1Profiler colour management software.  i1Profiler delivers an entirely new, flexible user defined experience to generate the highest quality ICC profiles for unrivaled colour accuracy.

Fully supporting the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system, the latest version of i1Publish is a fully-featured ICC profiling solution that includes i1Profiler software, ColorChecker Camera Calibration software, PANTONE Color Manager software and two ColorChecker targets – ColorChecker Classic and ColorChecker Proof. i1Publish quickly and easily creates custom profiles for cameras, monitors, digital projectors, and RGB, CMYK and CMYK+4 printers, ensuring colour accuracy from capture to output. It also features new assurance validation and verification functions using digital standards. 

Users of i1Match, ProfileMaker and MonacoPROFILER users will see improved colour quality thanks to a new engine that creates highly accurate profiles for the truest colour all the way from capture to output. A new user interface features both basic and advanced modes to give users the flexibility they need. It's easily customised and enables users to save and share workflows or workflow components.

The following enhancements are included in the upgrade:

• Improved colour quality - new color engine creates highly accurate profiles for the truest colour from capture to output
• New user interface – basic and advanced modes provide the ultimate flexibility; easily customise, save and share workflows or workflow components
• Accurately capture colours every time with included ColorChecker Camera Calibration software and target
• Accurately view colours every time on your monitors and projectors
• Accurately print colours every time on RGB, CMYK and CMYK+ printers
• New Quality Assurance Tools
• Fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system

Through Sept. 30, 2011, X-Rite is offering customers a US$150 cash back rebate on the upgrade for US and Canadian customers who have i1XTreme, i1Proof, i1XT, i1Pro OEM, i1Photo Pro, i1Photo LT, i1Photo, i1Photo SG, i1Design LT, i1Basic, i1 Basic Pro, ProfileMaker 5, MonacoPROFILER 4.

For more information about the i1Publish upgrade and rebate, please visit www.xrite.com or www.xritephoto.com.

 

GMG, a leading developer and supplier of high-end color management software solutions, now supports the new HP Designjet Z6200 heavy-duty photo printer with the company’s GMG ColorProof proofing solution.

The new line of printers from HP offers convincingly higher productivity and was specifically developed for photo labs, digital printshops, advertising agencies, design offices and commercial printers. It copes with record printing speeds of up to 140 square meters per hour without sacrificing quality. Photo-quality prints with a resolution of 2400 dpi can be produced in this way. The wide range of possible indoor applications extends from line art and photo printing, all the way to signage. In addition, many workflows can be automated thanks to the integrated measuring instrument. The new HP Vivid Photo Inks moreover offer top-class photo quality, are extremely light-fast, and have a wider color spectrum that makes them suitable for difficult photo printing tasks.

GMG ColorProof in combination with the HP Z6200 printer series provides a particularly fast, flexible and efficient solution, e.g. for printing posters and POS material, and is also suitable for absolutely top-quality proofing applications, of course. GMG printer control guarantees maximum consistency and reproducibility in production in compliance with the familiar, demanding quality standards of GMG.

X-Rite Photo Marketing announces its schedule of August Webinars that have been developed to address specific color management topics and are designed to appeal to both professional and serious amateur photographers.

Three free Webinar topics this month are sure to help photographers gain new confidence and to learn quick, easy and powerful ways to enhance their color workflow. Webinar attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions to the live trainers.

"This month our hour-long educational webinars will once again teach imaging professionals and enthusiasts how X-Rite's line of color management tools can bring their digital photography color to new levels and help them incorporate a near-effortless color workflow into their every day imaging projects," said Mark Rezzonico, vice president X-Rite Photo Marketing. "Also this month we are pleased to feature a new webinar – one hosted by professional photographer Suzette Allen and co-sponsored by Nik Software. This brand new webinar is sure to help get the creative juices flowing for photographers of all levels and styles."

August Webinar Schedule
Tuesday, August 16, 2011, 11:00 AM EDT and 1:00 PM EDT
RAW COLOR POWER with Adobe Lightroom and the ColorChecker Passport

Professional photographers and photo enthusiasts will learn how to bring their digital photography color to a new level. This webinar will instruct attendees on how to quickly and easily capture accurate color, instantly enhance portraits and landscapes, create their own color look with one click, maintain color control and consistency and achieve superior color results in a fraction of the time.

Topics that will be covered include:

Creating and Using Camera Profiles
Custom White Balance with the ColorChecker Passport
One click accurate color edits
Matching color response of two or more cameras
Matching color response under different lighting conditions
Color editing in Adobe Lightroom
Color editing in Adobe Photoshop

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 12:00 PM EDT & 2:00 PM EDT
Everyday Imaging Miracles with Suzette Allen

Join professional photographer Suzette Allen as she discusses her specialty environmental and studio portraits, fine art and commercial photography. During this webinar she will cover useful and time saving tips for Photoshop in addition to the latest X-Rite color management and Nik Software solutions.

Suzette will demonstrate to webinar attendees how she takes control of her color workflow allowing her ultimate creative control. She'll also demonstrate how to quickly tackle tricky corrections in portraits and landscapes, clean up backgrounds in the studio, and how to quickly improve sports images.

Who should attend this webinar

Studio portrait photographers
Fine art photographers
Environmental portrait photographers
Commercial photographers
Aspiring amateurs and avid enthusiasts


To register for either of the two sessions, please visit:

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 9:00 AM PDT/ 12:00 EDT/ 16:00 GMT
http://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/401684123

or

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:00 AM PDT/ 2:00 PM EDT/ 18:00 GMT
http://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/484557626

For more information about Suzette Allen visit her website at http://www.suzetteallen.com. This webinar is sponsored by X-Rite Photo and Nik Software.

_____

Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 11:00 AM EDT and 1:00 PM EDT
Beyond Monitor Calibration - Get Prints That Match Your Display!

Perfect for wedding, portrait and landscape photographers as well as photo lab professionals and photo enthusiasts doing their own printing, this webinar, featuring the award-winning X-Rite ColorMunki Photo, will teach attendees how to put a color managed workflow in place from image capture through printer output including creating custom profiles and learning how to use them correctly to produce prints that match a display every time.

Topics that will be covered include:

Monitor to Print Matching (Calibration and Profiling)
Obtaining consistent color in camera
Benefits of creating and using custom printer profiles
Soft-proofing in Adobe Photoshop
Applying printer profiles in Photoshop
Digital Projector Profiling


Webinar registration can be found on XritePhoto.com.  Visit the Webinar page found under the Learning section.