Flexible color assignment of quality control strips, improved interaction of prepress and press with Prinect software for impositioning and sheet assembly
_Newsletter/edition1/images/article4_print_control/print_control_jpg_170.jpg "Heidelberg Print control strip with spot colors")
Quality control strips are affixed to a print sheet in order to
regulate the solid tint and dot gain. Ideally, all the solid tint
patches for the inks used in the job should be available in each
ink zone. The measuring patches of the quality control strips
contain a color code for easier identification. The color codes
B(lack),
C(yan),
M(agenta),
Y(ellow) are reserved for the process inks. Spot colors are
represented by the color codes X, Z, U, V and S1 - S8.
Up till now, the Prinect printshop workflow greatly simplified the work of commercial printers through the fixed assignment of BCMY by dispensing with the time-consuming process of entering color codes for standard jobs. In other words, it eliminated the complicated process of assigning color patches for each CMYK job.
New, flexible color assignment for quality control strips
To reduce the monotonous and painstaking work still further and thus increase user-friendliness, the engineers at Heidelberg have come up with a new idea. The latest Prinect version, which is available from July 2009, enables the flexible assignment of colors to the quality control strips. This will benefit commercial printers who often work with spot colors, and spot color professionals in the packaging printing sector.
Integration into the Prinect workflow cuts down further on the amount of input required. Once the color names and codes have been defined in the Prinect Signa Station the first time, they then run all the way through to the press. This ensures that the right process calibration is used on the RIP and that the correct characteristic curve for the color presettings is selected automatically on the press. Prinect Signa Station is one of the world's leading software solutions for impositioning and sheet assembly.
The quality control strip for the exclusive use of spot colors can be used throughout the Prinect workflow. As there are fewer color patches in the quality control strip, color control and ink pick-up are also improved.
The color codes are now assigned in the Prinect Signa Station instead of later in the Prinect Prepress Interface or Prinect Pressroom Manager. The new function "Allow spot colors on BCMY" has been added to the "Colors" menu on the Prinect Signa Station. When this function is selected, spot colors can also be assigned to the BCMY color codes.
Measuring and controlling spot colors in the quality control strip
The Prinect measuring devices can also be used for measuring flexible color assignment. To this end, suitable definition files (i.e. files with the ending *.fms) must be available for the quality control strips for all measuring devices. These are supplied with Version 5 of Prinect Image Control, for example.
Assigning spot colors to BCMY codes makes it possible - in combination with Prinect Image Control and Prinect Dipco Elements 6S+ - to print, measure and control up to 12 spot colors in a single pass.
This makes it possible to use the Prinect Inpress Control inline measuring system for jobs using only spot colors and for jobs that use no black ink.
Prerequisites for flexible color assignment
The following combination of Prinect modules is required to make full use of the flexibility and functionality and to assign spot colors to BCMY color codes:
Prinect Signa Station version 4.5 + Prinect Dipco Elements version 4.5
+ Prinect Prepress Manager version 4.5 and/or Prinect MetaDimension version 7.5
+ Prinect Prepress Interface version 4.5 / Prinect Pressroom Manager version 4.5
+ Prinect CP2000 Center or Prinect Press Center
= Full functionality; i.e. flexible color assignment of quality control strips
Up till now, the Prinect printshop workflow greatly simplified the work of commercial printers through the fixed assignment of BCMY by dispensing with the time-consuming process of entering color codes for standard jobs. In other words, it eliminated the complicated process of assigning color patches for each CMYK job.
New, flexible color assignment for quality control strips
To reduce the monotonous and painstaking work still further and thus increase user-friendliness, the engineers at Heidelberg have come up with a new idea. The latest Prinect version, which is available from July 2009, enables the flexible assignment of colors to the quality control strips. This will benefit commercial printers who often work with spot colors, and spot color professionals in the packaging printing sector.
Integration into the Prinect workflow cuts down further on the amount of input required. Once the color names and codes have been defined in the Prinect Signa Station the first time, they then run all the way through to the press. This ensures that the right process calibration is used on the RIP and that the correct characteristic curve for the color presettings is selected automatically on the press. Prinect Signa Station is one of the world's leading software solutions for impositioning and sheet assembly.
The quality control strip for the exclusive use of spot colors can be used throughout the Prinect workflow. As there are fewer color patches in the quality control strip, color control and ink pick-up are also improved.
The color codes are now assigned in the Prinect Signa Station instead of later in the Prinect Prepress Interface or Prinect Pressroom Manager. The new function "Allow spot colors on BCMY" has been added to the "Colors" menu on the Prinect Signa Station. When this function is selected, spot colors can also be assigned to the BCMY color codes.
Measuring and controlling spot colors in the quality control strip
The Prinect measuring devices can also be used for measuring flexible color assignment. To this end, suitable definition files (i.e. files with the ending *.fms) must be available for the quality control strips for all measuring devices. These are supplied with Version 5 of Prinect Image Control, for example.
Assigning spot colors to BCMY codes makes it possible - in combination with Prinect Image Control and Prinect Dipco Elements 6S+ - to print, measure and control up to 12 spot colors in a single pass.
This makes it possible to use the Prinect Inpress Control inline measuring system for jobs using only spot colors and for jobs that use no black ink.
Prerequisites for flexible color assignment
The following combination of Prinect modules is required to make full use of the flexibility and functionality and to assign spot colors to BCMY color codes:
Prinect Signa Station version 4.5 + Prinect Dipco Elements version 4.5
+ Prinect Prepress Manager version 4.5 and/or Prinect MetaDimension version 7.5
+ Prinect Prepress Interface version 4.5 / Prinect Pressroom Manager version 4.5
+ Prinect CP2000 Center or Prinect Press Center
= Full functionality; i.e. flexible color assignment of quality control strips
_Newsletter/edition1/images/article4_print_control/sonderfarben_jpg_170.jpg "Flexible assigning spot colors to BCMY codes")
Comparison with the previous method: Assigning color
codes
Up to now, the Prinect Prepress Interface and the Prinect Pressroom Manager were solely responsible for assigning color codes.
If the system identified the colors black, cyan, magenta or yellow in the PPF or JDF file, the color codes B, C, M, Y were assigned accordingly.
If there were spot colors, these were only assigned color codes starting from X in ascending order. The assignment sequence was random and depended on which of the colors were found first in the PPF/JDF file. If no process colors were used, these measuring patches in the quality control strip remained empty.
Up to now, the Prinect Prepress Interface and the Prinect Pressroom Manager were solely responsible for assigning color codes.
If the system identified the colors black, cyan, magenta or yellow in the PPF or JDF file, the color codes B, C, M, Y were assigned accordingly.
If there were spot colors, these were only assigned color codes starting from X in ascending order. The assignment sequence was random and depended on which of the colors were found first in the PPF/JDF file. If no process colors were used, these measuring patches in the quality control strip remained empty.
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