Color Management Making Strides

Color management" is one of those terms that gets bandied about the graphic arts industry, with little consensus as to what actually is meant by the terminology. At its simplest, color management involves the use of software and color measurement tools to ensure color predictability as image data travels from one digital imaging device to another.

Color management, however, increasingly is being viewed as something much greater, where the end result—color predictability, dependability, and portability—remains constant.

More broadly, color management begins at the idea stage and continues through delivery of the product. Not only does it require profiling and calibration of input and output devices such as scanners, monitors, printers, and presses, but process control of every component used in the graphic arts production cycle as well.

"The primary benefit of color management is achieved when an entire system is built that includes the imagesetter/platesetter, RIP and hardware station, a proofing device, and the intended press and its typical running condition," asserts Global Graphics Software color products technical consultant Ken Elsman.

He adds, "Once these characterizations are defined, and the necessary profiles are built in—including an input profile for the press, an output profile for the proofer, and a monitor profile, if editing is part of the workflow—the profiles can then be installed and selected properly in the RIP for an ICC color-managed workflow.

"Once the system is in place, general quality of work is improved, production is streamlined, and better communication of color between client and printer is possible," concludes Elsman.

Without process control, the chances of having a successful color management system are slim. "If you don't maintain process control, than color management is only good for a day," says Iain Pike, X-Rite worldwide product marketing manager for imaging and printing.

"Color management isn't just magic dust that you sprinkle on your network that turns everything beautiful," adds William M. Owens, X-Rite worldwide product marketing manager for imaging products. "It is something that has to begin at the design stage and go right on through to printing. If you are starting out with a color-managed design area, you really improve your chances of getting good results."

A successful color management solution also requires conformance to a standard.

"Color management offers the opportunity to centralize on one given set of color renditions, and to then bring all your pieces and devices in line with that color standard," says Geoffrey K. Kolb, development and program manager for Matchprint Virtual Proof at Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG). "You can use an industry standard such as SWOP, or you can develop your own proprietary standard."

The importance of color management within a graphic arts workflow has been slow to take hold. Ten years ago, when color management systems were in their infancy, process control was not understood as a necessary component of a successful implementation, and so graphic arts professionals who installed such systems often were not happy with the results.

Further, the software and hardware capabilities inherent in today's systems weren't there to make color management's use as practical or affordable as it can be now.

"Today, good available software packages truly can make a difference in the color accuracy of the image, and the computers that support them are capable of handling the various color renditions," notes Owens.

As the capabilities of color management systems have increased, so has need. The move to digital workflows and accompanying industry innovations, such as direct-to technologies, have collapsed the number of individual steps in the printing process.

"Because there are fewer steps, each is infused with more value," explains Pike. "It is not as costly to replace film in an analog workflow if there is a mistake, compared to replacing more-expensive thermal digital plates. Many intermediate steps once used to check for mistakes have been eliminated in a digital workflow. Color management therefore becomes of greater value because the cost of making a mistake has become so high."

Cross-media publishing also has increased color management's value.

"In the old days, the printed product was the single destination," says Owens. "There, the press operator always had the opportunity to make color look right: one of the hallmarks of being a good printer was that you could make the image look like it was supposed to look."

When working with different media, Owens continues, printers no longer have that option. "There isn't anyone at an end user's monitor adjusting color to make sure a client's Web site looks correct."

The workflow at the front end also has changed. Photographers are now using digital cameras more frequently, which means that the reproduction process is just as likely to start with a digital RGB file as a traditional photograph being scanned into CMYK.

"Color management lets you get it right from the beginning, so that you are working in the right color gamut," says Kolb. "This lets you save so much in terms of economics."

Lastly, today's color management technology allows designers to use software like Adobe Photoshop to create gorgeous ads with vivid colors and tremendous eye appeal, and then proof it on an ink-jet printer, where the image looks magnificent. The only problem is that, more often than not, the image is not printable via traditional offset printing because color management wasn't applied at the design stage.

"By implementing color profiles—which are given to the designer—and process controls, you don't have to trip over that land mine," says Kolb. "You can ensure that the image is totally compatible with the CMYK color reproduction process."

Adds Dan Caldwell, vice president of operations for Integrated Color Solutions Inc., "As original images and designs pass through any digital reproduction process, a well-implemented color management system can eliminate the need for nearly all non-creative color adjustments and wasteful trial and error. And, it will increase quality at the same time that it greatly reduces your time and materials costs."

With color management involved in every step of the graphic arts process, from creating profiles at the design stage to reading and measuring printed output, there are more than a half-dozen unique solutions for different points in the workflow.

Technology that is part of a color management solution includes color measurement instruments, such as spectrophotometers and densitometers; software profiling, editing, and calibration tools; and RIPs with built-in color management functionality.

Following is a sampling of color management tools currently available in the marketplace.

Agfa's ColorTune Pro 4.0 color management software is available bundled exclusively with AgfaJet Sherpa proofers, AgfaScan scanners, and Intellitune 2.0 image processing software.

Based on device characterization within each profile, ColorTune Pro 4.0 automatically compensates for differences in color ranges between the display monitor, proofer, and press. ColorTune Pro 4.0 offers customized ICC color profiles, as well as a library of generic profiles.

Version 4.0 features printing-specific output profile creation; more precise input, monitor, output, and proofer profiles; monitor calibration for CRT and LCD monitors; and accurate color matching for AgfaJet Sherpa proofers through intelligent gamut mapping.

Creo's Profile Wizard products for the Macintosh computing platform are designed to maintain color integrity as the data passes from one device to another. The newest version, Profile Wizard 2.5, can build what the company calls a "manyColors" ICC profile for more than four-color high-fidelity reproduction work, such as Hexachrome.

Further, specific spot colors can be manually measured and defined for accurate simulation of the source device.

Says Creo, an ICC DeviceLink profile preserves black channel information, and delivers clear black text and detail rendering while maintaining the data in the CMY channels. Profile Wizard offers users the choice of using ICC DeviceLink profiles, or standard ICC profiles.

Fujifilm's ColorPath offering encompasses a suite of color management tools. Included here are the company's recently launched ColourKit Profiler Suite 4.0 software and Match Certified verification and image spectral statistics analysis, the latter of which uses proprietary software, specialized charts, and spectrophotometry to generate color look-up tables and ICC device link profiles for Fujifilm proofing devices.

"Our approach to color management is to provide the end user with the products, service, and support necessary to help measure, monitor, and manage color throughout the entire printing process," says Eric Neumann, ColorPath assistant product manager for Fujifilm. "We provide solutions for both closed-loop and open-system color management, as each have their place in a successful workflow."

ColourKit is Fujifilm's open-system ICC color management software product.

ColourKit Profiler Suite is a standalone application that includes profile-making and editing modules for monitors, digital cameras, scanners, and other RGB and CMYK output devices. Says Neumann, ColourKit's "scan-once, output-many" workflow retains the scanned image in its native RGB format, from which the file is archived and can be reused for continued creative editing, or to produce an Internet-ready RGB file or printer-ready CMYK file.

"We can now provide a complete solution for color management to our customers by combining ColourKit with our scanners, digital cameras, RIPs, and digital proofers," Neumann asserts. "Fujifilm has used closed-loop color management technology in its scanners and digital proofing for years. The market has long asked to take advantage of the processing and editing capabilities of Fuji software for images captured elsewhere, such as other scanners and digital cameras."

Neumann continues, "We have been able to achieve this with ColourKit and ICC standards. Not only can ColourKit drive our Fuji [Quattro and Finescan] scanners, it also will process and edit images from any other source."

At Global Graphics, the company's Harlequin RIP-Eclipse Release now features SetGoldPro, ColorPro, and ProofReady Plugin utilities.

SetGoldPro lets Harlequin Eclipse RIP users optimize the color output of a printing or proofing device, while ColorPro provides users with full ICC, n-color, and gray profile support, as well as color correction capability.

Says Global Graphics, ProofReady software lets users precisely manage the color output from large-format Encad, Epson, and Hewlett-Packard (H-P) printers merely by selecting the printer and the type of paper used. The RIP automatically selects the appropriate resolution and type of screening needed to deliver a color-accurate proof to SWOP standards.

Germany-based GMG offers its ColorProof product, which calibrates digital ink-jet output devices for digital contract proofing.

At the core of the ColorProof system—which comprises ColorProof basic software including color engine, profile editor, and RIP, as well as output modules for various printing devices—is the 4-D color transformation engine, which is said to assure the highest possible contract proof quality on a variety of output devices.

To calibrate the system, GMG says that all standard color targets can be automatically measured using a colorimeter.

ColorProof's FileOut module allows the conversion of one CMYK color space to another, while keeping the integrity of the black channel. Offset data, for instance, can be automatically converted to rotogravure data.

GMG's new ColorProof DotProof option takes 1-bit TIFF information generated by output RIPs and corrects color while retaining the original screening information. Says GMG, DotProof enables users to check for possible moirés and trapping errors before final plate production.

GretagMacbeth recently introduced its new version of ProfileMaker Professional 4.1, a comprehensive, high-end color management software built to run on the Mac OS X platform.

"ProfileMaker addresses the physical aspects in printer consumables that can cause yellow-cast issues, and also provides compensation for metameric issues," says Thomas Senn, vice president of digital imaging for GretagMacbeth. ProfileMaker Pro 4.1 includes a series of new test charts to improve RGB and CMYK printer profiles of non-linear printing systems, as well as newly designed Eye-One IT8.7/3 and Eye-One Multicolor targets for use with GretagMacbeth Eye-One spectrophotometers.

GretagMacbeth's ES-1000 spectrophotometer is a handheld scanning instrument that measures the full visible spectrum of light reflected from color samples. Powered by a USB connection that can be used with a Macintosh or PC, it measures daily color fluctuations of the printing device.

Integrated Color Solutions Inc. (ICS), recently introduced its Mac OS X-based color management applications under the basICColor product line, which replaces the firm's ProfileCity family of applications.

The applications include basICColor Acquisition Profiling for building scanner profiles; basICColor Display, for calibrating and profiling any type of display; and basICColor Printing Profiling, for building output device profiles that support a wide variety of industry color devices.

According to company officials, basICColor Print measures a profiling target, then uses the measured file and target definition to build a profile that includes an equivalence between the RGB or CMYK device values and the actual colors printed by the device. For CMYK printers, a complete range of ink utilization and black generation parameters is provided.

"KPG has aimed a lot of its effort in color management toward proofing," says Rob Pipe, KPG worldwide product manager for ink-jet proofing. "These include KPG spectral profiling technology to accurately build characterization of an output device, color-locking technology to maintain color consistency, and our Color Fidelity Module to calibrate devices and to manage day-to-day variability within those devices."

Color management software from KPG drives a number of different ink-jet and laser engines, as well as the company's Matchprint Virtual Proofing System.

Says the company, Matchprint Color RIP 2.6 software for large-format ink-jet printers offers several functional improvements over previous versions. These enhancements include DCS2 and PDF/X3 file capability; remote proofing features that ensure color consistency between sites; and extended printer support for the Epson Stylus Pro 7600, 9600, 10600, and H-P DesignJet 5500 printers.

Matchprint Professional Server version 3.0 now drives color-critical, short-run printers as well as proofing devices. For proofing applications, version 3.0 features new file format support for PDF/IT, PDF 1.4 and TIFF-LZW compression, job accounting features that allow charge-back proof tracking for revenue generation, and expanded color-set simulations including DuPont Waterproof, Fuji ColorArt, Kodak Approval, and SWOP TR001.

Most recently, KPG has used specialized color transformations for the implementation of the soon-to-be-commercialized Matchprint Virtual Proofing System, which is designed to afford accurate, consistent viewing of CMYK color reproduction via RGB displays.

Says the company, Matchprint Virtual employs an automated, numerical (rather than visual) color science-based instrumented measurement process and ongoing color control method to achieve and maintain optimum color renditions.

"X-Rite covers the broad base of color management from design to pressroom, and in doing so, helps our customers address the issues of digitizing the printing process, as well as ongoing economic issues," says Iain Pike.

Designed to manage a desktop ink-jet printer for proofs or a complete prepress and print operation, including platesetters and press, X-RiteColor Ensemble bundles Monaco Systems' MonacoProof or MonacoProfiler ICC profiling software with X-Rite's Monitor Optimizer and the new DTP41 Series II Autoscan spectrophotometer.

Say the companies, MonacoProof is suited for managing monitors and simple four-color output, while MonacoProfiler offers support for up to eight colors.

X-Rite's DTP41 offering uses spectral technology to measure color while offering density or colorimetric functions. The device can measure in about 20 seconds an entire row of color information from a color target, and automatically send measurement data directly to the user's color software. The DTP41 now features USB capability, delivering a faster method of transferring color data from the instrument to the system.

The company's Model 939 portable 0/45° spectrodensitometer features X-Rite's proprietary high-resolution, 31-point spectral engine, which yields an average Delta-E agreement of 0.15 and a maximum of 0.30, says the company.

The 939 can store more than 3,000 color references and samples, and can be calibrated for either black-and-white or color validation. Fully supported by X-RiteColor Master software, it includes optional, changeable aperture sizes to test small and large samples, and enables measurement outputs to be calculated and displayed in nine illuminant types and two observer angles.

(Also released is the X-RiteColor Master Web Edition, in which users can access files and view data from virtually any PC via the Internet simply by logging onto the central server.)

Looking toward the future, says Pike, color management will become a transparent part of the graphic arts process, requiring little or no effort on the part of its participants.

"We are making great strides toward the day when color management is a seamless, integrated, transparent part of printing," he posits. "Until that day, however, we have to work at it. Some of the new tools that are now available, and the way that color management is now being applied, are a great deal better than they were even a year ago."