HP ESKO Workflow User Manual

HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Color Kit powered by EskoArtwork

User Guide

HP Indigo Labels and Packaging powered by EskoArtwork

Color Kit User Guide

Introduction

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Copyright 2007 Esko nv, Gent, Belgium All rights reserved. Esko nv. does not warrant, guarantee or make any representations regarding the use, or the results of the use of the software or the information contained herein. Esko nv shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential or incidental damages arising out of the use or inability to use the software or the information contained herein. PANTONE Colors displayed here may not match PANTONE-identified standards. Consult current PANTONE Color Publications for accurate color. PANTONE and other Pantone, Inc. trademarks are the property of Pantone, Inc. Pantone, Inc., 2000. Pantone, Inc. is the copyright owner of color data and/or software which are licensed to Esko nv to distribute for use only in combination with LW-Brix and CT-Brix based applications. PANTONE Color Data and/or Software shall not be copied onto another disk or into memory unless as part of the execution of the LWBrix and CTBrix based applications.This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/) Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Acrobat logo, Adobe Creative Suite, Illustrator, InDesign, PDF, Photoshop, PostScript, XMP and the Powered by XMP logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. "SolidWorks is a registered trademark of SolidWorks Corporation." Portions of this software are owned by Spatial Corp. 1986

Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4). All rights reserved. The Esko software contains the "RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm". Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems in the U.S. and other countries.

Confidentiality notice

This guide and any information contained herein is confidential and should not be disclosed to any third party outside of HP Indigo. Do not copy and/or disseminate any information contained in this guide. This guide should be maintained in a manner which shall ensure compliance with the confidentiality requirements set forth herein.

This document contains valuable trade secrets and confidential information of Hewlett-Packard Company. Nothing herein may be copied, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium, or disclosed to any third party in any manner, without prior written authorization of Hewlett-Packard Company. The copyright notice, which appears in this document, is purely precautionary and shall not be deemed to constitute publication or intent to publish, in whole or in part.

Part Number: CA294-05750 First Edition: February 2008

Contents

Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 4

About this manual ............................................................................................................................ 4

What is Color Kit? ............................................................................................................................ 4

Solution for special colors ................................................................................................................ 5

Multi-color profiles ............................................................................................................................ 5

System solution for color management............................................................................................5

Prerequisites........................................................................................................................ 6

Spectrophotometer .............................................................................................................. 7

Supported spectrophotometers........................................................................................................ 7

Connecting a spectrophotometer..................................................................................................... 7

Calibration of the spectrophotometer............................................................................................. 13

Working with filters ......................................................................................................................... 15

Using the profiles ........................................................................................................................... 29

Color Strategies ............................................................................................................................. 29

ICC profiles........................................................................................................................ 44

Definition of ICC profiles ................................................................................................................ 44

Notes on importing an ICC profile.................................................................................................. 44

Exporting to ICC profiles ................................................................................................................ 45

Notes on exporting to an ICC profile.............................................................................................. 46

Importing ICC profiles .................................................................................................................... 47

Viewing ICC profiles....................................................................................................................... 47

Dealing with Special colors................................................................................................ 48

How to create your own inks?........................................................................................................ 48

Info on inks..................................................................................................................................... 50

Export an ink book ......................................................................................................................... 50

Import an ink book.......................................................................................................................... 51

Proof an ink book ........................................................................................................................... 51

Tools.................................................................................................................................. 54

Links............................................................................................................................................... 54

Gamut View.................................................................................................................................... 56

Compare Inks................................................................................................................................. 58

Gamut Check ................................................................................................................................. 59

Average Profiles............................................................................................................................. 60

Preferences.................................................................................................................................... 62

Example of a workflow....................................................................................................... 65

Appendix, a closer look at the standard Color Strategies.................................................. 76

Introduction

HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Color Kit powered by Esko includes:

• software to measure color charts.

• software to generate profiles (both native and ICC).

• a ‘Color management Module’.

• a database with charts, profiles and inks.

About this manual

This manual explains all the tools in Color Kit. It explains all features in detail You may want to proceed straightaway to how-to section in section 9, which guides you through a step-by-step calibration. Therefore some illustrations might appear in both the reference section as in the step-by-step section.

What is Color Kit?

HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Color Kit powered by Esko is a complete color system. It offers profiling tools to profile presses and proofing devices and offers all required features to create, modify and execute profiles.

In addition, Color Kit uses a central color database which digitizes all color knowledge. This database can be used for output to any devices using FlexRip. For the HP Indigo press the color database provides full color conversion automation and eliminates the need for operator intervention to prepare conventionally printed jobs for digital reruns. It is the ideal platform to optimize press uptime and number of jobs run on the HP Indigo digital press.

Color Kit goes well beyond ICC capabilities when special colors (Pantone and brand colors) are concerned. Color Kit profiles are 100% spectral profiles providing, in addition to LAB values, much more information about color behavior and characteristics than ICC profiles and ICC based color management systems.

To profile devices (proofing devices, conventional and digital presses) Esko's Color Kit uses special measuring charts for up to 7 color processes. This can be used to create a profile of the HP Indigo digital press using Indichrome or Indichrome + green. This profile is stored in the Color Kit database.

Measure color charts

Color Kit comes with its own layouts to measure CMYK and multi-color profiles but you can also measure IT8 or ECI2002 charts. Interfaces with the most common spectrophotometers are available.

Generate profiles

From measured charts, both native Color Kit profiles and ICC profiles can be generated.

Note: The Color Kit module is not an actual CMM that can be used

on a MAC.

A database

Color Kit keeps track of all the proofer, press or ink profiles in a database. Thanks to this database, it is possible to tell when the profile was made, which chart (and how many patches) was used to make

Introduction

the profile and what kind of profile it is: a proofer, press, monitor or scanner profile. It will also tell you if the profile is referenced in a device link profile. Additionally, when using 'Color Strategies' the database keeps track of conversion tables. It will tell you what kind of colormatch was used. In other words, the CMS database provides an enormous amount of quality control. A database is built over time. Over time, you will create a database of colours for every substrate/press condition combinations that will help you to maximize production on the press.

So far, apart from the database, Color Kit looks like a traditional color management package.

Solution for special colors

A traditional color management system relies on colorimetric modeling only. The goal is to obtain a color match between input, monitor, proof and printed output. But what about special colors? The problem of special colors becomes dramatically complex when dealing with overprints between specials, often used in packaging.

Multi-color profiles

Color Kit enables you to create multi-color profiles. These profiles can either be output profiles (for proofing devices or digital presses that run more than 4 colors, e.g. HP Indigo) or press profiles.

Multi-color Press Profiles can be very handy when dealing with a standardized set of 6 or 7 inks. The profile will help to convert legacy jobs into the press colorspace with InkWizard and will help to make an accurate simulation of the press on the digital proofing system.

System solution for color management

Color Kit offers a solution for every step in the color workflow:

• Measuring profile charts: whether you choose to use IT8 charts or Esko charts for press or proofer or you advance to the ink profiles, Color Kit will measure them for you.

• Generating profiles: Color Kit can deliver an Esko profile or an ICC profile.

• CMS: Color Kit also provides the CMS kernel which converts from one color space to another (comparable to a CMM in an ICC environment), which is built into all Esko products mentioned above.

Prerequisites

Before Esko Color Kit can be of any use to you, the following prerequisites need to be fulfilled:

• A spectrophotometer is essential. (See: Supported spectrophotometers (page 7). To measure multi-color profiles, a high-speed measuring device (e.g I1IO or DTP70) is recommended.

• You need a stable press. You need to understand perfectly how the press can be calibrated. Consistent colour output can only be obtained through optimal calibration of the Indigo press. A good communication between the pre-press department and press operator is essential, especially where it concerns usage of LUT tables on the press. Here’s why: Profiles reflect every aspect of paper, ink an press conditions. One should not change press conditions without communicating with the pre-press department and vice versa.

• You need the correct licenses on your system.

• You can find all the Esko and IT8 color charts on your system after the software has been installed.

• In order to have a reliable optical comparison between colors from your proofing device and from your press, a viewing booth with D50 illumination is required.

Spectrophotometer

Supported spectrophotometers

The following spectrophotometers are supported for USB:

• Gretag SpectroEye

• Gretag Eye-One

• Gretag ICColor

• Xrite DTP70

• Gretag Eye-One IO

Connecting a spectrophotometer

Please hook up your spectrophotometer to a serial port of your system. Esko Color Kit will detect the meter automatically.

Connecting a spectrophotometer to a USB port

The following meters can be connected to a USB port:

• Gretag Eye-One

• Gretag Eye-One IO

• DTP70, ICColor

Note: No USB drivers for Windows NT are available.

Connect the meter to a USB port on your PC (not via the keyboard).

The system detects new hardware and will prompt you to install the drivers. Proceed as follows:

1. Choose to install the drivers from a specific location

Spectrophotometer

2. Choose to install the driver yourself.

3. Select Eye-One and click 'Have Disk'.

Spectrophotometer

4. Click 'Browse'.

5. Browse to the Documentation DVD under Extra - Spectrophotometer drivers, select the corresponding driver and click 'Open'.

Spectrophotometer

6. Click 'OK'.

Spectrophotometer

9. The Eye-One is now ready to be used in Color Kit

Calibration of the spectrophotometer

1. Your spectrophotometer can be calibrated by double-clicking the spectrophotometer icon

First, Color Kit will automatically detect the type of spectrophotometer that is connected.

Warning

If no spectrophotometer is connected to your system the following error will come up.

Spectrophotometer

2. Click 'Calibrate'.

Note: For hand-held spectrophotometers, you will be asked to put the

meter on the absolute white reference first.

Spectrophotometer

3. If the calibration was successful, the following message will appear:

4. Click 'OK' to close the spectrophotometers settings window.

Note: With the ICColor, there is no need to perform a calibration

since the device calibrates itself.

Working with filters

Different filters can be used on a spectrophotometer:

• a Polarization filter, which can be used to take away the disturbing effect of measuring on a glossy substrate.

• a D65 filter, which has to be used if D65 is used as reference light temperature.

• a UV filter, which can be used to take away UV light from the spectrophotometer light source. This can be helpful if you are measuring on substrates with optical brighteners.

The default setting in Color Kit is NO filter. If you want to work with a filter please proceed as follows:

1. Make sure your spectrophotometer is connected to your workstation.

2. Put on the right filter.

3. Double-click the Spectrophotometer button (or go to the 'File' menu and choose 'Settings').

4. Change the Settings to Custom.

5. Select the right Geometry (D65 or Pol).

6. Click 'Calibrate'.

7. Click 'OK' and you come back to the same window.

8. Click 'OK' again.

If the following window comes up, the filter that you used does not correspond with the settings in Color Kit. Please change either the filter or the settings and recalibrate.

Spectrophotometer

Caution! If you have decided to use a filter, please use this filter to measure all profiles. Mixing profiles measured with and without profiles might cause unwanted effects.

Deciding on a testchart

First of all you have to decide which test chart to use. A couple of parameters will decide which parameters will decide which chart is best for you:

• The type of spectrophotometer you will be using to measure the testchart.

• The number of patches you want to measure (normal or high quality). The choice between normal or high quality is not available for all spectrophotometers.

• Whether you want to make a multi-color press profile or just CMYK.

For profiling CMYK only, we recommend charts that include black overprints. This means that not only overprints of C,M,Y will be measured, but also overprints of K. Try to use the highest possible quality. Some spectrophotometers have normal and high-resolution charts

The following overview chart will help you decide for CMYK charts.

All these testcharts can be found on Esko\bg_data_cms_v010\r\tim

If you are making a press profile please pick one from the chart underneath.

Digital Proofing: Step by step

As you can see from the overview, different charts will be used for press profiles covering different color regions. The naming convention for the color regions is as follows:

CMYK = CMYK

Orange, Red area = R

Green = G

Blue, Violet area = B

So if you are profiling a press with CMYK, Orange, and Violet, please pick the CMYKRB chart that corresponds with your spectrophotometer.

Note! The list above explains all the possible combinations. In practice, the choice of a chart will be practically intuitive. The list of charts is limited through the choice of the output inks and the connected spectrophotometer. In the step-by step workflow in section 9 this will become clear!

Making a new profile and printing the test chart on the press

Outputting charts on your press is needed to make a profile. A profile will describe overprints of CMYK, CMYKOV or CMYKOVG in the CieLab colorspace.

Start by defining a new proof process. In Color Kit, right-click on ‘Esko profiles, Proofer’ and choose ‘new’, or alternatively go to the File menu and choose ‘New’.

Digital Proofing: Step by step

Choose your FlexRip configuration in the ‘proofer’ window. This can be CMYK, CMYKOV or CMYKOGV. Remember that you can make configurations with the FlexRip Coinfigurator. The configurations mentioned above are pre-installed though, for your convenience. In the example below, we decide to measure a profile for CMYKOV.

Digital Proofing: Step by step

You will see some extra information displayed about the configuration.

Now you need to save the file, with ‘File’, ‘Save as”. Make sure the configuration and the substrate is reflected in the name that you give. We also suggest to include press parameters, when you work with different LUTs

Proceed to the ‘Overprints’ tab. Mind that the icons on the right will stay grayed-out when you have not saved the file!

Digital Proofing: Step by step

You see the name that you have given in the upper-left corner. All you need to do to get the files printed on the press is to click the proof button. You will see a progress bar at the bottom of your screen. The charts can now be printed on the press. The screenshot above shows you an example of a 7 color profile, with an i1 spectrophotometer attached.

IMPORTANT REMARK: It is when you actually print the charts on the press, that all the parameters are applied. Therefore we strongly advise to observe a clear naming convention when you save profiles. Please choose an accurate name that includes substrate, output ink set and LUT.

When the charts to make this profile have been printed with LUT05, you should later only apply it in your production workflow duringon jobs to be printed with THE CORRESPONDING LUT. Ripping jobs with a profile made for one kind of LUT, and outputting it on the press with a totally different LUT wo uld ha ve a s eri ous effect on the output of colours.

Measuring the testchart

To start measuring the test-chart, make sure the spectrophotometer is hooked up to your system. See Connecting a Spectorophotometer (page 7).

Digital Proofing: Step by step

Go to the 'Overprints' tab.

Color Kit will now check which spectrophotometer is connected to your system. Only the layouts available for this meter will be shown.

If the meter is not connected the following message will appear:

Please connect the meter, restart Color Kit and start again.

Click the measurement icon that corresponds with your meter.

• Gretag Eye One (strip reading) (page 22)

• Gretag Eye One (manual mode) (page 23)

• Gretag SpectroScan (page 23)

• Hand-held spectrophotometer (page 23)

• Xrite DTP41 (page 23)

• Gretag ICColor (page 24)

• Xrite DTP70 (page 25)

• Gretag Eye-One IO (page 25)

Note:

For automatic meters, click

For hand-held meters click Automatic meters are: Gretag Spectroscan, Xrite Spectrofiler, Xrite DTp70, Gretag ICColor and Gretag Eye One IO. All other meters are considered hand-held. The Gretag Eye-One has 2 modes: it can be used as a strip reader using the ruler. In this case it is considered an automatic meter. It can also be used to measure individual patches; then it is considered manual.

If you are working with an ICColor, please refer to the chapter on the Gretag ICColor If you are working with a DTP70 please refer to the chapter on the DTP70 .

Gretag Eye One (strip reading)

1. Take the first chart and put the ruler along the strip.

2. Click the manual measurement button (this starts a measurement session).

3. Press the button on the Eye-One.

4. Wait for the beep (while keeping the button on the Eye One pressed).

Digital Proofing: Step by step

5. Slide the meter along the ruler at a constant pace (still holding the button pressed).

6. Release the button.

7. Wait until all measurements have been transferred.

8. Repeat this action until all strips have been measured and click 'OK' to finish the measurement.

Note: Only when there is a measurement error (e.g. bad reading),

you will have to click the measurement button again (to restart the session).

Gretag Eye One (manual mode)

1. Take the first chart and place the meter holder on the first patch (100%C 100%M 100%Y).

2. Click the manual measurement button.

3. Repeat this action until all patches have been measured and click 'OK' to finish the measurement.

Gretag SpectroScan

You are prompted to put the overprints chart on the measuring table.

1. Place the (first) overprints chart on the measuring table.

2. Click 'OK'. Paper hold will now be activated.

3. Align the crosshair of the meter on the top left crosshair on the paper and press 'OK' to continue.

4. Align the crosshair of the meter on the top right crosshair on the paper and press 'OK' to continue.

5. Align the crosshair of the meter on the bottom left crosshair on the paper and press 'OK' to continue. The SpectroScan will now measure the (first) chart.

If you are measuring a chart that contains more than one page, you will be asked to put the next page on the measuring table. Click 'OK' when the next chart is placed on the table and repeat the alignment procedure to measure the next page. Repeat this procedure for every page (e.g. sp16x16_1234 has 4 pages, spscan_nonuni_cmyk has 2 pages).

6. When all pages are measured, click 'OK' to finish the measurement.

Xrite DTP41

1. Have the first chart ready.

2. Click the manual measurement button. With every click one row will be measured.

3. Feed the first row through the DTP41. The row number is printed on the chart.

Digital Proofing: Step by step

4. Wait until all the measurements have been passed to Color Kit.

; Note

The CMYK combination shown in Color Kit corresponds with the next row that needs to be measured. If a row was not measured correctly, it should be measured again.

5. Continue to feed all other rows through the meter.

6. When all rows have been fed through, click 'OK' to finish the measurement.

Gretag ICColor

1. Have the first page ready (the page number is mentioned on the chart).

2. Click the automatic measurement button.

3. Feed the first page through the ICColor.

4. Feed all other page through the meter.

5. When all pages have been measured, click 'OK' to finish.

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