Color/Quality Control - Software

Graphic Arts Alliance and Image Test Labs announced that Image Test Labs Image Grader will be available to members at a reduced cost.

Color-Logic has certified the Graphium Digital UV Inkjet Press for use with Color-Logic files.

Curtis Packaging has achieved G7 Master Printer certification.

GMG has launched OpenColor 2.0, making profiling easier.

The FTA has launched an online course providing an overview of G7 methodology and implementation in a flexographic workflow.

The Printing Plant is a privately-held narrow-web flexographic printer in Cincinnati that has been in operation since 1979. The company has grown considerably over the years, adding experienced staff and state-of-the-art equipment. Yet as with most every part of printing these days, there is always room for improvement. Especially with color.

Gray Balance and G7® are two terms that are hardly new to the printing industry. Gray balancing your process is a concept we have accepted for decades as a logical step towards process control and color management, and yet still today it is not widely practiced. In essence, gray balance on press is simply calibrating the printing process similar to what we did for scanners and analog film photography in days past.

The goal of an effective proofing system is to ensure predictable, repeatable results throughout a print run by achieving the closest possible match between the proof and the printing press using color management and screening techniques. An effective proofing system will be able to accurately reproduce trap and overprint characteristics, together with the fine lines and text that are critical in package and label design. Inks or dyes, media, RIPs, and color management tools all will play important supporting roles.

The sheer variety of flexographic printing techniques has been an undeniable boon to the field of packaging and labeling. It has also been something of a double-edged sword in resisting the establishment of standard criteria and practical process controls associated with color-managed systems. To remedy this state of affairs, the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) 12 years ago sought to impose order on potential chaos by developing a set of Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications and Tolerances—better known as FIRST.

Color management (CM) commonly refers to the methods employed to ensure quality reproduction of four-color process printing. From the perspective of the printer, converter, or trade shop, color management is all about reproducing color on a printing press to match a target.