Activity 9: Use a color setup to align a press with an industry specification for gray balance

Background

You can align a printing device with an industry specification by creating a color setup, adding your device as the PCO, and selecting the industry specification as the PCO simulation target.  

The PCO may have a colorimetric response or a tonal response, depending on the color response type in its device condition and the way the simulation target is defined:

• If the device condition in the PCO has a color and tonal response, you can generate ICC Device and DeviceLink profiles and use the tonal-match method or the gray-balance method to generate curves.
• If the device condition in the PCO has a tonal color response, or if the simulation target contains only tonal data (for example, if the simulation target is an ISO TVI curve), you can only use the tonal-match method to generate simulation curves.

Tasks

Goal
Create a color setup and add a press as the PCO, and then import a measurement data file to establish a colorimetric response and a tonal response. This generates gray balance curves to align a press with an industry specification. Note that the device profile is only required if you are generating DeviceLinks. For this activity, there is no need to create a DeviceLink for final output so you don't need to generate the device condition profile and the PCO profile.

Task 1: Create a new color setup and add a press as the PCO

1. In ColorFlow, click the Color Setups tab, and then click the Add button .
2. The Devices dialog box appears. If necessary, open it manually by selecting View > Devices or by double-clicking the color setup viewer.
3. From the Devices dialog box, add a new offset press device:
   1. Click Add Device.
   2. In the Device Type list, select Offset Press - Sheetfed.
   3. Name the device as Press A.
   4. Drag Press A to the center of the viewer window.
4. In the Color Setups table, double-click the name of the color setup you just created and enter GRACoL C1 2006.
5. Select the Show in Prinergy check box.
6. Click the Properties icon icon and define new properties for the device condition:
   1. Click the Edit button  next to the Plate Setup list.
   2. In the Plate Type list, add or select Kodak Thermal Gold.
   3. In the Screening list, add or select 200 lpi.
   4. In the Plate Line list, add or select 100.
   5. Click OK.
   6. In the Substrate list, add or select Type 1. 
      Note: if you select properties that were used in a previous activity, the message Use Existing Device Condition appears. For the purpose of this training, you must use unique properties.
7. Click the Measurements icon .
8. In the Charts list, click P2P25Xa i1iSis (or P2P25 i1iO).
9. In a real-life situation, you would need to export the chart, output the chart from Prinergy, and then measure the chart in ColorFlow. For the purpose of this training, you import a sample data file from your ColorFlow installation folder:
   1. Click the Measurement tab.
   2. Click Import.
   3. In the dialog box appeared, keep the default value and click OK.
   4. Browser and select \Program Files\Kodak\ColorFlow\SampleData\Measurements\ColorFlowSheetfed200lpiType1Linear.cgt
   5. Click Open. 
   6. Click Close.

Task 2: Complete the color setup

1. Click the Simulation icon
2. From the Target list, select GRACoL 2006 Coated 1.
3. From the Curves list, select Gray Balance.
4. From the DeviceLink list, select None.
5. Click OK.

Task 3: Output a page using the color setup in Prinergy

1. In Prinergy, create a new job, and name it as XX Press to Industry Spec (where XX = your initials).
2. Refine GrayBalanceTestFile.pdf with 1stRef-Normz.
3. Create a new Loose Page Output Process Template, and name it as VPS - GRACoL:
   1. In the Output To list, select Virtual Proof.
   2. Select the ColorFlow Color Relationship Management check box.
   3. For Halftone Output Mode, select Print Production.
   4. In the Snapshot list, select Current State.
   5. In the Color Setup list, select GRACoL C1 2006.
   6. In the Device list, select Press A.
   7. Select the Device Condition.
   8. In the ColorConvert settings, leave the Match Colors In Page Content check box cleared. Color matching will not be applied on output.
   9. Save the process template.
4. Select the test refined file, and process it with the process template VPS - GRACoL.

Outcome

You have created a color setup to align a press to the GRACoL specification. The advantage of using a color setup rather than a print calibration curve to align a press with a specification is that you can align other printing devices with your press by adding them as the SCO in the color setup.