Color IQC or Color Quality v6

[marc3llo]

Hello,

I am trying to find online the difference between these two softwares but I can't get anything clear so far. The main difference seems to be that color quality is also use in the ink room? But not necessarily it seems.
A rep from X-Rite offered me color quality v6 to check the spot colours from a press (flexo) sample (as well as working in a "job based" environment ... But I heard other people in my industry is using Color IQC for that purpose.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Marcelo

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

We are using IQC and have done so for about 2 years. The way we use it is, Customer requests a match, could be PMS, Previous supplier sample or whatever. Our ink room uses IQC to match the sample with a DeltaE of less than 1.00.
When the drawdown has been returned from the customer and signed it is given a unique number and entered into our colour library using a Spectrophotometer.
When the job goes to the press the operator pulls up the special colours used on that particular order and uses his Spectro to get a match on his press with a DeltaE of less than 2.00. If for some reason he cannot match the IQC number it is usually because the press rollers have not been washed up properly. We do not commence to run until we have a press match of 2.00 or below
We currently have about 2500 special colours in our library at the moment and we bought 5 seats for IQC. This means 5 computers at once can be logged into the IQC software at once. These computers can be located anywhere as long as the software has been installed on them.
I have simplified our process a bit but that's what basically happens.
We have had outstanding results so far from the software.
Hope that helps

 

[marc3llo]

Thanks Cornishpastythighs! We are planning to use it just on the press since I think they are using a different solution for the ink room. So I was wondering if I need IQC professional or IQC print? What do you think it'll be the best solution for this? We want to be able to record all delta e and ink parameters of each job and next time the same job runs, load all the colours and see how that particular job was printed

Thanks
Marcelo

We are using IQC and have done so for about 2 years. The way we use it is, Customer requests a match, could be PMS, Previous supplier sample or whatever. Our ink room uses IQC to match the sample with a DeltaE of less than 1.00.
When the drawdown has been returned from the customer and signed it is given a unique number and entered into our colour library using a Spectrophotometer.
When the job goes to the press the operator pulls up the special colours used on that particular order and uses his Spectro to get a match on his press with a DeltaE of less than 2.00. If for some reason he cannot match the IQC number it is usually because the press rollers have not been washed up properly. We do not commence to run until we have a press match of 2.00 or below
We currently have about 2500 special colours in our library at the moment and we bought 5 seats for IQC. This means 5 computers at once can be logged into the IQC software at once. These computers can be located anywhere as long as the software has been installed on them.
I have simplified our process a bit but that's what basically happens.
We have had outstanding results so far from the software.
Hope that helps

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

We have IQC professional. We decided that pre-press, press and ink room would all be singing off of the same song sheet so they are all tied together using exactly the same software and model of Spectrophotometers.
We always go back to the original customer ok'd/signed colour target and the press operators only have access to a 'read only' version of the program at the press so they cannot re-target the colour.

 

[marc3llo]

Thanks so much for sharing this.

We have IQC professional. We decided that pre-press, press and ink room would all be singing off of the same song sheet so they are all tied together using exactly the same software and model of Spectrophotometers.
We always go back to the original customer ok'd/signed colour target and the press operators only have access to a 'read only' version of the program at the press so they cannot re-target the colour.

 

[Orpheus42]

We also use IQC, previously we used to use Colour Quality V5. Interestingly we use it almost in the same way as Cornish, but we match the ink to a DE0.5 then match the press colour to DE2.00, these are all CIE DE2000 although we do have some legacy CMC2:1.
Again we have multiple licences for ICQ running on press, in the ink kitchen and pre press, all working from a common database.
As previously mentioned this is a fairly comprehensive program that works well for us.

 

[marc3llo]

Thanks Orpheus,
Can you please tell me what is the difference you find between IQC and Colour Quality?
Why your company switched for the former? I've been told that IQC is already a legacy product? And Colour Quality is sort of its replacement?

Thanks for your feedback
Marcelo

We also use IQC, previously we used to use Colour Quality V5. Interestingly we use it almost in the same way as Cornish, but we match the ink to a DE0.5 then match the press colour to DE2.00, these are all CIE DE2000 although we do have some legacy CMC2:1.
Again we have multiple licences for ICQ running on press, in the ink kitchen and pre press, all working from a common database.
As previously mentioned this is a fairly comprehensive program that works well for us.

 

[Orpheus42]

We changed when we moved from non-XRGA to XRGA, I have seen CQ6 and it looks more geared to the creation and management of ink mixes.
I guess you would have to ask X-Rite if you want a definitive answer on the differences. I am not aware that IQC is a legacy product.
The difference between ICQ and CQ5 is the ease of use and the ability to run in Bluetooth so no messy cables.

 

[marc3llo]

Thanks Orpheus, I think I have some work to do and bring the right app in.

Regards

We changed when we moved from non-XRGA to XRGA, I have seen CQ6 and it looks more geared to the creation and management of ink mixes.
I guess you would have to ask X-Rite if you want a definitive answer on the differences. I am not aware that IQC is a legacy product.
The difference between ICQ and CQ5 is the ease of use and the ability to run in Bluetooth so no messy cables.

 

[eduardo]

Hi All

I started last month to export from X-Rite InkFormulation 6.2 recipes (as CxF file) and import it in X-Rite Exact as my company Color Library.
Pros: Inexpensive and easy, as you don't need to buy CQ licenses. The press man can check DeltaE easily and without the needed to create a CQ Job, etc.
Cons: Whitout trends, reports, etc. It's not a online solution, you will always need to update all spectro color library manually.

Another question:
We have a remote office and we are looking they read a sample with a X-rite Exact Standard and send us this data to be used in InkFormulation. Someone know how to export CxF files from Exact spectro?

Thanks