Ink Optimizer/GCR solutions

[Donateli]

Hi I was wondering If anyone here can give me some advise ? I have been pushing for the company I work for to adopt a ink Optimizer/GCR solution as a method for reducing make ready time and keeping colour consistent over the length of the press run, the ink savings are a nice benefit but the increase in production is what I am really interested in.
We are GRACoL G7 certified for proofing, and in the press room too, and have already realized significant gains in production by having these two areas running to GRACoL standard.
Does anyone have any experience with Kodak's Ink Optimizer or Alwan's Ink Optimizer software? What do you think of them, I am primarily concerned with colour fidelity, is the colour from the original the same as after GCR is applied ?
We do have some tools at work for building ICC's and I created one from some GRACoL data we have. I set the ICC up to apply GCR and plugged this into our Prinegy 5 workflow, the end results were a close match to our original colour before applying GCR although there are a couple of areas that this workflow falls short, that being that the ICC tends to re-separate all colours and will put a little black in almost everthing, making these files actually more difficult to print instead of easier (not my intention).
Outside of this particular problem I am pleased with the result, does any one know of an ICC editor that can direct the ICC not to re-seperate colours that are made up of 2 or fewer colourants, so that it only applies GCR to where there is actually a grey component?
Thanks very much

 

[Greg_Firestone]

Hi Donateli,

There's several threads on this topic in the forum which have useful information. There are a lot of good solutions out there. Some are standalone, some are part of an entire suite. For a non biased review, I'd recommend the IPA/Idealliance Ink Optimization Roundup. It was done in 2010 so it is a couple years old now: IPA Ink Optimization RoundUP | IDEAlliance/IPA

Regards,
Greg

 

[gordo]

Hi I was wondering If anyone here can give me some advise ? I have been pushing for the company I work for to adopt a ink Optimizer/GCR solution as a method for reducing make ready time and keeping colour consistent over the length of the press run, the ink savings are a nice benefit but the increase in production is what I am really interested in.*
[snip]
Does anyone have any experience with Kodak's Ink Optimizer or Alwan's Ink Optimizer software? What do you think of them, I am primarily concerned with colour fidelity, is the colour from the original the same as after GCR is applied ?
[snip]
Outside of this particular problem I am pleased with the result, does any one know of an ICC editor that can direct the ICC not to re-seperate colours that are made up of 2 or fewer colourants, so that it only applies GCR to where there is actually a grey component?
Thanks very much

The IPA/Idealliance Ink Optimization Roundup that Greg pointed to you is a great resource. (disclaimer: most of the tests that were done and methodology used were based on an article I wrote for PrintAction magazine)
The reason you had black contamination with your homemade ICC profile is that it takes 4/C into Lab and then out to 4/C. The ink optimization solutions don't do this. Instead they use a devicelink profile to go directly from CMYK to [optimized]CMYK.
All the top solutions will work and give you results that look essentially the same as the original separations would have.
The primary market for these solutions is web - publications and newspaper because it reduces ink usage and brings a wide variety of separations to a common denominator witch makes the press setup more efficient.

The separations you are currently working with are more than likely already GCR since that is PShop's default and it is the standard with ISO/GRACoL ICC profiles. Ink optimization solutions can be more aggressive than PShop and they can apply GCR to vector art (e.g. Illustrator files) however as far as color consistency in scanned images through the run is concerned you may not see much of a difference.

You can get more information about ink optimization and how to evaluate the various options from my blog posting here: The Print Guide: GCR Reseparation for ink savings and color stability in offset printing

best, gordo

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Donateli, as you use Prinergy, you may wish to look into Kodak ColorFlow Pro with Ink Optimisation Solution.

Your local Kodak rep. or dealer should be able to provide you with the demo before/after sample raster images or you could probably organise for them to run the solution on some of your production PDF files that contain both raster and vector content.

COLORFLOW Software - Kodak Graphic Communications Group


Stephen Marsh

 

[Tommyjt]

I don't see the point in buying expensive software to make extreme GCR device links. I think most ink optimization software (at optimal ink saving settings) takes GCR way too far. If you know how to make good profiles and device links you can accomplish significant ink savings with your own custom GCR levels.

Regards, Tom

 

[gordo]

IMHO, for a sheetfed environment I don't think it's worth the time and expense either to buy ink optimization software or build your own.

best, gordo

 

[rich apollo]

I'm running CMYK Optimizer. It's a very solid product.

I think it's a good investment even in a sheetfed environment. I reseparate every file that comes in. Yes, we save a significant amount on ink, but we also enjoy increased stability on press and by reseparating we preemptively fix color issues. Clients can send files in any colorspace they want.

Performing the color management operations on PDFs offers huge advantages. You can color manage EVERYTHING in the document in one step, and PDF color management offers better control than InDesign or Illustrator or Quark (at least v7).

 

[gordo]

I'm running CMYK Optimizer. It's a very solid product.

I think it's a good investment even in a sheetfed environment. I reseparate every file that comes in. Yes, we save a significant amount on ink, but we also enjoy increased stability on press and by reseparating we preemptively fix color issues. Clients can send files in any colorspace they want.

Performing the color management operations on PDFs offers huge advantages. You can color manage EVERYTHING in the document in one step, and PDF color management offers better control than InDesign or Illustrator or Quark (at least v7).

Did you do any formal testing to measure the dollar value of the ink savings? And did you do any formal testing to measure the increase in stability?

I can see the value in reseparating to bring all incoming files to a common state. I guess, in my experience there's not that much diversity with incoming files to sheetfed shops compared with, for example, a newspaper publisher.

Do your customers know that you are reseparating their files?

best, gordo

 

[Tommyjt]

To reiterate, I think if one has a knowledge of color management and knows how to apply GCR for the purpose of ink savings (and yes, increased stability on press), an expensive piece of software is not needed.
With good profiles and device links one can color manage a PDF for output in their existing workflow and save ink without ink optimization software.

 

[twitch5253]

We are also GraCol G7 Certified and running Alwan. Very stable, many good controls, eliminated the 300 plus TIC that would pucker the press sheets. You can select how big or little of an area you want to affect. I recommend it.