Transition to color

[Opus9]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I came across it while searching the web for info on the Xerox Igen. I have 9 years of experience working with a Xerox Docutech 61xx and DocuSP/FreeFlow. I am now applying for a job in a shop that utilizes an Igen machine. Can anybody share some insights on any key differences between these two systems? Are there any special considerations I should make in my attempts to land this job?

 

[[email protected]]

Guess no else wants to answer.

Well quite a bit of differences, obviously b/w to color for one.

There's no doubt that color from a user point and technicians point is harder but the concepts are the same. Sometimes people over-dramatize the difference between b/w and color. Color is merely everything involved in b/w just times four.

If your four colors are properly adjusted for good saturation and for any imperfections; you've just accomplished 90% of it.

Now add to that registration and alignment. All four colors need to be right on top of each other for a nice print.

As far as color matching, etc., this is mostly taken care of by a properly designed file for printing and the firmware/software/rip of the machines. As long as the machine is properly cleaned, serviced, and calibrated the rest should be pretty easy and automatic by the time it gets to you; maybe some tweaking will be necessary.

I'd look on youtube at some of the overview and instructional videos on the igen and at Xerox's site. The in-depth stuff should be trained by the new employer or by Xerox.

 

[MailGuru]

Sorry for the late response Opus9. I hope you got the job.
I think most of us were hesitant to respond, because, we'll, there are so many differences, we don't even know where to begin. To keep this short and simple (without getting in to an entire book of detail), the main difference, is that on a B&W machine, you are more concerned with production work flow. When moving to color, while production work flow is still important, it takes a back seat to color an image quality. That means you will be involved in the color calibration process, at least once a day, and the paper selection and RIP profile selection for that paper will become much more important (color looks different on gloss that it does matte, etc.) All in all, based on your 9-years experience running b & w, you should have a relatively short learning curve.