GMG Color

[arossetti]

My company is looking to purchase a new color management software package. We currently are using a schmorgesborg of products from different vendors for profile creation, G7 curves, verification, digital spot color library management etc. Big items that I'm looking to resolve in a workflow would be easy use of devicelink profiles and putting more items under one hood. I do a lot of scanning in gateway/i1Profiler, export, import to a different software, export, import to RIP. I'd like to remove some of those steps.

A retouching/proofing house that we get some of our more critical artwork from using GMG so there is a thought that we should purchase GMG to keep the ripping engine apples to apples. I'm concerned with GMG because they are very proprietary; is this a legitimate concern or once we get into the GMG ecosystem it is a non-issue? I've used Oris in the past and have been happy with their product but lack real world experience with GMG. Thoughts?

 

[mastegman]

This is my favourite... http://www.serendipity-software.com.au/products/blackmagic

 

[Tim-Ellis]

We are in the same position. We are supplied artwork that's been through a GMC workflow but don't use GMG ourselves. GMGs main business is proofing. If that's not your thing then why not use Oris? After all you are comfortable with it. I think Alwan still do free trials. GMG should be happy to visit you to perform a proof of concept. That might help you understand if their product is going to deliver the efficiency you are looking for.

 

[Puch]

GMG's two main products are the proofing system and the Colorserver. IMHO the proofing solution's main advantage is that it's a real turnkey system: you get a decent Epson printer, install the software on a midrange PC, and you can start printing FOGRA or G7 certified proofs. If you have a measurement device and do a proper linearization once a month, you can forget any problems regarding proofs. It can't get more simple than that. Proofs are very real-looking – they lack the 'laboratory' feeling of other solutions, thanks to GMG's proprietary noise mixing scheme. On the other hand, the whole magic is working with GMG's own proofing paper only (which is excellent, but doesn't come cheap). If you want to use any other papers, you have to create a profile for that, which is much more circumvent than in eg. EFI XF.

The Colorserver is the swiss army knife of offset printeries: feed anything to it and it will produce a pleasant, printable output no matter what the input was. It will color manage and properly repurpose any kind of material, including PDF/X-4 files with RGB/Lab images, etc. It will solve any conflicting color problems in the files, flatten artwork, retain and set overprints etc. As the proofing solution, it's a set-and-forget software, which will save a lot of headaches for anybody in the printing business. Oh, the price is outrageous... ((

That said, IMHO these products will not solve your profile creation/management problems.

 

[arossetti]

That said, IMHO these products will not solve your profile creation/management problems.

Why do you say that? Is that not what these products are designed to do?

 

[csawatzki]

I appropriate the kind words about the CGS Oris soltuion. At the end of the day, if you are trying to take steps out of the workflow, you are correct. You need to use Device Link Profiles inside of whatever rip you are currently using. Although using consistant systems may seem to be the way to go (GMG for GMG), I also have to assume this is not your only client. The goal is to be able to hit whatever the target the customer is aiming at (ie. GRACoL, SWOP, FOGRA, etc.). They could also be aiming at their own "Happy Color".

In a GMG environment, you are going to get the same results in proofing as you would get from CGS (Oris) solutions. The Colorserver is a very close match to the Pressmatcher system from CGS.

The big differences are that CGS will allow you to export an output or device link profile from a Pressmatcher setup. Furthermore, if you want to build profiles and validate to those profiles, look into ORISLynx from CGS. It is cloud based and does both.

Good luck to you in your color! and if I can be any further help, please reach out to me at [email protected]

 

[ChrisZ]

As long as you work with contone proofs it does not matter which system you choose. If you need rasterised proofs GMG is way to go.
Chris