Matching Flexo GMG Dot proof on Epson 7880 to Offset CS1 colorproof

[vev75]

Does anyone have a customer that requires Flexo color match to an offset proof provided by customer? I have asked for the customer on multiple occasions to provide files of our targets (ECI charts) printed out with their settings to get some sort of a base line/target to feed into our iO table and create a new hot folder for this customer specifically. No such luck. Color correction is very difficult. We toil over each photo (hours) - correcting drop offs etc the best we can with min. dot that Flexo requires. Customer doesn't understand why the proofs are different and aren't matching his Offset proof. We just aren't able to hit some of his images... most require stochastic printing. We have Hybrid settings.. however that only helps if dot exists... it does nothing if there is a color that stops short on the images provided. We just purchased Flexo tools plug-in from Esko to help with scum/scatter dot and image correction. Works great.. but we're still not hitting some drop offs etc. Does Anyone have any other suggestions on some other steps? settings are calibrated regularly and we fingerprint regularly.

 

[Kristian]

You are not alone! We constantly have the same issue.

We have our own flexo mx4 profile that we send to anyone that sends us a litho proof. If they don't use it we make sure we tell them that we will not match their proof. We also charge them for any retouching we need to do as a result if the supplying the wrong proof.

After a couple if times being charged they'll soon start using the correct profile which in turn, forces them to do the retouching their end as the drop off will be clearly visible to them.

Kristian

 

[Kristian]

On another note. We have looked at Flexo tools but stick to manual retouching. No file should take any longer than an hour. A layered PSD always helps and with a few masks and adjustment layers you can get good results. If you need a minimum dot just add it manually, always looks better than having any highlight drop off.

 

[vev75]

Our Customers like flattened files for some reason. we LOVE to see PSD's when we get them. That's few and far between these days with all the newbie designers out there.

Flexo tools does have a good bit of positives... for instance: Cleaning up typical scum dot... that alone makes it much easier than adjusting per channel and takes a lot of work out of adjustments. I agree, It doesn't fix everything, but does give some relief to correction. The 30-day trial really was a nice testing period especially when we went up on press. It made the most difference visually when we had both manual and flexo tools images side by side. We're typically turning proofs under 8 hours these days - so any help we can get is a plus!

Thanks again for the input! Glad to see we aren't alone!

Veronica

 

[Luc St-Pierre]

Under the hood, Flexotools is nothing but Photoshop action sets saved in a out-of-reach location. If you have a typical routine to fix an image, record it as an action set and the trick is 95% done. A basic would include (mine did): convert to Lab, adjust shadow highlights (to open up contrast only), adjust hue-saturation (a pinch of saturation to avoid messing the highlight up to quarter tones), convert to CMYK (custom with specific black generation - squeleton black for most cases), adjust curves (one for black to take care of scums, one for CMY to raise minimum dot to desired and stretch a bit the highlights), adjust curves (a final CMYK curve to boost contrats again). As the results pop out of the proofer, fine tune your action set and soon it will fix a very high percentage of your images.

 

[Johu]

Hi Veronika,
I think you might already have done this, but if your customer makes proofs for offset he/she must have a profile or a measurement as a target and if so,why not ask for that profile and use that as a target. I used to do the same as you. Asked for a color chart which was produced with the customers system and then measured that and used it as a target I did quite well. But if you took a look at the profile which was created from the customers chart measurement you could see that it was not really something you would want to use for images for example. The separation curves were pretty awful.

 

[10A]

Hi Luc,

I am very interested in your methods of correcting for minimum dot, skeleton black etc. Would you like to share your knowledge. I have looked at Flexo Tools but they are too expensive.

Thank you