pre press color managment

[lzakelj]

hello

Could someone please help me on this topic. We bought a new flexo machine and now we need to do a pre press profile of cmyk color managment on all materials we print on. Now how is this done correctly? should the test form be printed on all the materials using the same aniloxes for CMYK or do we need to match the density with anilox rollers on all the substrates. Also what should be measured density or lab for CMYK. Thank you for your help

 

[Schnitzel]

Hi Luka,

You need to print the ICC profile targets on your substrates, using the normal workflow you use for them every day. If you need to replace anilox rollers between substrates, do it. Your workflow needs to be repeatable and consistent - that is the most important factor in color management. You measure the printed patches using a spectrophotometer (spectrum) or colorimeter (CIELab), feed the measurements to an ICC profile generating software, get the resulting profile and use it in your RIP system or graphic software.

All that being said, it appears you are completely unfamiliar with color management. Generally, I advise people who have a basic understanding of color management to pursue it further and learn about it.
However, in your case, if you need to create ICC profiles for immediate upcoming production prints, I suggest you hire a professional who can help setup a color workflow and advise you along the way. It'll save you a lot of time and money. Later on, if you're interested, you can learn about color management in a way that won't interfere with daily production too much.

Good luck!

 

[lzakelj]

hello

thank you for quick reply. You are right i am completly unfamiliar with these color manegment. I am a printer on a flexo machine and now i'm learning on a new one and i'm in a proccess of color manegment in our company. The thing is, my pre press guys are saying that i need to achive the same density values on all the substrates so that they could make a color manegment for all the substrates. This is not logical for me becouse that means that every time i'll change the material i'll need to change all the aniloxes for CMYK in order to print. Density is not the same on all substrates. So i'm asking on this forum how is that done correctly. Is it true that i need to achive the same density on diferent substrates or the pre press guys need to do the color manegment for my print using one set of aniloxes for all the substrates.

 

[Schnitzel]

Your pre-press guys are wrong. You don't need to achieve the same density on all substrates. You need to achieve a stable, repeatable process on every substrate on its own. Do whatever you need to achieve that. If you need to hit a specific CIELab or density target, as part of adhering to an ISO standard, then do that.
The color management system will make sure that the color appearance on every substrate will be the same, as much as possible (if that's your intention in the first place).

When you finish printing and measuring the targets, you'll have an ICC profile for every substrate and process you used. These profiles will go to your pre-press department, where they will be used in the RIP or other color-aware software they use.

 

[lzakelj]

Ok. One last question. For example the pharmacetical company has sent us the density values we need to achive for high gloss material. So my logical thinking on how to set the color manegment is as follows. First i would print the test form on high gloss material using the aniloxes to achive that density tolerances for pharmacetical demands. Then i would use the same aniloxes for diferent materials. Give all the prints to pre press and they need to make the color manegment for all the substrates so that at the end they all look the same. Am i right?

 

[PrepressDan]

lzakelj, you should contact GMG. Their Open Color product is great for doing everything you are talking about.

https://www.gmgcolor.com/products/opencolor/

 

[lzakelj]

Yes i will contact them. But still i think it should be done like i have written above

 

[Schnitzel]

Does your pharmaceutical client require you to hit the same density on several substrates? If the answer is yes, then do what your client requires. Establish a workflow, print the targets using that workflow and measure them.

You keep asking about the anilox rollers. I have no idea - I'm not a flexo printer. But that is not relevant to color management. I'll stress this again: the most important factors when using color management are stability and repeatability.

Just remember: anything that changes the color appearance of your prints requires you to create a new profile. Meaning, if 2 substrates behave differently on the same press (even when hitting the same density values), you'll need to create 2 ICC profiles.

 

[lzakelj]

hello

No only one material is required to hit density values for pharmaceutical requirements. Thank you very muche for your explain it really helps a lot.