Quick and easy colour calibration for SwissQ?

[wonderings]

Our shop has made a big shift and we are focusing on wide format, our print division we merged with another company. So I am in somewhat new waters with wide format, I have done some wide format before, but not to the extent we do now. We have a SwissQ flatbed. Talking to our operators they say the calibration process is a pain and takes around an hour. There has to be better ways of doing this quickly and easily. RIP we use is Caldera, not familiar with it and at the moment not sure what version they are running. Does anyone have any suggestions on where I should even start looking for something more automated for colour calibration? Would be nice if it worked across various machines from Epson, Roland and SwissQ.

 

[SoggyWinter]

Take a look and Print Factory if your pain point is profiling. I was really impressed chatting with them at Printing United. I'm planning to switch from Onyx.

Signs101.com is more wide-format oriented than this forum.

Also consider reaching out to SwissQ support for guidance.

 

[Seeking Knowledge]

wonderings,

What do you mean by "the calibration process"?

If you are talking about building an ICC profile, then yes it may take that long, depending on the Spectrophotometer you have. FWIW you should not have to build them very often. Caldera is an excellent RIP, easy to use, fast Ripping files, profiling is like falling off a log. Ping me, If you have any questions. BTW, I do not work for them, just many years of experience with a lot of different RIPs.

SK

 

[pauly92]

Do not change RIPs from caldera to printfactory.
Caldera is a fantastic RIP, one of the best.

and yes, Calibration can take some time. you need to print and read: Ink limits ink restrictions/calibration. and 1000-2000 patches (or near there) for the ICC profile. Can take 30 min to 1 hour per profile.
With UV printers, dont really need to do them often. UV printers dont drift.

 

[SoggyWinter]

Do not change RIPs from caldera to printfactory.
Caldera is a fantastic RIP, one of the best.

and yes, Calibration can take some time. you need to print and read: Ink limits ink restrictions/calibration. and 1000-2000 patches (or near there) for the ICC profile. Can take 30 min to 1 hour per profile.
With UV printers, dont really need to do them often. UV printers dont drift.

Can you elaborate on Caldera vs PrintFactory?

 

[pauly92]

Caldera is the leading RIP software for wide format, grand format and flatbed printing.

Printractory is quite new to market, but poses no advantage to caldera.
Also swissqprint drivers are first to caldera. and most developed on caldera.

 

[Magnus]

Hi, we have both SwissQ machines and Caldera.

EasyMedia in Caldera is a a great tool for making transfer curves, linearization, inklimits and making profiles in a step-by-step workflow.

I would recommend the following settings when making profiles for the SwissQ:

Inklimit about 260%

Profile settings:
GCR= Full Black (Less metamerism)
Uncheck the Intelligent black option (it cause issues in gradation in the shadows)

Wait for at least 15 minutes before your measure the profile target charts (especially the cyan tends to drift to the red during the first 10 minutes). You do not need any wait-time when measure the transfer- and the linearizations curves.

I am using an x-rite i1Pro2 with the IO table to do the measurements, and are using M0 or M2 mode (with M1 the prints tends to lack yellow).

And don't forget to setup the Caldera color management settings in a proper manner, otherwise you may get an unwanted result.

Don't hestitate to ask if you got any more questions.