Software package recommendations for color management?

[jotterpinky]

I'm in the market for a software package for color management and was hoping to get some suggestions from real users in the field. We've been using EFI Color Profiler Suite for the past few years and while it's nicely integrated with the Fiery RIPs we have I've been struggling for the past year with the licensing. The ES-2000 we have licensed for it works / doesn't work randomly for the licensing. My current workaround to get through the licensing hoops is to plug the ES-2000 in directly, start the software so it recognizes the spectro as the dongle and allows the software to start. Then fire up one of the workflows (profile, optimize, verify, etc). After that's running I unplug it and plug it into our i1iO table (the software in the background is now unlicensed because it doesn't recognize the dongle but the profiler still runs through it's paces) so I can use it to measure. It's cumbersome and works only part of the time.

Use case for updated software would be a dozen different toner engines all with fiery front ends. 2x Canon presses with Prismasync, a dozen epson / hp roll to roll devices currently being driven by Onyx, two flatbeds with Fiery XF and several others using Onyx. We want to create profiles for machines so we can match to GraCol standard, then verify daily how close they are hitting to this standard, if not even after calibrating we want to simply iterate the current profile to keep it in spec.

Ultimate goal is to have everything match reasonably well across platforms.

Any suggestions on software that you're using and works well....without the licensing headaches.

 

[DYP]

You should be able to profile everything with the EFI Color Profiler Suite. You would have to export the targets from CPS the print with CM turned off in your other RIPS. The read the targets with CPS, save the profile and then import the profile into you other RIP. The glitch may be in linearization/re-linearization, but you should be able to do that with ES-2000 connected to your other RIP.

You should be able to have both the ES-2000 acting as a dongle and the i1iO table plugged in at the same time.