What is the best software in color management?

[aey_vi]

Please recommend color management software that has color accuracy, easy to use, cheap and good quality.

 

[Louis Dery]

Hi aey_vi,

I invite you to take a look at PerfX Color Management profiling software at TGLC Color Management and Color Control Solutions: PerfX Softwares, Training, Implementation, Certification

Base on your needs, you can choose between 3 versions:
PerfX CM Proâ„¢ (for proofing and printing presses)
PerfX CM Reproâ„¢ (for large format inkjet and proofing)
PerfX CM Studioâ„¢ (for desktop colo printer)

Also, if your goal is not ony proofing but color repurposing or ink optimisation, you can also take a look at PerfX Device Link Proâ„¢, which allows to create ICC DeviceLink profiles that you can use in existing RIP workflow. Very simple, great results.

Louis Dery
TGLC inc.
TGLC Color Management and Color Control Solutions: PerfX Softwares, Training, Implementation, Certification

 

[PrePress Guru]

Cheap is relative when it comes to color management software.
I use and sell Monaco Profiler Platinum 4.8 & Gretag ProfileMaker 5.
The Monaco and Gretag products (Now Xrite) have been around for a long time.
They are both excellent packages and have different areas of strength.

Xrite.com has brochures and a lot of information about the 2.
They also have some white papers on color management and theory.
I would recommend you start there and see what they are offering.

-ian

 

[marktonk]

aey_vi,

Please take a look at Prinect Color Toolbox. This consists of three programs. The first is Profile Tool for generating and editing ICC. It can also generate DeviceLink profiles and UCR/GCR. The next version out the end of the year also provides Near Neutral Optimizer. This colormetrically calculates values to provide a grey calibration. Seeing that it is based on ICC Profiles, you are not limited to what your target is. It can be ISO, Swap, GRAcol or your own custom target. All of this is standard with the Profile Tools. We do have an option for more than 4 color profile generation for Hex or HIFI. Our knowledge in Color Management hails back to the Hell scanners, we started to generate ICC Profiles in the mid 1990’s and before that, in a proprietary format. .

Quality Monitor is the 2nd program and is used to track trends from proof to proof or press sheet to press sheet. It can also be used for certification.

The third program is Calibration Tool. This is standard on our MetaDimension Rip but can also be used as a centralized calibration server for multiple Meta. It can also be used for third party workflows. For third party workflow and Near Neutral, Calibration tool provides excellent smoothing algorithms for calibration.

Here is a link:

Heidelberg - Prinect Color Toolbox - Overview

Regards,

Mark

 

[Vee]

I hear that this new Heidelberg CM package is unbelievably easy to implement. I used the preceding solution from Heidelberg - and we had dead on proof to press matching color everyday.

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Best or cheapest or easiest to use? what criteria what are you doing? Have seen several tests of profiled for separating RGB to CMYK from different vendors, Heidelberg is the software for Official profiles such as FOGRA, but looking how out of gamut colours are handeled and total ink, you may want to look at Binuscan. (it will do a sort of mix between relative and perceptual so that you get out of gamut blues not going purple etc) As it is some what subjective as how to handle colours that are out of gamut software will give very different results, in gamut colours are failrly similar, but again deciding on the right GCR/UCR for your process will be key.
In my experience using same software for proofer and pers profile (even if standard measurement data is used) does improve quality and consistency of proofing, maybe this is one of the reasons why Heidelberg has an advantage starting point)

 

[Prepress_Parasite]

I hear that this new Heidelberg CM package is unbelievably easy to implement. I used the preceding solution from Heidelberg - and we had dead on proof to press matching color everyday.

What is the name of their CM package and where can I find out more about it?

 

[marktonk]

Hi Prepress_Parasite,

It is called Prinect Color Toolbox. Please look at my post earlier in this thread, I posted the info there. Thanks for the interest.

Regards,

Mark