colour
Colour design and colour management topics. Keeping a consistent colour workflow is very important in print publishing environment; it is increasingly becoming more important in online publishing as well.
X-Rite and Pantone jointly announced and released a new colour management / colour measurement system with some innovative features. Two versions were released: ColorMunki Design and ColorMunki Photo. Pantone sent me one of the first ColorMunki Design systems available. I’ll receive a ColorMunki Photo later on. The differences between the two systems are entirely attributable to the software. While the Design version focusses strongly on spot colour management, the Photo version focusses more on skin colours, black and white profiling and a completely new exchange model for photos.
Integrated colour control across all devices --monitors, scanners, halftone and inkjet proofers, and digital and conventional presses-- is going to be achievable using one software solution across the entire production environment: KODAK COLORFLOW Software. Kodak announced that it will launch the new COLORFLOW Software solution at drupa 2008. Although the complete device chain will not be covered in the very first version (the focus will first be on output devices), the news is important, especially so as KODAK COLORFLOW will have a broader range of capabilities than any competing product currently on the market.
Alwan Color Expertise, a world leader in standardization and implementation of color management has released a report comparing Dynamic DeviceLink profiles (DVLPs) and Static (conventional) DVLPs. Compiled last year by Amélie Trichon, a French print engineering student (EFPG), the report aims to put forward the performance and possible difference between Dynamic and Static DVLPs.
Poland isn’t exactly known for its elegant design, but it is well-known for its equipment robustness and above all: accuracy. We don’t readily associate precision instruments with robustness, but in the case of Lafot, the monitor calibration instrument that is commercialised under the totally not-sexy name of “Lafot Monitor Control LMC 03”, is certainly a precision instrument worthy of that name. Lafot’s core business not being monitor calibration, the software that goes with the LMC 03 was still in beta when I last saw it, but it was stable and feature-complete, and running fine on Tiger (I am waiting for the Leopard version). After having tested the LMC 03 for some months, my conclusion is that it is better than the best monitor measuring instrument X-Rite has ever made --the DTP94.
Pantone, soon to become a 100% subsidiary of X-Rite, has released a completely new spot colour system, Pantone Goe. 45 years after the launch of the first Pantone Matching System (PMS) for spot colours, the company thought it was about the right time to create a new, cross-media ready spot colour system. Pantone Goe is designed to appeal to printers as well as to designers, regardless of whether they create for graphics or the web.
Pantone EMEA’s Vice President, Helmut Eifert gave us the full story on the new Pantone Goe System, and in the process, debunked the criticism the system gave rise to immediately after its release. Pantone Goe System has a logical numbering system, no less than 2058 colours (almost double that of the PMS) arranged into colour families (165 new ones included). The complete system comes with software, a fan-guide formatted GoeGuide, a 2-volume colour chips book, and a palette playground.
BARBIERI electronic and Caldera on August 16th announced an exclusive calibration to RIP multi-year strategic OEM partnership. This partnership is designed to mutually benefit both companies by better serving their end-users, dealers and printer manufacturer partners. The frame of the partnership consists of delivering “state of the art” automatic color calibration solutions to wide format and grand format printing professionals.
You don’t know much about colour management, you really don’t care about the theory, but you do want accurate RGB output from your printer? Welcome to basICColor dropRGB. Your knowledge about colour management can be as limited as knowing how to control a measurement device using basICColor catch and dropping the measurement file on dropRGB. The result is a nice RGB profile for your printer that will be more then good enough for most users.
Most colour management applications assume you’ve first learned the basics of colour management and perhaps a bit more than just the basics. In my book, that’s pretty understandable. Colour management has been much improved since the International Color Consortium (ICC) got involved in developing the system we know today, and which is based on ICC colour profiles.
The Microsoft Windows Vista operating system provides a new development platform for advanced colour applications and devices called the Microsoft Windows Colour System (WCS). Microsoft calls WCS a solid first step toward the goal of transparent, consistent, and predictable colour across different software applications, imaging devices, imaging media, and viewing conditions. According to Microsoft, WCS introduces an innovative, forward-looking, technically superior colour management solution and showcases the first stage of a long-term sustained effort.
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