Into the color management

Color management is no longer a strange word. What is its use? Experts will tell you that installing a proper color management system will reduce some unnecessary troubles. You will no longer worry about printing customers complaining about color deviation. Of course, the color management system will help you to attract more. Printing business.

The birth of a color management system is closely related to desktop publishing and digital printing. In fact, color design is not a problem when advertising design companies, creators, and other users create simple designs on a Mac. In the past work processes of desktop publishing systems such as Sailing Angel, Crosfield, and Hell's electronic page imposition system, the color information maintained a good integrity and authenticity, so there is no need for color management, but the price paid is that the system is very Closed. Now we don't need to go back to the old path of the closed system because of color problems. If we do this, it will be the cart before the horse.

When people talked about color management in the past, they always thought of it as a simple matter of how to use proofs to match the final print, how to use Chromaline and Bruner's control bar to control the color. Today, the role of color management has changed a lot.
First, the photosetter needs more color management than scanners and exposure devices.
Second, Postscript page description language has gradually become an industry standard, it can handle color page files, so the color management in the Postscript workflow mentioned on the agenda.

The color file function of the Postscript2 processing page that is just beginning to launch is not very powerful, and now Postscript3 can process more color page files. Color management is born under this background. Apple was one of the first companies to get involved in color management. Hard work pays off, Apple's efforts in exchange for the ColorSync color management system. As an industry approved standard, we need to mention some other related simple or complex software. Taking ColorSync as an example, the ICC Profile constitutes its basic building block. The ICC Profile converts a series of standard colors into colors approved by the output device. An output device such as a scanner, monitor, printer, etc., decides how to handle colors after understanding the color information, and displays or prints out the colors after calculating them. The working process of the color profile is to convert any input color information into the color in the CIELab color space. In turn, it can convert the color of the CIELab color space into the color reproduction space of the output device. The algorithm idea of ​​the color characteristic description file is to realize the conversion of the color space. When it comes to color management, we cannot but mention the ICC alliance. The members of the ICC Coalition are from some of the world’s most famous companies. The Alliance is committed to developing a color language that can be understood and recognized by a variety of media, devices, and software packages. At the same time, the goal of ICC is to achieve the output device independence of the profile, ie, the openness of the profile.

The Profile system handles colors in two ways. The first way: Profile information built-in in the device push button operation automatically generates open color information for the file to be processed, or interprets the open color information as the characteristic color of the device, and then displays or prints the file. In each step of this method, the company or user's profile software is needed to support the process; the second method is: the operator retains the ICC Profile software, and when the file is processed, the operator loads the ICC profile, and the file is sent down. In a one-step operation, the operator here again needs to load the ICC Profile. Of course, the operator generates Profiles using a special Profile generation tool at each step. To generate a color profile, a series of standard color samples are used and the color sample and device-generated color analysis table are read into the ICC Profile using a photometer. It's easy to say, but many printers just don't have the power to start. Photometer prices range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. The ICC Profile can be easily purchased in the market. Some software from Agfa and Heidelberg Prepress has become familiar. Some software such as ColorSavvy and ColorBlind are still relatively unfamiliar.

Realizing "What You See Is What You Get" in the true sense is the dream of a print designer. Today we are in the information world of the Internet, the early designers often do not know whether the color display at the other terminal is true and accurate, and color management at this time is indispensable. For the printing process, the current technological development is to use the buttons to control the color on the printing press to achieve the desired effect. Under the current level of offset printing, this method is not practical, because many factors of change only rely on adjustments. It is not enough for the printer to achieve the desired color. For example, when we use a variety of different papers, it is obviously difficult to adjust the expected color with a printing press. The solution to achieve color control on the press is to use CIP3, which maintains good consistency throughout the print.

Over the past period of time, the traditional proofing methods, control strips, densitometers and photometers have proven effective in color control. At least it works well for offset printing. In fact, because the digital printing press is more convenient for controlling graphic and text information, and it is easier to implement remote printing, the digital printing press needs a color management system.

At present, people are really looking at the color management. Some people even said, "Color management is like a good desire to lose weight and diet. Although we know it, we cannot start." In fact, the essence of color management is a very precise process control. It is not a new technology. Some of the harsh requirements in process control can often not be achieved by the printing staff. Of course, only when a print customer is dissatisfied with the color of the print and refuses to pay for the print, you will regard color management as one thing.