Creating a Color book by measuring reference patches

Measuring a Color book is easy using the Reference manager. However as the Reference manager is very versatile and a lot of different patch types exist it can be a daunting task to start without any guidance. Also there is a separation setting, TVI's and parents to set. We'll get you through it step by step.

Create an empty Color book

From the main menu select the Reference manager. Klik the [+] button to create a new Color book

In the properties dialog that pops up you input an interesting name for your Color book and you can select a company for it to be linked to if you wish.

You can select a Printing condition if you want your Color book only to be used from there, or leave the Printing condition open if you want to make your Color book universally available for all Printing conditions.

You can select a default dot gain curve which is used if no dot gain patches are measured. For this example we have dot gain patches, so we leave it blank. → Press OK

Measure the Substrate

After setting up the properties an empty Color book opens. Make sure to set the same Measuring condition you wish to use while measuring a job with this Color book and select “Add new” in order to add measurements with your device to the patch list. Calibrate your device if necessary.

Now measure the Substrate or paper white.

  • Path type Paperwhite
  • Name PW
  • Separation C0 M0 Y0 K0

Measure the Solids

Now measure the solids of your physical reference, they will automatically appear in the patch list.

{{::mesauringthesolids.png?nolink|

Now click the Cyan patch and set the Patch properties:

  • Patch type Solid
  • Type is Process (if you are measuring a spot color select 'Spot' instead)
  • Name 'C'
  • Separation C100 M0 Y0 K 0

Repeat this for the other Solid Patches: (please use C, M, Y and K for the process colors)

Measuring the Dot gain targets

Now let's measure the first dot gain target. In this example it's a 75% Cyan.

Let's set the properties to this target:

  • Patch type Dotgain
  • Parent: C (always select the appropriate Solid)
  • Separation: C75 M0 Y0 K0
  • Tint% 75
  • Click recalculate next to the TVI value

Repeat this for all other dot gain patches for all Inks (solids) you have.

Measuring the overprints

Overprints have either two parents (Red: MY | Green: CY | Blue: CM) or three parents (CMY). Let's start by measuring the Red (MY) patch and set the correct properties:

  • Patch type Overprint
  • Parent1 M
  • Parent2 Y
  • Parent3 blank
  • Name: MY
  • Separation C0 M100 Y100 K0

Repeat for the other overprints. Note: Overprints can only be scored from Cyan-Magenta-Yellow process solid combinations

Measuring the Gray balance patches

For this example we are measuring gray balance patches according to the G7 standard starting with a Balance highlight:

  • Patch type BalanceHighLight
  • Name BHG7
  • Separation C25 M19 Y19 K0

Now things are getting really interesting as there are many different gray balance standards. Here you find a table describing the gray balances supported by MeasureColor:

short code Name high light(BH) mid tone(BM) shadow(BS)
BR Brunner 50/41/41
G7 G7 25/19/19 50/40/40 75/66/66
GC ECI GrayControl 27/19/20 45/36/36 66/56/56
MC MediaWedge 20/12/12 40/27/27 80/65/65
PV PressView(legacy) 20/14/13 40/29/28 80/70/68
TK Techkon 74/60/60
UG Ugra 75/62/60

Please note:

  • The Separation is read from the Gray balance table above. Only MeasureColor supported balances can be used
  • The name is a result from the Patch type and the short code of the used gray balance schema. The name for a BalanceShadow using the Ugra gray balance would be BSUG.

Repeat for the other Gray balance patches

Displaying the TVI-curve

When all patches including the Solids, substrate and dot gains are measured and set clicking solid patch in the Reference manager will show you the TVI curve of your measured target.

Saving your Color book

Save your new Color book by clicking the diskette icon. All measured targets will now be available to set up jobs for the various modules.