How to create a new job (versions up to 15.2)

Generic information

MeasureColor workflows are based on jobs and measurements, no matter which module you use. A job holds all specific parameters like a process color reference (e.g. Fogra39 or GRACoL2006), additional spot colors, measurement conditions, tolerance/scoring conditions, information about the used substrates and inks and of course the color bar that is used to measure the printed results.

Because all these parameters might be hard to setup correctly each time you create a new job, so called ‘job presets’ are used to simplify this task. After a job is created, measurements are added to that job. Each measurement by itself probably contains several measured patches (all the patches from the measured color bar).
To help sort your jobs, they are grouped by ‘clients’ which can be your important customers or internal departments or any other type of group you wish to create.

In each module you will see clients that hold jobs which hold measurements and each measurement typically contains several measured patches.

What you need:

  • Any MeasureColor license level
  • A printed color bar like the one embedded in the PDF file (Colorware Generic QA color bar, as generated in the separate QuickStart create custom color bar)
  • Compliant measurement device

Preparations

In order to use this QuickStart you need the ‘Colorware Generic QA color bar’ definition that is created in the
ColorBar QuickStart document

MeasureColor 4 workflow: adding job ‘clients’

  • Open the ‘ProcessControl Module’ – Below the ‘Clients’ section, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new client
  • Name the client, use your company name for this exercise
  • You can add some additional notes for internal reference or leave this field empty
  • Per client, you can add up to 6 custom data fields if needed. The first data field is shown in all job lists. We will leave it empty for now
  • Click ‘Finish’ to create the client

MeasureColor 4 workflow: creating a job (and job preset)

  • In the Process Control Module, select the client for which you wish to create the job
  • Below the ‘jobs’ list, click on the ‘+’ icon to create a new job
  • The top part contains your typical job information like a job number, job name and description, sheet (signature) number and optional sheet side (top, bottom or not applicable)
  • Enter a job number, name and description and set the sheet number to ‘0’ and sheet side to ‘n/a’
  • The bottom part of this view holds all technical information for our job
  • From the ‘machine’ drop down menu, choose a machine and watch what happens to the preset menu next to it. Its contents change when you change your machine choice
  • Select the job preset that resembles your target settings and click on ‘Customize settings…’ to review/edit all technical parameters for this job
  • The first view holds all parameters for your color references, tolerances (scoring set), measurement conditions and color bar selection
  • All parameters that you can choose here are defined via the Management Module
  • For this exercise, choose the following settings: Paper type: ISO Gloss coated Spot color book: – None – Substrate: Gloss Ink set: Default (ISO 2846-1) Tolerance set: Offset ISO 12647-2 Measurement conditions: Printing ISO 12647 Color bar: Colorware Generic QA (included in this PDF file)
  • Click ‘Next’ to enter the ‘Color mapping’ view – Color mapping is where we determine which color goes to which position on the color bar (e.g. Spot Orange is printed on the positions that normally hold Cyan patches)
  • If needed, change the order for the colors so that the color bar on screen has the same color appearance in print (typically start with either KCMY or CMYK as mapping sequence)
  • Click ‘Next’ to proceed to the ‘Default densities’ view – Change the default densities for your job if needed
  • Click ‘Next’ to enter the ‘Run sequence’ view
  • Run sequence determines the order in which colors are printed and on which unit they are printed (important when MeasureColor performs closed-loop corrections on press)
  • Change the run sequence if needed by dragging and dropping ink units to their positions
  • Click ‘Next’ to proceed to the next screen: review settings
  • In this view you can review your settings and more important, save all the parameters as ‘job preset’
  • Click on the marker ‘Save as preset’ and provide a name for your preset (e.g. ‘Coated – Generic QA color bar’). You can also choose to override an existing preset by not changing the preset name – Creating presets for common situations dramatically brings down job creation time!
  • Click ‘Save and continue’ to get back to the main job creation screen
  • Finally, click on ‘Create job’ to create your job in the database after which you will be taken to the measurement screen to create your first measurement for this job