The savior of color management - LinoColor combines color management with scanning, screen display, color separation output, and color management of the printing process, and has always been a headache for desktop publishing professionals. This is because there is a variety of different color processing for a single document, from scanning input, screen display and editing, printing a sample from a printer to color separation output, and printing. In the process of color processing, each device is color-dependent. The processing and expression capabilities are different. Even if the same equipment is provided by different manufacturers or produced by the same manufacturer at different times, there will be differences in performance, resulting in unpredictable color reproduction. For example, the scanned image may be reddish, and the screen display may be greenish. The coloretter imageetter may not output 95% or more of the grayscale. After the last four colors are printed into a newspaper, the color will fade. Phenomena and so on. In order to control the color reproduction throughout the print production process, Linotype launched a universal color management solution-LinoColor based on ColorSync.
One, LinoColor
The LinoColor color management solution is mainly divided into two parts. The first part is a software/hardware package for the user to self-test the profile of the hardware device, including View Open, Scan Open, and Print Open, which are used to measure the profile of the monitor, scanner, and printer, respectively. Due to its open design, these three software/hardware packages can generate Profiles for Color Sync and other ICC-compliant color management solutions, as well as a unique Color Curve for LinoColor.
The second part is the core LinoColor software for color management. LinoColor itself is also a scanning software for Linotype scanners such as Tango, Topaz, and QuickStep. But the most important thing is that it can be placed in Phoeoshop, Photo CD and other formats for color management.
The first step in using LinoColor is to create a profile for each hardware device you use.
1, View Open
View Open is a hardware/software package used to profile the display, including software and a sensing device that interfaces with the Macintosh ADB.
When you use it, start the View Open software, adjust the screen to the specified position on the screen, and then start the test program. At this time, View Open will add ambient light data to the color data on the screen, and then calculate the color deviation generated by the display to calculate a Profile.
This profile needs to be placed in the ColorSync Profiles Folder of the Preference Folder in the Machintosh System Folder where CorlorSync 2.0 (the latest version is 2.1.1) is installed. The setting is then completed in the ColorSync Control Panel.
Since all LinoColor software is only applicable to the PowerMac, if you want to test a 68K Mac hardware profile, you need to move the hardware (such as a monitor) to PowerMac, and then copy the profile back to the original machine. Among them. Be aware that ambient light will have an effect on View Open, so it's best to put the monitor in the normal working position for measurement. Each time the monitor needs to be moved to another place, the profile should be retested.
2, Scan Open
Scan Open is a suite for the scanner profiles. In addition to the software, it also includes photographic and slide templates for Fuji, Agfa, and Kodak, and a standard color data file.
When testing, the user first scans the photo paper and slide template into the computer, and then reads it with Scan Open software, then reads the standard color data file, Scan Open can automatically compare, and then can output a Scanner's ICC Profile or LinoColor's Color Curve.
3, Print Open
Print Open is used to profile the output device, there are two versions, one is pure software, and the other is software plus Colortron color analyzer.
To use Print Open to generate an output template file first, you can use Postscript, Coke CcostScript printer or imagesetter, or export TIFF files for QuickDraw. The document is also divided into CMYK, CMY and RGB. Users should choose the appropriate use of their printing equipment.
After these sample files have been generated, they can be output using a printing device. If the output device is an imagesetter, proofing should also be performed after the output of the separation film.
After proofing, use the color analyzer to enter the color of each cell in the sample draft into the Print Open software. After the input is completed, Print Open will compare the input data with the original template file to generate ICC Profile or Linotype Color Curve.
In the output of the Profile, there are two types of printing and Proofing options. Printing Profile applies to color separation devices, and Printing Profile applies to proofing devices.
4, LinoColor
LinoColor is the core of the entire color management. From here, the future effects of image files can be foreseen.
Before using it, first set the Monitor Profile in the Preference of LinoColor. After that, you can scan directly to form an image file. When using Heidelberg's own scanner. For example, when the Tango is selected, the scanner profile can be selected during scanning, and the scanning program can be corrected while scanning.
Users can also place Photoshop files, digital camera images or Photo CD images.
If you have two Macintoshes and both have LinoColor installed, because of the presence of the Monitor Profile, the images on both Mac monitors will show the same color! If the user's customer also has LinoColor and an appropriate Monitor Profile, he or she will also see consistent image colors.
If you do not scan files in LinoColor, you can also place a CMYK file and convert it to Lab format for use by LinoColor. At the time of placement, the user needs to provide Profile data used in the production of the image, such as a scanner profile.
In the Print Process Setup in LinoColor you can set how the image will be output. For example, if the user previously used Print Profile prepared by Print Open, the image in the display will immediately be affected by the influence of the Print Profile and simulate the effect of future image separation or printing in this way.
If you think that the color of the image is not good, you can use LinoColor built-in color correction function for color correction. When editing, what is displayed is always the effect after printing in the future.
After editing, you can save the file in TIFF or EPS format, or directly in LinoColor. In its Print Process Setup, you can also enter the profile of Proof Process, which determines the method you will use to proof your customers. Here are some high-end proofing methods, such as 3M Match Print. However, if you use a proofing device such as an inkjet printer, you can use Print Open to create a custom profile.
The Proof Process setting informs the color performance of the LinoColor proofer. When the user selects the function of Proof, LinoColor will modify the data sent from the LinoColor to the proofer according to the characteristics of the proofer, so as to simulate the future printing on the proofer. effect.
In the past, when using a proofer to print some documents for special printing (such as newspapers), they would often lose the effect of proofing because of the effect and the printed products. However, with LinoColor, users do not print documents with a proofer, but use a proofer to print the final print.
Second, if you do not have LinoColor how to do If you do not have LinoColor, use Color Sync can also achieve the effect of color management, which will use the ICC Profile prepared by the LinoColor package. For software, you can use Photoshop or other software that supports ColorSync, such as PageMaker 6.5, etc. (Quark Xpress will have built-in ColorSync control after version 4.0). If you are using Photoshop, download the three Plug-ins used by Photoshop 3 and 4 from Apple's ColorSync Web Site.
After installing the Plug-in, TIFF with ColorSync Profile... will be selected in Photoshop File import (or Aquire). Here you can enter the source profile of the image (if scanned, enter the profile of the scanner used; if it is a computer-generated image, such as a 3D image, select the profile of the display) and Target Profile (for future device outputs, such as Imagesetters or inkjet printers, etc.)
At this time, the input image will be automatically color-separated and the color correction function will be applied. However, the completed image can only be used for output and cannot be used for screen proofreading.
If you want to foresee the effect of printing in the future, you must first save the file and import it again. This time, the Source Profile will be the profile of the printer because the user has previously processed the file. The Target Profile is a display profile for display. After this reprocessing, it will be the effect of the simulated print.
LinoColor works with ColorSync to provide a feasible color management solution for desktop publishing.