COLOR TUNER

Color Tuner is the go-to proofing software for higher-end, professional print production.

• In-built calibration guarantees consistency
• Extremely tight Delta-e tolerances
• Includes RFP profiles and DAT files
• Feature-rich – proofing for professionals

The CMYK device-link colour engine in Color Tuner is a winner – you’ll get super results and it’s hard to be more accurate on Epsons, Rolands and Mutoh printers.

That in-built calibration process means printers deliver the same colour too, so profiles and spot colour tables can be shared to as many printers as you like. Doesn’t matter where they are. Here, Halifax, or Hong Kong. Print and certify proofs with extremely tight Delta-e tolerances. That Reference Printer Profile (RFP) isn’t locked to expensive proofing media either, so if you need to work with ‘non-standard’ material, that’s no problem. Color Tuner is the professionals’ choice – it pays dividends, and there’s a full line-up of other products that tie in, to help you manage and share colour data too.

FEATURE-RICH

Color Tuner includes all the RFP profiles and DAT files you need to do standardised proofs on professional proofing papers. For personalised press fingerprints or dot-for-dot screened proofs, it’s easy enough to adjust the software without losing sleep.

Reproduce screen behaviour by adding noise to the printed proof, or for technical applications like flexographic printing, make first-printed dots (min-dots) and highlight curve corrections to get the right visual results.

MORE FINESSE

Color Tuner merges spectral data and CMYK reference data. The Delta-e tolerances improve dramatically in spot colour proofs, and more importantly the visual reproduction is unbeatable – especially with overprints, gradations and vignettes

Are you doing a lot of spot colour work? This software’s communicating colour in solid/LAB format (you’re probably up to speed on the ISO 17972-4 standard that defines data storage in the CxF/X-4 format). A correctly captured CxF/X-4 dataset holds around 300 times more data than a single LAB measurement, which means every part of your production chain improves, including proofing accuracy. That spectral data can be measured and introduced into Color Tuner via the spot color editor, or, for super-accurate results, we do recommend adding the CxF Toolbox module.

CxF TOOLBOX – BECAUSE STANDARDS DO MATTER

Materal variations impact every proof. To get spot colours right, you need a lot of spectral data. ISO 17972 demands spot colours are printed and measured in a defined way – but that’s often not practical. This is where CxF Toolbox is a life-saver.

CxF Toolbox predicts the tonal range and overprinting behaviour with comparisons to its database. While CxF/X-4 data is scarce, solid colour measurement data is freely available from the ink manufacturer, Pantone Live or the customer. Once calculated the CxF/X-4 data can be stored or shared with any other applications using the same standard – you can even embed it into your PDF files.

DYNAMIC PROOF CERTIFICATION

Most good proofing systems will check and certify the CMYK content, but not all of them check included spot colours. CGS Color Tuner automatically looks for spot colours and adds control wedges to the FOGRA media wedge at the bottom of each proof.

CGS FLEX-PACK

Proofing for people who demand high colour quality, but aren’t necessarily printing on paper.

Pharma. Luxury goods. Paper proofs won’t cut it for everyone, packagers in particular – conventional proofing RIPs can’t cope with a ‘real proof’. And in many fields, clients expect to see their proofs on a substrate that more closely resembles the materials they’re selling.

• The choice for colour-accurate packaging proofs
• Works brilliantly with 3-D samples
• Handles complex finishing effects really well
• Ideal for running proofs on actual substrates

A GAME-CHANGER FOR PACKAGING

FLEX PACK has packaging-specific spot color management that converts spectral data natively and simulates overprinting of spot colours perfectly by using the additional inks (Orange, Green, Violet, Blue) in printers from Roland and Mutoh.

In fact, FLEX PACK was designed as a complete system. It works with Roland and Mutoh printers, special extended gamut inks, and comes with a huge range of proofing substrates (and more, if you need them). The software’s based on the same 4D color management technology found in Color Tuner – Raster data (such as Esko LEN) are supported for flexo and gravure printing processes – and pre-flighting, soft-proof, and proof certification are all integrated.

PERFECT SUBSTRATE SIMULATION

When you combine FLEX PACK with the Mutoh ValueJet 628 MP, you can print direct onto the press substrate and get a perfectly accurate proof in colour and feel. It’s a godsend for shrink film, thin flexibles, uncoated label stock and cardboard.

What’s more, unlike UV inks, the XG INKS retain all the physical properties of the substrate, so your proofs simulate the final product, precisely. They include CMYK, Lc, Lm, White, Orange, Blue and Green: excellent adhesion to coated and uncoated substrates, non-toxic, odourless, and unique stretching and shrinking properties.

COMBINE FLEX PACK WITH ROLAND PRINTERS

For these results, we combine FLEX PACK with Roland VersaCAMM VSi series printers, which work with eco-solvent inks. The XG range includes orange and green, and with a clean yellow pigment, it guarantees reproduction of almost all special colors. Plus, Roland printers ‘Print & Cut‘ function means even something like a short run of specialist self-adhesive labels can be produced effectively.

COMPLETE PROOFING SOLUTION

For perfect packaging at the high end of the market, you need a grown-up combination of kit. So let’s start with the hardware (don’t forget, if this isn’t the right solution for you, we’ll say so, but we’ll also do our best to recommend it as we’ve never been more impressed. That’s why we’re SignRacer’s main dealer in the UK).

SIGNRACER PRINTERS

SignRacers come in 1.6 to 3.2 meter configs, with adjustable print head heights from 10 – 50 centimetres. They use standard CMYK or ECG inksets plus white, varnish and neon inks, and the extended colour gamut ink set features orange and violet. In short, this means SignRacer can print colours outside the FOGRA39 colour space.

German quality control, UK-made UV lamps, and then back to Germany for the fibre optics, vacuum bed, cabling and electronics. Multiple array Ricoh Gen6 print heads run on a magnetic linear motor for speeds of up to 84 square metres per hour.

SignRacer’s printhead manages the most accurate droplet placement we’ve ever seen, which means you can print 3-point text on most substrates – think watch faces and pharmaceutical packaging. This level of finesse is a game-changer for serious, high-end brands and SignRacer is our recommendation for packaging pros that really value their reputation as high-end providers.

ADD ON AN iECHO CUTTER (SO YOU CAN KEEP UP)

When prototyping goes large, you can’t cut samples by hand. Especially when you’re prototyping with a SignRacer – you’ll need a small army to keep up.

Our preferred cutting partner is iEcho, which make affordable industrial class cutters in all sizes. Cost effective too, but there’s no missing functionality. Excellent build quality, great software and toolsets that range from a basic cut wheel to a full 2kw routing system – you’d be forgiven for thinking you just bought a Zund or Kongsberg until you check your bank account. They’re so good, we even sell them to our large format printing and signage customers (they’re always looking for a bargain).

GET THE BEST RIP IN THE BUSINESS

We do favour PrintFactory as a large format colour RIP system, particularly if you’re coming over to SignRacer and iECHO. But if you’re wedded to other printers, don’t panic – PrintFactory drives more than 3000 large format devices.

Once part of GMG, PrintFactory is now independent. Its ICC device-link colour engine and LFP layout tools are perfect for SignRacer – every aspect of the software is geared to high quality colour – and its built-in cutter tools automatically handle the cutting.

You probably need ProofMaster. It’s everything you do need, nothing you don’t.

ProofMaster is genius. it uses an ICC device-link colour management engine to produce cost effective proofs that have tight, tight Delta-e tolerances – okay, it looks and feels like Adobe, and it’s incredibly accurate.

• Runs on Mac and Windows.
• Dead easy to learn and use.
• Won’t conflict with other software.
• Pay monthly or annually.

Clients want perfection. You know it, you need good proofing software. But you don’t want to pay through the roof for something – and it’s got to be so simple, anyone can use it.

With ProofMaster, RGB and CMYK prints are super smooth – crisp, clean and accurate. If you’re printing proofs or running short series fine art, for example, ProofMaster’s hard to beat. The profile creator will make calibration and standard ICC device-link profiles for any Epson printer that has an attached SpectroProofer. And like most good bits of software today, you can pay monthly or annually.

We always recommend ProofMaster for Epson SureColor printers, but it’s also compatible with printers from Canon, Epson, HP and Roland.