Features – ISO, G7 and Your Targets

• ISO 12647-2 (2007 and 2013)
• ISO 12647-3
• ISO 12647-4
• ISO 12647-6
• ISO 12647-7
• ISO/PAS 15339 (GRACol 2013)
• GRACol 2006
• Japan Color

Create customised print standards based on CMYK or Multi-Colour ICC profiles. pressSIGN also allows you to select a profile for the print condition and a separate profile for the grey balance. For example, the customer might require a job to be printed on uncoated paper but have supplied the file with a coated profile like ISOCoatedv2.icc. The ability to set a different target for the grey balance to the print condition allows you to generate correction curves that produce the best possible visual match.

Create a print standard based on a single or set of previously measured printed sheets. It is useful to capture the existing print set up so that it can be replicated for re-runs.

Printers who are asked to print to international printing standards like ISO 12647-2 or GRACol will often be asked to produce work on substrates that deviate from the standard. pressSIGN gives print buyers and printers the option of allowing pressSIGN to automatically amend the target colours of the CMYK inks based on the substrate’s white point.

Changing the white point target in response to paper colour gives a better visual appearance compared to the original.

Export the white point adjusted ICC profile to pre-press for proofing or soft proofing to ensure a visual match to the press sheet.

By measuring a colour bar or control strip containing a paper, a solid and tint patches for each ink (using 25%, 50% and 75% are recommended, but any can be specified) pressSIGN creates tonal adjustment curves and can export these to a whole variety of RIP formats for platesetters and digital devices. Alternatively, in the unlikely event that your workflow / RIP is not supported or does not allow you to control the tonal curves of specific spot colours, you can export to inkWIZE AutoCurves (a.k.a. ZePra Gradations) and apply the adjustments to the imposed PDF. inkWIZE AutoCurves StandAlone is an additional application that can be purchased from any pressSIGN reseller.

TVI, usually deferred to as Dot Gain, is the traditional way that printers have fingerprinted their presses and is the method used in international standards such as ISO 12647-2. It is a simple method of achieving colour matching to the standard, provided your inks and paper conform closely too.

4CX (4 Color Exchange) technology targets grey balance for the tonal adjustments. 4CX takes into account black and white points of the target and print to produce the best visual match.

NPDC (Neutral print Density Curve) adjustments are the method of attaining grey balance formalised by IDEAlliance in their GRACoL G7 specifications. NPDC reports maximum and average ∆L and ∆Ch for CMY and maximum and average ∆L for black.

When all conditions including ink and paper are ideal on a sheetfed offset press then 4CX, NPDC and TVI adjustments will produce the same results. However, we recommend 4CX on non-offset devices and where ink and paper do not precisely match the ISO standards.