Any Gretag Macbeth Eye-One Share Gurus out there?

[Custom_Grafx]

Just wondering, as I have some questions and have searched in many places but not sure how to find answers to the odd trivial question.

Thanks in advance.

 

[eye4clr]

post the question and we'll go from there

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Thank you eye4clr.

I'm curious about the attached panel in iShare.

Not sure if you use this software...

The left side of the centre circle shows the scanned colour, and the right side shows the achievable using the listed profile.

In this case - I've set it to US Web Coated SWOP, and it shows the CMYK values as 91/36/67/23.

The left side shows (I think) delta values (sorry I'm not a colour guru obviously)... from what I have read on colour theory so far, I understand that the delta shows the difference and I found some info in the i1 tutorial that mentioned anything more than 2 delta is usually considered a 'noticeable' deviation from the colour sample.

So, where I find potential use for this panel, is the ability to scroll through available profiles in the drop down list on the right... it conveniently updates the delta readings on the left so you can see which profile can hit the colour the closest (if I have understood correctly).

The first question I have, is about the CMYK values on the right. I'm hoping it's an easy question to answer for someone who is familiar with this stuff.

What is the procedure for applying those numbers in practice? Let's say you want to make a solid square with that colour, in Illustrator.

1) Do you just fill the square with a fill using those values, send it to Versaworks from Illy, let postscript printer determine colour, use the US Webcoated SWOP preset in VW etc?

2) Do you create a custom spot colour replace in VW and assign it those CMYK values then print direct (just using calibration/ink limit control) and bypass any form of colour management?

My next question, is concerning a specific custom ICC you have created for a specific media/resolution for your own machine. This ICC is also available in the dropdown. Am I right in assuming that if I select this profile in the i1 share window, that it shows me what is achievable on that media? Should I perhaps be setting that dropdown to my media specific icc profile and working that way?

I guess essentially I'm just after a workflow I can stick to reliably for seeing what is achievable on a certain media, using a certain profile, and being able to know if I can/can't hit that colour and if not, by how much, before printing.

Am quite curious as this panel on the software looks like it could be something I use often to help with these sorts of issues as the interface is quite user friendly.

Any advice on its functions or how to take advantage of it would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

PS, in the help file this is what it says regarding the tool/panel. So I feel I've understood the purpose/concept of the tool correctly, but I'm after applying it to the production side of things now I guess - For which the info is not available it seems...

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

You’ve just finished selecting the colors for your client’s new marketing campaign. Now comes the important question – will you be able to reproduce them in all the media you are planning?

Convert Spot shows you if and how a given color can be reproduced on various output devices. The Convert Spot tool "translates" a given color from the device independent LAB color space into the specific color space of an output device. This could be an RGB color space for a CRT monitor or flat panel display. Or it could be a CMYK color space for a large format inkjet printer or printing press.

To translate a color, Convert Spot uses a specific profile for the chosen device, thus providing the exact proportions of colorants (i.e. CMYK inks or RGB phosphors) needed to achieve the color. (Profiles for input and output devices can be created with the Eye-One Match profiling software.)

To evaluate whether or not a color can be reproduced on a specific output device, first select the color from your palette. Next select the profile for the output device, and Convert Spot will show you whether the color is "out of gamut" or not.

 

[smdgrfx]

I used to take a sample of my PMS book and a sample of what I actually printed to see how close they were. I think anything below 3 is acceptable. I would print off a bunch of squares with cmyk formulas that I thought were close and compare them to the pantone PMS book. That would tell me which way I need to go in the cmyk value to get closer to what I wanted. I need to break that spectrophotometer out again. When I moved my shop, I lost the software and haven't bothered looking to see if I can get it again. Good luck!

 

[Custom_Grafx]

I used to take a sample of my PMS book and a sample of what I actually printed to see how close they were. I think anything below 3 is acceptable. I would print off a bunch of squares with cmyk formulas that I thought were close and compare them to the pantone PMS book. That would tell me which way I need to go in the cmyk value to get closer to what I wanted. I need to break that spectrophotometer out again. When I moved my shop, I lost the software and haven't bothered looking to see if I can get it again. Good luck!

My profiles seem to get pretty close as it is, but the added ability to see if one profile might hit the colour better than another would be a very handy tool to have on hand.

 

[eye4clr]

You seem to have a good grasp of the use of the tool. It's totally understandable that it gets confusing in the execution.

Consider the simple conversions that need to take place. A normal workflow converts from working space (RGB, CMYK, or Pantone) -> printer profile. As you have your screen snap setup, you're working along with that workflow. As you mentioned, you'd simply input those CMYK values into Ill or whatever in a US Web Coated SWOP file and you'd have proper, normal conversions. In your example, you have a color that is in gamut for US Web SWOP so you'd have a high degree of success in this case.

If you had a color that was out of gamut for US Web Coated SWOP but in gamut for your printer/ink/media, then you'd either use an RGB working space in your design app, or the printer profile directly. Upside to big RGB space is sticking with a more conventional workflow that allows you to send a "normal" file through a "normal" print workflow. Down side is you still don't know if your printer can really hit that color and you've got an extra conversion in the workflow (not a big deal). Upside to using the printer profile in Share is you directly see the deltas on the color based on your printer's profile. Downside is you would now be working with numbers that are already converted for final output. IOW, you do NOT want your rip to convert these numbers again. This is a very common mistake, even if you know to avoid it. Also, if you have to reproduce the results again in weeks, months, or years, you're pretty likely to forget exactly how you did it and if you're a good dog and make new profiles on a regular basis, the numbers would be outdated anyway.

My suggested policy for this type of tool is to use something like AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB as your working space container for the color and have a preset in your RIP to accommodate this by having the same input profile for RGB. If you want to see if it is in gamut for your printer, temporarily switch the profile selection in Share to your printer profile to see the gamut deltas, then switch back to the big RGB space to use it in production.

Good question and an excellent tool for demonstrating gamut to end buyers who have an interest in the technology or for making your case why you can't hit their bright orange or reflex blue logo color.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Many thanks for the helpful reply.

Finally something in colour management makes sense to me... lol.