Building a new profile in Onyx RIP and test print doesn't print Pantone Black!

[KellyP12]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some clues as to why my issue is happening. In short, I am in the beginning stages of building a new ICC profile for one of our printers using Onyx 12.1. After going through the lengthy process of building my first profile from scratch, I found that when I printed one of our test prints (made here in-house), Pantone Process Black was appearing as off-white.

There is a place on our test print where we gradate Pantone Process Black in 5% steps. See the below photo... any idea what could have caused this? I am just getting my feet wet with the profile-building process, and I know its complexities make narrowing this down difficult. Any general direction would be helpful.

My only thought as to why this might happen is in reference to an obstacle I encountered early in the profile-building process. When our on-board spectro (HP DesignJet) was reading in one of the calibration swatches, it was not reading one of the 'pure white' patches as such. It kept giving me an error, but I wasn't sure how to solve it, so I accepted the readings. We use a custom coated paper that has Optical Brightening Agents in it, and I have learned that OBAs can affect color perception if not accounting for them. Could there possibly be something going on there which would bounce back incorrect values enough to 'overcompensate' for paper-white and mess up how the RIP is interpreting Pantone Process Black?! Just one idea.

Our Spot Color Replacement table is turned on and hasn't been altered in any way. The variety of other Pantones are printing relatively accurately elsewhere on our test print.

Thanks!

 

[CJ-NYC]

Hi all,
I found that when I printed one of our test prints (made here in-house)

Check your in-house file to be sure that the named swatch color matches what the Spot Color Replacement table is expecting to see. From what I've been told, if there's any mistake or change in how the swatch name is written, it won't work properly. It has to be an exact match (case sensitive) for the SCR table to work. Maybe try some other test prints or swatches and see if they have the same issue? If those other test prints don't show the same issue, then it's probably your custom test print.

I've heard of OBA's, etc. and how that has to be compensated for, etc. -- but I'll bet you it is something simple.
If you print another more commonly available test image and it shows the same issue, then it's more likely to be the profile, and at least you've eliminated one possible issue.

 

[Andy_warp]

I agree with CJ...check your file. What software did you create your test print in?
Are all of the spot colors still designated as spots...as opposed to process?

One quick way to see if it's the Pantone black swatch itself would be to convert EVERYTHING to process...it should show up.

When I have issues with onyx spot colors, I open the pantone coated pdf they include with their software...and just copy the pantone swatch in to my target file.

Then I know they will be legit.

 

[KellyP12]

I agree with CJ...check your file. What software did you create your test print in?
Are all of the spot colors still designated as spots...as opposed to process?

We built it in Illustrator. Looks like all the Pantone Black swatches are set to spot colors in varying tints. Oddly enough, when I built another profile a few days later, keeping better track of all the settings I applied, this issue went away, and I didn't change a single thing in the test file with the blacks. I am still guessing it has something to with a setting I must have incorrectly applied during my first characterization of the profile.

This is good to keep in mind in the future though, thank you.