Gelbach Designs Inc.

I took a day yesterday to get all our color calibrations back to where they need to be. In addition to this, I managed to create a calibration for a couple of our medias that will allow us print much faster.

What is color calibration, you ask? Color calibration is the process used to get devices such as printers, monitors, and scanners to produce color in a reliable and accurate fashion. It is no small thing. I’ll go over the few steps we use in our workflow to give you an idea.

First, I print what is called an ‘Ink Restrictions Swatch’. After reading this, I tell the RIP (program that manages the large format printer) what settings I think are best, based on reading what the printer has output.

Ink Restrictions Swatches are visible at the top of this image, the ICC profile swatches are visible at the bottom. Hiding between the two are Ink Limit Swatches.

Next in the workflow, I print out a Linearization. This prints small squares of each color from full blast ink, to the lightest misting of ink. Then, I use a device to ‘read’ in the values to the RIP, so that the software may know exactly what the printer has output. After the Linearization, I print an Ink Limits Swatch. This step is back to depending on the human eye to pick out at what point the combinations of inks do not get any darker. For example, it will print a row of cyan + black. As the row goes on, the cyan and black values are increased. After a point, the color will not get any darker, and the ink will just pile up on top. That point is what I set in the RIP so that when printing, inks are not wasted (they’re expensive).

For the last step, I print out an ICC swatch, and read that into the RIP using the density and color measuring device I used on the linearization (in our case, the I1Proof, by gretag-macbeth). This further hones the RIP’s understanding of the printer output.

Reading an ICC swatch using the I1 Proof by Gretag-Macbeth.

Finally, we print a quality test image, to make sure we didn’t make any errors along the way. This is a complicated image with many tests of color, contrast, and gradients, all wrapped up in one image. If the quality test is perfect, then we are done with this color calibration, and get to move on to the next material or resolution.

Rolls of media at the top of this image, and the Onyx Postershop Quality Test at the bottom.

We keep our monitors, printers, and all the print media we use calibrated so that the colors are perfect for our clients.

Tags: accurate, calibrate, color calibration, design, ink, ink limits, ink restrictions, large format, linearization, mimaki, postershop, printers, printing, quality