RRD Digital Solution Center
RRD Digital Solution Center
Printable PDF Version

Matchprint Virtual with Insite Color

Soft proofing has become a household term in the printing industry during the past three years. Customers of the Digital Solution Centers have rapidly adopted InSite and SmartReview as the preferred method of viewing content proofs. The use of soft proofing has dramatically reduced cycle time, providing customers with additional time to close their books. The next logical question is "Can this be color-accurate as well?"


Over the past year, the technology has advanced to the point where we are excited to be able to answer "Yes" to this question. The Digital Solution Centers can now offer MatchPrint Virtual with InSite. MatchPrint Virtual is monitor calibration software that when used with InSite and the appropriate hardware and profiles will display color-accurate images on your monitor. The system has been SWOP approved for color accuracy.

Advantages

  1. Accurate color expectations
    • Allows for educated color corrections
  2. Easy to calibrate
    • All profiles managed by DSC and delivered electronically
  3. Location independent
    • All proofs available through Internet browser
      • Fast
      • Allows for collaboration
  4. Reduced costs
    • Shipping costs
    • In-house proofing costs
      • Materials
      • Maintenance
      • Calibration and verification
    • Reduced cycle time

It is important to note that with all the advantages of color-accurate soft proofing comes one area of concern. Since the customer no longer needs a hard copy proof to view color, the pressroom will also be without the proof. Currently the pressrooms are not equipped with soft-proofing technology. Customers choosing to utilize MatchPrint Virtual with InSite have two choices:

  1. Choose to not supply proofs and allow the pressroom to run within the SWOP approved tolerances. The customer understands that the final printed sample will be within these specifications and a reasonable match to their monitor. See "Running to the Numbers" section later in the document.
  2. Identify the color-critical pages and have a proof generated by the DSC for an additional cost or continue to generate in house color certified proofs. There is no need for the customer to view the proof, since it is guaranteed to be a match to their monitor, providing all the necessary calibration and view environment conditions have been met.

System Components


Viewing Environment


Consistency and reliability of critical color viewing requires that images be viewed under the same conditions. The most important factor is the lighting present in the viewing environment.

Best Practices to Obtain Proper Viewing Conditions:

Running to the Numbers


Printing is a measured science. There is an actual target for all major print areas. These areas include the solid density, print contrast (75% tone), mid-tone (50%), quarter-tone (25%), dot gains, and also the trap numbers for the cyan/yellow (green), cyan/magenta (purple) and magenta/yellow (red). These are the numbers that a press will strive to achieve and can be measured during the pressrun. Any proof generated (hard or soft) is generated assuming the press will hit those numbers. Due to some limitations at press, there is a +/- range from the target that is considered within SWOP tolerances. An example is +/- 5% on the solid density values. Depending on where in this range the press is running will cause some color fluctuation from the proof. Below is a simple example of color variation that can occur from the target while running within SWOP tolerance.


The benefit of having a LCD vs. CRT Displays


  1. Color stability over time
    - The LCD allows for longer periods between profiling and calibration. The phosphors on a CRT decay over time due to the continuous bombardment of electrical energy from the monitor’s "guns." By comparison, there are no phosphors or electron guns in LCDs and therefore no "phosphor decay" (aging).
  2. Wide field of view (160°)
    - The LCD Allows side to side movement with a continuous range of 50° for accurate color and 160° for general viewing. Perfect for shooting with tethered, high-end digital cameras and reviewing work with clients at your side. The continuous field of view of the Apple Cinema Display is the widest of any LCD (160°) and, is wider than many CRTs because there is no screen distortion. (Note: The suggested viewing position for best imaging results is 30" from the screen.)
  3. Even illumination across the panel
    - The LCD enhances design and editing work by providing even color and brightness across an entire working image. The illumination of the Apple Cinema Display is evenly distributed over the entire field by a unique fluorescent back panel, unlike a typical CRT whose illumination is generated from many small pixels.
  4. Consistent white point
    - The LCD provides accurate image color over time when balanced to commercial viewing color temperature. (Three times than a CRT when set to 5000K.) The default white point on the Cinema Display is created by a unique 6500K back panel that provides more consistency than can be achieved on a CRT (the default 9300K white point on a CRT is created by the R,G,B phosphor pixel’s intensities and vary with time, heat, and RFI). Requires less frequent calibration.
  5. Broader color "gamut"
    - The LCD excels in displaying the broad color range required in photographic retouching and CMYK virtual (soft) proofing. The color "gamut" in the Apple Cinema Display is grater than the gamut of high-end CRT displays. In fact, due to the 3X brightness of Cinema Displays, the "human perception" of the gamut on the Apple Cinema Display is almost 4X that of CRTs.
  6. Incredible image sharpness
    - The LCD Makes fine retouching work easier, reduces eye fatigue, produces finer type and images with sharper edges, which aids in creating clipping paths. The dot pitch (number of pixel clusters per inch) is finer on the Cinema Display (100/inch) compared to that of the Trinitron or Diamondtron (72/inch). Images look sharper, finer, and clearer.
  7. SWOP Certified
    - The LCD is compliant to the industry-wide printing standards. SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Printing) is a committee that strives to ensure compliance to color standards within the printing industry. These displays are SWOP Certified as part of the KPG color management solutions.
  8. Image stability
    - The LCD Display delivers an image that does not flicker on the screen. Reduces eyestrain and expands user hours. The phosphors on a CRT screen are refreshed 72 times every second. This continuous refresh process causes the image to appear to "sparkle." The cells on Cinema Displays are set to a value and stay that way until redirected (new window, cursor move over something, etc.). This provides photograph-like stability.

Glossary

Brightness
 The perceived response to light intensity. This response (in a human observer) is non-linear.
Colorimeter
 A device for computing colorimetry (color matches from measurements of a surface
CRT
 Cathode Ray Tube. The most common type of computer monitor, consisting of a tube with a source of electrons (a cathode) at one end, and a flattened end coated with phosphors that glow when excited by the electrons.
Gamut
 The range of colors and density values reproducible on some output device such as a printer or monitor. This is sometimes split into the color gamut-the range of colors limited by the primaries used-and the dynamic range-the range of brightness levels from the darkest black to the brightest white of the device.
Illuminant
 A light source defined spectrally in other words, by the relative amount of energy at each point in the visible spectrum.
Luminance
 The amount of light energy given off by a light source, independent of the response characteristics of the viewer. More precisely, luminance is the luminous intensity per unit area of the light-emitting surface.
KPG
 Kodak Polychrome Graphics
LCD
 Liquid Crystal Display. The second most common type of computer monitor, consisting of two layers of polarized plexiglass between which are liquid crystals that change shape in response to electrical currents.
 
Untitled Document RRD Digital Solution Center