CIELAB HLC Colour Atlas available in the Proof.de Shop

It has taken almost a year, but we are all the more pleased now: The “CIELAB HLC Colour Atlas” is completed and can be ordered in our shop. The HLC Colour Atlas is a open source, high-precision colour system based on open standards.

The CIELAB HLC Colour Atlas offers professional users of colour three decisive advantages:

• The CIELAB HLC colour atlas is based on open, non-proprietary standards that are free of copyrights and trademarks.
• The colour atlas with all components is available to all users free of charge online and can be downloaded, used and passed on directly.
  It is released under an OpenSource Creative Commons license.
• The printed reference of the CIELAB HLC colour atlas impresses with outstanding precision and, unlike some commercial products, the colour accuracy is extremely high with a DeltaE00 median of 0.3 and an average DeltaE00 of 0.5. In most cases, the deviation from the ideal colour reference and colour differences between two colour atlases can be measured, but not perceived by the human eye. Each atlas is produced on our best Fogra-certified high-end proofing printer on Fogra-certified paper. Each copy is delivered with an individual, colourimetric test report in accordance with ISO 12647-7:2016 to document the colour accuracy of each individual colour atlas.

The atlas consists of the following components:

• A printed colour atlas master reference (A4, ring binder) with 2040 colours, based on the intuitive HLC colour model (Hue, Lightness, Chroma), with shades of 10 between the individual colours. This also includes colours that are not reproducible in normal CMYK workflows (jewelry colours). This component is produced with the greatest care in Tübingen. The colour atlas contains an introduction and instructions for use in German or English.
• A free PDF-Master version of the colour atlas, which also displays numerous other colour spaces such as sRGB, Fogra39, Fogra51 and 52 etc. via layers in the PDF file.
• Colour palettes with all 2040 LAB values for Adobe software in ASE format. We provide this library in a timely manner also in the SBZ format of Swatchbooker as well as in sRGB versions for LibreOffice (SOC), GIMP (GPL) and Scribus 1.4. x (XML). Scribus 1.5. x already contains the SBZ-file and a sRGB-version is shipped with LibreOffice since version 5.4.4.4, as well as with the current stable version Scribus 1.4.6.
• A table with colour conversion values of all colours of the atlas according to sRGB, HEX and ISOCoatedV2 in two rendering intents.
• Spectral data of all colour swatches in a CxF v. 3 file containing the colour data of all colour swatches in spectral values. This file enables, for example, paint manufacturers to use all colours of the atlas with high precision spectral spectral data or to create their own reliable references – open source and without licensing fees. For example, an ink manufacturer can simply load the CxF3 file into typical colour formulation software and create the right mix for its printing inks. This applies not only to offset printing, but also to coatings, textile inks and plastics.

All files are available for free download under a CC license. Only the HLC colour atlas printed by Proof GmbH is subject to a fee, as production is very labour and cost-intensive. The introductory price of EUR 99, – is valid until the end of April 2018, starting in May EUR 149, — plus VAT and shipping costs.

You can order the CIELAB HLC colour atlas here in our shop

We at FreieFarbe e. V. and Proof GmbH not only see the “CIELAB HLC-Farbatlas” as a genuine and open alternative to the hundreds of proprietary colour systems, but we also believe that the highest quality standard of the printed colour atlas can only be achieved by coating systems.

Since the beginning of January, we have also been working on converting our open colour system with the German DIN standards organisation into a DIN SPEC standard.

INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT HAVE BEEN:

Holger Everding (DPT Studio Oldenburg), Jan-Peter Homann (Homann Colormanagement), Eric A. Soder (pixsource. com), Peter Jäger (pre2media. ch) and Matthias Betz (Proof GmbH) as well as Christoph Schäfer and Gregory Pittman (Scribus Team).

WITH THE FRIENDLY SUPPORT OF:

freeFarbe e. V. also thanks for the support of ColorLogic GmbH with its software ZePrA for special colour optimization and ColorAnt for the acquisition of spectral data, Epson Deutschland GmbH for support with ink and GMG GmbH & Co. KG for the support with certified proof papers and their colour proofing software.

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