Proof Knowhow

Here we collect compact all posts that are relevant to the issues Proof, colour proofing, digital proofing and online proofing. Within the Proof knowledge, there are several subcategories such as colour profiles, standardized lighting and much more.

eciCMYK profile available for proofing

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Today we have activated the exchange colour space eciCMYK, Fogra53 for proofing and integrated it into the online shop of proofing.de for ordering. eciCMYK is the colour space for CMYK print production and complements the other Fogra colour spaces, but in contrast to these it does not represent a specific printing process, but is rather “neutral CMYK”. Due to the large gamut of eciCMYK all classical printing processes can be represented, it can be proofed on modern proofing systems without any problems and corresponds in its characteristics to typical CMYK …

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PANTONE and HKS colour deviations in proofing updated

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Current proofing systems can reproduce spot colours such as HKS or Pantone very well. With the Fiery XF 6.5.2 proofing software and the Epson SureColor-P9000V Spectro proof printer, we have evaluated the colour deviation in Delta-E00 with which the various PANTONE and HKS colours can be proofed. On shop.proof.de, the tables are now available for all important PANTONE and HKS colour systems, sorted by colour fans. A distinction is made between the proofing substrates that we use, since the surface texture and the paper white also have an influence on …

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Paper white of many paper manufacturers and online printers measured

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We spectrally measured the paper white tone and the proportion of optical brighteners of over 1,000 papers of the most important paper manufacturers such as Berberich and Papier Union as well as online printing companies such as Flyeralarm and wir-machen-druck.de. Only a few paper manufacturers currently publish data on paper whiteness and the proportion of optical brighteners in their papers, but only technical indicators such as whiteness according to ISO 2470-2 or CIE ISO 11475. However, designers can hardly record paper whiteness with these values. In addition, it is not …

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HLC Colour Atlas XL - freieFarbe proof.de - title white 2018 v1

free colour: CIELAB HLC Colour Atlas XL published and can be ordered at proof.de

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After almost a year of work the time has finally come. The CIELAB HLC Colour Atlas XL saw the light of day. The new HLC Colour Atlas XL is the basis for all stages of professional colour communication – from design to the finished product. The standard version contains 2040, the new XL version even 13283 mathematically-systematically graded CIELAB colour tones on 74 pages. You can order the CIELAB HLC colour atlas here in our shop The free file package contains the layer PDF version with several gamuts for the analysis …

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Proofs for recycled paper. Is that possible?

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We produce proofs for classic white uncoated papers on a daily basis, but the question often arises as to which proof standard could be used for printing on recycled paper. In general, the paper white in a proof is precisely defined in the proof standard and is also measured in every test report. For PSOUncoated it is 95.00 / 0.00 / -2.00 in CIELAB and for PSOUncoatedV3 it is 93.50 / 2.50 / -10.00, i.e. slightly darker (93.50 instead of 95.00 for brightness L) and significantly bluer (-10.00 instead of …

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DIN SPEC 16699 - Open colour communication - Final meeting - Berlin

DIN SPEC 16699 “Open colour communication” published

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A few days ago, our DIN SPEC 16699 “Open Colour Communication” was published and is now available for free download from DIN’s Beuth-Verlag. Matthias Betz from Proof GmbH, Holger Everding from DTP Studio Oldenburg, Jan-Peter Homann from Homann Colormanagement in Berlin and Eric. A Soder from Pixsource in Switzerland, all members of the association freieFarbe e.V., have shown in the bilingual DIN specification a way to create high-precision color samples on the basis of open source, license-free standards and have shown ways for cross-media color communication. The 44-page PDF is …

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Comparison between eciRGB_V2 (white) and sRGB

Why is the embedding of RGB profiles so important?

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A few days ago we received a call from a customer in the field of design, who sent open Adobe InDesign data in ISOCoatedV2 300% with contained RGB images to the production company for a complex CD production on the advice of the producing company (“The printing company still has a prepress stage, which can then prepare your data optimally…”). The result of the finished printed CD booklets and inlays did not correspond at all to the calibrated monitor image of our customer, the client was also unhappy and requested …

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How CMYK and RGB profiles are handled in proofing

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When we receive a file from you, the first thing we check is whether there are colours other than CMYK in the file. If the file is built exclusively in CMYK, it will be sent directly for proofing.

Handling wrong profiles with CMYK data / “Profile Mismatch
If we have only received CMYK data from you, we will ignore all input and output profiles and only use the CMYK values that we bring to the ordered output colour space.

Example 1: Data in ISOCoated, proof in ISOCoatedV2 ordered, thus wrong or no CMYK profile embedded.

You send a file with the profile ISOCoated and a colour area in CMYK 100/70/0/0 and order a proof according to ISOCoatedV2.
We ignore the ISOCoated profile and proof the pure colour value 100/70/0/0 according to ISOCoatedV2.

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Adobe Color Picker 2019: Decimal places possible in InDesign and Illustrator

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Adobe has updated its colour picker in the 2019 version. Especially in Adobe InDesign 2019, decimal places are now possible for LAB and CMYK during colour input, which is a long-desired feature especially in the high-end colour area. Up to now it was already possible in Adobe InDesign to enter colour values e.g. in CMYK with decimal places and to write them into the PDF during PDF export, but only integer values were displayed.

In Adobe InDesign 2019, three decimal places can now be entered for LAB and CMYK and can also be read out again. However, these values are not adopted in the automatic labelling of the colour fields, although this can always be adjusted manually.

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freieFarbe e.V. – Review of the General Meeting and Preview

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On the last weekend in September the general meeting of the association freieFarbe e.V. took place in Tübingen. From Friday to Sunday, the members worked, discussed, conceived and, as you can see on the picture, ” punted” in and with new products and ideas in the best weather on the Neckar river.

freieFarbe e.V. General Meeting 2018: Punting together on the Neckar river after the general meeting at Proof GmbH in Tübingen. Photo: Peter Jäger

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First online printers switch to PSOCoatedV3 and PSOUncoatedV3

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With DieDruckerei.de, the first well-known online printer has switched to PSOCoatedV3 and PSOUncoatedV3. A sign that almost exactly three years after the new Fogra51/52 standards appeared, they are increasingly being used in production and as a requirement for printers to produce data. The fact that also here the conversion does not run completely smoothly, shows up in the data requirements, which recognize beside the new PSOCoatedV3 also a 300% variant of the profile – a legacy from the ISOCoatedV2 300% times, PSOCoatedV3 is present only in a 300% version, a …

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Comparison between eciRGB_V2 (white) and ISOCoatedV2

Proofing with individual ICC profiles

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We received a call from a new customer today: He proofs for Chinese suppliers, and up to now he is producing proofs in Japan Color 2001 Coated (JapanColor2001Coated.icc). We had not yet set up the profile in our RIP, but within a short time we were able to load the profile into our RIP, create workflows, and make the profile available for order in the shop. We will gladly integrate your individual ICC proof profiles and create proofs for you. We proof more than 50 international proof standards, but there …

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Update of the shop of Proof.de also with regard to the GDPR

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In order to implement the EU General Data Protection Regulation also in the shop in conformity, we have updated the shop in the last weeks, applied security patches and implemented important innovations for the protection of your personal data. We would like to briefly introduce some important changes: Your passwords are now even more strongly encrypted in the shop If you have forgotten your password, you will no longer receive a new password via email, but can change your new password via a shop page. You will still receive an …

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HLC Colour Atlas freieFarbe proof.de 2

CIELAB HLC Colour Atlas available in the Proof.de Shop

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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.

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Fogra 54 – PSO SC-B Paper v3 – published and available for proofing

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Recently, Fogra provided the first web offset printing condition based on the new ISO 12647-2:2013 with the printing condition FOGRA54. Fogra 54 describes standardised offset printing in AM screen (48-70’cm) on supercalendered B-substance material (SC-B) with mineral oil-free printing inks. The ECI writes: “Mainly due to paper differences, the printing condition on today’s SC-B paper types no longer matches the characterization data set FOGRA40 and the profile »SC paper (ECI)«. As a consequence, when printing on SC-B paper, printers face significant problems to achieve the ink solid aim values of …

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Two years after publication: Large printing companies switch to Fogra 51 and 52

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It seems that by the end of 2017 the new standards PSOCoatedV3 and PSOUncoatedV3 are finally arriving on the wider printing market. At least with the printing company Thieme and – as of today – Schleunungdruck, two major operators in the market and Flyeralarm partners have switched to the new standards. After experts such as Christian Piskulla of Cleverprinting have already provocatively pointed out the failure of the new standards – “Scheitern PSOcoated_v3 und die ISO 12647-2:2013?” (Are PSOcoated_v3 and ISO 12647-2:2013 failing?), the new printing standards seem to be …

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Proof GmbH is a partner of FreieFarbe e. V.

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freeColor e. V. is a consortium of German and Swiss color experts who work to produce consistent color in all areas of application. Sounds reasonable? Exactly. That is the issue that is of central importance to our proofing customers. Therefore we are currently working in a project with the colleagues of FreieFarbe e. V. and are now also as Proof GmbH member and partner of FreieFarbe e. V. FreeColor relies on open standards such as LAB and HLC, which have long been integrated in computer software and want to show: …

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Proof. de offers proofs according to the latest tolerance criteria of ISO 12647-7:2016

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The ISO 12647-7 proofing standard was revised in November 2016 and the test criteria for FograCert contract proof creation were adapted. We have now incorporated these changed criteria into our proofing system and are now working to the stricter tolerances of the latest ISO 12647-7:2016.

Why hardly anything changes for our Proof customers

The good news is: you won’t notice that our proofs are now precisely produced according to the latest standards. Why? Quite simply: Because our demands on our proofing system, our FIERY proofing software, our EFI proofing papers and the X-Rite measuring decvices are already so high that all components of our proofing system – and of course our proofs themselves – have been meeting the new criteria of the revised November 2016 standard for years.

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Comparison of PANTONE U colours to Contract Proof

Colour deviations from PANTONE EXTENDED GAMUT Coated in the proof in Delta-E (∆E)

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Current proofing systems can reproduce spot colours like HKS or Pantone very well. Using the Fiery XF 6.3 proofing software and the Epson SC-P9000V proof printer, we evaluated with which colour deviation in Delta-E the PANTONE Extended Gamut Coated colours can be proofed.

The colour deviations were calculated by the proofing software on the basis of the measured colour space of the proofing system of proof.de. Therefore in practice there may be deviations. However, it has been shown that almost all PANTONE colours can be simulated quite well in the large colour space of the proofing device.

The smaller the ∆E value, the smaller the colour distance from the PANTONE reference to the proofed PANTONE colour. Higher ∆E values indicate which PANTONE colours can be reproduced in the proof with greater difficulty.

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PANTONE expands with 112 new colour shades in the Plus Series

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PANTONE has done it again: Following the changes from 2010 to 2014, PANTONE is now expanding its Solid Coated and Solid Uncoated palette with 112 new colours. For users of the current Solid Plus Series, PANTONE is offering a fan with the new colours in Coated and Uncoated as an extension for 30 Euros. And of course PANTONE also offers updated Solid Coated and Solid Uncoated and Bridget fans … and of course an updated version of all associated libraries. The reason for the 112 new colours is not entirely …

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