Color Settings for Digital Printing

You set up color management for digital printing in the "Color settings" tab. Because these settings vary according to the type of digital press used, the parameters will be described separately:

​•​"Color settings" tab for toner-based digital presses (HEIDELBERG Versafire EP, EV, CP, CV)

​•​"Color settings" tab for Labelfire 340 presses

​•​"Color settings" tab for non-digital label presses

​•​"Color settings" tab for CTP devices driven as a "Digital Platesetter"

Note: You can invoke an introductory documentation to color management taking into account color management in Prinect Digital Print by clicking:
Prinect Color Management– User's Guide

General information about color management

The goal of Color Management is to standardize the color reproduction of digital image data throughout the entire editing process. Color space conversion was introduced to achieve a standardized color representation. Color space conversion basically matches the image or graphic data from the creator color space (e.g. color space of a digital camera) to the color space of the output device or process (e.g. color space of a press or color printer).

The diagram below shows the basic principle of a color space conversion:

It must be remembered that the color space of the recording device and the color space of the output process are device-dependent. In other words, these color spaces describe the color-specific properties of the recording device (digital camera, scanner, etc.) and of the print process used (press, CTP device, color proofer, monitor). To establish a standardized color management process that can handle different input devices and various output channels, a universal, device-independent profile connection space that links the input profile with the output profile is often interposed. The color spaces themselves cannot be influenced by color management because they are determined either by the physical properties of the devices concerned or, in the case of the profile connection space, defined as universal.

​•​First of all, the data are in the color space of the input device (scanner, digital camera, etc.) (device-dependent color space).

​•​The data are converted to the device-independent profile connection space (CIEL*a*b* color space) when the input ICC profile is enabled. The input ICC profile is selected and configured in the "Enable CMYK Color Management" option or in the case of RGB objects is taken from the PDF documents.

​•​For the output, an output ICC profile suitable for the printing press or the output process is activated. This profile adjusts the image data to the color space of the output device. As a result of this, the image data are again device-specific. The output profile is selected in Output Profile.

The ICC profiles can be present in different ways for the color space conversion:

​•​Embedded ICC profiles: The ICC profiles are contained in the document file and are used during the respective transformation steps.

​•​ICC profiles that are not embedded: The ICC profiles must be available as separate files on the Prinect server and/or in "Administration > Resources > ICC Profiles" (see ICC profiles). They are selected in the Color Management settings and then used for conversion.

Note: Details about Color Management in Prinect Production can be found in "Color Conversion" Option.

Machine setup using output conditions

The basic settings for color handling and finishing are filed in "Output Conditions" for the Labelfire inkjet digital presses. Output conditions are files containing the appropriate output parameters. Output conditions are created and saved using the Prinect Color Center. To be able to use the output conditions, the related files must be filed on the Prinect server and must be accessible from the Cockpit.

Because the output conditions also contain the finishing parameters, there is no "Print and finishing settings" tab for these machines.

More details about creating output conditions can be found in the Online Help of the Prinect Color Center.