"Color marks assignment" Subtab

Color marks assignment is necessary, for example, if a color measurement system – e.g., InpressControl – is installed on the printing press, which uses the color marks to monitor and control the color application on the printing press. The color information transmitted by the prepress system must be assigned to the color marks used by the color measurement system.

For print jobs that contain spot colors, depending on the upstream prepress system, it may be necessary or useful to transfer the color marks defined in the prepress system to the HEIDELBERG Dipco color marks in order to assign spot colors to the color control strip and the printing units.

"Method" List Box

Here you can choose between the following options:

​•​Allow spot colors only as of X, Z,U, V,...

If multicolor process colors (B, C, M, Y, X, Z, U, V, ...) are imported, the first four colors are adopted as standard process colors and all other colors are adopted as spot colors.

Caution: If the process color "Black" is not defined in this use case and an InpressControl color measurement system is installed on the printing press, a sufficiently dark spot color (recommended: the darkest spot color) must be assigned the color code "X." If the process color "Black" is missing, InpressControl uses the color assigned the color code "X" to detect the position of the color marks. See Example 1: Assignment of front and back sides from file name attributes.

​•​Color Code assignment in PPF Order

If you select this option, all colors appearing in the PPF files are treated as spot colors and the color order is inherited from the PPF information.

​•​Allow spot colors for BCMY. See also Examples of using the "Allow spot colors on BCMY" option:.

If PPF jobs are imported in which 4 colors are defined that are not known as process colors in Prinect Production, they are assigned to the Prinect process colors B, C, M, Y. The color sequence is specified in the "Color sequence" selection list.

For mark assignment, no distinction is made between process colors and spot colors. If this option is activated, the color sequence is assigned to the color sequence CMYKXZUVS1.... regardless of the sequence in the PPF file.

"Order" List Box

The color sequence of the process colors in the PPF files is defined by the prepress system. Depending on the color sequence provided by the prepress system, you can select the appropriate color sequence here:

​•​​BCMY

The order of the process colors is set to B, C, M, Y and edited in Prinect Pressroom Manager, i.e. the black separation comes first and then the other colors.

​•​CMYB

The order of the process colors is set to C, M, Y, B and edited with the Prinect Pressroom Manager, i.e. the black separation is placed at the end of the color sequence.

For packaging printing, some prepress systems use the color order "BCMY" instead of "CMYB" for the process colors. These colors are usually not recognized as process colors and are therefore treated as spot colors. If such a prepress system (e.g. ESKO ArtPro+TM) is used, you can select this option. Then the colors B, C, M, Y are recognized as process colors and there will be no error messages during PPF import due to the incorrect color sequence.

"Print Order" List Box

With this selection you determine which print order in the PPF jobs is sent to the Press Center. You can choose between the following options:

​•​​Take print order from PPF

The printing order is determined from the PPF information and passed on unchanged to the Press Center.

​•​Take print order from marks colors (BCMYXZ...)

If you select this option and the "Allow spot colors on BCMY" option is selected, the color code mapping is done first and then the print order on the press is determined from this mapping.

Example: A sheet consists of the process colors cyan, magenta, yellow and the spot color PANTONE 2727 C. If you select the option "Allow spot colors on BCMY", the spot color PANTONE 2727 C is assigned to the color code of a process color. You specify which color code the spot color PANTONE 2727 C is assigned to using the color sequence. In this example, the color sequence "BCMY" was defined. This means that the spot color PANTONE 2727 C is assigned to the color code B.

Examples of using the "Allow spot colors on BCMY" option:

Use case 1:

Prinect Inpress Control controls the measuring processes using the color "Black" (color code "B"). Therefore, the color code "B" must always be assigned the process color "Black" or – if the process color "Black" is not defined – a (sufficient dark) spot color.

Caution: If an InpressControl color measurement system is installed on the printing press and no process color "Black" is defined in the job document or in the PPF data, a sufficiently dark spot color (recommended: the darkest spot color) must be assigned to the color code "B" in this use case! This assignment is necessary because, in this use case, InpressControl uses the color assigned to the color code "B" for position detection. See Example B: Job with dark Spot Color as "B" and Opaque White.

Use case 2:

Instead of a 6-color color control strip, a 4-color color control strip (defined in the prepress system) can now be used.

Use case 3:

In ArtPro+TM, only spot colors are defined for flexographic printing and one of the spot colors is "Yellow", which should not be adopted as process color Y, but as a spot color. For example, the following colors should be adopted as spot colors:

​•​PLM 1234

​•​Yellow

​•​PLM 5678

​•​PLM 9876

Then, in the "Method" list box, select the option "Color code assignment in PPF order". "BMCY" is selected as the color order.

Note: The use cases 4 and 5 described below describe situations in which one or more spot colors should be "mapped" to the colors black, cyan, magenta and yellow. In the "pure" Prinect Production workflow, i.e. in a workflow in which the Prinect Prepress Manager with the Prinect Renderer represents the prepress system, the option "Allow spot colors on BCMY" can be used. See Allow spot colors for BCMY for PrinectRenderer workflow and/or Allow spot colors for BCMY for the PrinectRenderer workflow. This option does not work in a PPF import workflow, so these use cases show how you can configure the "mapping" of spot colors to BCMY in the PPF Handler.

Use case 4:

Two individual PPF files, each with 5 colors (CMYK + spot color), are to be combined into one job. The spot color should not be included on the front side, while on the back side the spot color should be at the top of the color sequence instead of black. In addition, the color code "B" should be used for this spot color. For this application, proceed as follows:

​1.​First select the front side and then the back side and then click on "Merge".

​2.​On the front side, click on the spot color box to deselect it.

​3.​On the back side, click on the individual colors in the following order: spot color, cyan, magenta, yellow.
Attention! Be very careful not to change this order when clicking on the colors! If you click the wrong way, you will have to start the whole process again.

​4.​Activate the "Delete" option in the source PDF.

​5.​Click on "Process".

​6.​The combined sheet shows the spot color for "X". Check the color sequence. This will be used for processing with the Prinect Pressroom Manager.

​7.​​Change the color code "X" to "B" in the combined PPF sheet on the back side.

​8.​Click on "Process". This completes the manual changes and the PPF sheet is transferred to the Prinect workflow in the modified form.

Use case 5:

This use case is a variation of use case 4, but with different operation:

Two individual PPF files, each with 5 colors (CMYK + spot color), are to be combined into one job. The spot color should not be included on the front side, while on the back side the spot color should be at the top of the color sequence instead of black. In addition, the color code "B" should be used for this spot color. For this application, proceed as follows:

​1.​At first select the front side.

​2.​Deactivate the visibility of the spot color by clicking on the "eye" icon.

​3.​Click on "Process".

​4.​Select the back side.

​5.​Change the color code of the spot color to "B".

​6.​Click on "Process".

​7.​Select the front and back sides at the same time and click "Merge".

​8.​Set the color order of the back side as follows: Spot Color, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow.

​9.​Delete the source PDF.

​10.​Click on "Process". This completes the manual changes and the PPF sheet is transferred to the Prinect workflow in the modified form.

Overview of the color mark assignment for different use cases when the color "Black" is missing

Example A: Job with dark spot color as "X", special color sequence and opaque white

A job contains multicolor colors (C, M, Y, X, Z, U, V, ...) in a special color sequence that deviates from the standard. Opaque white is preprinted. In this combination, C, M, and Y are process colors; the process color "Black (B)" is missing. The other colors are spot colors.

InpressControl uses the darkest spot color for position detection – in this example, "Dark Blue." This color is assigned the color code "X".

Example B: Job with dark Spot Color as "B" and Opaque White

The job contains multicolor colors (C, M, Y, X, Z, U, V, ...). In this combination, C, M, and Y are process colors; the process color "Black (B)" is assigned the spot color "Dark Blue" in the job. Opaque White is preprinted.

InpressControl uses the spot color "Dark Blue" for position detection. This color is assigned the color code "B."