Hi everyone - I'm a little new to the printing industry, and the company I'm working for is trying to get our printer (a VJ-1604) to color match.
What is required to do this? I've been told by some that we need a spectrophotometer, but is this the only route?
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There are a number of ways to do this without spending a small fortune on calibrated screens and or equipment.
Manually calibrate test prints to PMS and paint swatch books by sampling the file colors. You can design in the matching color palette .... nearly all vector programs let you use various palettes.
Prior to running the job you have to calibrate for a match. The medium you're printing on makes a difference too as each type of material absorbs ink differently. Your Rip software should have tools to save profiles when you have found a match. Remember that each medium absorbs ink differently.
There's a learning curve for sure. There are "hardware" profiles and filters that can be used in various vector software programs as well as profiles for the multiple rip programs.
Regardless what route you take, always plan on running a scaled down print in full color and colors separations to insure a match to the specified color.
Again, there's a learning curve..... before you run a large job and waste pricy material/medium, run the test prints of the predominate colors to match on a smaller scale.
compare them to the PMS, Paint, sample color you are trying to match. Adjust in your favorite professional software.... adobe, corel, flexi, etc. (since I've been doing this a while ....Adobe CS4 has the most powerful tools to adjust images but again there is a learning curve.)
Good Luck