We have been asked to do some backup work for a customer that has a Colorspan Hires8 printer. We own a Colorspan Series XII printer. We have printed an identical file on identical material as the Hires8 and while the colors are close, they are not close enough. We have Postershop Pro/server with the profiler/Xrite bundle and hope there is an easy way to take color readings from both images and and identify the necessary profile changes to create a profile that will allow our Series XII output to more closely match the hires8 output. I have not been able to find any written procedure on how to do this. Your help would be appreciated. DB

-- Anonymous, January 12, 2000

Answers

My first suggestion is to run your Colorspan Series XII in 8 color mode. Since I don't have a Colorspan Series XII I am not sure if that is possible. If it is possible, make sure you use the same exact inks/profiles/mediamodel that your customer is using and verify his exact settings to match yours, and your prints should be identical.

From my experience with the Colorspan DM6100, the XII is pretty much the same machine with more print cartridges. Both models have an internal "black box" that manage how the medium and light inks interact with the regular inks to create the desired color. So if you use your machine in 12 color mode, the ink densities placed on the paper is calculated differently than a machine using 8 color mode.

I hope that is helpful.

John Mendoza Pacific Imaging Los Angeles

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2000

If the customer with the Colorspan 8 color has a profile for the ink/paper combination they are using you may have some success by using that profile as an intermediary step. Make sure you are using the same source (input) profile they use. In the Advanced profile dialog box add the profile for the 8 color printer so that: you process in this order -- source:proof:destination -- where the proof is the 8 color device profile. This may allow for the simulation of the output of the 8 color printer on the 12 color printer.

If the 8 color machine produces a gamut which excedes the gamut of the 12 color printer, which it may, you may not be able to reproduce the exact same output. The fact that the 8 color is a 300 dpi device and the 12 color is a 600 dpi device may also be contributing to the mismatch.

Cheers, Don

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000