Colour validation tests and the output profile accuracy test provide you an objective method to evaluate the colour reproduction on the media you select. The reference printing conditions of the default colour validation tests are already defined, as well as their quality levels and tolerance levels.
The pre-defined FOGRA and IDEAlliance colour validation tests verify against digital print certifications. When you want to check the colour reproduction of the printer against other printing conditions, you can define your own colour validations tests.
The output profile accuracy test verifies how accurate the output profile fits the colour reproduction properties of the media.
You can perform a colour validation test for several reasons:
You want to know if the printer is able to print the colours on the selected media according to a reference printing condition.
You want to know if the printer is able to print the same colours on the selected media over time.
You want to check the colour reproduction against: FOGRA Print Standard Digital Certification, FOGRA Validation Printing System Certification, or Idealliance Digital Press Certification Program.
You want to check the colour reproduction on the selected media against your own reference printing condition. Therefore, you create your own test and define your own printing condition, quality levels, tolerance levels and metrics.
The traditional side-by-side evaluation method checks if printed colours exactly match the colours of the reference printing condition. The media relative evaluation takes into account that the paper white values of the printed media and the reference media can be different. Therefore, the media relative method uses a non-linear algorithm to compensate for the different white points. The SCCA (Substrate-Corrected Colorimetric Aims) evaluation method, used by IDEAlliance tests, is also based on the media relative evaluation.