The colour management system of PRISMAsync controls the reproduction of colours and handles the conversion of input colours (RGB, CMYK, spot colours) to printed colours on paper. PRISMAsync has two instruments for easy colour management across the entire workflow: colour presets and media families.
Furthermore, PRISMAsync offers the advanced colour management options to increase the colour features of your printer.
This topic describes:
Colour presets
Media families
Input and output profiles
Advanced colour management features
The PRISMAsync colour presets simplify the complexity of colour management. You select an appropriate colour preset when you prepare a print job with Remote Printer Driver or PRISMA software. The definition of an automated workflow and a hotfolder also include a colour preset selection. The use of colour presets saves time and does not ask for an in-depth knowledge on colour.
The colour presets in PRISMAsync Remote Printer DriverDefault colour presets
PRISMAsync includes the following default colour presets:
Office documents
This colour preset is optimal for colour reproduction of text and graphical lines in office documents. PRISMAsync converts the colours to more saturated colours for the printed output.
Photographic content
This colour preset is optimal for the reproduction of photographs, pictures, and images.
Rendering intents
A colour preset contains among other settings a rendering intent. Input colours not always fit in the colour gamut of an output device. The rendering intent tells the colour management system how to handle these colours. The following rendering intents are available on PRISMAsync:
Relative colorimetric
Frequently used and suitable for proofing applications on reference paper. White point compensation is applied. The white point of the output colour space is the colour of the used media.
Absolute colorimetric
Mainly suitable for proofing applications on bright white paper. No black and white point compensation is applied, so the precise input paper colour is simulated on the used media.
Perceptual
Mainly suitable for photographic input. The colours are mapped in a continuous way and colour nuances are respected. White and black point compensation is applied.
Saturation
Mainly suitable to obtain highly saturated colours and business graphics. Out-of-gamut colours are mapped to more saturated colours. White and black point compensation is applied.
For more information about the creation of colour presets:
On the control panel, see Learn about the print job settings.
In the Settings Editor, see Configure colour defaults.
A media family is a set of media that has comparable print quality specifications, such as surface type, colour and substrate type. A media family defines the colour output profiles for the media. Each media family has three different output profiles, for the halftone screens Normal, Fine, and Error diffusion. When you have more than one halftone screen in a single job or page, PRISMAsync automatically applies the related output profiles for optimal colour management in the job.
For more information about media family:
Specification, see Add media to the media catalogue.
Creation on the control panel, see Create output profiles with the embedded profiler.
Creation in the Settings Editor, see Configure the media families.
Input and output profiles define the transition from input colours, for example the RGB colour values of a photo, towards output colours, for example the CMYK colour values of your printer. The colour management of PRISMAsync transforms the colour input space to the colour output space via the standards of the ICC, the International Color Consortium.
PRISMAsync comes with high quality colour output profiles for both coated and uncoated media. PRISMAsync links output profiles to media via media families. Each media family has three different output profiles, for the halftone screens Normal, Fine and Error diffusion.
The Advanced colour management license offers the following colour features:
Device simulation, to simulate or proof other print engines or offset presses with your print system.
Device Link support, to import Device Link profiles for special CMYK conversions.
Named colour profile import and export, to extend the functionality of spot colour libraries.
Information bars, to print extra metadata on printed output. There is one default information bar, but you can compose other information bars. Information bar selection is possible in Remote Printer Driver, PRISMAprepare, and via automated workflows or hotfolders.
Colour control bars, to print extra colour patches for control of colour output via FOGRA verification. With a colour bar you check the ink density, dot grain and contrast. Use default or compose custom colour bars. The colour bar selection is available in the Remote Printer Driver, PRISMAprepare, and via automated workflows or hotfolders.
Colour mappings, to convert RGB, CMYK to a specific colour, for example your corporate colour. Colour mappings are useful to map colours in the input file to a fixed colour of a spot colour library.
Leave out separations, to exclude specific spot colours from printing. You can exclude layers for printing when you map the colours of these layers to a spot colour with the value “None”. You can use leave out separations for white separations, cutting marks and spot layers to indicate the use of foil or a gold print.
Embedded profiling, to create your own ICC or G7 output profiles with the embedded colour profiler.