ColorLogic News

RHEINE, GERMANY — In January 2020, the FOGRA Research Institute for Media Technologies organized and hosted its second annual comparison test conducted from April to October 2019 for state-of-the-art multicolor solutions. Along with several other color management providers, ColorLogic GmbH tested their solutions using actual print samples and a controlled offset printing process. They also opted to participate in all seven categories and emerged with excellent results. The categories included Spot Color Overprint Prediction, PDF Integrity, 7 Color Characterization & Separation, Proofing, Color Prediction with Limited Input, Ink Replacement, and Color Prediction with Inking Variation.

The company’s performance at FOGRA

Overall, the ColorLogic team was thrilled with their performance in the test. “We spent a lot of effort in the past months, especially on optimizing and extending our multicolor technology in all our products,” stated Thorsten Braun, ColorLogic’s Chief Technical Director. He also stated,“This can be seen in our outstanding performance in the use case covering color prediction but also in the integration of industry standards for multicolor, such as the CxF/X-4 support.”

“I think it is also important to point out that we did the test with our end-user products. These weren’t lab results or a single fine-tuned file which we handed in. We used our products, ColorAnt, CoPrA, and ZePrA, to run these tests and our Applications Specialists performed them. This means that every ColorLogic user is capable of getting the same results,” added Barbara Braun-Metz, ColorLogic’s CEO. Over the next few months, the company will start to provide short video clips on their YouTube channel to show how these tests were conducted.

A new proofing feature

The software created by ColorLogic, was able to retain the vector integrity when converting spot colors and flattening the PDF sample file. All other participants except one, had to rasterize the PDF file. Keeping the vectors was by far more complicated to achieve and allowed for last minute editing and retainment of text. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that ColorLogic applications also created the smallest file size, which is crucial for efficient performance in production.

The main highlight was the new proofing feature in the soon-to-be-released ZePrA 8 Smart Color Server, which supports the CxF/X-4 standard. Not only did it deliver outstanding results it was also able to incorporate the FOGRA Multicolor media wedge. Furthermore, ColorLogic lead the forum using their color profiler, CoPrA 6, by providing the only solution in this test that was capable of iterating multicolor data.

Another important functionality of spectral overprinting technologies for multicolor and CMYK production was the updating of available characterization data due to changed inking (solid coloration). In the use cases about exchanging colors in a characterization data set, the Edit Primary tool in ColorAnt 6 delivered the best results. Just by using this tool, every user can produce the same results on the same level.

Improvement of new technology

This second annual FOGRA Multicolor Forum not only provided a platform for testing and comparisons of various solutions, but it also showed in which areas multicolor technology has improved. In the first multicolor forum in 2018, FOGRA stated, “multicolor technology has left its infancy.” They now come to the conclusion that ”multicolor technology has mastered adolescence”. The industry as a whole has to continue with their effort on optimizing. Most notably is the communication of ECG measurements and characterization data, in addition to developing an objective metric for ECG separations.

“ColorLogic is grateful for the opportunity to test our technology at the FOGRA Multicolor Forum. This confirms years of hard work and effort in creating the best color management solution. Our strengths shined. It also helps us to further improve our solutions to meet the changing market’s demand, and to make our user experience the best it can be, all while contributing to progress of the industry’s technology,” states Barbara Braun-Metz.

For details and test results please refer to the FOGRA website.

About FOGRA: The objective of FOGRA Research Institute for Media Technologies is to promote print engineering and its future-oriented technologies in the fields of research and development, and to enable the print industry to utilize the results of this activity.