Very basic color management in apparel industry use
Very basic color management in apparel industry use
- Subject: Very basic color management in apparel industry use
- From: K Gardner <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 13:00:07 -0400
Greetings. As I read the messages in this list I am reminded of how
similar and yet how different are the needs of most apparel/textile
designers from print-targeted designers. Several years ago I was the
implementor of a textile CAD system at a major apparel manufacturer.
That installation included first one and then two Iris color inkjet
printers, first the SmartJet 4012s and then the 5015s. Although for
many people these printers were used as proofers, for us they produced
the final product. We were using their output to gain color approval of
our fabric/textile designs. As such, even the 2 delta-e variances
between our two 5015's which may have been acceptable under "normal
circumstances," were unacceptable in our workflow.
For this reason, we did not use traditional color management workflow.
Instead, we printed color tables on each printer, with the cmyk values
used in creation of each color printed below each color block. For a
given design we first visually selected the colors desired from these
color charts, and then simply plugged the appropriate values into our
design program. If a design needed to be printed on printer "B" instead
of printer "A," we would adjust the numbers accordingly to account for
that printer's peculiarities. There was virtually no attempt to
regulate how it looked on the display.
It probably sounds more cumbersome than it is. Considering that for
each new design season we first determined our color palettes, to be
used for all the different styles in that design group, the bulk of the
color matching and determining was done at the beginning of each
season, roughly 4 times a year. After that, it was just "color by
numbers."
I am now a consultant working on a variety of projects, and find myself
having inherited a couple of textile/apparel design firms to support.
They have done little in the way of color management, but wish to
improve on this. While they are admittedly far more tolerant of color
discrepancies than my earlier employer had been, still... it has to be
close. I had thought to set up the appropriate ColorSync profiles for
the devices used in their workflow, but was stopped almost immediately
by the fact that -- well -- where are the profiles? In the present
case, their main output device is a Canon Color Laser Copier 1120.
Canon, of course, is no help at all. Looking at their website, you'd
think that the 1120 didn't even exist, let alone finding ColorSync
profiles for the device. But so too for at least one of their scanners,
which hasn't been made for some time.
It seems to me that the CS workflow is only as good as the profiles
that are used. So how do I start with this? Do I need to get a
spectrophotometer or a colorimeter and start creating my own profiles?
That sounds really painful at this stage of the game. Or is there a
heuristic method that someone can share? Please advise. I would prefer
responses to this list or via direct email, but phone is acceptable as
well, subject to my availability. Thanks in advance.
- - - - - - - - - -
Keith Gardner
email@hidden
646-229-1293
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