Graphics San Diego Paul Moebius Digital One Color

DC SoHo NY

DC Shoes SoHo New York

Sycuan Casino

In 2007 Digital One Color and CG Displays teamed up to image and install entry signs at Sycuan Casino. We handle: Stadiums Store Window Graphics Vehicle Wraps Custom Installations and Tradeshow Booths

Ollie Pop Vehicle Wrap

Sony San Diego

Sony San Jose

Shulaced Records Wrap

Trade Show Graphics

Trade Show Graphics for Truss and Lightbox Systems using state of the art Lightjet and UV Printing

Hanging Retail Displays

Double Sided UV Board Prints on FoamCore. Boxed & Shipped to 750 locations. Size: 30"x30" Squares w/ Grommets in top Corners

Sony - Park Ridge, NJ

Custom Window Viny - Sony - Park Ridge, NJ

General Atomics CLAW

General Atomics CLAW Display

San Diego Chargers

Nike

LG Mobile

Barricades

Construction Job Site Signs

Mural Graphics

3M 180C Adhesive Vinyl installed on .125 Styrene wall panels

Masterson

ED MASTERSON (website)

What have you been doing with ENDURA Metallic Paper?
MASTERSON: I have a ranch up in Julian, California. It is beautiful, and I always have such great scenes up there. I always wanted to bring up an 8 x 10 camera and start capturing images and enlarging them very, very large. I came across the [KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro 14n Digital] Camera that is 14 megapixels, and I started to take some shots that I would normally have wanted to do with an 8 x 10. I started blowing them up just to see how the resolution was, and they were coming out fantastically sharp.

When I went to a lab in San Diego, Digital One, they showed me the ENDURA Metallic Paper and told me what the longevity* of it was. I was truly impressed. We ran some tests, and ENDURA [Metallic Paper] and digital is just a marriage made in heaven. So we started to blow them up, putting them on board and framing them. I have produced probably 50 prints right now that are exhibition quality. I did an exhibition with a restaurant here sponsored in part by Korbel and Maserati-Ferrari. It was to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. We auctioned off probably three prints that went for close to $22,000 total. Then on top of that I sold close to $38,000 in prints.

Did working with ENDURA Metallic Paper inspire you to start selling art prints?
MASTERSON: Well, first of all, the camera gave me the ability to enlarge high-quality images on glossy stock. And the ENDURA Metallic Paper took it from a photo print to more of a fine art print.

Tell us about an image in particular that blew you away.
MASTERSON: "Phantom," photo of tissue paper that was crumpled and then laid out on a light table. On the computer, I inverted the image into a negative. What I have found is that with the ENDURA Metallic Paper, the blacks are really saturated. I mean, they go black, almost like ENDURA Metallic Paper absorbs light rather than reflects it, so I get very rich blacks. When I go to the highlights and mid tones, that paper, with its metallic sources, causes the image to almost dance on the surface. That is really impressive. When you are looking at it on the screen here, flat on your computer, it does'nt even do it justice.

How do the prints stand up to being mounted and displayed?
MASTERSON: Actually, when I sell the ENDURA Metallic prints, I use the fact that the image has 200 years of life* as a marketing hook. When someone sees the print, I tell them it will last longer than the Declaration of Independence* without the care.

I will tell you what else, I had a big display in a museum and a light that was hanging over a print to illuminate it fell and hit the print, and it did nothing to it; didn't even put a scratch on the print. I mount these and put them in frames, but I do not put them under glass because the gloss is so high. Though ENDURA [Metallic Paper] can scratch, I found that it is durable.

So what's your next project with ENDURA Metallic Paper?
MASTERSON: One of the other things that I am doing is designing a coffee table book of these images. It is going to be 11" x 17" in size and we have some layouts that we are working with now. It is all Kodak stuff. I'm only thinking about printing 1,000 of these. Also, I sent some pictures away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and they are under review. So we may get some work hanging in there, which would be great.

*ENDURA Metallic Papers state-of-the-art image stability is 100 years in typical home display, 200 years in dark storage, and one to five years for commercial display, based on product application including specific light levels and temperature conditions, testing conducted as specified in ANSI Publication IT9.9-1996 and ISO Publication 10977, Stability of Colour Photographic Images...Methods for Measuring, including use of illustrative endpoint criteria of 30% dye fade.

D1 Acquires 2nd Lightjet

Digital One has acquired its second Lightjet from Mesa Photo auction. In addition, Digital One has purchased Mesa Photo's 64" GBC Laminator. Digital One has also installed a new Zund L-2500 Freeform Graphics Cutter The Lightjet with its doors open

Aaron Chang

Digital One Color in San Diego is widely recognized for creative applications of the newest, most innovative digital printing technologies. - Range Finder Magazine Read more from Durst at: Durst USA The Client: Aaron Chang Gallery
The Players: Digital One Color (d1color.com)
The Tools: Durst Rho 600 Pictor, Zund L-2500 digital cutting system, Spartech Tuf-Glas

The Job: A stunning photo of clouds hugging Hawaii’s Na Pali coast mountains by photographer Aaron Chang struck a chord with art buyer Alex Zikakis, who has a house on the island. When Zikakis saw the image as an 8-foot Lightjet print at the opening of the Aaron Chang Gallery in Solana Beach, California, he immediately knew he wanted the same image for his office in California.

Inspired by the art in a lightbox he used to see in a New York train station, Zikakis commissioned Chang to display the Na Pali image similarly for his office. To produce the new image, Chang partnered with California-based print provider Digital One Color, which had produced the original Lightjet print.

Production: For output of the 1 GB image file, Digital One opted in this case to use its Durst Rho 600 Pictor UV flatbed printer, imaging onto Spartech Tuf-Glas with Durst inks.

“We chose this material because we could surface print directly on this rigid backlit material,” says Paul Moebius of Digital One. “We used the Rho because it could print continuously and because the matte effect gave the print dimension.” And, he adds, a glossier look would have whited-out some of the clouds: “The fact that we could surface print with UV inks also reduced glare and hotspots.”

Printing took 45 minutes, feeding the entire piece of 64 x 287-inch Tuf-Glas into the Rho. (For this “reincarnation” of the image, the shop didn't use the LightJet because it could not go the length of the desired print.) Finishing—cutting the final graphic from the parent sheet of Tuf-Glas—was done on the shop's 98-inch Zund L-2500 digital cutter, and required just 20 minutes more.

Installation was the time-eater here, taking six installers about 18 hours. The 24-foot-long lightbox from DSA Phototech—sourced by Chang—had to be permanently installed, and the final output graphic, which will change annually, could only slide in from one side. “Installation was a challenge due to the fact that the Tuf-Glas was rigid and 24 feet long and we only had 10 feet on one side of the lightbox to feed it in,” Moebius says.

Digital One Color has been in business for four years and employs 16 in its 10,000-square-foot workspace. It is looking for more space to add a Durst Rho 800, a Rho 320 UV Roll to roll, and a Miller Weldmaster.

Giant Lightjet Lambda Prints

Talk about serious imaging power, Digital One Color is the only shop in San Diego with two LightJet 430's you can image Giant Photo's San Diego! The Lightjet 430 has a 36-bit color space, capable of producing 68 billion colors, which ensures optimum control over the light source to reproduce color with perfect fidelity. In comparison, other photo printers are limited to 24 bits or 16.7 million colors.

There are some things that even a 1200 or 1400 dpi inkjet printer cannot do. They can simulate or come close to continuous tone, but there are special wide format printers that achieve continuous tone naturally. The Lightjet exposes photographic paper with laser light. There is no ink, and no printhead going back and forth, hence no banding, no grainy dot pattern.

A Lightjet photograph is an actual photographic print exposed by the Lightjet 430 laser photo imager. The printer reads the information in a digital file, then uses lasers to expose the image onto various photo materials made by Kodak and Fuji. This materials have been tested to be more archival than other popular color printing methods (lasting over 60 years without noticeable fading in controlled conditions), including Ilfochrome printing. Unlike inkjet prints, which lay ink on paper, Lightjet prints are made on light-sensitive photo paper, which is exposed with red, green and blue lasers.

Lightjet printers set the standard for true photographic quality. An internal drum holds photo media stationary while imaging with three lasers, achieving image quality superior to all wide format printers - photographic, inkjet and electrostatic.

Lightjet's imaging technology ensures a constant pixel size, shape and intensity over the entire image. Media is held stationary within a precision internal drum, while a spinning mirror directs laser light to expose the photographic material.

Using red, green and blue lasers, the Lightjet 430 achieves true continuous-tone. Inkjet and electrostatic printers, which simulate photo quality with half-tone dot patterns, would need to image at 4000 dpi to duplicate the same image crispness, highlights and shadow detail.

Archival quality: Normal exposure to indoor light sources should not cause any significant fading for 60+ years. Direct sunlight may shorten life. Not recommended for long term outdoor use.

The Lightjet 430 can print true continuous tone images up to 50" by 120" with a hardware optical resolution of 300 dpi. For high-volume applications resolution can be lowered to 200dpi (via dedicated set of large aperture optics), while doubling the output. A dedicated on-board interpolation engine allows for smooth scaling of low-res images for optimal printing results. Because of its generous colour gamut, art to be printed on LJ430 is best represented using AdobeRGB1998 colour space.

Lamination and Mounting

MOUNTING
Digital One's Three 64" Professional Laminators assure that your job will be completed on time. We can custom mount your photo on these and many other materials. We also offer many custom finishing and mounting services. Mounting photos on plexiglass is no problem. LAMINATION
We can laminate the front of your prints to protect and enhance the photo. We also offer front and back lamination for durability which can be flush cut to the edge or encapsulated for a completely sealed photo.

LIFE-SIZE CUT-OUTS/PUZZLE CUT-OUTS
Large prints which we mount on ridged boards are then freeform cut using our Zund Cutters and iCut Routers to desired shape. Often these life size cut outs of people or images are free standing and easel backed.

MURAL SPLICING
Splicing multi panel murals in order to produce one large impactful display.

From simple frames of gold, silver or wood, photo-track hanging strips for outstanding ceiling dsplays, to custom pop-up and portable displays, we can provide the finish your image deserves.We offer Velcro, Grommets, Hanging Clips and we can custom crate or box for shipping anywhere.

FINISHING OPTIONS

Foam Core Board - a display material with foam center and paper exterior. Available in black & white.

Gator Board - a display material with a hard exterior shell. Available in black & white.

Masonite - a compressed wood-mounting product.

Sintra - a water-resistant hard plastic display material. Available in black & white.

Textured Laminate - a polycarbonate, non-reflective finish.

Gloss & Matte Overlaminate - a protective hot or cold seal overlaminate.

Mount Back - a 10 mil pressure-sensitive white paper to add opacity to back, with gloss, matte or textured laminate on front.

Velcro Hangers - ¾" Velcro strips mounted to finished display backs. Available in black & white.

Hanging Grommets - eyehooks for hanging displays.

Easel Backs - self-adhesive chipboard easel-style stands.

Perimeter Trim - Edge wrap finishing frame trim ½" boards. Available in black, white and silver chrome.

Plexiglass - for display prints, front or back mounted. Various thicknesses available.

Mounting Blocks - for hanging presentation prints that have been mounted.

Custom Cutouts - custom shapes and fabrication, upon request.

Full Seal Laminate - for total encapsulation front and back, available in 3, 5 or 10 mil. thicknesses.

Repositionable Adhesive Backing - removable, repositionable adhesive. No adhesive residue left on surface.

Specialty Hangers, Stands & Materials - upon request

Booth Laminate - 20-mil lamination with white gloss backing and textured or smooth finish on front.

Scanning

We offer scanning services suitable for everyone from the hobbyist to pre-press professionals and photographers.

Black and White Copies

High Speed / High Volume Black and White Copies

Large Format Banners

Banners imaged on the HP Scitex XL 1500 Grand Format Printer are of the highest quality.

Technology	Drop-on-demand, piezoelectric inkjet 8-color: C,M,Y,K, LC,LM,LY,LK process Switchable between 4, 6 and 8-color process
Resolution (max)	370x740 dpi¹
Print size (max)	Width: HP Scitex XL1500 5 meters 5 m / 16.4 ft Length: media roll
Speeds (max)	HP Scitex XL1500 5 meters 124 sqm/hr / 1,333 sqft/hr
Media	Width (max): HP Scitex XL1500 5 meters 5.2m / 17ft Handling: Roll-to-roll or roll-to-sheet printing Types: Self-adhesive vinyl, PVC, mesh, fabrics, flexface banner, paper, and more.
Ink	HP Scitex XL300 Supreme. Pigment and solvent-based. Supreme ink is UV-durable for up to two years²
Special features	Switch between four, six and eight colors and back Load file while printing Sample mode sharp eight-point text Multi-roll handling Backlit and double-sided printing Skip white HP Supertext Zero gap between files

Photo Board Printing

The Pictor is ideal for:

Small items which, in the past, could not be printed digitally
Large Outdoor Signage
Printing on Glass
POS and POP displays, indoor and outdoor advertising and exhibition graphics

This amazing machine can print on ANYTHING, as long as it's under 64" wide and less than 1.5" thick. Featuring UV-curable inks, The Durst RHO 600 Pictor produces output that is detailed, vibrant, outdoors-friendly and very durable. Its advanced ink formulation has properties that allow inks to stick to any surface, including plexiglass or ceramics and, once exposed to UV light, are very stable and will not fade. Due to these qualities and the unit's blistering speed Durst is mostly used for printing store and outdoor signage, however artists are finding many diverse applications for this remarkable printer - we have printed on everything from denim to leather to neoprene. The Durst RHO 600 Pictor delivers 600dpi resolution (using a stochastic pattern) and has a wide range of quality settings - making it perfect for great many applications in any size, from mousepads to billboards. And last but not least - unlike it's polluting, solvent-inks-based brethren, Durst UV is environmentally friendly. Only Durst would assure Digital One that their process/inks were VOC and solvent-free. The Durst Rho 600 Pictor provided us with a good entry platform to get into the large-format UV inkjet market and it was the most environmentally-friendly printer we could find.

Color Copies

* Press Quality Color laser prints
* CREO RIP
* Resolution 600x600 dpi (8-bit depth)
* Max. paper size 13x19
* Heavy Gloss Card Stocks
* Transparent vinyl A4

Vinyl Banners

Blazing print speed and brilliant print quality The SJ-1045 is Roland's fastest inkjet, with an ultra-fast print speed of 484 sqft./hr. at 360 dpi that prints large banners in just minutes. Resolutions up to 1440 dpi and advanced variable droplet technology produce vibrant, photorealistic images and deliver a wide color gamut. New ECO-SOL MAX ink adds punch to your graphics Revolutionary new ECO-SOL MAX ink boosts the performance of your SOLJET PRO II V inkjet with wider color gamut, improved scratch resistance, faster drying time, and lower cost per square foot. In addition, ECO-SOL MAX is virtually odorless, safe to use, and durable up to three years outdoors without lamination. CMYKLcLm Six-color CMYKLcLm ensures optimum photorealistic quality and color gamut, even when viewing from a short distance. High capacity ink delivery system To ensure performance for long production runs, the high capacity ink delivery system incorporates a total of 24 - 220 cc ink cartridges. Automated media feed and take up system Large media can present a sizeable challenge. The SJ-1045's front-mounted feed and take-up rollers and dual idler roller system applies tension to rolls to ensure media is fed straight, even when unattended. The system supports rolls weighing up to 220 lbs. and offers convenient front access for loading and unloading of both feed and take-up rolls. Powerful Roland VersaWorksTM RIP Built upon a genuine Adobe® PostScript® 3 engine, Roland VersaWorks is a powerful software RIP developed exclusively by Roland engineers to give you greater control over color and a wide variety of layout, edit and print functions. Integrated heating system accelerates production An integrated 3-stage media heating system accelerates ink bonding, brightness and drying times. The energy-efficient system features a pre- and print-heater and a long sloping post-heater to quickly dry large print jobs. Rugged reliability you can count on The SJ-1045 is designed to be a bulletproof production machine.

Giclee Print

A New Evolution Has Arrived. How do you know when technology will forever change the way you produce your vision? How often does a technology come along that dramatically changes an industry?. Introducing the all-new Epson Stylus® Pro 9800. Inspired by past-generations of photographic printing technology, the latest 44-inch Epson Stylus Pro 9800 professional wide-format printers incorporate forward-thinking designs with a breakthrough new 8-color ink technology, resulting in a final print of uncompromising quality. Epson UltraChrome K3 ink technology represents a defining moment in the history of ink jet printing. Based on the newest-generation of pigment ink, Epson UltraChrome K3 ink incorporates eight new color pigments, including a new three-level black technology, dramatically raising the bar for professional color and black and white prints. Imagine producing archival prints with amazing color fidelity, gloss-level, and scratch resistance, while providing consistently stable colors that significantly outperform lesser ink technologies. Imagine producing professional neutral and toned black and white prints with higher density levels and virtually no metamerism or bronzing. Incorporating the latest 1-inch wide printhead, produces almost twice the print performance of the previous model line. While an astonishing resolution of 2880 x 1440 dpi deliver a level of image quality that even exceeds our previous best. Capable of handling virtually any media type, in roll or cut sheet, up to 44-inch wide, Epson once again sets the standard for professional media use. Whether you reproducing sellable color or black and white photography, fine art reproduction, or producing color accurate proofs for client approvals, never before have creative professionals had such a powerful tool allowing them to produce their vision without compromise. The latest wide-format printers represent a level of technology unprecedented in Epson's history. Combining the extreme precision of a Stylus Pro print engine, along with the extraordinary performance of UltraChrome K3 Ink technology, Epson has once again redefined the future of wide-format giclee printing.

Graphic Installation

In 2007 Digital One Color and CG Displays teamed up to image and install Petco Park and the iPayOne Sports Center. Digital One Color can handle the most extreme installations. We handle: Stadiums Store Window Graphics Vehicle Wraps Custom Installations and Tradeshow Booths

CNC Routed Signs

i-Cut CNC Free Form Graphics Routing i-Cut has become the graphics industry standard for perfect print-to-cut registration. iCut perfect free form shapes for POP Displays. Cut and Route Signs and Sign Letters. Large 6" Gantry Clearance allows ability to cut thick materials.

FreeForm Graphics Cutting

Digital One has one of the only Zund FreeForm Graphics Cutter in San Diego.

• Highly accurate, digitally controlled cutting system

• Tools include router, kiss cutting tool, drag knife, oscillating knife

• Conveyor system

• Support for roll based media

• Camera registration system for accurate cutting sheet after sheet

• Bar code system to correctly match printed output with vector cut path

Vinyl Letters and Stickers

Ideal for wide variety of applications including banners, signs, labels, cut decals, POP displays, vehicle graphics, cut letters and much more.

Rugged, scratch resistant ECO-SOL MAX ink

Precise Contour Cut Decals

Outstanding print quality for indoors and durability up to 3-years outdoors!

Soft Proofing PDFs

Soft Proofing with PDF

Soft proofing color is viewing color on your monitor with a screen preview for the way color is printed to hard copy. Rather than print a test proof and consume paper and ink, soft proofing is a digital process whereby you use your computer monitor screen to preview things like proper color assignments, overprints, separations, transparency, and similar issues that might cause problems on printing devices.

With the exception of previewing overprints, all soft proofing options are contained only in Adobe® Acrobat® Professional. Most of the options you find for soft proofing apply to high-end commercial printing; however, some features can be useful when you're printing to desktop color printers.

Printing and soft proofing in Acrobat Professional is a quantum leap in Acrobat development, and the new features added to the program rival the best applications used today for commercial printing.

Proof Setup

The soft proofing commands in Acrobat Professional are contained in the Advanced menu. Select Advanced and choose from options for Custom, Proof Colors, or Overprint Preview.

Custom

Custom enables you to select from a list of ICC (International Color Consortium) profiles. A number of preset profiles are available from which to choose and you can also create your own custom profiles and add them to the list. You create custom profiles with either software applications like Adobe Gamma or hardware/software devices that are designed specifically for calibrating monitors and creating ICC profiles. As a profile is created, it is saved as a file to your hard drive.

In order for Acrobat to recognize the ICC profiles you create, you must be certain that the profiles are stored in the proper directory. By default, utilities and commercial devices used for calibrating color save profiles to a directory that makes them accessible to Acrobat. If you want to remove ICC profiles so fewer profiles show up in the Proof Colors dialog box or you have problems getting a profile to the right directory, open the folder where the profiles are stored. On Windows the path is System32\Spool\Drivers:Color. On Macintosh OS X look in Macintosh HD:Library:ColorSync:Profiles:Displays. When new profiles are added to the folder according to your operating system, you can access the profiles in Acrobat after you quit the program and relaunch it if the profile was added while Acrobat was open.

To select a profile for color proofing, choose Advanced > Proof Colors > Custom and the Proof Setup dialog box shown in Figure 1 opens.

Figure 1: Choose Advanced > Proof Setup > Custom to open the Proof Setup dialog box.

From the pull-down menu you'll see a number of different profiles appear in a long list. If you have an ICC profile developed for your system as the result of calibrating your monitor, select the profile in the list. If you have not created a profile, you can choose from one of the preinstalled profiles. As a general rule, select a CMYK proofing profile such as U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) 2 for files you intend to print as process (CMYK) color. For RGB Files to be printed on the LightJet use ColorMatchRGB.

If you want to preview the PDF document as it theoretically is printed on paper, choose from either an ICC profile you created or from the preset profiles such as Euroscale, SWOP, and so on. For printing on offset press on coated stock use U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2. When you select one of the presets for soft proofing prints, the two check boxes for simulating ink and paper become accessible.

To ensure your color proofing uses the same profile each time you view a file onscreen, open a document in Acrobat. Choose Advanced > Proof Setup > Custom and choose the profile that works best in your workflow. Quit Acrobat and re-launch the program. The last choice you made becomes the new default. You do not need to quit the program to make the profile choice a new default, but if the program crashes during a session, you lose preferences applied in that session. Quitting after making a preference choice ensures you that the preference is held in all subsequent Acrobat sessions.

Simulate paper white

If the check box for Paper White is enabled in the Proof Setup dialog box, the preview shows you a particular shade of gray as simulated for the paper color by the profile you choose. You may find that the preview looks too gray or has too much black. This result may not be the profile used, but rather the brightness adjustment on your monitor. If your monitor is calibrated properly and the profile accurately displays the paper color, the preview should show you an accurate representation of the document as it is printed on paper.

Simulate Ink Black

When the Ink Black check box is enabled, the preview shows you the dynamic range of the document's profile. Dynamic range is measured in values usually between 0 and 4, although some scanner manufacturers claim dynamic ranges of 4.1, 4.2, or higher. A dynamic range of something like 3.8 yields a wide range of grays between the white point and the black point in a scanned image. If the dynamic range is high, you see details in shadows and highlights. If the dynamic range is low, highlights can get blown out and shadows lose detail. When you enable the Ink Black check box look for the distinct tonal differences in the preview and detail in shadows and highlights.

Proof Colors

Choose Advanced > Proof Colors to preview the document using a profile you selected in the Proof Setup submenu. If you select the Proof Colors dialog box and choose a profile, the Proof Colors menu command is selected for you. You can turn off proofing without affecting your profile choice by returning to the Advanced menu and selecting Proof Colors again to turn the proofing off.

Overprint Preview

Overprints are often used to trap colors when files are intended for printing separations. Trapping a color creates an overlap between colors so any movement of the paper when printed on a printing press prevents printing colors without gaps between the colors. In other cases, overprints may be assigned to colors in illustrations intentionally where a designer wants to eliminate potential trapping problems. For example, you might assign an overprint to text to avoid any trapping problems where black text is printed on top of a background color. In other cases, a designer might unintentionally assign an overprint to a color during the creative process. As a measure of checking overprints for those colors that you properly assign and to review a document for potential problems, you can use Acrobat's Overprint Preview to display on your monitor all the overprints created in a file. To view overprints in a PDF document, select Advanced > Overprint Preview.

Note: Overprint Preview is available in both Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Professional.

To understand what happens with overprints and knockouts, look at Figure 2. The composite image is created for printing two colors. These colors are printed on separate plates for two different inks. When the file is separated, the type is knocked out of the background, leaving holes in the background as in Figure 3. Because the two colors butt up against each other, any slight movement of the paper creates a gap between where one ink color ends and the other begins. To prevent the problem, a slight bit of overprinting is added to the type. In an exaggerated view in Figure 4 you can see the stroke around one of the type characters. The stroke is assigned an overprint so its color, which is the foreground color, prints on top of the background color without a knockout.

Figure 2: Type is set over a background. Two colors are used and the file is color separated so each color appears on a separate printing plate.

Figure 3: When color is separated and the background color is printed, the background appears with the type knocked out.

Figure 4: If an overprint is assigned to the type, the overprint area of the type color prints on top of the background color. If the paper moves slightly, the overprint prevents any paper color showing through gaps created by the misregistration.

Designers can apply overprints in programs like Adobe Illustrator. If a designer inadvertently makes a mistake and selects the fill color to overprint, the color of the foreground image results in a different color created by the mix of the two colors. In Figure 5 a file is opened in Acrobat and viewed without an Overprint Preview. The figure shows the document as it should be printed. When Advanced > Overprint Preview is selected the overprints shown in Figure 6 appear. As you can see by comparing the figures, the overprints assigned in the file were a mistake. By using Acrobat's Overprint Preview command you can check for any overprint errors contained in your illustrations.

Figure 5: A file is previewed in Acrobat without an Overprint Preview. The file appears as it is intended to be printed.

Figure 6: When you select Advanced > Overprint Preview, all colors assigned an overprint are previewed on your monitor. In this example, the overprint assignments were a mistake.

To carefully examine overprints assigned to type characters, select the Loupe tool in the Zoom toolbar. Move the cursor around the document to preview overprints on small type.

Calibration Ramp

Grey Ramp

Hold down your cursor on this greyscale graphic to download the image to your desktop or your color calibration folder. When setting up your Photoshop file for the Lightjet, add some space to one side of your canvas and paste this into that area. Now we can target a greyscale calibrated to our specs to achieve your desired color balance.

ProPhoto RGB

Understanding ProPhoto RGB Article from luminous-landscape.com

A Preferred Working Space for Digital Photographers

Most photographers work under the assumption that Adobe RGB 98 is the most suitable working space within Photoshop. Everyone also knows that the sRGB working space is smaller, and therefore less suitable for professional and fine-art printing applications. Sure, sRGB is fine for amateurs and the web, but real men use Adobe RGB – right?

Well, not really.

One of the most knowledgeable voices in the area of colour management over the last few years has been Bruce Fraser, the co-author of the current definitive work on colour management for photographers – Real World Color Management. In articles that he's written elsewhere Bruce suggests that digital photographers should consider working in the much larger ProPhoto RGB colour space. (ProPhoto RGB was developed by Kodak).

Though I'm familiar with the book and many of Bruce's other writings, and I knew that ProPhoto RGB is a bigger space than Adobe RGB, somehow there wasn't a mental connect – until recently.

What happened was – I had an epiphany. I was preparing for a presentation that I was to deliver to a seminar on colour managed workflow and fine art printing. As part of preparing my Powerpoint slides I wanted to show the difference between the sRGB and Adobe RGB workspaces, so I went into the ColorSync Utility, which is part of the Mac OS. This allows one, among other things, to look at graphic representations of profiles and colour spaces, and compare them.

Figure 1

The sRGB color space inside the Adobe RGB color space

For example, in the illustration above in Figure 1 the large ghost diagram shows the Adobe RGB 98 colour space, while the coloured diagram within represents the sRGB space. It's clear from this that the Adobe 98 space is quite a bit bigger, and that especially in the greens and reds / oranges, there is a lot of clipping if sRGB is used.

What does this mean? It means that if your file is in the sRGB space any colours that were in the original image or file will either be clipped or compressed, depending on the rendering intent used. In other words, they're effectively gone.

Now, most photographers know this, more or less, and this is one of the reasons that when shooting in-camera JPGs, if the camera allows one to set Adobe RGB rather than sRGB, this is to be preferred. Why throw away information forever if you don't have to?

Similarly, when working in a raw converter, most photographers know to export their files into Photoshop tagged as Adobe RGB, and of course to have set Adobe RGB as their working colour space.

This all seems very reasonable, and is common practice for most digital photographers. Me included.

So what was my epiphany?

____________________________________________________________________________

Cameras in Space

Figure 2

As I was doing screen captures for my presentation I noticed that a number of camera .ICC profiles were also listed. These had been put into the Colorsync directories by Phase One's Capture One raw conversion software. The profiles are for different lighting conditions, and are supplied for each camera that Capture One supports. They are selected and then tagged to the raw file within the program. Camera Raw within Photoshop does the same thing, except that it does so behind the scenes. It has a daylight and a tungsten profile for each camera that's supported, and these profiles are tagged to the raw file during processing.

Out of curiosity I loaded one of the Capture One camera profiles into the ColorSync viewer. Wow! The colour space was huge! I looked at a number of different camera profiles, and while they were different in many ways, they all were huge. Much bigger than the diagrams that I'd been looking at for sRGB and Adobe RGB.

To see this look at Figure 2 above. The image shows the Canon 20D generic camera profile as a ghost, with the Adobe RGB 98 profile within it. What a difference! The camera's colour space is much much bigger than the Adobe space, especially in the deep reds and blues. Only in the yellows is the camera space smaller than Adobe RGB 98.

What does this mean? Simply, that if you are using the Adobe RGB colour space with a Canon 20D, for example, (and this applies to virtually every other DSLR on the market), you are not getting a lot of the deep saturated colours that the camera's sensor is capable of capturing.

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ProPhoto RGB to The Rescue

What to do?

I immediately understood what I had been ignoring for years, even though I had read about it in Bruce's articles and elsewhere. I needed to be working in a bigger colour space, right from the raw processor through to Photoshop.

That's where ProPhoto RGB comes in.

Look at Figure 3 below. At first it shows the camera's colour space as the ghost, with Adobe RGB within it. But when you pass your mouse over it the colour image is of the ProPhoto RGB colour space. As you can see, this is a much, much closer fit. There are a few spots where the camera exceeds even ProPhoto, and a few places where ProPhoto is bigger than the camera's space, but basically it's a decent match. (Notice how ProPhoto now encompasses the yellows that Adobe RGB clips).

Figure 3

Adobe RGB vs. Canon 20D Profile Pass your mouse over the image to see... ProPhoto RGB vs. Canon 20D Profile

Below is a more traditional colour gamut chart. The large horseshoe shaped area shows the LAB colour space. This is the extent of human vision. Outside of this area human colour vision comes to an end. The open triangle shows the gamut encompassed by the ProPhoto colour space and the coloured triangle shows that of Adobe RGB.

Figure. 3b

Gamut chart created with ColorThink 2.1.2 Available for both Macs and PCs

What this comparison chart tells us is that while ProPhoto RGB encompass a great deal more of the visible spectrum, it actually exceeds it in the deep greens and deep blues. What this means is that colours can be pushed into areas which can neither be seen nor reproduced, producing very nasty looking results within the visible spectrum. User beware.

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ProPhoto RGB In Use

Using ProPhoto space is easy. In your raw converter, either output your files into Photoshop tagged with the camera's profile if you're using Capture One, or tagged with in the ProPhoto colour space if you're using Camera Raw. (ProPhoto RGB is Camera Raw's native colour space). When using other raw converters it will depend at the converter's capabilities.

You should also set Photoshop so that its working colour space is ProPhoto RGB. When the file comes into Photoshop make sure that if it comes in as ProPhoto RGB it stays that way, and isn't inadvertently converted to a smaller space such as sRGB or Adobe RGB.

Note as well that you must be working in 16 bit mode right through from your raw converter, because in 8 bit mode, with only 256 levels per colour channel, you run the risk of banding (gaps) if you perform large edits.

Is that all there is to it? More gamut providing deeper more saturated colours, and without any cost? Sort of. But, as with most things in life there's a gotcha, and that gotcha is as follows.

Figure 4

17" Powerbook monitor profile vs. ProPhoto RGB Pass your mouse over the image to see... Sony Artisan monitor profile vs. ProPhoto RGB

Above in Figure 4 you see the profile for the LCD screen on my 17" Powerbook inside the ghost ProPhoto colour space. Now pass your mouse over it. What you then see is the profile for my Sony Artisan monitor inside the same ProPhoto space. The Sony is bigger, but not that much bigger. (Parenthetically, the Eizo ColorEdge CG220 LCD monitor purportedly encompass the full Adobe RGB colour space. But it's priced at over US $6,000).

What should be obvious is that if you work in the ProPhoto colour space you have no way of seeing what the colours that you actually have available are, and likely no way or reproducing them. They're not going to disappear altogether, but they will be compressed into your printer's output profile space using the rendering intent that you specify.

So, why bother working in a larger colour space like ProPhoto RGB?

The main reason is the same as why you want to work in 16 bit mode rather than 8 bit mode. It gives you elbow room – room to work with the palette that the sensor has captured, change various aspects of the image to suite your creative needs, and not run into the walls, so to speak.

You'll likely also find that the better inkjet printers and inks are capable of reproducing saturated cyans, magentas and yellows that are outside of the Adobe RGB colour space, making ProPhoto a much better choice. (See Figure 6 below).

But, the price that you pay for having all this freedom is that you're capable of creating what some call "science fiction" colours. These lie outside the gamut of output devices as well as good taste, and they therefore can cause all sorts of problems. So, when working in ProPhoto RGB, or any really large colour space, restraint is the watchword.

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Gamut Warning

One way to see the effect if gamut clipping occurs, is to use the Gamut Warning function in Photoshop. It will highlight any out of gamut colours that the image you're working on will have within your current working space or display space.

Here's a good use for the Granger Test Chart which I wrote about recently. If you create two of them, one in the Adobe RBG space and another in the ProPhoto RGB space, you'll see how much less ProPhoto is out of gamut. Figure 5 below illustrates this. The first image shows gamut clipping on Adobe RGB, while the one seen when you pass your mouse over it shows what happens in the ProPhoto space.

Figure 5

Gamut clipping in Adobe RGB Pass your mouse over the image to see... Gamut clipping in ProPhoto RGB (Note:Adobe RGB is Gamma 2.2 while ProPhoto is 1.8, thus explaing the different depth of the black area in the Granger chart)

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Usage Warning

Figure 6

Illustration courtesy Jeff Schewe from A Color Managed Workflow which is found on the Adobe Web site.

In the end, using ProPhoto RGB as your working colour space has many advantages, though a few caveats. The main advantage to my mind is that as technology progresses, and we end of with affordable monitors and LCDs with wider gamut display capability, and as printing inks have wider gamut (Epson's new K3 Ultrachrome inks have a fuller gamut, not a significantly wider gamut), we will have image files that we can return to that can take advantage of these advances, rather than ones that were clipped at birth.

We also have files which will print better, even with today's inks and papers, and which with careful work, can experience greater manipulation without damage, in the same way that 16 bit images can over 8 bit images.

But, on the other hand, an image file in a wide space such as ProPhoto RGB needs to be kept in a cage, so that it doesn't accidentally get into the outside world. Anyone receiving a copy of such a file who doesn't know what they have, and who doesn't function in a properly colour managed workflow, or who presumes that the file is sRGB, can inadvertently use it to produce some really horrid results.

Display Calibration

Article by Matt Suess

One of the most important, yet often overlooked or ignored necessities of digital photography, is monitor calibration. I have heard countless excuses as to why photographers do not calibrate their monitor such as: its too complicated, too expensive, the monitor is brand new and doesn't need it, etc. Yet these same photographers spend countless time and effort struggling with their images because they are unhappy with the output, or worse, clients receive files that have a color cast or tonal range that the photographer was unable to see and therefore control. This article is here to help. First I need to eliminate the myth that "my monitor is brand new and doesn't need to be calibrated". Unfortunately this is a bad assumption. Monitor manufacturers love to brag how bright their display is, or how saturated their colors are. When you first plug in your brand new monitor, it sure does look great - very bright and colors that just jump off the screen. Manufacturers intentionally set the defaults of their monitors to be at their brightest with highly saturated colors because they are after the wow factor, and want their monitor to stand out above the rest in a crowded showroom to get you to buy it. While it may look good at first, it is far from optimal in evaluating true color and tonal range. Other photographers tell me that they use the Adobe Gamma monitor calibration software or similar that allows them to visually adjust brightness and color. Unfortunately these software "solutions" rely solely on software and the users eye to make adjustments - a poor solution when compared to using software and a hardware device that is designed to measure precise color and brightness. But isn't monitor calibration expensive and complicated? Not really, as the product I use and will explain in this article, the Eye-One Display 2 from GretagMacbeth, is relatively inexpensive at $249, and as you will see, the steps needed to calibrate with it are quite simple. If $249 is out of your range, you may want to look at the PANTONE® Eye-One Display LT at $169, and for the casual user there is the PANTONE® huey for only $89. I have not used either the Display LT or the huey, and the basis for this article is the Display 2, but both products would give much better results than not using any.

Eye-One Display 2 with Ambient Light Measuring Head

The Display 2 (called D2 here from now on) looks like a mouse, can be used on both CRT and LCD monitors, and includes an Ambient Light Measuring Head attachment. This attachment measures the amount and color of the ambient light reaching your monitor. It is important to make sure your monitor is in a location that is not too dark or too bright, as this will effect how your eyes see the monitor, and this attachment will let you know if you need to make adjustments to your room light. In addition, the space behind your monitor should be neutral in color, preferably a medium neutral gray. If you have a colored wall behind your monitor, your peripheral vision will pick up that color and effect the color you see on the screen. One should also use daylight balanced light bulbs for all light fixtures. I would suggest performing the ambient measurement first, before you calibrate your monitor. Make sure there are no direct light sources shining on your monitor and that it is clean and free of dust. Also it is a good idea to let your monitor warm up for a period of time (up to 2 hours ideally) before calibrating and doing serious color correction. Plug your D2 into an available USB port, and launch the Eye-One Match 3 software. For this article I am using version 3.6.0.

When the Match 3 software is launched, you are presented with a screen from which to choose various devices to profile. As I am going to profile my main LCD monitor, I have that selected, and I also chose the advanced option. Click on the arrow in the lower right to move to the next step.

We will start with measuring the ambient light, so check that box and attach the white measuring head to the D2. For now you can ignore the White point, gamma, and luminance settings, as those have no effect on the ambient light (we will be coming back to this same screen after the ambient light check to then address those settings). Click on the right arrow to proceed. A new screen showing how to place the head on the D2 is shown. Here is also where you calibrate the D2 itself by clicking on the Calibrate button. When done click the right arrow.

Hold the device as shown above and click on the Measure button. Adjust your lights in the room so that the measurement falls within the green, or safe range as shown below. When done, remove the ambient light head.

Normally, if the light is relatively consistent in your room, you will not need to preform the ambient light check very often unless you need to set up lighting for use during daylight and nighttime. Click on the left arrow until you return to the Calibration Settings screen.

Towards the lower right, you will see drop-down menus for White Point, Gamma, and Luminance. The settings I use are recommended for an LCD screen, and may or may not be ideal for a CRT. First I use the Native White Point and a Gamma of 2.2. Even though the native gamma for a Mac is 1.8, we do live in a PC world, so it is just easier to choose the PC standard gamma of 2.2. The luminance setting will determine how bright your screen is. After trial and error, I have come to use a luminance value of 130 - it is slightly higher than the recommended value of 120 for LCD monitors, but I have found that it more closely matches my output than does the 120 setting. Click the right arrow when done. You may notice that your monitor appearance has changed - not to worry, as the software is now disregarding any previous calibration settings and will start from scratch to build a new profile.

Place the D2 on the monitor and position it in the center. A counter weight is provided and attaches to the cable. This weight is placed behind the monitor to counterbalance the D2 and keep it in place. Make sure that the D2 is flush against the monitor and click the right arrow. You now need to adjust the contrast and brightness levels of your monitor to reach the luminance level you specified earlier. Some monitors may have those adjustments on the front of the display.

For the monitor I am using - a 17 inch Apple LCD - I need to open the computer's System Preferences, then click on Display to bring up the Brightness slider. This monitor does not allow me to adjust the contrast. Click Start to begin reading the luminance level. Match 3 will now take over your screen and perform a series of tests to determine the luminance level. Again, you are looking to match the value you set earlier as close as possible. Once adjusted, click on the stop button.

You are now ready to calibrate. Click on the right arrow, and Match 3 will again take over your screen, flashing various shades of colors and neutrals. After 4 or 5 minutes the calibration will be completed.

Once the calibration has been completed you will be presented with a results screen. Be sure to check the luminance values to make sure the target and current values are close. You can now rename your profile if you wish, and let Match 3 remind you to re-calibrate after a period of time - I have it remind me every 3 weeks. Click on the right arrow, and you are done. The profile is saved and automatically set as the default profile for your monitor. That's all there is - pretty simple and straightforward. Just make sure no one changes the brightness level and/or contrast settings, and you will now be viewing accurate color at the optimum brightness settings. Monitor calibration alone does not guarantee that your prints will match the screen, as there are many variables that need to be addressed when printing (some of which I may discuss in a future article), but it does guarantee that you are viewing your images correctly. And that is the first and most important step needed in troubleshooting poor output. Matt Suess has been a full time photography professional for over 18 years. Starting with newspapers and magazines Matt's career now centers around fine art landscape photography, in particular of the Southwest. He is currently based in Phoenix, AZ. To view his work please visit his website at: http://www.Dramatic-Landscape.com

Soft Proofing in Photoshop

The holy grail of digital printing is to be able to get the image that you print to appear as close as possible to what your screen displays. The first ingredient in this quest is to ensure that your screen is properly profiled. This was once a mysterious and expensive prospect, but now most experienced photographers understand that they need to buy a colorimeter for a hundred dollars or so, and profile their screen on a regular basis.

Of course the second step is to print using accurate profiles. These may be available from your printer or paper maker. Preferably you should have custom profiles made for your printer, your paper and your inks. Unless you frequently switch papers this isn't terribly expensive to have done. There are quite a few services online that will do this for you. The best profiles though are likely ones that you make yourself, but this requires spending at least $1,000 and involves the purchase of a spectrophotometer and accompanying software. For anyone using different printers and testing new papers as they come out, this ultimately ends up not being that big an expense.

Regardless of where the profiles come from though, using them is a must for any serious printing.

But, even with a proper profile for your particular screen, as well as printer / paper / ink combinations, many photographers are often disappointed with the results. What appears on screen simply doesn't match what is seen on the print, especially with regard to colour intensity and saturation.There is a solution, and it's known as soft proofing.

Soft Proofing- Soft proofing is simply a mechanism that allows you to view on your computer monitor what your print will look like when it is on paper. A specific paper. That paper and ink combination has been defined by the profile that you or someone else has made for your printer / paper and ink combination. When a printer profile is made the colour of the paper is one of the factors that is figured into the profile, because the spectrophotometer is reading the combination of the ink, and the paper that lies beneath it.

So, if you were able to view your image through the printer profile, you would be able to see how that particular combination of ink and paper would reproduce it, taking into account the gamut as well as other characteristics of the inks used.

Fig #1

Figure #1 above shows what is displayed when you select View / Proof Setup / Custom in Photoshop. If you now select the pull-down available next to Device to Simulate you will see a long list of profiles that are found on your computer, including the printer profile that you are interested in printing with, and therefore soft proofing.

Fig #2 & #3

Figure #2 shows a partial list of the profiles that are found on my computer, including in this case the paper profile that I would like to soft proof through. By selecting it along with a preferred Rendering Intent (either Perceptual or Relative, and you'll need to experiment to see which is preferable for any given image), you are now able to turn on soft proofing by pressing CTRL / CMD Y. This key stoke allows you to toggle back and forth between the image that you've been editing and the way that the image will look when it's printed out.

Image Editing- Well, that's nice, you may say. But by doing this the image looks really crummy. Sort of washed out. That's because paper simply can not reproduce the dynamic range that a monitor can. The range is about 100:1 to 150:1 for a print, and as much as 300:1 or even 500:1 for a screen. Also, the gamut of the screen and the paper / ink combination are different.

So – what can be done about it?

There are a couple of approaches. One is to turn on Gamut Warning with SHIFT / CTRL/CMD Y. If any of the colours are going to be out of the printer's gamut, they will be indicated, and you're then able to use various tools within Photoshop to bring the colours back into gamut, such as through the use of the Saturation control.But the problem with this is that you really don't know how the out of gamut colours are going to reproduce, and this often leads to needlessly desaturated prints.

A much better approach is as follows...

– duplicate your on-screen image. Image / Duplicate – then use Window / Arrange / Match zoom and Location – turn off soft proofing on the new copy. CTRL / CMD Y – switch to the soft proofed version – use any of the image editing tools available ( Levels, Curves, Hue & Saturation), preferably on an Adjustment Layer, to try and visually bring the soft proofed image close to the appearance of the one you have just created on screen. You may not be able to do it exactly, but likely it will be a much better image than what would result if you printed without soft proofing and those adjustments.

Figure 4. Left side shows Soft Proofing On.

Because of the conversion to sRGB for web display, Figure 4 above doesn't show as much difference as it does on my screen. But if you look at the foreground shadow area on the left-side image (displayed with soft proofing on), there is a quite noticeable difference.

Most imaging experts agree that Simulate Black Ink should always be left on. With this set you are quite able to judge the colour gamut of the print on-screen through the soft proof. If you turn on Simulate Paper Color you will now be able to judge dynamic range as well. But, the image on-screen will look washed out compared to the original image. The reason for this is that the whites will no longer be as bright as the monitor can display. The trick is to remove all user interface elements from the screen so that your eye sees nothing whiter than the whites on screen that are in the image.

You'll need to be aware of this behavior, and so my recommendation is to start off with Simulate Paper Color turned off, until you become familiar and comfortable with how what you're seeing will translate onto paper.

Zund / I-Cut Preparation

All your i-cut files need to be created using Illustrator or CorelDraw. A 1/4 point stroke needs to be placed around the area that needs to be cut. When configuring the cut layer try to use as few nodes as possible. 1/4 inch dots with a fill, no stroke, need to be placed next to the cut stroke on a different layer about 12 inches apart (less for easy cuts and more for complex cuts.) If a number of prints are to be made then they need to be placed on a page either 4´x4´ or 4´x8´. If a large number of square or rectangular prints are to be made then different layers for horizontal and vertical cuts need to be configured. The I-Cut system can knife cut or router. Keep in mind that the router bit leaves 1/8 inch radius on inside cuts. On knife cuts try to keep from making sharp turns on prints that get mounted to gator board. Please see your Design Image rep for the sizes and types of material that can be cut.

1/4 point stroke no fill

1/4 inch dots fill no stroke, use contrasting colors, black dots on white, or white dots on black.

Cut, score, dots and images should be on different layers.

Final cut file: