Spyder3Print - Printer ICC maker!

[pisquee]

Spyder can edit ICCs that it has created itself.
The new/latest version of our kit (Spyder Studio 4) seems to sell for around £400 online.
(The £210 we paid for Spyder Studio 3 was used, although in very good condition - didn't look like it had been used)

[Jason]

Am I the only one wondering how exactly do you use these, and what do they do.

[dazzul]

Another ? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datacolor-Spe ... 3cdd3c0f65

[pisquee]

Am I the only one wondering how exactly do you use these, and what do they do.

You use the software to print off a chart of up to 1000 slightly different coloured squares.
The software knows the colour that the squares should be if the printer and inks were pure and perfect, and the surface being printed to didn't influence things at all.
You then use the colour measurement device (which connects via USB) to scan 1 by 1 each of the 1000 squares.
This the tells the software what the printer has actually printed, and so it can compare to what it should have printed, and create a compensation for the variance, and make a resulting ICC profile which is unique to the printer, inks, and printed surface.
If you have your own, you do not need to rely on an ink manufacturer supplying an ICC, or being restricted to only the printers they have created them for. It also means you can be more accurate as your printer will not print exactly the same as the one they used to create their profile. Equally, for sublimation, you can create a number of profiles for the different product types you make (which is what we do) as a piece of polyester suedette will not print the same way as a white ceramic for instance.

[pisquee]

Another ? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datacolor-Spe ... 3cdd3c0f65

That's the kit we use - with the extra sensor for calibrating monitors, and the nice case

[Jason]

Thanks Pisquee, I understand, you are scanning the sublimated item rather than the printed paper, and then you are selecting this corrected profile for each of the items you are producing.

Currently I have a CMYK chart printed out on the items I produce and select the colours from this, sounds like this gadget might be a better solution.

More of a problem for me tends to be getting the colours on screen to match what actually prints, I'm guessing this is where the extra monitor sensor comes in.

[pisquee]

Yes, we scan paper if we are printing to paper for printed artworks, and for sublimation we scan the final printed product - no point scanning the transfer paper.

Yes, the monitor calibration using this kit, means that what we see is what we print

[kevdsn]

You use the software to print off a chart of up to 1000 slightly different coloured squares.
The software knows the colour that the squares should be if the printer and inks were pure and perfect, and the surface being printed to didn't influence things at all.
You then use the colour measurement device (which connects via USB) to scan 1 by 1 each of the 1000 squares.
This the tells the software what the printer has actually printed, and so it can compare to what it should have printed, and create a compensation for the variance, and make a resulting ICC profile which is unique to the printer, inks, and printed surface.
If you have your own, you do not need to rely on an ink manufacturer supplying an ICC, or being restricted to only the printers they have created them for. It also means you can be more accurate as your printer will not print exactly the same as the one they used to create their profile. Equally, for sublimation, you can create a number of profiles for the different product types you make (which is what we do) as a piece of polyester suedette will not print the same way as a white ceramic for instance.

Scan 1000 squares 1 by 1 ... wow how long does it take to produce a profile?

[pisquee]

Takes about 1/2 an hour to do the scanning - really boring job! There are more expensive systems where the scanning process is automated, but you would have to be doing a lot of profiles to make the extra investment worth it.

[Paul]

Pl. So now i know why is such a price gap there. My takes 5min for 1100 samples.