TrueFlow color profiles

[aprilmarie]

We are on TF 3.12.
Our shop has decided to go with Process-less Plates.
We are getting everything 10% or so darker than from the processed plates.
Can anyone tell me where I can use profiles inside TrueFlow. Where to install them, ANYTHING????
Kodak will be getting us a profile. Later this year we will upgrade our TF,
but until then we are without a service contract with TF.

Thanks
April
 

[ninjaPB_43]

April I was running my magenta a bit hot for awhile and was able to go into Start Menu > Truflow 3 > Output Device Utility > SGD adjustment.  From there you can open the profiles that TF is using, make adjustments to any/all of your colors, and then save it.  Then in Trueflow, on your HF & Ticket window, you can edit the "Rip for Recorder" SPM setting to use the adjustment you made, but you'll have to switch the SGD Adjustment drop down from "linear" to "Adjust" for it to make the change..   I think that'll get you headed in the right direction, if you are still having some trouble let me know and I'll try and post you some screen grabs.

[jimking]

Off the subject a bit. Are you going with Kodak chem-free plates? If you are, are these the chem-free plates when developed you can not see the image on the plate?

[aprilmarie]

Hi Jim

Yes. Some of us complain about the smell. I haven't noticed it badly, but hey the whole place smells right!
You can still see a the image, buts its  about a 1/3 of what is normally there.
We're still in the early stages. We use them here and there.

Thanks

APRIL

[ninjaPB_43]

April, I take it you got your color issues worked out?

[aprilmarie]

I'm afraid !!!!!!!
Our service contract is up and I hate to touch this system.
It was brought up again today. So i followed your lead.
How do I judge how far to curve them? Our yellow is heavy. Well i would assume they are all heavy.
Do I just start moving things 5% at a time or what?
And then should we keep using the one I save or bounce back and forth.
Plate waste will be high if I just start moving things around...

THANK YOU!!!!

[ninjaPB_43]

I'm afraid !!!!!!!
Our service contract is up and I hate to touch this system.
It was brought up again today. So i followed your lead.
How do I judge how far to curve them? Our yellow is heavy. Well i would assume they are all heavy.
Do I just start moving things 5% at a time or what?
And then should we keep using the one I save or bounce back and forth.
Plate waste will be high if I just start moving things around...

THANK YOU!!!!

April, I apologize for the delay,  this Screen forum is so dead most of the time it gets overlooked.

This is totally non-conventional and will probably irk some color people, but it worked for us and should just be a basis for your investigation and not the holy bible about how to change color using Trueflow. The proper way is to use a spectrophotometer and get actual measurements to plug in. As well as footprinting your press for dotgain. That being said:

What I did in my SGD adjustment was to start by clicking the tab for magenta(in your case yellow) under "Measured Value" for the color being changed and in the 50% box under "Measured Value", I  plugged in 53% beside the 50%. Basically, without measuring anything, I'm telling it that my magenta dots are measuring 53% where they are supposed to be 50%.  From there moving towards the 2% box I made the following adjustments, for 45% I plugged in 48%, for 40% I plugged in 42%, for 35% I plugged in 37%, for 30% I plugged in 32%, for 25% I plugged in 26%, for 20% I plugged in 21% and for 15% I plugged in 16%, and then for 10%, 5% , and 2% I left them alone.

Now moving from the 50%(already changed) towards the 100% -I made the following adjustments: for the 55% I plugged in 58%, for 60% I plugged in 62%, for 65% I plugged in 67%, for 70% I plugged in 72%, for 75% I plugged in 76%, for 80% I plugged in 81%, and for 85% I plugged in 86% leaving 90%, 95%, 98% as is, and 100% is greyed out and cannot be changed.

What you end up with is 3 boxes with a 0% change, 3 boxes with a 1% change, then 3 boxes with a 2% change, then 3 boxes with 3% change(these falling in those mid-ranges), and then
back to 3 boxes with a 2% change and 3 boxes with a 1% change and then 3 boxes with 0% change. That creates the "curve" as will be shown when you click "Update Curve".. 

In effect it is a manual curve..  and again, I am probably going to get an ear full about color management and how what I did is incorrect method, but it worked for us..  We are just a mailhouse and we only have maybe 2 jobs a year where color is super critical..  While color is important and we usually hit proofs very nicely, our pressmen do chase color in their make-ready, instead of true CMS where you make the press the constant and apply a curve to the proofer.

By telling Trueflow you are measuring higher than the dot is supposed to have, Trueflow will "adjust" the other direction when sending to plate.  ie, a 50% dot will plate as a 47% dot, but when it hits paper will produce a 50% dot. 

I hope that makes sense and I hope you are able to get your colors under control.  As mentioned originally, this is in no way a scientific or correct method for adjusting plate color and may have varied results.  But rather is a way to make a slight adjustment to individual plate colors without footprinting a press and without measuring with a spectrophotometer.

[aprilmarie]

Thats what we ended up doing. Incorrect or not it worked.
Today we had to switch back to the old (processed) plates. We are having trouble with the processless plates and a line showing and printing. Problems, Problems, always something.
So far no one can figure out what is going on. Perhaps the process is working right. We're having several guys looking into it.
Today I had to put in the old numbers. Can't figure out a way to save these numbers without saving over them. Anyone?