EFI Colorproof XF

[DigiCorn]

Then you aren't doing it right. Using one-bit tiffs you should should get a file for each color, including spots, and it does use the spot pantone table in EFI.

_help?!?

I took yesterday off to fix some plumbing issues at my house

What issues? Did you clog your toilet pipe?

It was your potty mouth that clogged it

[Joe]

Then you aren't doing it right. Using one-bit tiffs you should should get a file for each color, including spots, and it does use the spot pantone table in EFI.

_help?!?

Not sure what exactly you are having problems with but you do know what a one-bit tif is and how to create them right? And you have the one-bit tiff addon for EFI which is an extra licensed option?

[DigiCorn]

Then you aren't doing it right. Using one-bit tiffs you should should get a file for each color, including spots, and it does use the spot pantone table in EFI.

_help?!?

Not sure what exactly you are having problems with but you do know what a one-bit tif is and how to create them right? And you have the one-bit tiff addon for EFI which is an extra licensed option?

I do not have the 'One-bit' license, but I have sent it 1-bit tiffs from Rampage and it runs them, albeit cmyk only. This is probably the issue with spot colors and 1-bit tiffs from Rampage, ya think? I didn't know it was an EFI added expense.

[Joe]

Well if you sent it one-bit tifs, which are screened and separated bitmaps, not sure how you got a CMYK proof out of EFI because you have to have the one-bit tiff option for EFI to be able to merge the colors back into a composite for making a color proof. Which can include spot colors.

[DigiCorn]

In EFI you can manually load or send to a watched hotfolder a .tif, an .eps, a .ps a .pdf, a .psd, a .jpg and I'm not sure what else. Attached screenshots to show tif vs ps options. Choosing the 'spot color library' option on the tif requires a color definition table created in Rampage; not the EFI table.

[Joe]

One bit-tifs have no color information in them. They are all bitmaps. Everything inside the file is either 100% black or nothing. EFI uses the information in the file name to decide what color they should be. If you have the one-bit tiff option in EFI and send over a one-bit tif that has the name as Test_PANTONE 032 RED then it will pick up the PANTONE 032 RED from the Pantone Color Table within EFI. Of course depending on how you set EFI up to pick up file names. C = Cyan, M =  Magenta, etc...

The EFI options for the tifs you are talking about are for composite raster tiffs.

[DigiCorn]

I thought a contone (continuous) was a bitmapped file.
When you manually load a .tif into EFI, yes, that's a raster composite, but I thought the contone from Rampage was the 1-bit file I needed to send. Do you think I should build a sample table to draw from in Rampage and see if this solves the issue? Or is not having the one-bit license from EFI going to nip-it-in-the-butt and only give me a cmyk?

[Joe]

This is a one-bit tiff like EFI one-bit uses. The first is zoomed out but you can see the screening patter. The second one is zoomed at 100% where you can see the dot shap (round). You have a file for each separation. If your platesetter uses one-bit tiffs it gets one file like this for each color including spots. One can apply press and dot gain curves to file as it is being screened and the advantage is the EFI is using the exact same file to proof with as what is making the plates And EFI does not have to rip anything. It's all done on the workflow RIP. Rampage in your case. It was earlier mentioned that if send EFI a postscript file that EFI has to RIP it and it may not RIP the same as Rampage RIPs when it create your plate files. That is why tiff was suggested, because it is already a ripped file, but you do lose your spots or at least you say you do. I don't know Rampage so I'll take your word for it. But it's going to be converted to CMYK at the printer unless your printer has ink cartridges for the entire pantone library. As long as Rampage converts the spots to process correctly you should be able to get the color as what you see with PS files with spots intact.

The term bitmapped is ambigious at best. In certain contexts, the term bitmap implies one bit per pixel, while pixmap is used for images with multiple bits per pixel. But a one-bit tiff is like what is shown below.

[Joe]

I thought a contone (continuous) was a bitmapped file.
When you manually load a .tif into EFI, yes, that's a raster composite, but I thought the contone from Rampage was the 1-bit file I needed to send. Do you think I should build a sample table to draw from in Rampage and see if this solves the issue? Or is not having the one-bit license from EFI going to nip-it-in-the-butt and only give me a cmyk?

That's not a one-bit file. It's either 24 bit (RGB) or 32-bit (CMYK).

[DigiCorn]

...but you do lose your spots or at least you say you do. I don't know Rampage so I'll take your word for it. But it's going to be converted to CMYK at the printer unless your printer has ink cartridges for the entire pantone library. As long as Rampage converts the spots to process correctly you should be able to get the color as what you see with PS files with spots intact.

Part of the issue - Rampage does not convert spots correctly; it converts based on how the spot is defined by the native file. Like all dezingers, the build of Pantones is inconsistent, so when it gets to Rampage, often you have different definitions for the same spot color, even sometimes on the same page. If you allow Rampage to convert and send to EFI, you'll get all variations of the same color. Using the .ps output, as I currently do, allows EFI to utilize it's spot table and unite all colors to the a LaB match and visually they will appear the same on proof (which in my case is almost nuts on to the swatch book). Yes, the Pantone prints cmyk (in 8-color mode) on the 7880, but it matches, which I cannot do in a straight cmyk conversion from Rampage.
If I wanted to take the time, I could program Rampage with a singe definition for the entire Pantone library, and let it use that as a common definer for all spot colors... but who has that kind of time?
It looks like not having the one-bitt tiff option on EFI i the culprit. But it could also be that Rampage (at least outfitted with the options we have) cannot export a 1-bit tiff for proofing other than the file it makes plates from (only I cannot send that file anywhere other than the platemaker), so it could be a double-whammy.

[gnubler]

Your boss must be out of the room today. You're typing a lot.

[Joe]

Well, you would definitely need to have the one-bit option for EFI to use them. If Rampage won't send them anywhere but the platemaker you could maybe just copy them from the platemaker PC to the proofer hotfolder but without the EFI one-bit option it doesn't matter.

[DigiCorn]

Well, you would definitely need to have the one-bit option for EFI to use them. If Rampage won't send them anywhere but the platemaker you could maybe just copy them from the platemaker PC to the proofer hotfolder but without the EFI one-bit option it doesn't matter.

No platemaker PC. It just feeds from Rampage directly into the Screen. I don't know where the 1-bit plate file physically resides. Looks like I will continue in the manner I proof currently, as it provides the most accurate documents, albeit not the fastest.

I agree that letting EFI reRIP is not ideal, and slow, but I don't see any other way with the equipment I have.

[Joe]

You make do with what you have. :wink:

[DigiCorn]

Your boss must be out of the room today. You're typing a lot.

I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.