Color World is one option to create a color library using the full-color profile gamut with different gradient steps.
Generate Color World
1. When opening neoMatch, an untitled job window opens, otherwise open it from File | New. It is always recommended to save documents as we move along. Insert the ICC profile to be able to generate the color world within the profile.
2. Select Utilities | Generate Color World… and a new dialog pops up, with default values for Steps between Colors, Blacks, and Whites. The values are set at 20, 10, and 10 respectively. Increasing or reducing such numbers will vary the total number of colors, as you add or remove steps in between the colors. Press Generate to proceed with the generation of the color world.
3. The library obtains for the set profile more than 7200 color references, which are generated in a few seconds.
Export Color World
1. The first step is to export the lab values references as CSV to keep the starting point of the color matching or use it as a global custom color library for supported Inedit applications. In order to export such colors using a specific Profile, media, and inks in your printer, which we will read or measure later on, press the References TIFF button or from the File menu.
2. New dialog with the Print Layout will be shown. Press Export to save the TIFF image file, to print with your printer. The exported TIFF image file (rotated view) is showing an order of colors among the image file.
Measure Color World colors
1. New dialog with the Print Layout will be shown. The print layout parameters can be modified as explained here 2.6 Export Colors. Press Export to save the TIFF image file, to print with your printer. The exported TIFF image file (rotated view) is showing an order of colors among the image file.
2. Once your .TIFF file is printed, proceed to read the patches with the spectrophotometer. Select the first color in the colors list and proceed to read the patches in rows, from first to last, in the scan or spot mode. Start and stop to measure from white media.
3. The measured colors will be added automatically to the corresponding color in the color library:
4. DeltaE values show the deviation between references. The smaller a DeltaE Value is, the closer is to the color which has been read. Although this value can be set in the program's Preferences, by default, a difference of 3 is understood as acceptable, and further than that is not. This is why we see some of the references with a warning symbol, as they are over the maximum of 3. On the right of the window, we can compare the differences in the Lab values of references, print, and measurements of the color.
TIP: As seen before, neoMatch can calculate an improved version of the measured colors taking all the values into account. You can forward to print this new version with improved colors by clicking on the Improved TIFF button and matching the colors during the calibration of color libraries. Or you can erase the colors with Delta E higher than 3 from the library list, and work without them. |
Best Colors of Color World
The last step in this process is to export the .CSV file with the Best Lab references/Best RGB references to keep a record of the final and best values. Those color references can be used now for the creation of new colorways.