Colour management software specialist GMG has released GMG ColorProof 5.6, which allows the creation of accurate proofs for optically brightened references.
Birgit Plautz, director of GMG’s business unit for graphic arts, says, “With the popular adoption of optically brightened papers, a problem arose. The papers improved image appearance and tended to be cost-effective to purchase. However, they were out of conformance with proofing standards. Users will find that GMG has conducted a lot of research and testing into helping customers who print with optically brightened media to achieve color consistency.
“We have also added features to connect and work even better with prepress-workflows, and operate more efficiently with RIPs and printers. For example, print facilities with existing systems in place will find that they can use a new hotfolder interface system (API) to easily plug GMG ColorProof 5.6 into their workflows.”
GMG says that, until recently, measuring devices and the light in viewing booths had not been subject to any standards regarding how they measured or illuminated print media that contains optical brightening agents to increase the whiteness. With the recent revisions of those ISO norms and eventually the updated ISO 12647-2:2013 several changes have been made to address the colour matching problems caused by OBA enhanced media. Reflecting these changes, GMG ColorProof 5.6 provides new proof standards, full support of the new M0/M1/M2 measuring conditions, and the new enhanced proof paper GMG ProofPaper semimatte 250 OBA to achieve highest quality and a good proof-to-print match.
New features for GMG’s latest edition include smart hot folders and job ticket hot folders with an XML interface that allows operators to use one hot folder for multiple printing standards and provide an easy connection to external workflow systems.
GMG says it has made it easier to operate centralised colour management that oversees multiple locations or remote sites. These companies must organise and distribute their colour profiles to many facilities. Usually, there is one main site, where a production or colour manager creates all colour critical assets and is responsible for their usage on all locations. To reduce the manual effort, GMG designed a file distribution system that can connect to multiple installations and download new or altered colour management files automatically, or on demand from a source location to one or more target locations.
GMG says PDF files can be ripped in parallel. While the GMG ColorProof 5.6 license includes one rip, users can purchase additional rip instances according to their hardware configuration: depending on the amount of cores, printers, etc. GMG says this reduces the delay between ripping and printing jobs, resulting in faster speeds and greater production.
ColorProof 5.6 can re-assign jobs to different printers. The new option has been integrated to automatically move pending jobs from one printer to another compatible printer in case the current printer cannot print (for example, because it has run out of ink or paper). GMG says this eliminates a backlog of files that are waiting for the printer to be attended to. With an individual working space, the customer decides which resources are displayed in the software. GMG says that, instead of working through extensive lists of colour management items, a clearly arranged view now helps you to immediately spot what you are looking for.
