Simulating the Pantone Coated Library
The Pantone Coated Library consists of 1,018 unique, distinctly named colors. It is meant to be reproduced using Pantone inks from separated film. Proofing these spot colors accurately on composite printers is a challenge. Application vendors do not use a consistent conversion formula for Pantone to CMYK values. As a result, a Pantone color specified in one program may reproduce differently when specified in another program. This complicates color matching when the designer uses elements from different applications, which may have been proofed separately, in the final document. Additionally, many designers will specify Pantone colors when the final product is printed to simulate Pantone colors with other, non-SWOP colorants, such as those used on large-format ink jet or photographic printers.
Simulating named color libraries used to require various rounds of tests, editing the document's color tables and using visual matching, to try to determine the best CMYK or RGB values to use for each color. Given the number of different printers and media available, and the number of Pantone colors, meant creating and maintaining a conversion formula for each unique color on each material. Further, some printer/ink set/ media combinations were incapable of truly reproducing the desired colors.
Simulating vector color tint builds involved the same expensive, time-consuming iteration of tests. Each ink set and material responded differently to the same CMYK percentages, thus requiring special conversion tables and document editing.
Color management of named and vector colors
Our ColorBurst and GMG RIPs, in combination with our device color profiles, permit us to reproduce quickly, and as accurately as possible, as many of the Pantone colors as are reproducible on our composite printers and proofers. Further, the out of range colors can be identified in advance, alerting us, and our clients, to colors which may not reproduce well on a particular printer/media combination. Tint builds are also recalculated to provide a close match to SWOP specifications.
DeltaE
The differences between the expected color and actual reproduced color is called "deltaE". A deltaE of one or less is considered a match; there is no perceptible difference between the expected color and the reproduction. DeltaE values which measure equal to or less than three units are considered to be highly accurate. Beyond a deltaE of 3, color differences are more noticable and may be objectionable.
A higher deltaE value is less objectionable on more highly saturated colors, and is more obvious as colors become less saturated.
Here's a list of our profiled media showing expected differences from the desired colors and percentages of Pantone Coated colors within acceptable limits.
