As more industries turn to digital printing, customers are putting greater emphasis on achieving accurate and repeatable colour. To do this, production print equipment needs to be linearised and profiled for each substrate in order to monitor colour output.
X-Rite Incorporated and Pantone LLC have announced the new i1Pro 3 Plus, a spectral colour measurement solution specifically designed for imaging, print, and textile professionals who need advanced calibration and colour profiling capabilities to support today’s wide format and industrial printing applications.
The i1Pro 3 Plus has been optimised for digital printing on a range of materials and surfaces, including ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, wood, vinyl, plastics, thin films, cardboard, paper and more. Commercial, wide format, grand-format, packaging, and industrial printers can now create ICC profiles for almost any substrate and calibrate print production devices for the highest level of colour accuracy.
‘The i1Pro 3 Plus builds on the success of the i1 Family and removes the variability to create accurate ICC profiles on the widest range of materials,’ said Ray Cheydleur, printing and imaging product portfolio manager, X-Rite. ‘Wide and grand-format users and industrial material printers will see immediate value by incorporating the affordable i1Pro 3 Plus into their prepress and production workflows, resulting in more accurate and repeatable colour, a reduction of waste and an increased return on investment.’
A long-term X-Rite partner, EFI (Electronics For Imaging), also sees the great potential of this latest i1 Family member. ‘We are delighted to support X-Rite’s newly announced i1Pro 3 Plus measurement device within our latest Fiery technologies. Due to the nature of digital textile production, this large-aperture device is an excellent fit with our latest single pass EFI BOLT high-speed textile printer. For both colour management and quality control, this device will allow our customers to produce accurate color much more easily,’ said John Henze, vice president of sales and marketing, EFI Fiery.
New in the i1Pro 3 Plus:
• Larger aperture of 8mm to support new materials and substrates used in digital printing applications.
• New polarisation (measurement condition M3) filter that reduces specular highlights and shadows on fabrics and ceramics. It provides ‘better blacks’ and richer colours on rough surfaces and glossy medias, like canvas prints and fine art photo papers.
• Simultaneously measure M0, M1 and M2 in a single pass to account for optical brighteners so prepress and print operators can quickly predict how colours printed on optically brightened substrates will look under different lighting conditions.
• Longer ruler for measuring the wider charts used in grand-format printing. The ruler includes an ISO-compliant white backer and removable magnetic strips on the top and sides for holding samples in place while measuring.
• New LED illuminant that improves device reliability. The i1Pro 3 Plus allows for four measurement conditions (ISO 13655 M0; M1: D50; M2: UV Excluded, M3 Polarised).
• Now supports transmission scanning for backlit film and materials used in signage.
• Measures high brightness, up to 5K NITs for ultra-bright displays.
‘We are used to seeing bumpy shadow measurements from unpolarised devices on glossy textured medias like canvas. With the new polarisation feature in the i1Pro 3 Plus, our M3 measurements are dramatically smoother in the shadows – perfect in fact,’ commented Scott Martin, founder, Onsight, a leading workflow consultant for print, prepress, design and photography.
New X-Rite iO Table
In addition, X-Rite has announced a new i1iO Automated Scanning Table that supports the i1Pro 3 Plus. This hands-free test chart reader offers automated colour profiling on a variety of substrates with reduced risk of colour measurement errors. It is ideal for photographers, designers and printers who want to speed up and automate the measurement process and eliminate manual strip reading.
The new i1iO table can be used with a variety of industrial materials including textiles, ceramics, corrugated, etc. and supports materials up to 33mm thick, with the optional z-axis spacer. It also supports transparencies and backlit materials.
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