COLORlynx COLOR MANAGEMENT SUITE 2.0
The COLORlynx Color Management Suite is Canon Solutions America s exclusive cloud based color management solution and is designed to help our customers achieve their color management goals without the need for color experts or large capital investments. COLORlynx Color Management Suite is a calibration and profiling toolset developed by Canon Solutions America in partnership with CGS. It is based on the ORIS color engine, and brings unique stability, consistency and grey balance to digital presses. The suite comprises two cloud based software solutions, COLORlynx Profiler and COLORlynx Standard. PROFESSIONAL CLOUD BASED USER-FRIENDLY Color management and stabilization for commercial printers, service bureaus and brand owners Perfect color, repeatable over multiple devices and locations, anywhere in the world Extremely easy to use. No added cost for computer hardware, software or maintenance fees.
COLORlynx COLOR MANAGEMENT SUITE 2.0 Powered by ORIS technology, the COLORlynx Color Management Suite takes the complex task of color profiling and verification and simplifies it into three easy steps. COLORlynx delivers accurate and consistent color calibration that all users, from the novice to the most advanced, will appreciate and benefit from. With just a few clicks of the mouse, COLORlynx Color Management Suite delivers color accurate results and outstanding gray balance on the Canon imagepress. All you need is a web browser and a measurement device. No need to spend money on high-end computing hardware, expensive software, consulting fees, or software maintenance fees. HOW DOES IT WORK? 1 2 3 Print Test Chart Measure Test Chart Verify Test Chart If in spec, all OK If not in spec, initiate recovery procedures COLORlynx 3 CLIENT (BROWSER) 2 DIGITAL PRESS 1 COLORlynx COLOR MANAGEMENT SUITE IS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM CANON SOLUTIONS AMERICA.
GRAY BALANCE For optimum print results, C-M-Y-K colors should be balanced perfectly to achieve neutral gray. However, owing to fluctuations in ambient climate conditions, the gray axis tends to vary from one day to the next. It is time-consuming and often virtually impossible to improve device stability manually. Thanks to COLORlynx s patented color algorithms, not only are colors accurately reproduced but the relationship between the four color channels (C, M, Y, K) is carefully calculated to produce a G7 gray balance. COLORlynx Color Management Suite ensures a perfect gray balance and maximum press stability throughout the entire print run. STABILITY & BALANCE THE FOCUS OF COLORlynx The chart illustrates gray balance of a job over 4500 prints, with and without COLORlynx Source: CGS Publishing Technologies International 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 With COLORlynk Color Management Suite Without COLORlynk Color Management Suite COLORlynx COLOR MANAGEMENT SUITE ADDRESSES THE NEEDS OF CUSTOMERS WHO MUST RESPOND TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS. IMPROVE PRINT QUALITY IMPROVE COLOR ACCURACY SAVE COSTS REDUCE ERRORS IMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY Easy to use Cloud based Improved color consistency Accurate and repeatable color Perfect gray balance
WHAT S NEW IN COLORlynx COLOR MANAGEMENT SUITE VERSION 2.0 A number of changes are being introduced with this latest release of COLORlynx Color Management Suite, including a new imagepress target, a new tracking module, and new unlimited profiles for both COLORlynx Standard and COLORlynx Profiler. COLORlynx Evaluate is also being introduced with this version of the COLORlynx Suite. COLORlynx STANDARD COLORlynx PROFILER Value added imagepress color management solution for consistent color output, designed for the Canon Solutions America imagepress customer. Accurate, G7 gray balanced output. Output designed for stability and repeatability. Designed to handle a range of media. COLORlynx Verification of output. COLORlynx Standard licensed per device, life of the lease, unlimited profiles. NEW COLORlynx comes with two imagepress targets: Canon Solutions America imagepress 2014. Canon Solutions America imagepress 2016. NEW Updated Online Help: Online Video Tutorials. NEW COLORlynx Evaluate Module. NEW Full featured color profiling solution. Color manage workflow for any ICC compatible color device. Color manage workflow for any industry standard using any approved media: GRACoL, FOGRA, SWOP, ISO coated, etc. Coated, Uncoated, Matte, Linen, etc. Verification of output against standards. Full control of all relevant color profiling settings: Color Space, Rendering Intents, Total Ink Coverage, GCR, Black Control. COLORlynx Profiler is an unlimited site license, only available to Canon Solutions America customers. COLORlynx Profiler comes with more than 35 printing industry standards, and allows customers to upload their own house targets as well. COLORlynx Profiler also includes the COLORlynx Standard targets: Canon Solutions America imagepress 2014. Canon Solutions America imagepress 2016. NEW COLORlynx Profiler Evaluate Module. NEW COLORlynx EVALUATE Now customers who care about color over time can track the performance of their presses using COLORlynx Evaluate! COLORlynx Evaluate is the newest addition to the COLORlynx Color Management Suite, and allows customers to track their verification and profiling activities for each press in their shop. Now for the first time, you will be able to see the performance of your presses using the spectral data you capture every time you profile and calibrate the press. COLORlynx Evaluate is available as an add-on module for COLORlynx Profiler or COLORlynx Standard, and is licensed per device.
COLORlynx STANDARD COLORlynx Standard delivers consistent G7 gray balanced and verifiable color output in an easy-to-use wizard based software. Because customers can now verify their color and correct for changes in color output on their own, COLORlynx Standard is key to delivering accurate, consistent color. COLORlynx Standard makes the power of COLORlynx Profiler available to imagepress customers in an easy-touse interface that optimizes the imagepress for G7 gray balanced output with a controlled total area coverage to enhance stability and longevity of the calibration. COLORlynx Standard provides an additional Canon Solutions America exclusive with a tool for determining WHEN to calibrate an imagepress. By extending the calibration routine of the imagepress to include cloud based verification of the performance of the imagepress, the customer can determine on their own if the imagepress is printing correctly. COLORlynx Standard includes a tool for restoring the imagepress to a correctly calibrated state by the end user. This lets customers monitor performance and correct for variations on their own without the need to place a service call or engage professional services, saving both time and money. Canon Solutions America is the only provider able to offer verification and recovery to our customers. COLORlynx Standard ships with every new eligible imagepress color digital press purchased from Canon Solutions America.¹ It is licensed per device, and provides unlimited profiles for each imagepress. Use the COLORlynx output to achieve color consistency and accuracy with your imagepress, and use the verification tool to monitor the status of your imagepress and confirm when it is time to calibrate. COLOR MANAGEMENT HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER, OR EASIER TO AFFORD. 1 Available for imagepress C60 for an additional fee.
COLORlynx PROFILER Accuracy and repeatability are the key requirements of any quality color print customer. Now you can achieve both and save money with a cost-effective and simple solution in the cloud. Whether your final output is from a digital press or printer, or on a monitor, or even on an ipad or iphone, color management has never been easier. COLORlynx Profiler s advanced cloud-computing technology ensures precise color management across all devices. COLORlynx Profiler gives color professionals access to all the features and functions they need to produce outstanding and stable color profiles for their color workflows. COLORlynx Profiler also delivers accurate and repeatable color output against industry standards (GRACoL, SWOP, FOGRA, etc.) in an easyto-use wizard based software. Because customers can now verify their color and correct for changes in color output on their own, COLORlynx Profiler is key for those who need to consistently and accurately print to an industry standard. COLORlynx Profiler will help improve print quality and reduce operating costs by delivering color accurate results that stay that way throughout the press run, day after day. Thanks to the ORIS patented special color management algorithms, not only are colors accurately reproduced but the relationship between the four printing colorants is carefully calculated to produce an outstanding gray balance. Reduce your errors on high volume runs; whether you print 10, 100, or 10,000 copies the results will be the same. Every day. No matter where you are, the only things you need for COLORlynx Profiler are a web browser and a spectrophotometer. COLORlynx Profiler is simple, with no complicated menus or software configurations. You get optimal color profiles quickly without color experts. From now on you are the expert! Available exclusively from Canon Solutions America, COLORlynx Profiler is an unlimited site license with unlimited profiles. Use COLORlynx Profiler on any ICC or DeviceLink profile compatible device in your print shop to achieve outstanding color consistency and accurate and visual similarity across multiple formats. MORE TIME A simple application that requires no color expertise. Gets you the result faster and saves you manpower. LESS WASTE Rejects due to color errors are greatly reduced. MORE PROFIT Cloud based software helps save on maintenance and services charges. MORE THROUGHPUT COLORlynx s fast speed means faster processing of your jobs and more capacity. LESS MAINTENANCE AND SERVICE Cloud based technology means no software on-site and no service downtime. LESS COSTS Reduced manpower and service all add up to considerable cost savings. MORE HAPPINESS The uncomplicated and easy process will make your life simple more enjoyable!
SUBJECTIVE VERSUS OBJECTIVE COLOR MANAGEMENT Traditional color management strategies involve key operators with many years of experience subjectively evaluating color output at press time. These individuals, usually offset pressmen and women, have learned through hard experience how to adjust their equipment to achieve the output their customers require. As good as they are at this task, a subjective approach to color management has a few inherent challenges that are difficult to overcome. People see color differently. The ability to see color is a function of the eyes, and individuals have varying degrees of color perception. In addition, women generally are able to see more color than men. Our ability to perceive color also changes as we age. So in a subjective color management workflow, who is looking at the output can affect the evaluation of the color greatly. Where the individual is visually inspecting the output can affect their judgment as well. Lighting conditions also affect color perception, whether it be the time of day, being in a controlled lighting environment, or worse yet, in a showroom with fluorescent lighting. Paper even affects the colors we perceive. The white point of the paper is critical in how the eye perceives color on the printed page. If the white point of the paper changes, the color will appear differently and a person, however experienced, viewing the output with their naked eye may make a mistake about the color. Wouldn t it be great if there was a tool that could control for all these variables, and allow consistent and accurate color reproduction based on data, and not on the calibrated eyeball of one key operator? COLORlynx Color Management Suite uses a patented iterative color management process² that uses spectral data from a spectrophotometer to calibrate and monitor the performance of your press to achieve accurate and consistent color. COLORlynx Profiler is designed to calibrate your press to reproduce colors to any print specification, whether it is GRACoL, SWOP, or even a house standard. COLORlynx Profiler can measure the white point of your paper and adjust accordingly, and it confirms the performance of your press using spectral data regardless of your local lighting conditions. Because it is an automated procedure that relies on data and not the naked eye, COLORlynx Color Management Suite controls color reproduction consistently over time in a way that subjective approaches to color management cannot match. 2 Iterative color correction US Patent 7365876 WHAT ARE WE REALLY TALKING ABOUT? Traditional subjective color management relies on someone visually comparing a physical reference or standard to printed output and making a judgment whether the output is acceptable or not. Physical standards are great inspirations for designers and decision makers, but digital standards are better for production. Using a digital standard as represented by the spectral value of a color on a particular substrate with a specific printing technology is the most reliable method for controlling and evaluating color. This approach controls all the relevant variables objectively and eliminates any subjectivity by key operators, prepress, or decision makers. Removing the subjectivity of a visual evaluation from the workflow allows production to proceed efficiently and cost effectively, and with fewer rejections and reprints of jobs.
CALIBRATION WHEN AND HOW OFTEN? It s a tough question for everyone. When should I calibrate my press, and how often? Once a month, once a week, every day, every job; depending on your color requirements, any of these answers might work for customers. Everyone has an opinion, and no one is really wrong, but no one is really correct either. What is the correct answer to the question, When is the right time to calibrate my press? Now with COLORlynx Color Management Suite s verification procedure, you can determine whether your press is printing to specification or not, in about two minutes. Simply print out a verification strip using the COLORlynx Color Management Suite production workflow on your press (it works with any device that can use an ICC or DeviceLink profile), and read the strip into COLORlynx Color Management Suite using your i1pro spectrophotometer. COLORlynx Color Management Suite analyzes the color output of the press against the printing standard you select, and instantly tells you whether your imagepress is printing to specification or not. COLORlynx Color Management Suite gives you spectral data that you can analyze to fine tune your performance as well. If you are in specification, start printing right away. If you are out, calibrate, and follow the online help to get your press printing to your standard again yourself, all without the need for color experts or a service call. WITH COLORlynx, NOW YOU KNOW WHEN TO CALIBRATE, SAVING TIME AND MONEY IN THE PROCESS. Standard verification strip COMPATIBILITY COLORlynx Color Management Suite is available exclusively from Canon Solutions America. COLORlynx Profiler is available to Canon Solutions America customers and is compatible with a wide variety of Canon and third party color devices that support ICC and/or DeviceLink profiles, including, but not limited to: Canon imagepress Color Digital Presses Canon imageprograf Series Wide Format printers Océ VarioPrint i300 Inkjet Digital Press Océ JetStream continuous Feed Digital Presses Océ ColorStream Continuous Feed Digital Presses Océ ImageStream Inkjet Press Océ Arizona Large Format Printers Océ ColorWave Large Format Printers Xerox igen Family Xerox Versant color digital press Ricoh Pro color production printers Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS digital presses COLORlynx Standard is available exclusively to imagepress customers who purchase an imagepress with an ICC/DeviceLink compatible printer controller, either PRISMAsync, Creo, or Fiery. Customers choosing COLORlynx Profiler receive all the functionality of COLORlynx Standard in a single subscription. imagepress C10000VP imagepress C8000VP imagepress C7011VP/S imagepress C850/C800 imagepress C750/C700 imagepress C65/C60 (available at additional cost)
ORIS EXCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP Canon Solutions America is proud to be exclusive development partners with CGS. Canon Solutions America s best color management minds have worked with CGS s research and development group to develop print targets for the imagepress digital press that deliver best in class color output with accurate G7 gray balanced output that is consistent over time. The ease of use of COLORlynx was developed with the in-plant CRD and small commercial printer in mind, to allow them to monitor and calibrate the performance of their imagepress digital press. The COLORlynx Profiler product is intended for commercial printers and CRDs that have color experts in house who want and need the flexibility that a full featured color management solution provides. Whichever product you select, have confidence that you have the backing of the Canon Solutions America/CGS development partnership to keep COLORlynx at the forefront of color management technology and best practices, both now and into the future. COLORlynx Profiler extends the COLORlynx color management band to include a cloud based full-featured color management solution. Professional level color management and stabilization for commercial printers, service bureaus, and brand owners. COLORlynx Standard allows you to work smarter, so you can focus on what matters most growing your business. Verify and calibrate your imagepress so you know the output will satisfy customers and keep them coming back.
UTILIZE COLORlynx COLOR MANAGEMENT SUITE TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL WITH PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FROM CANON SOLUTIONS AMERICA Whether your business is large or small, remaining competitive in the global economy means you need to concentrate on what makes you successful your core business. When selecting and implementing new technology, a highly skilled technical team makes the difference for a successful deployment. Canon Solutions America has the team of experts you need to help you acquire the right technology, solutions, and services for your organization. From pre-sales analysis to post-sales support, our team of technical professionals draws upon decades of technical expertise and real-world experience to ensure you obtain the maximum benefit from your technology investment. For more information, call or visit 1-800-815-4000 CSA.CANON.COM Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. 2016 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved. 11/16-390