Soft Proofing

I spoke on soft proofing at Graphics of the Americas last week in Miami. Since my work with the Sony Artisan, much has changed in the world of soft proofing. The key differences are that LCD panels now have tremendous gamut - the Eizo Coloredge 221W I showed in my seminar captures 92% of the AdobeRGB(1998) gamut. Some displays are now moving to backlit LED technology like the LaCie 724 which I also showed. This monitor has a gamut about 20% larger that AdobeRGB.

Other key trends are that professional display profiling tools such as ColorEyes display and bundled tools like Color Navigator (Eizo) and Blue Eye Pro (LaCie, and the Display Profiling component of the Remote Director soft proofing system all use DDC control of the display. DDC, or Direct Digital Control, requires either a separate USB cable or an integrated DDC connection in the HDI video cable. DDC lets the software "take over" the display to set color temperature, brightness, and contrast automatically for monitor calibration so that no user intervention is required. If you've ever used OSD (on screen display) controls to adjust brightness/contrast/balance in the course of trying to profile a display you'll realize how much easier this makes the process.

One of the conclusions I presented in the seminar session is that simplicity is essential if soft proofing is to move up the food chain to the level of executive approval in print purchasing organizations. It is at these higher levels that the value of soft proofing is maximized, leading to a more rapid and rewarding ROI.

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I plan to make entries here talking about color management technologies and how the graphic arts and photo industries we serve builds more profitable, efficient production workflows using these tools. To learn more about the company, please explore the rest of the prestia.com site.