Create a reference from a printed chart

The control of a chart, allows a more precise control or to carry out a selection of the ranges intended to be averaged to characterize the production offset printer e.g.

In drafting process

In this tutorial we will create a "Print Control .pctrl" file from the measurement of an ECI2002R test pattern supplied by Coraye.

Selection of the reference range

The chart offered by Coraye are available in the form of a color table in the profile creation module (Characterization).

Click on the "Create Profile" icon at the top left, then click on the "Create a characterization" button

Since we have chosen to carry out the control on an ECI2002R CMYK chart, we will look for it among the CMYK ranges Click on "CMYK"

Click on the "Choose reference" button corresponding to the ECI2002R test pattern of 1485 patches.

When the pattern is displayed, click on the export button located at the bottom of the pattern and select the option "Export to table"

Save the .table file to a folder for easy retrieval.

Creation of the Print Control file

Import the .table file you just saved so that it appears in the left column.

Click "Print control" located at the top left, then on the "Create a reference" button.

Select "CMYK".

Drag the "ECI2002R" table into the "Drag a color table here" box.

The ECI2002R chart appears in the window.

At this step, the pattern format can be modified using the tools to the right of "Edit target format".

Click on the export button (located at the bottom of the test chart), to export the test pattern in Tiff or Pdf format.

Save the files in a folder to print them later.

The number of files will depend on the number of patches and the layout.

Measurement of the reference chart

Once the reference targets have been printed, we will be able to start the reading by clicking on the "Start Reading" button.

Position the spectrophotometer in its calibration position Then click on the "Start calibration" button

Once the calibration is complete, start measuring the chart. The blue arrows will show you which line to measure.

At this stage, it is possible to measure the chart several times or to measure several charts to average the readings. Just click on the "+ reading" button to define the number of readings you want to take.

If the measurements have already been saved in .table format, it is possible to drag / drop them into the Reading # 1, Reading # 2, etc

When you have finished reading the charter, click on the "Reading done" button

In the information window, only the name of the setting is mandatory. All other information is optional.

Once you have finished entering the information associated with your test pattern, click on "Save and exit".

The "Print Control .pctrl" file will appear in the left column.

Once the reference has been created, remember to save it by right-clicking on the Print Control file, then selecting the "Export" option

The next step will be the measurement of the charters to be checked.