X-Rite and Pantone (Grand Rapids, Michigan), global leaders in colour science and technology, have released their 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 optimized 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.”
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 linearized and profiled for each substrate in order to monitor colour output, said the companies. They added that current profiling solutions are limited in their ability to measure textured, rough or uneven surfaces and can’t accommodate various material thicknesses. Many devices don’t have the resolution required to ensure the highest colour quality when printing detailed patterns, metallic effects or photography images. This, said the companies, leads to costly colour errors and rework that impacts a printer’s bottom line.
“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 at X-Rite. “Wide-gormat 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.”
New features in i1Pro 3 Plus include:
- Larger aperture of 8 mm to support new materials and substrates used in digital printing applications.
- New polarization (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, such as 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 i1Pr o3 Plus allows for four measurement conditions (ISO 13655 M0; M1: D50; M2: UV Excluded, M3 Polarized).
- Now supports transmission scanning for backlit film and materials used in signage.
- Measures high brightness up to 5K NITs for ultra-bright displays.
