Icc profile troubles with corel

I didn't mean to make you feel like crap..as I am assured Brian did not but a lot of the information is really self-taught with research which I am happy that you are looking to us for advice..

Like I mentioned before if you are using v02 inks, SWF has color profiles for them we didn't know for almost over a year because it was never mentioned to us when we switch the inks so we had crappy prints for a quite awhile.

So beside Corel x4 make sure you have the SWF color profiles downloaded into rip and we use..

1) Main tool bar > go to Tools

2) Color Management

3) Settings: Optimizied for professional output

4) Color mode for : CMYK (lower left corner)

5) Click On


hope this helps

Well... I have that eBook, spoke to the author and sat through his webinar on Corel X5 Color Management... and I am comfortable saying that Corel sucks at color reproduction. Heck, don't take my word for it (whom I have worked with over 400 users that use Corel on several different types of RIPs)... read what a magazine that specializes in Corel has to say about previous versions of Corel prior to Corel X5 - http://www.coreldrawhelp.com/Library/CH-210.pdf. (Notice that this is the same author). In my opinion, the jury is still out in Corel X5.

Here is the bottom line. Color is subjective! What is good results for one person might be unacceptable from another. It all comes down to how the artwork is created and controlling variables. If you create all your own vector graphics, than life is a lot easier as you can print out a color chart and just run with only using those colors. The minute you accept artwork from a customer, you just introduced new variables. Some of their colors might not print out they way you want it using 1) your settings in your graphic software program, 2) your dtg printer, 3) your dtg inks / pretreat fluid, 4) on the garment that the customer wants to use, 5) the dyes and other chemicals used by the garment manufacturer and 6) your heat press settings. If you want even more challenges, through a raster graphic (i.e. photograph) in with vector objects (text) and try to print them. Corel handles both of them completely differently. That is why most of the experienced dtg users will try to keep everything in Photoshop or Illustrator. Just happens to be that Corel is much cheaper and that is what most of the garment decorators get.

Yes, there are a lot of variables and changing anyone of them can affect the colors in your finished product. This is why the large, online fulfillment houses don't offer the entire SanMar / Bodek / Broder /... catalog to their customers. Limit or control the variables and you will be in a much better place. I have personally seen the same graphic out of the same model dtg printer using the same brand of ink on the same shirt look slightly different when printed. So some of it can also be attributed to your dtg printer. Make sure it is completely clean and firing 100% nozzles. No one ever said that printing high quality t-shirts was quick and easy. It requires a lot of testing and retesting.

As far as Corel's color management, you will find people tell you a lot of different things. You need to do a lot of experimenting and logging each test to determine what works best for you. FatKat gave you one recommendation. I will give you another. Watch this video - www.multirip.com/manual/CorelColorMgmnt/CorelColorMgmnt.html. Your file names will be different, but if you follow the same logic it will provide you another option.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. Brian, none of my comments about Corel were directed to you. Corel has lead to hunderds if not thousands of hours of my tech support time with customers. I only pray that Corel X5 does a better job... or more color blind people get into this business!

A case in point here is that if you create an object in corel, export it (RGB or CMYK) and bring it into photoshop, the values will have changed. If you take that same object and convert it to a raster, and print out of corel, the raster and vector object can and sometimes print out different colors! If you understand color space, have all your management parameters set "just so", you can get good color, but you'll have little nicks in your color wheel that just arn't right. We must remember that CMYK is a limited gamut, and when you put it on a substrate like a t-shirt, even a little shift can make a big difference in where a color is interpreted. At least photoshop is more intuitive.... and the screen representation is easier to tweak. I use Corel for all my layout work, but I do not print directly, or use the file unless I check it in photoshop first.

Brian, Thanks for the link. I will check that out. I've been using Corel since version 4 and I'm using X3 at the moment. I will love the day when I can trust it to give me "perfect" color on all platforms. Some companies have done really good jobs creating profiles for their specific printers and inksets. Like you say, it's not just a Corel problem. Color management can be complex and if you do not have the tools or knowlege, it can be absolutly maddening.