Three new software solutions highlight this innovative approach: the Artista Textile Color Collection, Mimaki Profile Master 3 (MPM3) for advanced printer profiling, and RasterLink6 Version 5.0.
Colour matching remains a significant issue in the textile industry due to the lack of a standardised colour chart that enables colour consistency from design through production.
The Artista Textile Color Collection has been developed to help manufacturers achieve desired colours without wasteful trial and error.
“This collection will be expanded over time,” says Mike Horsten, General Manager Marketing EMEA for Mimaki, “but in its initial form, it includes 520 colours for sublimation transfer printing, including eye-catching fluorescents, which are ideal for sports apparel and interior fabrics.”
“The process is integrated into the workflow beginning with design and enables the production of consistent colour, even across multiple locations.”
The process starts with a designer specifying colours based on new swatches made available for Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. An image file based on the selected colour palette is then printed on a Mimaki printer using either the RasterLink6 or TxLink3 Rip software.
In addition to colour-accurate images, the resulting standard includes detailed information about profiles and settings that can be used to reduce the time required for colour matching.
Thus enabling colours to be represented accurately across printers and locations. The initial collection is designed for use with the Mimaki TS300P-1800 textile printer with dye sublimation inks.
Fast colour matching across media types and printers
The new MPM3 colour management software enables PSPs to reproduce equivalent colours when printing on different types of media with the same printer or when printing with different printer models and inks – even from multiple vendors.
It’s easy to use, requiring no special colour knowledge and speeds the integration of new printers into the mix, ensuring excellent colour matching across the entire platform.
This makes it easier to split up larger jobs across multiple printers or produce projects that include pieces printed on a variety of printers, reducing cycle time and increasing quality and consistency. Print colour is consistently maintained over time by measuring colour with a colorimeter during the printer calibration process.
RasterLink6 now includes the PANTONE Color Collection
Last but not least, Mimaki’s RasterLink6 5.0 Rip software includes the Pantone Color Collection, widely used for colour matching. This is in addition to the Adobe Illustrator-compatible DIC colour collection and Mimaki’s original colour collections, including metallic.
Pantone colours in print files are automatically detected and converted to equivalents for faster colour matching on RasterLink6-driven printers.The company highlights this saves time, reduces waste, and is easy to use with no professional expertise required.
RasterLink6 Version 5.0 also delivers the ability to set a measured colour as a replacement colour. Frequently used colours can be stored in a customised colour collection for fast retrieval.
In addition, this latest version enables the creation of cut marks for Fotoba cutters. Marks can simply be placed on the RasterLink6 operation window without the need to use any other design software.
“We are excited about these developments,” Horsten concludes. “As always, our objective is to bring market solutions that not only make production easier for our customers but improve profitability as well. These three new software solutions do just that.