NEW YORK – August 15, 2001 – Pantone, Inc., the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the graphics, fashion, interior and industrial design industries, today announced PANTONE HexWare 2.0, a significant upgrade that streamlines and strengthens the PANTONE Hexachrome® workflow with new color creation and correction tools as well as improved print preview features. HexWare 2.0, a software toolset of plug-ins, contains the latest versions of PANTONE HexImage® for Adobe® Photoshop® and PANTONE HexVector® for Illustrator®. The new product enables designers, service bureaus and print shops in the sheetfed, web and flexography printing industries to easily separate, color correct, pre-proof and prepare files for Hexachrome® six-color process printing. Hexachrome, Pantone’s six-color process – with specially developed CMYK plus PANTONE Hexachrome Orange and PANTONE Hexachrome Green inks – is the de facto standard for high quality, high fidelity printing, and renders significantly more colors than commercial four-color process printing. As one cannot work in native Hexachrome space in Photoshop, Pantone developed new tools for HexWare 2.0, one of which simplifies designing and separating files for print by providing color correction and ink density control in the Hexachrome six color space. “HexWare provides important features that are not possible in Illustrator and Photoshop, as neither product currently supports operations in Hexachrome color space. Therefore, we had to develop the HexVector and HexImage plug-ins,” said Joanna Sluja, product marketing manager for Pantone. The plug-in duo provides the ability to create and edit color palettes, perform color correction, then separate and even print preview – all using the wide gamut Hexachrome color space. “Our customers wanted more control over their Hexachrome jobs and these were all areas and functions that required our attention in order to continue Hexachrome’s advance.” “Hexachrome is a specialized service we offer our customers,” enthused Jansen Wiley, director of computer services for BOPI, a high quality commercial sheetfed offset printer specializing in Hexachrome. “It provides as many competitive advantages to them as it does to us. The color correction and density readings available in the new version of HexWare will make the workflow much easier, more streamlined and efficient.” “Pantone is very excited about the significant increase in awareness and adoption of Hexachrome,” said Richard Herbert, president of Pantone. “We are constantly striving to develop the best tools and technologies to give customers greater facility with our products and processes. The release of HexWare 2.0 is a major step forward in leveraging the power of Hexachrome.” PANTONE HexImage® 2.0 HexImage 2.0 is a color correction and separation plug-in for Adobe Photoshop 6.x that converts raster images into Hexachrome six-color DCS2.0 files that can then be placed into page layout programs such as QuarkXPress™. The new version ships with a wide variety of newly developed ICC compatible Hexachrome output profiles. A newly added preview window provides improved soft proofing of Hexachrome output. Users also have the ability to perform color corrections and even adjust ink density values for the Hexachrome six CMYKOG ink channels. Viewing results before and after color corrections are made simplifies the process of making color adjustments. Batch processing allows for a smooth workflow. PANTONE HexVector 2.0 HexVector 2.0 is a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator 9.x that is used to create, select and apply Hexachrome colors to graphic designs. An improved workflow allows users to convert existing files in RGB, CMYK or solid colors to their Hexachrome equivalents with the click of a button. New features let you save custom color palettes for future use or share with other users and customers. HexVector 2.0 is now completely ICC-compatible and takes full advantage of a selection of output device profiles. Completed files can be printed directly or saved as EPS files for placement in other applications such as QuarkXPress. System Requirements, Availability and Pricing HexWare 2.0 is dual-platform. Minimum system requirements are Adobe Photoshop 6.x, Illustrator 9.x, 96 MB of RAM, 50 MB of available hard disk space, a color monitor with 256-color (8-bit) or greater video card and a CD-ROM drive. HexWare 2.0 will be available Q3 2001 through software distribution channels, art supply dealers, the Pantone website at www.pantone.com, or by calling the Customer Service Department at Pantone at (888) PANTONE. The suggested retail price is $529. An upgrade to current HexWare users will be available for $99 through December 31, 2001.