GMG, the developer behind a suite of market-leading proofing and color management tools, will be showcasing how printers can make color precision effortless at INFOFLEX 2023.

The exhibition, taking place April 17 – 18 in Columbus, Ohio, USA, is the largest event of its kind in North America. The expo brings together printers of every segment from around the world, covering the entire package printing workflow.

With the event dedicated to state-of-the-art printing technologies, GMG is proud to show off the newly released OpenColor 3.0, containing the next generation of its award-winning Spectral MX color engine, on booth 823.

Over 30 years ago, GMG released its MX color engine, delivering best-in-class color matching for proofing. In 2012, GMG introduced spectral prediction with OpenColor, raising the bar on color matching for proofing and color separation. Today, with OpenColor 3.0, GMG raises the bar again to help its customers future-proof their businesses.

While 4-color printing with CMYK is the foundation of process color work, supply chains are increasingly extending the number of inks they use. Production of digital print with 6 and 7 colors is increasingly becoming the rule and not the exception. Multi-channel printing with conventional print also continues to grow, reducing the need for wash-ups and allowing printers to gang work, deliver faster, and be more completive.

OpenColor 2.0 was a quantum shift in color prediction quality, delivering a “virtual printing press” engine that can accurately predict how spot inks overprint with both process inks and other spot inks. However, the physical ink prediction models and the resulting profile generation could sometimes be slow for customers who often work with many inks. Further, with higher numbers of printing inks, profile sizes could grow quite large, resulting in very large and sometimes difficult to manage profile databases.

With OpenColor 3.0, GMG introduces the next generation of color management. The new engine is up to 15x faster in calculating extended color profiles versus OpenColor 2.x and produces color profiles that are up to 10x smaller in file size.

Existing customers who work with seven or more inks (including process and/or spots inks) will see the following benefits:
· massive improvement in profile calculation time (up to 15x for profiles with 7+ inks)
· massive reduction in profile and profile database size, making database functions such as maintenance and backup more efficient
· increased prediction accuracy by using higher profile resolution
· more robust support for profiles beyond ten inks

In addition to OpenColor 3.0’s new Spectral MX Color Engine, this major update extends the system’s spot ink handling flexibility. A long-requested feature, OpenColor 3.0 users can now define spot-ink color values using Lab and still benefit from GMG’s spectral prediction technology.

To accomplish this, GMG created a new virtual LAB to spectral conversion technology that generates feasible ink spectra for spot colors and converts legacy GMG profile (MX4) data based on the process parameters that the user has defined allowing customers to transition their colorimetric data to use the spectral prediction model moving forward. Users can also now export spot-ink color data in industry-standard CxF and easily integrate OpenColor spot-color standards with the rest of their CxF-compatible workflow tools.

The new Spectral MX OpenColor profile format will immediately be compatible with GMG ColorProof. GMG ColorProof users should upgrade to version 5.14 to support the new profile engine. Additional features and improvements, such as Lab spot colors and CxF export, work with all other OpenColor-compatible GMG software products including ColorProof, ColorServer, ColorPlugin.

Marc Levine, Director of Business Development at GMG, adds: “OpenColor 3.0, which we’re showcasing at INFOFLEX 2023, is truly the next generation of color management. Without compromising quality or precision, the new engine is up to 15x faster in calculating extended color profiles versus previous iterations and produces color profiles that are up to 10x smaller in file size.

“We always look forward to events that let us connect face-to-face with the printing supply chain, and INFOFLEX 2023 will be no different. Attracting some of the brightest printing talent from around the globe, the show is a chance to explore the future of the industry in every sense. With color workflows powered by GMG, that future is right here, right now!”

To learn more about GMG’s range of color management software solutions, visit www.gmgcolor.com.