Primera Technology CX1200 - Manual (Page 48)

44 Troubleshooting and Maintenance
9.1 Matching Pantone Colors
Important Note: PANTONE® to CMYK Bridge documents/files are available on the installation disc
in the Pantone Folder. These documents/files allow you to look up a Pantone Color number and find the
corresponding CMYK value to use in the file that will be printed on the CX1200. See below for more
explantation.
The CX1200 is a CMYK printer. This means any PANTONE® colors must be approximated using
CMYK color values. Most PANTONE colors can be approximated quite accurately using these
CMYK color values. Custom CMYK data has been developed for 1,137 colors from the PANTONE
solid coated color library of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® for the optimal reproduction
on the CX1200. Under the Pantone folder on your installation disc you will find the following
folders/files to assist with this process:
1. Calibrated Look-up Table\CX1200_Pantone_Swatches.pdf - This document is a full color PDF
with over 1000 swatches of color. Below each color is the CMYK value and the corresponding
Pantone Color number.
2. Look Up Tabel Text\CX1200 Pantone.pdf - This is a text only (no swatches) version of the
document described above.
3. Application Support Files - This folder contains other folders for various application-specific,
ready-to-use palette files for a number of Macintosh and Windows® applications. The files
provided have been organized and formatted for Macintosh and Windows operating system.
Each of these folders contains a collection of platform and application specific visually
calibrated palettes. There are folders by product name or software publisher to help you locate
the particular file you are seeking These files allow you to match CMYK values to Pantone
values through the software program. This is an automatic method of doing exactly the same
manual matching procedure described in 1 and 2 above. Refer to your specific design program
manual for instructions on importing these palettes.
Note: The white brightness factor and other properties of the label stock used can affect the output of color.
Instructions for matching Pantone
While the CX1200 utilizes a Pantone calibrated printer it is not capable of reproducing all Pantone
colors like a flexo press. Instead it is a CMYK digital laser press. As with any CMYK printer it is not
possible produce exact Pantone colors. However it is possible to approximate the Pantone colors
using specific CMYK color values. The color values must be used when the labels are being
designed. It is not possible to match Pantone colors when printing to the CX1200 using the same
image file that was used for another printer. To match Pantone colors the image file must be
designed specifically for the the CX1200.
Once you have decided on the specific Pantone color your are going to match, record the Pantone
number. Now open the CX1200_Pantone_Swatches.pdf or the reference table, find the Pantone
number and the corresponding CMYK value. Use that value for this Pantone color in your design
program.
For example, if you intend to match Pantone 274C find that color in the reference table or the
CX1200_Pantone_Swatches.pdf . The resulting value would be C:95 M:100 Y:0 K:13
Note: The CMYK values in the CX1200 Pantone Palette are not the same CMYK values in the Pantone Color
Bridge book purchased from Pantone.
Section 9: Troubleshooting and Maintenance
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