PANTONE ®

PANTONE

HANDBOOK OF COLOR

IN HEXACHROME

PROCESS WORKFLOW
cH
 Table of Contents

Introduction

1 PANTONE® Hexachrome®† Process Workflow

2 Using PANTONE HexWrench® for High-end

Production

3 Using Adobe® Photoshop® 5.0 to Softproof

Hexachrome® Separations

4 Using QuarkXPress™ 4.0 for Hexachrome

Production

5 Using Adobe PageMaker® 6.5 for H exachrome

Production

6 How to use Illustrator® and FreeHand® for

Hexachrome Production

7 Frequently Asked Questions

Appendices

All trademarks (™) and registered trademarks (®) used herein are either the property of Pantone,
Inc., Studion Soft Industries, Ltd. or other companies. Portions printed using PANTONE Hexachrome
Color Technology. ‡Hexachrome® is Pantone, Inc.’s six-color printing process. U.S. Patent No.
5,734,800. HexWrench® and SAME™ are trademarks of Studion Soft Industries, Ltd. Studion is a
trade name for Studion Soft Industries , Ltd. AeQ™ is a trademark of Light Source Computer Images,
Inc. AeQ (Appearance Equivalence) is licensed from Light Source Computer Images, Inc. Adobe®,
Photoshop®, PageMaker® and Illustr ator® are registered trademarks of Adobe S ystems, Inc. Apple,
the Apple logo, ColorSync and Mac are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. in the U.S.
and other countries. Any omission of such marks from any product is regretted and is not intended
as an infringement on such trademarks . Process color reproduction may not match PANTONE®-
identified solid color standards. Refer to current PANTONE Color Publications for the accurate color.
© Pantone, Inc.,1998 1H
 WELCOME TO HEXACHROME

This book is written as a “how to” guide for

Hexachrome production. It will start with an
introduction to the Hexachrome process, then
concentrate on different applications for
Hexachrome production.
At the end of the book, you will find a
CD-ROM which contains a test form with pre-
separated images. A printed copy of this is also
supplied as an attachment.
If you need more information or technical
support on the Hexachrome process, you can
call Pantone at (888) PANTONE or
(201) 935-5500. You can also send an e-mail to:
hexachrome@pantone.com, or visit our Web site:
www.hexachrome.pantone.com, where this
book can be downloaded as a PDF file and other
useful information is posted.

H2
1 PANTONE HEXACHROME PROCESS WORKFLOW

The easiest way to achieve brilliant results

Pantone’s ongoing corporate objective is to make

communicating in color easy and accurate so that
people can use color with confidence. To this end,
Pantone, Inc. continually strives to understand,
through extensive research, the needs and chang-
ing work environments of individual users and
organizations. This effort has been rewarded in the
widespread adoption of the Hexachrome six-color
process printing system.

3H

Hexachrome printing has
been developed to drastically
improve color reproduction
and provide photo-realistic
results.
Every step in the printing process is a compromise in color fidelity
and quality. A camera does not capture the entire visual spectrum
nor the detail seen by the human eye. A scanner can only pro-
duce a file which is an approximation of the original transparency.
Images are further diminished by the constraints of the CMYK
color space. Finally, the limitations of four-color process printing,
with film and plates, halftone dots and ink on paper, not to men-
tion impure primary ink colors, strikes the final blow to the integri-
ty of the original artwork.
Hexachrome printing has been developed to drastically
improve color reproduction and provide photo-realistic results by
using six inks instead of the standard four process colors tradition-
ally used in offset printing.
The Hexachrome six-color process system was launched in
May 1995 and incorporates every aspect of the design,prepress
and printing workflow, including a custom ink set, color reference
guides, digital color libraries, software and proofing methods. By
using the Hexachrome six-color process system,the printable
color gamut is increased by almost 50% and over 90% of the solid
PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® Colors can be simulated through
the use of Hexachrome screen tint combinations.

Benefits of Hexachrome for creative, prepress and print

professionals.
For creative professionals, the System offers the ability to achieve
nuances of color that had previously been unattainable. For these
users, Hexachrome has the following benefits:
• It is easy to use. Designers can achieve better color results with-
out having to learn anything new or make any changes to the
way they work. Vibrant colors as well as pastels and jewel-tones
reproduce extremely well.
• It is already incorporated in the design software they use. There
is no need to purchase any additional products.
• It has a larger color gamut than an RGB monitor. Designers can
reproduce in print the color they see on their monitor.
• It is a cost-effective choice when color is critical. Corporate logo

H4
 colors or packaging can be accurately reproduced without having
to pay extra for additional solid color inks which do not benefit
the entire printed piece.
• It is widely available. Six-color reproduction is readily available
from most printing companies.

For the prepress professional, Hexachrome printing is yet another

reason to adopt an RGB or CIELAB workflow. Its benefits can be
seen in:
• Improved processing speeds. Because it is necessary to take
advantage of an RGB or CIELAB workflow, prepress professionals
can work with 25% less data throughout much of the workflow.
• Advanced scanning efficiencies. With the advent of the Internet,
prepress providers not only scan images for print, but now also
supply their clients with RGB scans that will be repurposed and
used on the Web.

Print professionals benefit from offering the latest, most advanced

printing methods to their customers. Hexachrome six-color
process printing provides printers with the ability to:
• Deliver high quality color at no additional cost. Printers regularly
add “bump plates” of solid colors to CMYK print jobs. As
Hexachrome eliminates this need for additional colors to accu-
rately reproduce solid colors and enhance images, the price is
virtually identical to many jobs they are currently printing for
their customers.
• Use one printing process for all kinds of jobs. Using only the
Hexachrome color ink set, printers can obtain high quality color
results for a variety of printing processes, including spot color,
CMYK process printing and Hexachrome high fidelity color print
jobs. Using Hexachrome shortens press wash-up and saves the
printer money on ink supplies, allowing the bulk purchase of a
single type of ink for all these printing processes.
The Hexachrome six-color printing process can be used by Hexachrome is a fully
integrated process.
anyone who is interested in achieving high quality color, regard-
less of the computer platform they use to design or produce their

5H
 work. Hexachrome is a fully-integrated process, encompassing a
complete support infrastructure that includes:
• design and illustration software
• color correction and separation capabilities
• analog and digital color proofing
• printing inks
This book addresses the key issues involved in migrating
from a four-color printing model to Hexachrome six-color process
printing.

Getting Started
One of the most important issues in migration to a new technolo-
gy is the process workflow. Pantone has addressed this issue by
working with our technology partners and licensees to add
Hexachrome support directly into their products. This strategy has
been extremely successful. Today, the list of products that incorpo-
rate Hexachrome is the who’s who of electronic publishing.
Color Gamut
How often have we prepared an image in Adobe Photoshop, only
to find that the vibrant colors could not be accurately reproduced
with CMYK color inks. What looked so bright and intense on-
screen turned out subdued on-press.
The reason for this is that each device, whether it’s a scanner,
a monitor or a printer, has a certain limitation on the colors that
can be used. The range of available colors is called the gamut. The
visible spectrum,what we are capable of seeing, has the widest
spectrum of colors or gamut. The range of colors available from
scanners and monitors that use RGB colors and printers that use
CMYK colors can be greatly reduced. Hexachrome, on the other
hand, has a gamut that is significantly larger than CMYK color inks
for offset printing. Now, color reproduction capabilities are limited
only by the capabilities of the scanner or monitor.
Color Space
Full-color printing is traditionally done with four-color process. The
CMYK color space is limited to colors which can be defined as 0 to

H6
100% cyan,0 to 100% magenta, 0 to 100% yellow, and 0 to 100%
black. If a color cannot be reproduced using some combination of
these four inks, then it does not exist in the CMYK color space.
Computer monitors use red, green and blue to reproduce
colors. This is the RGB color space. It includes colors which can be
defined as 0 to 100% red, green and blue and are scaled from 0 to
255. The RGB color space includes different colors than the CMYK
color space. This is why you can see colors on your monitor which
you cannot reproduce using CMYK. RGB is larger than CMYK,but it
still does not include all colors visible to the human eye.
The CIELAB (L*a*b*) color space is an international standard
which includes all colors visible to the human eye. CIE stands for
Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage which developed the
CIELAB color space in 1976. The L* in CIELAB stands for the color's
brightness or luminance value, a* stands for the color's position
on the red-green axis and b* stands for the color's position on the
yellow-blue axis.
Color changes on any axis in the CIELAB color space are
measured in units of Delta E. A Delta E of one (1) is defined as the
smallest color change visible to the human eye. Delta E is used to
communicate changes in color for color correction as well as
quality control. This may sound complicated, but it is a simple
intuitive way to communicate color changes.
A number of vendors make scanning spectrophotometers
which use CIELAB to scan press sheets. This unit makes color cor-
rection suggestions based on CIELAB readings and produces qual-
ity control reports showing the Delta E variance for each color
throughout a press run.
Because CIELAB is device independent and covers the com-
plete color spectrum,it is also the ideal way to archive images.
Images can be converted from CIELAB to CMYK.
If we understand the concept of color spaces, it should be
clear that when we create or scan a file for use in a Hexachrome
color document, we should be working in RGB or CIELAB only. If
an image is scanned to a CMYK file or an illustration is created in a

7H
 CMYK color space, there are, by definition,no colors in the file
which cannot be reproduced with CMYK or four-color process.
To take full advantage of the Hexachrome expanded color
range, it's important to scan and prepare images in the color
space that offers the largest possible gamut. CIELAB has the
largest gamut of any available color space, but RGB comes close.
In a Hexachrome workflow, any files which are created or
scans which are made should be in CIELAB or RGB format. Note
that if the files are converted to CMYK,all colors beyond that color
space are permanently lost. To illustrate this point, bring up a
bright RGB image in Photoshop. Convert it to CMYK and watch
the colors dull. Then convert it back to RGB. The colors beyond the
CMYK color space are gone. They are lost forever. The benefits of
CIELAB include:
• a significantly larger color gamut than CMYK or RGB;
• a file size 25% smaller than CMYK;
• converts to any format and you will always start with the uncom-
promised quality;
• has a separate lightness channel,so density changes will not
affect color balance;
• is compatible with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe PageMaker,
QuarkXPress, CorelDraw® and others;and
• device independency is increasingly important as color manage-
ment systems become fully integrated into desktop computer
systems.

Concepts and Design

The Hexachrome expanded six-color gamut provides us with the
ability to achieve what we conceive. No longer are we limited by
the old, imperfect CMYK palette. Now we can design with the
confidence that we will be able to print precisely what we see on
our computer monitor. This is because in most areas of the spec-
trum, Hexachrome has a broader color gamut than RGB monitors.
Photography and Illustration
Flat art and photography brought into a large color space like RGB
or CIELAB can now be reproduced with the same color intensity

H8
 you see on-screen and in the original itself. And with the expand-
ed range of Hexachrome color choices, artists and phot ographers
can now use a far greater range of materials during image cre-
ation. This is because the work they create will reproduce accu-
rately. More image sources than ever before are available to cre-
ative artists and powerful design tools make compositing these
images a simple matter. It is now possible to create complex,
broad gamut works of art that were heretofore impossible to
reproduce.
With Hexachrome, we can now create original art on desk-
top computer systems with paint, illustration or 3-D software tools
and know that their intensity and fidelity will be preserved in the
printing process. Because Hexachrome lets us design directly in
broad-spectrum RGB color space, vivid colors, delicate blends and
fine pastels will be faithfully reproduced.
The visible difference is readily apparent when the
Hexachrome process printing method is used to reproduce
images where:
• colors are out of CMYK gamut;
• there is significant detail in highlight and shadow areas;
• precise rendering of hues, tones and shades is required;and,
• when reproducing the more exceptional range of clean brilliant
colors such as green, red, orange, blue and violet.
Scanning
An RGB scanner is required in a Hexachrome workflow. Designers
who utilize the same images in a variety of media, e.g.,
Hexachrome printing, four-color printing, multimedia presenta-
tions, the Internet, etc.,will want to scan and store the original
image in CIELAB. This will insure that the image will always be of
the highest quality no matter what the intended or future use.

9H

Hexachrome color manage-
ment greatly enhances color
uniformity across input and
output devices.
H 10
For the most part, images can be scanned in using the scanners
we already own,as most manufacturers provide the ability to scan
both CMYK and RGB. The scanner may need to be reconfigured to
create standard RBG image files, as many flatbed and drum scan-
ners default to CMYK. The result is a scan with a far greater color
gamut than standard CMYK which will exploit the expanded
Hexachrome color range while still using normal methods for
retouching and color correction.
Color Management Systems
To achieve predictable Hexachrome color separations, color must
be managed throughout the production cycle, from scanning, to
monitor display, to image editing and manipulation, to page lay-
out and to final output. While the Hexachrome process gives you
far more accurate colors, Hexachrome color management greatly
enhances color uniformity across input and output devices. Color
management has the most difficulty with out-of-gamut colors.
Therefore, Hexachrome virtually eliminates this problem as most
colors are in-gamut. Color management tools and systems by
Agfa, Color Solutions, Kodak, LogoSoft and other companies sup-
port the Hexachrome process.
In addition to the above mentioned color management sys-
tems, ICC profiles can be used to output Hexachrome files. An ICC
profile is a database that is used by a Color Management Module
(CMM) to perform color conversions between different color
devices. With the Mac ™ OS extension ColorSync ® 2.x, Apple has
implemented support for ICC profiles at the operating system
level. Microsoft supports ICC profiles in Windows® 95.
Design Software
Hexachrome technology has been licensed to today’s most popu-
lar design software producers. This allows us to take advantage of
the benefits of Hexachrome without having to change the way
we work or the tools we use. Page layout software such as Adobe
PageMaker and QuarkXPress directly support Hexachrome. This
means that we can continue to place, crop and manipulate
images just as easily as before. We can make Hexachrome separa-
 tions from within these programs simply by accessing the built-in
Hexachrome libraries and profiles. The programs also separate RGB
images into Hexachrome if they are not already pre-separated.
Adobe PageMaker
Adobe PageMaker was the first design application with built-in
support for Hexachrome printing. PageMaker achieves this
through the inclusion of PANTONE Hexachrome digital color
libraries and the Kodak® ICC Color Management System which are
used in conjunction with the PageMaker sophisticated printing
functions to create and output Hexachrome color separations.
Creating Hexachrome documents in PageMaker 6.5 or high-
er is easy and straightforward. The process is as follows:
1 Kodak ICC must be turned on and is used to set parameters for all
placed graphics.
2 The PANTONE Hexachrome digital color libraries, included with
PageMaker, contain 2,000 colors on coated and uncoated stock
that can be applied to text and PageMaker created graphics. To
select and define Hexachrome colors:
• choose Element>Define Colors and click New;
• select PANTONE Hexachrome Library coated or uncoated from
the Libraries pop-up menu;and
• select the desired colors from the library.
NOTE: PageMaker does not automatically substitute PANTONE Hexachrome Black for process black,so be
sure to explicitly apply PANTONE Hexachrome Black wherever regular black is required to insure that your
document separates properly.

3 The same procedure is used for trapping a Hexachrome docu-

ment as is used on CMYK or spot color documents.
4 To output final separations, we simply choose the Print option
from the File menu, click the Color button,and select the
Hexachrome color inks we want to print.
For additional information, refer to “Using Adobe PageMaker
6.5 for Hexachrome Production” on page 41.

11 H
 QuarkXPress
With the release of QuarkXPress 4.0 in fall 1997,the volume of
Hexachrome documents has increased. Creating Hexachrome
documents in QuarkXPress is also a straightfor ward process and
can easily be accomplished by using the following procedure:

1 In a Hexachrome workflow using QuarkXPress, Quark CMS must

be enabled in the XTensions Manager.
2 From the Preferences menu, go to Color Management and acti-
vate Color Management.
3 From Color Management Preferences, select PANTONE
Hexachrome as the Separation Printer under Destination Profiles.
4 In order to simulate Hexachrome colors on a monitor, the Display
Correction must also be activated and the Hexachrome Color
Model selected from the Display Correction pop-up menu.
5 Hexachrome colors, like all other colors, are specified in the Color
dialog box under Edit. Hexachrome colors can be specified in
either the Hexachrome Coated or Hexachrome Uncoated Color
Model.
6 Images can be pre-separated in Hexachrome and saved in DCS
2.0 file format or can be placed in QuarkXPress as RGB images and
separated into Hexachrome from QuarkXPress.
7 To output Hexachrome separations, go to the Print menu and
select PANTONE Hexachrome from the Profiles tab folder. Then

H 12
select Separations under the Document tab folder. The
Hexachrome angles and screen rulings are preset in the Print
menu and can be viewed in the Output tab folder.
For additional information, refer to “Using QuarkXPress 4.0 for
Hexachrome Production” on page 32.
Image Manipulation and Color Correction
Because RGB files are smaller than CMYK files, the Hexachrome
process allows us to manipulate and process image files more
quickly and easily. On-screen response times are faster, while stor-
age of files and images requires less space, allowing us to exploit
the full color gamut of Hexachrome while at the same time
speeding the flow of work through the organization.
Photoshop 5.0 can give a softproof of Hexachrome separa-
tions. This can be achieved by using the spot color function for
multichannel images. On page 30, the procedure to obtain the
Hexachrome composite image is described. Photoshop also gives
the user the ability to color-correct images though curves, levels
and other Photoshop techniques for image manipulation.

Hexachrome Separations
Hexachrome six-channel color separations can easily be created
from within page layout applications including QuarkXPress and
Adobe PageMaker (see the previous section, Design Software),as
well as with an Adobe Photoshop plug-in from Pantone. PANTONE
HexWrench allows us to preview and create high quality
Hexachrome separations for use in any design or publishing appli-
cation. It has a simple-to-use user interface where we can set spe-
cific ColorSync/ICC device profiles for accurate soft color proofing.
HexWrench generates six-channel DCS 2.0 or Photoshop files
which,when imported into a page layout program, can be directly
output for printing. HexWrench provides the user with the ability
to manipulate RGB images for optimal Hexachrome impact. For
more information, refer to “Using PANTONE HexWrench for High-
end Production” on page 18.

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 Screening Options
Hexachrome lets you choose the screening technique most
appropriate for the job by supporting both conventional halftone
and high-end stochastic screening. There is no single prefer red
screening method for producing great Hexachrome jobs. The
System lets you easily avoid moiré patterns–potentially made
even more problematic in a six-color process–by assigning pre-
cisely the same screen angle to colors that don’t print together,
such as orange/cyan and green/magenta. High screen frequencies
of at least 175 lpi (lines per inch) and higher are recommended
but are not necessary to maintain high quality color reproduction.
For anyone not familiar with the term, stochastic screening is
a new halftone screening technology that utilizes extremely small
dots that are printed in a random pattern rather than traditional
screen angles.
Screening comes in two versions. Stochastic or Frequency
Modulated (FM) screening, controls ink density by varying the
number of dots. Dark areas receive more dots, while highlight
areas have fewer dots. CristalRaster® from Agfa is a notable exam-
ple of FM screening that is perfectly matched for the rigors of
Hexachrome reproduction.
Amplitude-Modulated screening, or AM screening for short,
is the conventional screening method which uses dots of different
sizes, but at fixed positions to render tints of color.
Printing Hexachrome Documents on a Desktop Printer
Hexachrome documents can be output to a desktop printer
which has a large color gamut by utilizing a Hexachrome profile
in an ICC workflow. This is because many desktop printers and
digital proofers now have a color gamut which is up to 30% larger
than traditional offset CMYK. This is large enough to reproduce a
similar color range as that of the six inks in the Hexachrome
process system. The workflow for Hexachrome simulation in an
ICC workflow is as follows:
1 The RGB scan is tagged with an ICC profile for the same device on
which the image was scanned.

H 14
2 The image color data is converted by the CMM into CIELAB.
3 To simulate Hexachrome on the four-color device, the CIELAB
values for the RGB scan are converted into device specific dot
percent values through the use of a Hexachrome ICC profile.
The device specific colors are then converted back to CIELAB.
When the colors are converted back to CIELAB, the image is
mapped to Hexachrome color space but in L*a*b* coordinates.
Some compression (minor) may take place.
4 From CIELAB, the colors can now be converted to the color gamut
of the printer or digital proofer through the use of the printer’s
ICC profile. The colors are once again device dependent, with the
colors that are possible to achieve in Hexachrome, defined in
CMYK for the printer or digital proofer.
5 The RGB file which has been converted to a Hexachrome simula-
tion as a CMYK file can now be printed directly to the printer or
digital proofer.
Hexachrome profiles are available with QuarkXPress 4.0,
PageMaker 6.5, Agfa ColorTune Pro®, Color Solutions, ColorBlind
and PANTONE ColorReady™.
For additional information on this topic, refer to Appendix C,
“Simulating Hexachrome Reproduction on a Four-Color Printer,” on
page 62.
Contract Proofing
There are a number of Hexachrome proofing options, from
on-screen “softproofing” using PANTONE HexWrench through
advanced prepress proofing solutions. DuPont, Agfa, Fuji and
TransCal all support Hexachrome in their proofing products. Other
analog and digital proofing products are under development but
cannot be disclosed as of this date.
Hexachrome Six-color Ink Set
In determining which primary colors to select for the Hexachrome
color ink set, several factors were considered by Pantone during
development, including color gamut, prepress and separations,
subject matter, printing press capabilities, lightfastness and print
density. The outcome was a color set which can reproduce the

15 H
 widest possible range of colors achievable in the dynamic range
of continuous tone images, plus 90% achievement of the
PANTONE MATCHINGSYSTEM. The choice of these colorants was
critical because they determined the purity and the overall spec-
tral range of the resultant colors.
Pantone has formulated a custom,six-color ink set for
Hexachrome that includes enhanced versions of process inks
(cyan,magenta, yellow),standard process black,plus the addition
of a vibrant orange and green. The high per formance, high
chroma ink set is available worldwide from PANTONE Licensed
Printing Ink Manufacturers. These special inks are purer than tradi-
tional ink sets.
Hexachrome CMYK color inks can be used to enhance
four-color jobs as well,which minimizes preparation and
changeover time between a four-color CMYK and six-color
Hexachrome press run.

PANTONE Color Guides

As there is no substitute for an accurate ink-on-
paper reference guide, Pantone has added a
PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector to
our line of technical reference guides.
The guide contains over 2,000
Hexachrome color combinations on
both coated and uncoated stock
and anyone planning to print in
Hexachrome should have one.
If you need to simulate
PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM Colors
in Hexachrome, simply refer to the
PANTONE Solid in Hexachrome Guide for the color swatch
and its Hexachrome primary tint percentages.

H 16
Printing Methods
Hexachrome integrates seamlessly into virtually any printing
environment. Conventional and waterless offset printing is done
as usual on a six-color (or larger) sheetfed or web press. Gravure,
flexographic and silkscreen methods can also benefit fully from
Hexachrome. While on press, you can intensify up to two colors
without affecting the gray balance.You also have ample color
flexibility to improve subtle colors, especially pastels.
Hexachrome files allow many of today’s new digital color
presses to take full advantage of their extended color capabilities.
However, it should be noted that the color gamut of some digital
presses may be inadequate for acceptable Hexachrome simula-
tions. To print Hexachrome simulations on a digital press, follow
the procedures described in Appendix C: Simulating Hexachrome
Color Reproduction on a Four-color Printer.

17 H
 2 USING PANTONE HEXWRENCH
FOR HIGH-END PRODUCTION

This documentation is an addition to the

HexWrench User Manual and covers information on
how to get high-end separations with HexWrench.
It is recommended that the reader knows about
the Hexachrome process and have read the
HexWrench User Manual. More information on the
Pantone Hexachrome process can be found at
www.hexachrome.pantone.com or obtained by
calling Pantone.

H 18
Scanners, monitors and printers detect, transmit and record color
information in different ways. In an uncalibrated system,an image
scanned on three different scanners will result in three different
separations. If we print these three scans on three different print-
ers, we will get nine different reproductions of the original. There
are many reasons for these differences. Light source, filters and
optics in the scanner, as well as inks, dyes and tone reproduction
in the printer are just some reasons why the final reproduction
differs. That is the reality that we have to live with in color repro-
duction. But how can we still get a color reproduction in the
above scenario where the nine images all look the same and also
match the original? In a traditional CMYK-based high-end work-
flow, the scanner is calibrated so that color corrections, gray bal-
ance and tone reproduction are translating the light signals from
the scanner’s CMYK values that will reproduce a match to the
original on the proofing system used. However, the proofing
system is made to match the printing conditions.

RGB scans instead of CMYK

At the present time, no scanner can scan directly into
Hexachrome. Further, there is no reason to scan an image in CMYK
because these values already are compressed into the CMYK color
space. Instead, scans should be made in RGB which is the largest
color gamut a scanner can capture images with,particularly as it
corresponds to the filters used in the color separation of reflected
light from the original. Some older scanners are not able to scan
images in CIELAB or RGB format, due to an internal color comput-
er which transforms the RGB light values into CMYK before the
image data is sent to the Mac. In such a scenario it is possible to
convert the CMYK data to RGB in Adobe Photoshop. This transfor-
mation will not increase the color gamut, but by utilizing the satu-
ration control in Photoshop, the overall color fullness can be
increased. However, this will create colors that will not match the
original image completely.

19 H

ColorSync profiles are files
that contain information
about how color is generated
in a specific device.
ColorSync 2.1
ColorSync 2.5
H 20
ColorSync Profiles
Whether you scan in RGB or convert CMYK images into RGB, the
separation software needs to know what the final reproduction
should look like. RGB values alone are not an exact measure of
color. Similarly, what is red for one scanner will be seen as a differ-
ent red on another scanner. What is gray on one monitor will have
a blue color cast on another monitor. To make a good color match
from original to the final printed image, the separation software
needs to know more about the scanner or monitor. During the
last few years, an industry standard has been created to solve
this problem.
In 1993,a group of leading software and hardware compa-
nies in the printing and publishing industry formed the
International Color Consortium (ICC). The result was a standard
for how to describe the color characteristics of any color input or
output device. The characterization consists of a digital file and
an ICC profile for each color device. This file acts like a color inter-
preter between the device and a reference color space, CIELAB.
In the Mac, the ICC profiles are handled by the ColorSync system
extension.
The fact that ICC is a standard means that an application
that utilizes ICC profiles, like HexWrench, will be able to reproduce
the color images from any scanner, digital camera or monitor rep-
resentation very accurately. The only thing that is needed is an ICC
profile for the source color device and the destination device.
Difference between calibration and characterization
Characterization is different from calibration. When you calibrate a
scanner, you make sure that something that you know is white is
detected by the scanner as white. When you measure the dot
gain on the press, you make sure that the ink/press/paper is
reproducing tones in the expected way. If a device in the color
reproduction workflow is uncalibrated, all the images that are
processed will be treated incorrectly. To change this, the operator
needs to perform a calibration,which usually is different for each
device manufacturer.
 Characterization is not at all related to calibration.A charac- In HexWrench there are
three pop-up menus for
terization of a color rendering device in the graphic arts industry specification of which ICC
is today usually understood as a creation of an ICC profile for the profiles that will be used in
the color conversion. In
device. Without a characterization of the scanner, HexWrench order to get a match to the
does not know how the colors on the original look,it only knows scanned original,the profile
for the scanner has to be
what the scanner says that the image looks like in RGB values. selected in the scanner pop-
The scanner ICC profile acts like an interpreter and describes to up menu.
If the monitor represen-
HexWrench how the scanner describes colors in RGB. tation will be treated as the
It is very important to understand that a scanner profile does original,the scanner profile
should be set to Use Monitor
not alter the way the scanner reads images, rather it is a data file Profile and the correct moni-
that contains information on how the scanner sees color. If you tor profile has to be selected
in the Monitor pop-up menu.
create profiles with a profile creation application,it is always rec-
ommended to calibrate the scanner before creating the profile.

Setting up HexWrench
In HexWrench,some settings can be made to specify how the
separations will be done. If these are incorrectly set, the separa-
tions will not be to satisfaction. The most important settings are
the source profile, image intent and black generation.

Scanner profile pop-up menu

Monitor profile pop-up menu

Printer profile pop-up menu

21 H
 Source profiles
A source profile contains color information about the input
device. If a scanner profile is used, the original that was scanned
will be reproduced in print. If a monitor profile is used, the printed
reproduction will look like the RGB image on the monitor.
Scanner profiles
Scanner ICC profiles can be obtained in different ways. In some
scanner software, an ICC profile is created in the scanner calibra-
tion procedure. Also, some scanner manufacturers supply default
profiles for each model. There is also a wide range of third party
ICC profile generating software that can be used with any scanner
to create an ICC profile. (See Appendix B for a list of the most
commonly used ICC profile creation packages.)
Furthermore, the scanner profile will not automatically tell
HexWrench how your scanner sees color. You have to specify the
scanner profile in the scanner profile pop-up menu to make it
active in the color separation.
Monitor profiles
When using images that are scanned in RGB without knowing
which scanner was used, the monitor needs to be treated as the
source. In this case, the monitor representation will need to be
taken as the original to reproduce in print. To get a good repro-
duction, you then need an ICC profile for the monitor.
Monitor profiles can either be obtained from the manufac-
turer or created with ICC profile applications. Pantone offers P 2C2™,
an inexpensive software product that generates a high quality
monitor profile in a couple of minutes. There are also other moni-
tor profiling applications, usually as a part of complete ICC profile
generating packages. (See Appendix B for a list of the most com-
monly used packages.)
In HexWrench, the monitor profile has to be specified in the
Monitor profile pop-up menu. In addition,the scanner profile pop-
up menu has to be set to: Use monitor profile.

H 22
Destination profiles
When you install HexWrench,several Hexachrome and CMYK pro-
files will be installed in the ColorSync profiles folder. These destina-
tion profiles are created for coated and uncoated paper as well as
for Agfa Proof 2. In addition, for each substrate, a profile for sto-
chastic and conventional screening is installed. HexWrench will not screen
As ICC profiles only include color characteristic information, the separations, but it will
separate the images for
the actual screening will not be dependent on the profile you different screening color
select. The colors are, however, managed for the different screen- characteristics.

ing algorithms in the same way it is done for different substrates.

Most people that are printing in Hexachrome use conventional
screening, usually at a screen ruling around 200 lpi. However, it is
also possible to use lower screen rulings. When installing
HexWrench, two profiles are supplied as a default for conventional
screening:175 and 200 lpi. The difference between these profiles
is the different dot gain you get when using the different screen
rulings. If you are using another screen ruling, you can use the one
of these two that is closest to what you are going to use. It is,
however, highly recommended that you use the HexWrench
Tuner application,which is described on page 19 and 20, to cus-
tomize the Hexachrome profiles for the dot gain on your press.

Image intent
Depending on the original you scan,some colors might not be
achievable in Hexachrome. They fall outside the range of possible
colors that can be obtained. These are most often bright and light
colors that can be achieved in RGB and achieved in a transparen-
cy. When we print on paper, these bright, highly chromatic colors The Rendering intent is
cannot be achieved due to the subtractive color mixing that selected in the Image I ntent
pop-up menu.
occurs on paper. When colors in the original are not available to
reproduce, they are considered to be outside of the color gamut.
These colors have to be reproduced as good as possible to
achieve the same feeling as the original. This can be done in dif-
ferent ways and specified in HexWrench through the use of differ-
ent image intents. There are two directions we can go to repro-
duce out-of-gamut colors. Either the chromaticity can be

23 H

A B
HexWrench allows the user to
divide the preview image into
four segments (A). Then,using
the “step and repeat” function
(B),the same portion of the
image can be seen in all four
panes. Each of these segments
can be configured for different
image intents and profile
selections.
H 24
decreased so that the brightness is matched, which means that
the colors will be “washed out” but will maintain the overall con-
trast in the image. This is what happens in the Photographic ren-
dering intent, which is the default rendering intent in HexWrench.
The other way to reproduce these bright colors is to main-
tain the color strength but decrease the brightness. In such a case,
the colors will be as colorful as in the original,but darker. This is
achieved in HexWrench by choosing the Spot color rendering
intent. A third way is a compromise of the other methods, reduc-
ing some of the colorfulness and decreasing some of the bright-
ness will generate a reproduction in between the photographic
and spot rendering intent. In HexWrench,this is called Graphic.
The question then is how to know when to use the different
rendering intents. Many users only use the photographic image
intent. This is good when reproducing images with large areas of
colors that fit inside the color gamut or with small areas that are
bright and colorful and fall outside the color gamut.
However, often images that are being used for Hexachrome
are very saturated with large areas of bright colors. To reproduce
these colors faithfully, the Graphic or Spot image intents perform
much better. It is easy to see in the preview window the differ-
ence between the image intents. For example, divide the preview
into four parts using photographic, graphic and spot image
intents in three of the four parts and RGB in the fourth. Then
zoom into a bright and colorful area. You will then easily see
which intent is most suited to your image. Very often the graphic
image intent is a better choice than the photographic, because of
the nature of the images that are usually used in Hexachrome, i.e.,
bright and chromatic colors.
Black generation in HexWrench
Black generation in HexWrench utilizes a high level of GCR. This
means that dark and gray colors are built up with primarily black
ink as the darkening component. In four-color reproduction,many
users prefer a gray balance which uses cyan,magenta and yellow
together with black. Naturally, this way of black generation can be
used in Hexachrome. In HexWrench though,it was decided to use
primarily black for black generation, due to limitations in conven-
tional screening.
In conventional screening it is possible to use up to six pri-
mary colors. The reason is that a maximum of four angles can be
used without the risk of a moiré pattern. At first glance, this would
mean that only four primary colors can be used for conventional
screening. But, in fact, six primary colors can share the four screen
angles without causing overprinting of two colors with the same
screen angle.
The secret is that orange/cyan and green/magenta are com-
plementary colors. This means that when cyan and orange are
overprinted, no secondary chromatic color will be created, but a
dark brown color. Thus there is no need to print cyan and orange
at the same time, which means that orange can be printed at the
same screen angle as cyan. The same procedure can be used for
green/magenta. Green is printed on the same screen angle as
magenta. However, it is a little more complicated then that.
The separation algorithm needs to recognize this so that the
two complementary colors will not appear at the same time.
When reproducing chromatic colors, this will happen automatical-
ly, if a light green color is produced there is no reason to use
magenta. But what should we do if we have a green color that is
transforming into black in a spread? If we use CMYK to generate
gray color, it will be impossible to not print green and magenta in
the same place. The answer is to reproduce the black generation
with only black.
In dark areas cyan,magenta and yellow will be added to the
black generation to increase the density of shadows. There is no
risk of getting a visible moiré pattern in these tones, as there is
such a high area coverage that any misregistration will not be
noticeable as a moiré pattern.
In HexWrench, there are two ways to control the black gen-
eration in dark areas and Total Area Coverage, TAC. The pop-up
menu Black level can be set to five positions:+2, +1,0,-1,-2. The

25 H

The Black level can be adjust-
ed to increase or decrease the
amount of under color addi-
tion in dark areas.
2 Select New
3 Choose Dot Gain Fixup.
(HexWrench Tuner is
controlled in five steps).
1 Start HexWrench Tuner.
2 Choose New from the File menu.
3 Choose Dot Gain Fixup target from the pop-up menu.
H 26
higher the value, the higher the TAC will be and more of CMY will
be used when reproducing dark colors and, in this way, increase
the contrast in the image. The default setting is 0 and is often a
good setting.
Clipping paths
Clipping paths work in the same way as normal EPS images;how-
ever, you will not have an option to decide when separating the
image, if the clipping path should be used or not. If a clipping
path was created in the RGB image before starting HexWrench,it
will be used in the separation. However, if the path wasn't speci-
fied as a clipping path,it will not clip the image.
Using HexWrench Tuner
HexWrench Tuner can be found in the HexWrench folder when
installing the program. This application will print out a target with
about 100 patches, which is printed on your press/paper configu-
ration. The print is then measured with a densitometer that can
measure dot percent area. The values are entered either by hand
or measured directly into HexWrench Tuner with a ColorTron™ II
spectrophotometer. The data entered will be used by HexWrench
Tuner to create a new Hexachrome characterization for your print-
ing conditions that will be available to specify in the printer profile
pop-up menu in HexWrench.
4 Double-click on step one and select the profile that you want to 4 Select the profile to “tune.”

have as the basis for your new, customized profile. 5 Select layout of the target.
5 Double-click on step two and select the size, shape and layout of
6 Print the target.
the patches.

6 Double-click on step three to print the target to the image setter.

If you want to save the target as an EPS image, you can do this by
selecting file instead of printer in the print dialogue box. When
doing this, the Print option will change to Save. Also, specify to
print page 1 to 1. As you click on Save, you will be asked how to
save the file. The default is PostScript, but in the pop-up menu,
you should select “EPS file Mac Standard preview.” Give the file a
new name that identifies it as page 1. When the EPS file is created,
you have to repeat the procedure for pages 2,3,4,5 and 6,each
time giving it a new name.
7 Choose Save in the file menu to save the HexWrench Tuner
project.

27 H
 8 If you print directly to the imagesetter, you either make a proof or
go to press with the target. If you created EPS files, these can be
placed in the page layout application of your choice and then
imaged and proofed or printed.
9 Load the HexWrench Tuner Project you saved in 7.
10 Double-click on step 4 and measure each patch with a densito-
meter that is set to read dot percent area.
11 Double-click on step 5 and save the customized dot gain
characteristics as a profile with a new name. The file has to end
with .SAME.

10 Measure the patches.

11 Create the profile.

12 Save the HexWrench Tuner Project file for future reference.

13 Quit HexWrench Tuner.
The new profile will be available in the printer profile pop-up
menu found in HexWrench.

H 28
3 USING ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 5.0
TO SOFTPROOF HEXACHROME SEPARATIONS

Images separated through PANTONE HexWrench

can be opened in Photoshop through the
HexWrench DCS 2.0 filter. In Photoshop 5.0, it is
possible to get a preview of the Hexachrome
separation and use the curves tool to make color
changes in the image.

29 H
 When the HexWrench image is opened, Photoshop will treat it as
a multichannel image where each channel is a masking channel.
The default color for such masking channels is red. In Photoshop
5.0, you can change the way multichannel images are viewed on
the monitor by using the spot color function. This is how it is
accomplished:
1 Open the HexWrench DCS 2.0 image in Photoshop 5.0.
2 View the Channel Palette.
3 Double-click on Hexachrome Cyan.
4 Click on the radio button for Spot Color and change the Solidity to
2 Bring up the Channel 0 percent.
palette.
5 Click on the color swatch and enter the L*a*b* values for the
Hexachrome primaries.
4 Choose Spot Color and
0 (zero) Solidity.

5 Enter the L*a*b* values as

listed in the table belo w.

L* a* b*
Hexachrome Cyan 50 –33 –52
Hexachrome Magenta 51 79 –8
Hexachrome Orange 70 52 84
Hexachrome Yellow 92 –5 86
Hexachrome Green 61 –73 32 6 Click OK.
Hexachrome Black 14 –2 –1
7 Repeat this process until all Hexachrome primary colors have
been specified.
8 When all six Hexachrome primaries are set, shift-click on all the
channels to get a color preview on the monitor.
The Hexachrome L*a*b* values shown in step 5 above are
measured standards for the Hexachrome primary color inks print-
ed at the correct densities. These L*a*b* values will then be inter-
preted by the RGB setup in the Color Settings sub-menu of the
File menu in order to get the correct RGB values on screen.
Depending on how closely the settings in the RGB setup corre-
8 Shift-click on all channels.
spond to the monitor, a better softproof can be achieved by
changing the L*a*b* values by visually comparing the screen view
and a Hexachrome proof or print.

H 30
Using the Curves function for color changes
With all channels selected as shown in step 8,there are several
Photoshop functions that can be used to change or correct colors
in the separation. One of the most popular tools is the Curves
function,located in the Adjust sub-menu of Image. Here, each
channel can be controlled with the familiar transfer curves.

Saving single DCS 2.0 files In the Curves function, you

can alter the curves for each
In Photoshop 5.0,there is built-in support for saving DCS 2.0 files.
channel and see the effec t
The Photoshop DCS 2.0 document format allows the user to save on the screen.
these images as a single file, which sometimes can be more con-
venient than the multi-file format that HexWrench DCS 2.0 uses.
When doing so, the names of the HexWrench channels need to
be changed so that they do not include the parentheses and the
values in them.
In Photoshop 5.0,it is possi-
ble to save DCS 2.0 files as a
single file.

Creating Photoshop Actions

The setup of the colors for each Hexachrome primary cannot be
saved as a default, as it involves a setting for each channel. This
means that the procedure described in the steps on the previous
page can be time consuming in daily production. For that reason,
it is recommended that users record the steps as a Photoshop
Action. More information on how to create a Photoshop Action
can be found in the Adobe Photoshop User Manual.
When doing the recording of the Action, you can also
choose if you want to change the name of the channels so that
you can save the file with the Photoshop DCS 2.0 filter and thus
be able to save single file DCS 2.0 images.

31 H
 4 USING QUARKXPRESS 4.0
FOR HEXACHROME PRODUCTION

This section describes how to use QuarkXPress 4.0

for Hexachrome production. It is strongly recom-
mended that the user also read the manual and
other documentation supplied from Quark in
order to fully understand how color is handled in
QuarkXPress 4.0.

H 32
In order to print Hexachrome colors, the Quark CMS extension has
to be installed and activated. CMS stands for Color Management
System and is a general term for characterizing how different
color devices handle colors and how these devices can be linked
to each other and get a predictable color result. Quark CMS is
described in an addition to the QuarkXPress manual called “A
Guide to Color Management and Prepress,” which is a good source if
you want to have more information about Color Management
and its implementation in QuarkXPress 4.0.
In 1993,a group of companies in digital prepress formed the
International Color Consortium, ICC, to develop standards on how
the color reproduction characteristics of color imaging devices
should be made. The result was the ICC profile specification. An ICC
profile is a file that is used by a Color Management Module (CMM)
to perform color conversions between different color devices.
With the Mac OS extension ColorSync 2.0, Apple has implemented
support for ICC profiles at the operating system level.
With applications like QuarkXPress 4.0, which are compatible
with ICC profiles, color conversions can be made between any
combination of color imaging devices and get predictable and
accurate color output. In order for this to happen,the user must
have ICC profiles for each color imaging device that is used in the
workflow. When installing Quark CMS,several profiles will auto-
matically be installed. However, many more profiles can be used, if
required.
Before you start using Color Management, be sure that you
have a profile for each color device that you are using, e.g.,scan-
ner, monitor, desktop printer and printing press. If you do not have
one or more of these profiles, they are available from the manu-
facturer of the device. To make using Color Management easier
and to minimize mistakes when selecting profiles, it is best to put
away any profiles that you are not utilizing. ICC profiles in the
Mac OS are stored in a folder called ColorSync Profiles under the
Preferences folder in the System folder. Profiles can be moved by
dragging into the folder.

33 H
 There are three categories of ICC profiles:
• Input or source profiles are scanner profiles, digital camera profiles,
or any imaging device that read color from a medium.
• Output or destination profiles are printer profiles or any other
imaging device that record color information on a medium.
• Monitor profiles can be treated as both source and destination
profiles depending on how the color management is set up to be
performed.
Quark CMS must be enabled
in the XTensions Manager for
Hexachrome Production.

In the Color Management

Preferences, settings can be
made to select source and
destination profiles which
will provide a calibrated color
output.
To be able to output
Hexachrome separations, the
PANTONE Hexachrome profile
that comes with QuarkXPress
needs to be selected as the
separation printer.
Setting up Quark CMS
In order to use the Quark CMS,it must be enabled in the Xtension
Manager found under the Utilities menu. If Quark CMS is not
found in the list, it can be reinstalled from the QuarkXPress 4.0
installation CD.
When Quark CMS is installed, a new option called Color
Management is available in Preferences under the Edit menu. By
default, color management is switched off. Color Management can
be activated without having a document open. The settings that
are made in the Color Management Preferences will become the
new default settings. If a document is open,the changes that are
made in the Color Management Preferences will only be effective
only in the active document.
The Color Management preference dialogue box is divided
into three parts, the destination profiles, the default source pro-
files, and settings for selecting the color space that will be color
managed by QuarkXPress.

H 34
Destination Profiles
In this section,the user can specify which profiles to be used for
the monitor, composite printer and separation printer. The Monitor
pop-up menu selection is used to simulate how the colors will
appear when printed on the selected composite or separation
printer. The composite printer is normally set to the desktop color
printer that is used when making color printouts. The separation
printer uses the profile for the printing press or film-based proof-
ing device that will be used.
The composite printer will automatically be used unless the
Separations check box in the Print dialogue box is selected. If it is
checked, the separation profile will be used.
As QuarkXPress 4.0 is programmed so that it assumes that all
composite printers are four-color devices, it does not allow profiles
with more than four channels to be selected. Thus, the PANTONE
Hexachrome profile must be selected as the Separation Printer,
even if you are not going to use Quark CMS to perform color con-
versions.

Default Source Profiles

The three tab folders, RGB, CMYK and Hexachrome, are used to
specify the default source profiles that will be used for images
imported and colors created in QuarkXPress.
RGB default source profiles
Typically this means that the default RGB profile for Image should
be the scanner profile, while RGB Color defined in QuarkXPress
should use the monitor profile as the source.
CMYK default source profiles
If images are scanned directly into CMYK or if they are pre- Hexachrome source profiles
are not applicable, as there
separated, a SWOP profile can be assigned as the source. The is no file format that allows
SWOP profile should also be selected in the Color pop-up menu. Hexachrome information to
be color managed.
Hexachrome default source profiles
As of this writing, it is not possible to set either the Image or Color
source profile as Hexachrome in Quark CMS,as QuarkXPress 4.0
does not support any file format with six channels. However,

35 H
Hexachrome separation can be
simulated on the monitor.
Hexachrome Coated and
Hexachrome Uncoated refers
to the PANTONE Hexachrome
Color Selector fan guide from
Pantone.
NOTE: When sending your docu-
ment to an output service for film,
it is important that you send all
profiles used in the document ,
along with the file. Profiles work
in much the same way as fonts
and images;they are only linked
to the document, without them,
the color management cannot
work properly.
Hexachrome colors, like all other
colors, are specified in the Color
dialog box under Edit.
H 36
QuarkXPress does support files separated in Hexachrome with the
DCS 2.0 file format. Unfortunately, DCS files cannot be color man-
aged. It is possible to manage Hexachrome if the colors are select-
ed from the Hexachrome Coated and Hexachrome Uncoated
color models. These colors do not require source profiles but can
be color managed through Quark CMS because they are defined
in device independent color and can be accurately reproduced to
any output color space.
Display Correction
In the pop-up menu Display Correction,the monitor can be set to
simulate the separation printer, the composite printer or display
colors based on monitor characteristics. If the monitor appearance
is of little importance, Display Correction can be set to Off, mean-
ing that the color will be managed at the printing stage, but not
be displayed on the monitor preview.
To have the monitor simulate the Hexachrome output, the
separation printer must be set to the PANTONE Hexachrome pro-
file and the Display Correction to Separation Printer Color Space.
Color Correction
This scroll list shows the different color spaces that QuarkXPress
can use ICC profiles to color manage. By default, color correction
will be enabled for RGB images. This means that any RGB color or
image that is used in the document will be color managed
through the profiles that have been selected in the preferences.
NOTE: The color space CMYK is disabled from color management.
This means that colors specified in CMYK and images separated in
CMYK will not be color managed by Quark CMS but will pass
unchanged to the printer.
The color space Hexachrome Coated and Hexachrome
Uncoated refers to the colors printed in the PANTONE
Hexachrome Color Selector. This color reference guide from
Pantone includes 2,000 colors printed in Hexachrome on coated
and uncoated paper. If color management is disabled for these
two color models, the screen values indicated in the PANTONE
Hexachrome Color Selector will be used when color separations
are printed. If color management is enabled, the Selector colors
will be color managed with the profiles specified for Composite
Printer and Separation Printer.
If you are going to send your document to a service bureau
for final output, it is important that you send all profiles used in
the document together with the file. Profiles work in the same
way as fonts and images;they are only linked to the document,
without them the color management cannot be made.

Specifying Hexachrome colors

In the Colors dialogue box under the Edit menu, there are three PANTONE Hexachrome Color
color models where Hexachrome colors can be selected, Selector is specified in the
Hexachrome Coated and
Hexachrome Coated, Hexachrome Uncoated and Multi Ink. Hexachrome Uncoated Color
Model.
Hexachrome Coated and Hexachrome Uncoated
These 2,000 colors are printed in the PANTONE Hexachrome Color
Selector. This Selector is printed on coated and uncoated paper
with different process mixes of the Hexachrome colors. Each color
is identified with a number relating to the page number and color
number on each page. To find the same color in the PANTONE
Hexachrome Coated and Hexachrome Uncoated color model,
simply key in the number for the color found in the PANTONE
Hexachrome Color Selector or scroll though the color list.

Multi-Ink
This color model is divided in two parts, CMYK and Hexachrome.
When Hexachrome is selected, any mix of Hexachrome colors can Process colors in Hexachrome
be specified. The preview color on the monitor is not necessarily can also be specified by user’s
specific percentage break-
accurate and should be used with caution. Selecting Hexachrome down.
dot area values give professional users large possibilities for color
control in the design.
Hexachrome colors can also be specified with all color Hexachrome colors can be
converted from CMYK by
spaces that have been selec ted in the Color Management specifying a Hexachrome
Preferences to be color corrected. As an example, if color correc- profile as the separation
printer in the Color
tion is enabled for CMYK,any color specified in CMYK will be con- Management Preferences.
verted to Hexachrome when separations are printed, if the

37 H

When placing an image in
QuarkXPress, a source profile
can be assigned to the image .
The Profile Information listing
shows the profile that is cho-
sen for the selec ted picture
box.
H 38
PANTONE Hexachrome profile is specified as the separation print-
er in the Color Management preferences.
In the same way, a PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector
color can be simulated in CMYK if color management is enabled
for Hexachrome Coated or Hexachrome Uncoated and the sepa-
ration printer is set to be a CMYK profile. In order to simulate
Hexachrome colors correctly on a four-color device, the color
gamut of this device needs to approximate the Hexachrome color
gamut. If the color gamut is smaller, the Hexachrome colors will
be reproduced as closely as possible within the four-color gamut
of the output device. Many desktop printers have color gamuts
that are close to Hexachrome but, in some cases, the color lookup
tables in the printer may need to be disabled in order to achieve
the complete color gamut of the printer. With such a printer, a
Hexachrome simulation can be achieved. An ICC profile for the
desktop printer is required in this workflow.
Separating Hexachrome images
Images can either be separated directly from within QuarkXPress
using Quark CMS or pre-separated from another application and
placed as DCS 2.0 files. As the color gamut of CMYK images is
already compressed to fit inside the CMYK color gamut, there is
no reason to use CMYK images when separating into
Hexachrome. Instead, CIELAB or RGB is the preferred color space
for images that will be separated into Hexachrome.
When placing an image into a QuarkXPress document that
has a color model enabled to be color corrected by Quark CMS,
the open dialogue box will allow the user to specify a source pro-
file for the image. Usually the source profile is a scanner profile,
but if the image is computer generated, the monitor profile
should be chosen as the source profile. Make sure to select the
check box Color Correction in order to color manage the import-
ed image.
With the PANTONE Hexachrome profile selected as the sepa-
ration printer, the image will be separated automatically when the
document is printed as separations.
A good way to keep control of the profiles that are assigned to Images can be pre-separated
in Hexachrome and saved in
individual images is to show the Profile Information listing under the DCS 2.0 file format or can
the View menu. With a picture box active, the profile that is be placed in QuarkXPress as
RGB images and separated
assigned to the image is shown,as well as the color space of the into Hexachrome from
selected image. QuarkXPress.

When placing PANTONE Hexachrome previously separated

DCS 2.0 images into QuarkXPress, it is important that the channels
are named as the italic names below:
Hexachrome Cyan Hexachrome Black
Hexachrome Magenta Hexachrome Orange
Hexachrome Yellow Hexachrome Green

Printing Hexachrome separations

When Color Management is enabled in the Color Management
preferences, an extra tab folder, Profiles, is available in the Print dia-
logue box. In Profiles, the composite and separation printer can be
changed. If the PANTONE Hexachrome profile is selected for the
separation printer, QuarkXPress will output Hexachrome separa-
tions only if the Separations check box in the Document tab folder

Choose the PANTONE

Hexachrome profile as the
separation printer.

Hexachrome separations
are enabled when clicking
in Separations.

The Hexachrome angles and

screen rulings are preset in
the Print menu.

39 H
 is checked. With the PANTONE Hexachrome profile selected, the
Output tab folder will show the six Hexachrome colors activated.
As Hexachrome uses the same screen angles as CMYK,the
options for screen angle (as well as screen ruling) will refer to the
settings for cyan,magenta, yellow and black. As cyan and orange
are complementary colors and will make gray when mixed
together at the same pixel in the color separation,thus cyan and
orange can share the same screen angle without causing moiré
problems. The same is true for green and magenta which are also
complementary colors.
If CMYK and Hexachrome
colors and/or images are used
in the document, the user has
the option to print the CMYK
colors on the Hexachrome
CMYK or to print CYMK and
Hexachrome separations.
If CMYK colors and Hexachrome colors are mixed in the
same document, the user will be asked when printing
Hexachrome separations if the CMYK channels should be printed
on the same plates as Hexachrome CMYK or if they should be
imaged as separate plates. However, in this workflow, if color man-
agement is enabled for CMYK,this option will not be available as
the CMYK colors will be simulated in Hexachrome.

H 40
5 USING ADOBE PAGEMAKER 6.5
FOR HEXACHROME PRODUCTION

This section describes how to use Adobe PageMaker

6.5 for Hexachrome production and serves as a sup-
plement to the user manual and to make it easier for
the user to understand how PageMaker 6.5 handles
the PANTONE Hexachrome color space. However, it is
strongly recommended that the user also read the
documentation supplied from Adobe in order to fully
understand how color is handled in PageMaker 6.5.

41 H
 PageMaker 6.0 was one of the first software programs to support
Hexachrome. In the 6.5 release, the color managing has been
improved and it is thus recommended not to use the 6.0 release.
For this reason,the information presented in this section will only
relate to PageMaker 6.5.
Hexachrome color separations can either be made internally
in PageMaker or be pre-separated through softwares like
PANTONE HexWrench, Agfa ColorTune or ColorSolutions
ColorBlind® Edit.
Hexachrome process mixes from the PANTONE Hexachrome
Color Selector can be specified through the PageMaker Color
libraries. These values can later be changed by the users to cus-
tomized process mixes.
PageMaker utilizes ICC profiles to do the conversions from
RGB to CMYK or Hexachrome. There are two Color Matching
Methods to choose from, Kodak ICC and Apple ColorSync. In order
to do Hexachrome, the Kodak ICC CMM needs to be used.

Using PageMaker for color separation

With applications like PageMaker 6.5 that are compatible with ICC
profiles, color conversions can be made between any combina-
tion of color imaging devices and get predictable and accurate
color output. In order for this to happen, the user must have ICC
profiles for each color imaging device that is used in the work-
flow. When installing PageMaker 6.5,several profiles will automati-
cally be installed. However, many more profiles can be used, if
required.
Before you start, be sure that you have a profile for each
color device that you are using, e.g.,scanner, monitor, desktop
printer and printing press. If you do not have one or more of these
profiles, they are available from the manufacturer of the device.
Profiles can also be created for each individual device by using
color management applications. (See Appendix B for a list of the
most commonly used applications.) To make using color manage-
ment easier and to minimize mistakes when selecting profiles, it is
best to put away any profiles that you are not utilizing. ICC profiles

H 42
 in Mac OS are stored in a folder called ColorSync Profiles under the
Preferences folder in the System folder. Profiles can be moved by
dragging them into the folder.

There are three categories of ICC profiles:

• Input or “source profiles” are scanner profiles, digital camera pro-
files, or any imaging device that read color from a medium.
• Output or “destination profiles” are printer profiles or any other
imaging device that record color information on a medium. The Color Management
• Monitor profiles can be treated as both source and destination preference setting is reached
by selecting CMS Setup...
profiles depending on how the color management is set up to in General.
be performed.

When installing PageMaker, the Kodak ICC system extension is

installed in the Extension Folder in the System Folder. In the
ColorSync folder, there are also installed several ColorSync profiles.
Most of them are for CMYK,but two of them, hexhsid2.pf and
hexnsid2.pf, are Hexachrome profiles. Any RGB or CMYK image can
be separated through these profiles into Hexachrome separations.
Before this can be done, the CMS Setup in the general preferences
needs to be set up correctly.
To separate Hexachrome
images, the following settings
A need to be done: Color
Management needs to be
switched On (A). The Kodak
ICC needs to be specified (B).
The Separation Printer has to
be one of the supplied
B C Hexachrome profiles (C). The
D scanner or monitor profile for
your system should be selec t-
ed as the source profile (D).

In CMS Setup, the Kodak ICC Profile needs to be selected.

In Separation printer, the PANTONE Hexachrome High SID or
PANTONE Hexachrome Normal SID profile needs to be selected.
See Appendix A for information on the solid ink densities (SID)
for Hexachrome. Pantone recommends using the profile for
normal SID.
43 H

When placing RGB and CMYK
images, the Source profile and
Rendering Intent can be set
for each image, by selecting
CMS Source (A).
• Select the image you want to export as a Hexachrome separation.
• The other option is to keep the RGB image in the document and
Placed images can be
exported as a Hexachrome
separation.
H 44
The default source profile for RGB and CMYK can also be selected
here. If you want to reproduce the scanned original in print, you
should select your scanner profile as the RGB Image Source. If you
want to reproduce the appearance of the RGB image on-screen,
you should select the monitor profile that matches your monitor
model. It is also possible to place CMYK images into PageMaker
and let Kodak ICC re-separate these into Hexachrome. This can be
useful if you have to reproduce a CMYK image in a print job that
otherwise uses Hexachrome. The added benefit of using
Hexachrome, in terms of color gamut, will be lost when using pre-
separated CMYK images because they are already compressed
into the CMYK color gamut. For that reason,it is not recommend-
ed to scan images in CMYK that are going to be separated into
Hexachrome.
When placing an RGB image into PageMaker, you can over-
ride the default source profile by choosing CMS Source..., which
will give you a dialogue box to select the source profile and
Rendering intent. Rendering intent will adjust the color separation
depending on the type of image. It is normally suggested to
select Image in this pop-up menu, which is the best choice for
photographical images.
When the image is placed in PageMaker, there are two
choices for how to make the color separation. The image can
either be separated and saved into a file or maintained as RGB
and separated during output to the printer.
Then choose Graphic in the Export sub-menu under File. TIFF and
DCS can be chosen as file format. However, the files created can
only be used in PageMaker, which reduces the usefulness of the
function. The separated image will automatically be relinked to
the image that you placed.
let PageMaker do the separation when the document is sent to
the imagesetter. The second option will mean that the printout
will take a little longer, but it also means that you can easily
 change printing processes by changing the Separation Printer pro-
file in CMS Setup.
To print separations, the Color part in the Print dialogue box
needs to be set to Separations. It is also necessary to de-select the
conventional CMYK plates and activate the Hexachrome primaries.

When Hexachrome colors

are specified in PageMaker
and/or pre-separated DCS
2.0 images from HexWrench
A are placed in PageMaker, the
Color dialogue box in Print
will include the Hexachrome
primaries when Separations
(A) is chosen.

Specifying Hexachrome process colors

The PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector is a guide printed by
Pantone which includes 2,000 process colors in Hexachrome
Hexachrome Selector Colors
can be specified in the
PANTONE Color libraries.

printed on coated and uncoated paper. These colors can be

defined in PageMaker through the PANTONE HEXACHROME Coated
and PANTONE HEXACHROME Uncoated color libraries. These
libraries are selected in Define colors... under the Utilities menu.
When a Hexachrome Selector color is chosen,the Hexachrome

45 H
 dot percent areas will be shown. These values can be customized,
if wanted, for arbitrary Hexachrome process mixes.
The PANTONE Hexachrome
Color Selector consists of
2,000 process colors printed
in Hexachrome.

After specifying a Hexachrome

color, the process mix can be
changed if wanted.

H 46
6 HOW TO USE ILLUSTRATOR AND FREEHAND
FOR HEXACHROME PRODUCTION

Hexachrome is a big opportunity for designers to

enhance the effect on vector art illustrations;
however, the two main applications for this, Adobe
Illustrator and Macromedia FreeHand, have little
support for Hexachrome production. This paper
describes how to utilize Illustrator and FreeHand to
their fullest capability for Hexachrome production.

47 H
 FreeHand 7.0 and 8.0 support Hexachrome, but images and
illustrations need to be printed from FreeHand. It is not possible
to export Hexachrome files from FreeHand to be placed in a
page layout application,like PageMaker or QuarkXPress. Illustrator
does not have support for Hexachrome. However, with some
adjustments, both Illustrator and FreeHand can be used for
Hexachrome production quite successfully.

Using FreeHand for Hexachrome separation

With applications like FreeHand 8.0,which are compatible with
ICC profiles, color conversions can be made between any combi-
nation of color imaging devices to get predictable and accurate
color output. In order for this to happen,the user must have ICC
profiles for each color imaging device that is used in the work-
flow.
Before you start, be sure that you have a profile for each
color device that you are using, e.g.,scanner, monitor, desktop
printer and printing press. If you do not have one or more of these
profiles, they are available from the manufacturer of the device.
Profiles can also be created by the end user with profiling applica-
tions. Please refer to Appendix B for a list of the most commonly
used applications. To make color management easier and to mini-
mize mistakes when selecting profiles, it is best to put away any
profiles that you are not utilizing. ICC profiles in the Mac OS are
stored in a folder called ColorSync Profiles under the Preferences
In Preferences, the Color
category Kodak Digital
Science (A) and PANTONE
Hexachrome Normal (B) have
to be selected.

H 48
 folder in the System Folder. Profiles can be moved by dragging
them into the folder.
There are three categories of ICC profiles:
• Input or “source profiles” are scanner profiles, digital camera pro-
files, or any imaging device that read color from a medium.
• Output or “destination profiles” are printer profiles or any other
imaging device that record color information on a medium.
• Monitor profiles can be treated as both source and destination
profiles depending on how the color management is set up to
be performed.
In Advanced Color
Management, the\ compos-
ite profile and default image
profile can be selec ted.

In the information palette,

the source profile can b e
selected in the Image sour ce
pop-up menu (A).
A

When installing FreeHand, the Kodak CMM system extension

is installed in Extensions in the System Folder. In a folder called ICM,
located in the main FreeHand Folder, the Hexachrome profile
(HEX_NSID.ICM) is installed. Any RGB TIFF image can be separated
through this profile into a Hexachrome separation. Before this can
be done, the Color management setting, in the Color category, in
the Preferences menu selection,in the File menu, needs to be set
up correctly. The Type has to be Kodak Digital Science. The
Separation printer has to be PANTONE Hexachrome Normal, which is
positioned in the top of the pop-up menu.
In Advanced settings, the default source profile and the profile
for the composite printer can be selected. It is also possible to
check the Composite simulates separations, which means that if
you have a large color gamut printer, like the DuPont Digital
Waterproof or the Scitex Iris Realist digital proofer, you can
simulate Hexachrome separations before making films and con-
tract proofs.

49 H

Hexachrome Selector Colors
can be specified in the
PANTONE® HEXACHROME
Coated and PANTONE®
HEXACHROME Uncoated color
libraries.
The PANTONE Hexachrome
Color Selector consists of
2,000 process colors printed in
Hexachrome.
H 50
When placing a RGB image, the Information palette can be used
to override the default source profile.
Specifying Hexachrome process colors
The PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector is a guide printed by
Pantone which includes 2,000 process colors in Hexachrome,
printed on coated and uncoated paper. These colors can be
defined in FreeHand through the PANTONE HEXACHROME
Coated and PANTONE HEXACHROME Uncoated color libraries.
These libraries are selected in the Options pop-up menu in the
Colors palette.
Printing Hexachrome separations
In the Print dialogue box,simply choose Separations. By clicking on
the Setup... button, you can see the Hexachrome primaries and the
screen angles that will be used. If you only see CMYK in here, the
PANTONE Hexachrome Normal profile has not been specified in the
Color Management... setup. This can be changed from the Print dia-
logue box and will also be reflected in the Preferences.
 If you specify spot PANTONE Colors, they can be converted into
process colors with the check box Print spot colors as process. This
will print the closest CMYK simulation to the PANTONE Colors, not
the simulation in Hexachrome.

In the Print dialogue box,

Separations (A) needs to be
specified. In Setup...(B), you
will see the dialogue b ox
below. In order to get the
Hexachrome primaries, you
need to select the
B
Hexachrome profile in Color
A Management (C),if this has
not been done already in the
Preferences dialogue box.
C

Workarounds for Hexachrome production in FreeHand

and Illustrator
There are three possible workarounds that can be used both for
FreeHand and Illustrator to export Hexachrome illustrations before
they are finally placed in PageMaker, QuarkXPress or other
Hexachrome compatible page layout applications.

51 H

2 Specify the colors in the
FreeHand or Illustrator
illustration as RGB.
Using HexWrench
This technique involves rasterizing the illustration in Photoshop,
separating the image in HexWrench and then placing the image
in PageMaker or QuarkXPress.
1 Create a Monitor profile using P2C2.
2 Specify the colors you use in RGB. Trust the monitor preview.
3 Save the Image as an EPS.
4 Open the image in Photoshop.
5 Select RGB and the appropriate resolution for the final image.

5 When opening the image in

Photoshop, the resolution
(A) has to be set . The color
Mode should be RGB (B).

A
B

6 The image needs to b e

flattened in order for
6 Flatten the image.
HexWrench to separate 7 Use HexWrench to separate the image. Select Graphic image
the image correctly.
intent. Select the monitor profile you created with PANTONE P2C2.
7 Specify the graphic image
intent (A) and the monitor
profile you created with
PANTONE Personal Color
Calibrator in the monitor
pop-up menu (B).

H 52
8 Click on Separate and locate where you want to save the
separation.
8 When separating the
image, a DCS 2.0 file will
be created.

9 By opening the image in Photoshop 5.0 and utilizing the preview

functionality described on page 30, you get a softproof of the sep-
aration.
10 Place the image in PageMaker or QuarkXPress.

Saving EPS files with spot colors

One limitation with EPS files is that there is no color identifier for
more than four colors. However, there is no limit to the number of
spot colors.
Specify the six Hexachrome
primaries as spot colors.

When creating the illustra-

tion,the six primaries have
to be used.

Each color part can b e

colored from 0-100 percent.

Make sure that the

overprint option is checked.

53 H
 In both PageMaker and QuarkXPress, the Hexachrome colors are
defined with the following color names:
Hexachrome Cyan Hexachrome Black
Hexachrome Magenta Hexachrome Orange
Hexachrome Yellow Hexachrome Green

Creating objects using spot

colors that are overprinting Hexachrome Orange:50 %
can be done in t wo ways,
depending from where the Hexachrome Magenta:80 %
final illustration will be prin t-
ed. QuarkXPress allows the Hexachrome Yellow: 100 %
user to specify the CMYK par t
of a Hexachrome image as a Hexachrome Black:5 %
conventional CMYK color. At
the printing stage, the user
can select if the CMYK colors
For use when placing
should be printed on individ-
illustrations in PageMaker.
ual plates or merged with the
Hexachrome CMYK plates. If
the illustration will be printed
from PageMaker, the CMYK
parts need to be divided into
the individual Hexachrome
spot channels.

Hexachrome Orange:50 %

CMYK:0%,80%,100%,5%

For use when placing

illustrations in QuarkXPress 4.0.

This means that if these colors are used in an illustration,

they will be separated in the correct plates when printed. This can
be utilized in Illustrator and FreeHand to colorize simple illustra-
tions. To create an object with a mix of two or more colors, the
object has to be duplicated and the trapping setting needs to be
set to overprinting. This will,however, make it difficult to know
what the final object color will be as neither Illustrator nor

H 54
 FreeHand can give an accurate composite color of objects that
are overprinting. This limits the usefulness of this technique to
simple illustrations. In FreeHand 8.0, the Lens function can be set
to show transparency, but this function does not work in the
same way as transparency of printing inks.
If the illustration is going to be placed in QuarkXPress, the
Hexachrome CMYK component can be specified as conventional
CMYK. When Hexachrome Orange and Hexachrome Green are
needed in the Hexachrome process mix,they are defined as
spot colors.

Placing EPS files in PageMaker

There is a special workaround to print EPS images in
Hexachrome when placed into PageMaker.
1 Make the illustration using solid PANTONE Colors in Illustrator
or FreeHand.
2 Save the image as an EPS-file.
3 Create a new PageMaker document.
4 Define “Solid in Hexachrome” colors for the same solid PANTONE
Colors used in the EPS file. Make sure that the names specified in
the PageMaker file matches the names used in the EPS illustration.
5 Place the EPS image in the PageMaker document.
6 Do not import the colors defined in the EPS file.
7 Print Hexachrome separations.

55 H
 6 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
HexWrench
Q When I make a separation through
HexWrench,I get an error message
-491. Why?
Q The HexWrench separations do not
match the original. How can I cali-
brate the separations?
Q The skin tones in my separations are
built up with mostly orange and
black. Is that correct?
H 56
A The reason for this error is that the
storage device on which you are sav-
ing the separation is out of memory.
Save the separation onto a disk with
enough storage space to hold the
separated image. The separation will
be double the size of the RGB image.
A As HexWrench utilizes ColorSync
profiles for color conversions, it is
important to have a ColorSync
profile for the scanner you are using.
Depending on your scanner soft-
ware, this can be done with the
scanner software or created using
ICC profiling applications. If the
image you are separating comes
from a stock photo CD or was creat-
ed in a computer without a photo-
graphic image as the original,it is
recommended to use a monitor
profile for your monitor. Contact
your monitor manufacturer to obtain
that profile.
A Yes. HexWrench was designed to cre-
ate a black generation with much
under color removal. The primary rea -
son for this is that in order to print
Hexachrome separations with con-
ventional screening, only four screen
angles can be used. As cyan and
orange are complementary colors,
these can print at the same screen
angles. This is also true for magenta
and green. However, when creating
separations in this w ay, the black
generation needs to be crea ted
using mostly black to elimina te
printing cyan and orange at the
same screen angle, which might
cause moiré problems if the printing
is getting out of register.
Q When I print the HexWrench separa-
tions from QuarkXPress 3.3,I will get
seven films, the six Hexachrome
colors and a seventh process black
separation. Why do I get two blacks?
Q When I place the HexWrench separa-
tion in QuarkXPress 4.0,I don't get
the Hexachrome primary colors in
the Colors palette. Is that correct?
Q When I create separations with
HexWrench,bright and saturated col-
ors in the RGB image become
washed out and desaturated in the
separation. Why does this happen?
A This is a problem that occurs in
QuarkXPress 3.3x but is fixed in
QuarkXPress 4.0. If you are not able to
print using QuarkXPress 4.0, you can
still use QuarkXPress 3.3x and simply
ignore the seventh process black
separation.
A Yes. QuarkXPress does not add the
Hexachrome primary colors automat-
ically because they are treated as
process separations and not as spot
colors. If you want QuarkXPress to
always add the colors when creating
a QuarkXPress document, you can
add them before creating a
QuarkXPress document.
A Colors that are bright and chromatic
in RGB are technically impossible t o
achieve in any subtractive printing
system (ink-on-paper). These colors
that fall outside the color gamut of
Hexachrome can be reproduced in
different ways. Either the chromaticity
can be reduced to match the bright-
ness of the colors. This is normally
good for photographs. The other way
to reproduce out-of-gamut colors is
to keep the chromaticity high,allow-
ing the brightness to be reduced.
This is generally recommended for
images with large areas of clean,sat-
urated colors. If you see that bright
colors are getting washed out, the
reason is that you ha ve HexWrench
set to the phot ographic rendering
intent. If you use the graphic render-
ing intent, the colors will be mor e
saturated.
57 H
 QuarkXPress
Q When I choose colors in the
Hexachrome Coated/Uncoated color
palette, the printed Hexachrome per-
centages are not the same as in the
PANTONE Hexachrome Color
Selector. Why are the values differ -
ent?
Q Is it possible to see the individual
channels or make color corrections
for an RGB image that will be sepa-
rated through the selected PANTONE
Hexachrome profile?
Q Why don’t I have the option of
selecting the PANTONE Hexachrome
profile in the Color Management
preference Destination Profiles?
Q When I select a PANTONE
Hexachrome Color from the
PANTONE Coated or PANTONE
Hexachrome Uncoated color selector
and de-select the spot color check
box and print Hexachrome separa-
tions, QuarkXPress will separate the
PANTONE Color in CMYK. How do I
get a Hexachrome separation of a
spot PANTONE Color?
H 58
A When activating color correction in
the Color Management preference
set-up for Hexachrome Coated
and/or Hexachrome Uncoated, the
Hexachrome colors will be separated
through the separation printer pro-
file. To get the same Hexachrome val-
ues as used in the PANTONE
Hexachrome Color Selector, the Color
Correction option should b e
unchecked for Hexachrome Coated
and Hexachrome Uncoated.
A No. QuarkXPress is not capable of
showing separations or making color
corrections in the image.
A The PANTONE Hexachrome profile
has been moved from the ColorSync
profiles folder in System folder:
Preferences. Use the Mac OS Find
command to search for the file
named:HEXNSID2.ICM,which is the
name of the profile in the Mac OS.
Now place the file in the ColorSync
profiles folder. If you don’t find the
file, reinstall the Quark CMS from the
QuarkXPress installation CD.
A It is not possible to color-correct col-
ors from the PANTONE Hexachrome
Coated and PANTONE Hexachrome
Uncoated color libraries using ICC
profiles. However, this can be made
by selecting the spot PANTONE
MATCHINGSYSTEM Colors in the
PANTONE Solid To Process color
library and when Color Correction is
activated for this library in the Color
Management Preference setting. For
best results, however, the PANTONE
Solid in Hexachrome Guide should
be used to define the most optimum
Hexachrome values for each solid
PANTONE Color.
Q When I import a DCS 2.0 image with
CMYK, Orange and Green,
QuarkXPress does not recognize
these as Hexachrome colors and
treats the orange and green as spot
colors. Why does this happen?
Q How do I simulate the PANTONE
Hexachrome Color Selector colors on
my desktop color prin ter?
Q When I select to color-correct the
color model “PANTONE Solid To
Process,” the colors on the
Hexachrome print do not al ways
match the solid PANTONEMATCHING
SYSTEM Colors, even if they are with-
in the Hexachrome color gamut. Why
does this happen?
A When importing DCS 2.0 images that
are pre-separated in Hexachrome, the
channels must be named
Hexachrome Cyan, Hexachrome
Magenta, Hexachrome Yellow,
Hexachrome Black, Hexachrome
Orange and Hexachrome Green.
A In the Color Management prefer-
ences, select the PANTONE
Hexachrome profile as Separation
Printer and the ICC profile for your
desktop color printer as the
Composite Printer. In addition, you
must enable Color Correction for
Hexachrome Coated or Hexachrome
Uncoated.
A Color Management relies on lookup
tables and algorithms for color con-
versions between different color
spaces and, as color conversions are
unilinear, some colors can be repro-
duced slightly incorrect. Human
vision is also more sensitive to color
differences. This means that when a
solid spot color is compared to a
process reproduction,the human eye
can detect any color differences.
Human vision is much more sensitive
than even the most advanced color
measurement tools and color con -
version calculations. To solve this
problem, Pantone has developed the
Solid in Hexachrome Guide that will
show visual comparisons between
each solid PANTONEMATCHING
SYSTEM Color and the closest
Hexachrome color.
59 H
 APPENDIX A
SOLID INK DENSITIES FOR HEXACHROME
To ensure that the Hexachrome print will reproduce accurate color, it is impor-
tant to keep control over the solid ink densities (SID). Densitometers are, by tra-
dition,designed with filters that correspond to the c yan,magenta and yellow
inks. When measuring other colors one of the filters will be used. In the case of
PANTONE Hexachrome Orange the yellow density filter will be used and for
PANTONE Hexachrome Green the cyan density filter will be used. The following
density values are the PANTONE standard values for Hexachrome printing.

Note that the Status T densitometer used was a X-Rite Model 428.

PANTONE Hexachrome Cyan 1.60

PANTONE Hexachrome Magenta 1.50
PANTONE Hexachrome Yellow 0.90
PANTONE Hexachrome Orange 1.45
PANTONE Hexachrome Green 1.45
PANTONE Hexachrome Black 1.75

If you are using another densitometer, the values might need to b e

changed.
To do this, it is recommended to measure the primary patches in the
PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector or the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM in
Hexachrome and use these densities as the standard values. These patches can
also be used to visually compare and examine the solid ink density.
The dot gain should normally be around 25 to 28 percent in the mid
tones when using negative working plates.

H 60
APPENDIX B
APPLICATIONS TO CREATE CUSTOM ICC PROFILES
Agfa, ColorTune
200 Ballardvale Street
Wilmington,MA 01887
http://www.agfahome.com
Tel (508) 658-5600
Candela, ColorSynergy
1676 East Cliff Road
Burnsville, MN 55337
candela@candelacolor.com
http://www.candelacolor.com
Color Solutions, ColorBlind
120 Birmingham Drive, Suite 210
Cardiff by the Sea, CA 92007
http://www.color.com
Tel (760) 436-6593
Gretag, Profile Maker Monaco System,
http://www.gretag.com MonacoMatch
United States 100 Burtt Road, Suite 115
Tel (800) 622-2384 Andover, MA 01810
Fax (914) 561-0267 http://www.monacosys.com
Switzerland Tel (978) 749-9944
Tel (41) 18 42 11 11 Fax (978) 749-9977
Fax (41) 18 42 21 00
Southwest Software, Color
United Kingdom
Encore for Scanners
Tel (44) 1619 269822
3435 Greystone Drive
Fax (44) 1753 864905
Austin, TX 78731
Germany
http://www.swsoft.com
Tel (49) 89 85 70 7 0
Tel (888) 2-SWSOFT
Fax (49) 21 04 93 3136
Fax (512) 345-2697
Linotype-Hell, LinoColor
CaptureProfiler
LinotypeCPS
425 Oser Avenue
Hauppauge, NY 11788
info@linocolor.com
http://www.linocolor.com
Tel (888) LINOCOLOR
61 H
 APPENDIX C
SIMULATING HEXACHROME COLOR
REPRODUCTION ON A FOUR-COLOR PRINTER
Over the past several years, Color Management Systems (CMS) have been devel-
oped to the point where they can now not only be used to achieve accurate
color output, but are also capable of simulating press results on desktop printers.
In addition,design enhancements to these devices have resulted in increased
resolution and color range . Because of these technolo gy advancements, it is now
possible to make not only accurate CMYK proofs on a desktop printer, but even
accurate Hexachrome proofs.
One keystone is the standardization of incorporating into a digital file a
description of how individual imaging devices will render color. The standard was
developed by a group of digital prepress and publishing developers which
formed the International Color Consortium,ICC, to focus on the issue of accurate
and predictable color output when a variety of imaging devices and different
software products are used.
The result was the ICC profile specification. Every scanner, desktop printer,
monitor, digital camera or any other color imaging device can be calibrated with
ICC profiles. There is no need to change anything in the scanning software or
buy any additional hardware products. All that is needed is an ICC profile for
each device you use and an application that supports ICC profiles.
ICC profiles can be obtained from the device manufacturer or created by
an end-user with profile gener ating software. More and more graphic arts appli-
cations support ICC profiles , for example, Photoshop 5.0, QuarkXPress 4.0,
PageMaker 6.5 and FreeHand 7.0.ICC profiles are supported at the system le vel
with Apple’s ColorSync extension to the Mac OS. In Microsoft Windows 95 and
later, ICC profiles are suppor ted at the system level through ICM.

Why a four-color device can simula te Hexachrome

In order to meet the market demand for highly saturated bright and vibrant
colors on press, in the early 1990s, Pantone developed the Hexachrome six-color
process system. The System uses primary color inks (PANTONE Hexachrome Cyan,
PANTONE Hexachrome Magenta and PANTONE Hexachrome Yellow) which are
cleaner than standard CMYK,and incorporates two additional primary colors,
PANTONE Hexachrome Green and PANTONE Hexachrome Orange. The same black
as in CMYK is used. The Hexachrome process results in the ability to achieve a
significant increase in the range of possible colors, as compared to traditional
CMYK offset printing. Many desktop printers have a color range, or color gamut,
30% larger than traditional offset CMYK. In addition,most high-end digital
proofers are capable of achieving a similarly large color gamut;however, in order
to do so, their default color lookup tables must be disabled, as they are set to
simulate standard sheetfed CMYK inks. Color gamuts are, however, not uniform

H 62
 in shape between different printers. Hexachrome, for example, has an extra
color gamut expansion in all regions. A large four-color device such as the
DuPont WaterProof printer has a color gamut volume that is slightly less than
Hexachrome.
The fact that many desktop printers and digital proofers have a color
gamut that is almost large enough to reproduce the color range as that of the
six inks in the Hexachrome process system,means that these CMYK printers can
do a good job simulating a Hexachrome separation. The question then is, how to
take a six-color separation and fit it in to the four colors that the large color
gamut desktop printing is using. The answer is:ICC profiles.
In applications like the Apple ColorSync plug-in to Photoshop, QuarkXPress 4.0
and FreeHand 7.0,the user can specify a separation printer, for example, the
Hexachrome printer or a composite or proof printer. By selecting a composite or
proof printer, a Hexachrome color separation could be simulated on that device
providing a desktop H exachrome proof. These color conversions are made with
the ColorSync 2.0 Color Management Module (CMM) or a third-party CMM.
The CIELAB color space is at the heart of an ICC profile workflow. As CIELAB is a
device independent color spac e, the colors are not rela ted to any particular RGB,
CMYK or any other device dependent color values. Instead, CIELAB represents a
scientific color space, making it possible to make very advanced color transfor-
mations between devices. In the case of a Hexachrome simulation,the source
colors are mapped to CIELAB colors, then converted to Hexachrome and finally
back to CIELAB where it is reconverted to the four-color gamut of selected
output device.

An example of a Hexachrome simulation made through ICC profiles

To simulate a Hexachrome separation of a scanned RGB image to the large color
gamut of a DuPont DigitalWaterProof composite printer, the following occurs:
1 The RGB scan is tagged with an ICC profile for the same device on which the
image was scanned. For optimum results, the ICC profile should be based on the
same film type as the original that will be reproduced.
2 The image color data is converted by the CMM into CIELAB.
3 To simulate Hexachrome on the four-color devic e, the CIELAB values for the RGB
scan are converted into device specific dot percent values through the use of a
Hexachrome ICC profile. The device specific colors are then converted back to
CIELAB. When the colors are converted back to CIELAB , the image is a representa-
tion of the colors that can be printed in Hexachrome.

NOTE: The CIELAB values are mapped into the Hexachrome color gamut where, dependent on the image,
color compression takes place. Color compression is required where an area of color cannot be achieved
in print. This is because while H exachrome is 50% larger than CMYK,there are some color areas that, due
to the technical limitations of a subtractive color printing process, are still not achievable in print.

63 H
The illustrations below are 4 From CIELAB, the colors can now be converted to the DuPont DigitalWaterProof
two-dimensional represen-
color gamut through the use of a DigitalWaterProof ICC profile.The colors are
tations of conversions
between different color
once again device dependent, with the colors that are possible to achieve in
spaces. The illustrations are Hexachrome defined in DigitalWaterProof CMYK.
only for presentation pur- 5 The RGB file which has been converted to a Hexachrome simulation as a CMYK
pose and are not derived file can now be printed directly to the DigitalWaterProof printer and used, if
from measured data.A color
desired, as a contract proof between the file’s originator and their customer.
gamut is a three-dimenional
body and is thus difficult to
present in print.
CIELAB color space Hexachrome color space

RGB color space RGB color range defined in CIELAB

Color gamut of desktop prin ter Hexachrome color space defined

in DigitalWaterProof CMYK
Hexachrome color space defined in CIELAB

1 The Colors from the original
scan are converted to the
CIELAB color space. No color
is lost, as the CIELAB space is
larger than RGB.
2 The CIELAB colors are com -
pressed to fit inside the
Hexachrome color gamut. The
colors are converted back to
CIELAB. Some areas in the
Hexachrome color gamut are
outside the RGB gamut (A). As
the source image is scanned in
RGB, there will be no colors in
these areas and thus the sepa -
ration will not have any colors
in this part of the color gamut.
3 The CIELAB colors that
represent the Hexachrome col-
ors are converted to the color
gamut of the desktop printer.
Some regions might not b e
possible to match 1:1;here
gamut compression needs to
be done by the color manage -
ment system (B).
4 The result is that the colors
that are achieved on the digi-
tal proof represent a good sim-
ulation of the colors that will
be achieved in print using the
six Hexachrome color inks.

H 64
NORTH AMERICA EUROPE ASIA
Pantone, Inc. Pantone U.K., Inc. Pantone Asia, Inc.
590 Commerce Boulevard 8 Stade Street Unit A,15/F, Southern
Carlstadt, New Jersey Hythe, Kent Commercial Building No. 11-13 Visit the Pantone Web sites at
07072-3098 U.S.A. CT21 6BD Luard Road, Wanchai
www.hexachrome.pantone.com
888-PANTONE England Hong Kong
www.pantone.com
Tel: (201) 935-5500 Tel: (44) 1303 269666 Tel: (852) 2724 8822
Fax: (201) 896-0242 Fax: (44) 1303 264464 Fax: (852) 2724 8800