Calibrate with ColorCal

ColorCal allows you to calibrate the Fiery Server without the use of a measurement instrument. Instead, ColorCal uses the scanner of the copier/printer to measure density values.

With ColorCal, you can prepare the scanner for ColorCal before calibrating the Fiery Server, using the Color Control Patches and grayscale strips included in the customer media pack that comes with your Fiery Server. You also need the grayscale strip to calibrate the Fiery Server.

Note: A measurement instrument can provide more accurate calibration than ColorCal can. Use a measurement instrument, such as the ES-1000 spectrophotometer, if one is available.

Some models of Fiery Server support preparation of the scanner even if the grayscale strip is missing. In this case, the Fiery Server uses the measurements from the previous calibration or, if the Fiery Server has never been calibrated, a default set of measurements. However, for best results, use the grayscale strip.

Scanner preparation is optional. We recommend that you prepare the scanner after maintenance or service, or whenever the copier/printer output has been altered.

For some models of Fiery Server, you must perform additional steps at the copier/printer. In this case, you can print an instruction page in Calibrator that describes the additional steps.

Print measurement page and prepare scanner

When you print the ColorCal measurement page, you can choose to prepare the scanner as well. You perform scanner measurement using the grayscale strip, Color Control Patches strip, and ColorCal Scanner Page.

These instructions apply to Calibrator version 1.3. If you have Calibrator version 2.0, help is supplied with the application.

In Device Center, click General, click Tools, and click Calibrate.
In Calibrator, under Select Measurement Method, select ColorCal.
Under Check Print Settings, select a calibration set, either by name or by the print settings associated with the calibration set.
Note: If more than one calibration set is listed under Check Print Settings, select the calibration set associated with the output profile you use most often.
Under Generate Measurement Page, click Print.
Select appropriate settings for printing the measurement page.
- ColorCal Page - Prints either one of the 256 ColorCal patterns chosen at random or a specific pattern designed for your copier/printer.
- Single Pattern - Prints the pattern you specify. Enter the pattern number in the Patch Page Number field. This option is useful if you want to reprint the same pattern you have printed before.
Sorted patches are printed on the page in order of hue and saturation levels. Randomized patches are printed in random order. Randomized patches can help to compensate for density inconsistencies on different areas of the page.
If you want to perform scanner preparation, select Print scanner calibration page. If you want to skip scanner preparation, clear Print scanner calibration page.
Click Print. Retrieve the ColorCal measurement page and, if printed, the ColorCal Scanner Page. If you did not print the ColorCal Scanner Page, skip the rest of this procedure and proceed to calibrating the Fiery Server.
In Calibrator, under Get Measurements, click Measure.
Place the grayscale strip, Color Control Patches strip, and ColorCal Scanner Page in the correct positions on the glass (platen) as indicated on the ColorCal Scanner Page.
Place the grayscale strip face down on the glass (platen) so that it will be centered along the top edge of the ColorCal Scanner Page. Then place the Color Scale strip face down on the glass (platen) so it is centered below the grayscale strip, keeping a distance of 0.25 inch to 0.5 inch between the two strips. Finally, place the ColorCal Scanner Page face down over the strips.
Click Continue to start the scanner measurement.
Click Continue to complete scanner preparation.

The next step is to calibrate the Fiery Server.

Calibrate the Fiery server

You perform ColorCal calibration using the grayscale strip and the ColorCal measurement page.

For this procedure, you must have just printed the ColorCal measurement page in Calibrator and, optionally, prepared the scanner.

In Calibrator, under Get Measurements, click Measure.
Place the grayscale strip face down on the glass (platen) along the top edge of the glass so that it is centered along the top edge of the measurement page.
Place the ColorCal measurement page face down over the grayscale strip, as indicated on the ColorCal measurement page. Make sure that the patches on the grayscale strip do not overlap the color patches. Close the platen glass cover, being careful not to move the grayscale strip and color measurement page.
Click Continue to start the ColorCal measurement.
Click OK to complete calibration.
To apply the measurement data to the Fiery Server, click Apply.
To close Calibrator, click Done.