Curve+

Perfect curves every time.

Curve+ adds G7+ capabilities to the best G7, SCTV and TVI toolset available.

Curve+ is now available for those who want to reap the benefits of G7+, including better gray balance, more contrast on low density printing and stabilized calibration of high-density printing. We’re excited to release this significant upgrade, while continuing to offer the most accurate G7 calibration of any tool on the market. The transition to G7+ will take time, and Curve+ is the toolset for the journey.

A System of Tools

Curve+ is comprised of several separate tools which form a powerful system to help you Calibrate your printing system, Verify its accuracy and prepare your measurements for ICC Profiling or use as color references.

Verify Tool

Curve+’s Verify Tool calculates G7 conformance according to the most up-to-date IDEAlliance specifications and returns the results in a clear visual format.

Whether you’re looking for G7 Grayscale, G7 Targeted, or G7 ColorSpace compliance, or simply wanting to verify a Color Proof, the Verify Tool summarizes your results with a clear PASS / FAIL badge.

Each color patch used is graphically displayed in comparison to the reference color. Any patches missing from your target will clearly show up in the display.

And if you want SCCA-based (Substrate-Corrected Colorimetric Aims) calculations, Verify can easily handle it, along with subtle G7 differences such as Custom Gray balance.

In short, the Verify Tool gives you confidence in your G7 / G7+ conformance while remaining easy and flexible to use.

Visual

• Clear indication of missing target patches
• Failure summary and pointers

Flexible

• Combine multiple targets’ patches to calculate compliance
• Supports new IT8.7/5 (TC1617) target
• Supports any target or combination of targets containing the required patches, in any layout or order

Fast

• Click ‘New’, measure, done

Accurate

• Fully compliant to 2024 G7+ Master Certification and 2019 G7 Master Certification requirements

Reliable

• Set up Reference presets for error-free operator use

G7 Master (2019) Compliance

Including optional SCCA, Custom Gray and Proof / Production Tolerances as well as Screen and Flexo alternates

G7 Grayscale / G7+ Grayscale

• Tonality (weighted ΔL* for K and CMY and ΔTVI for G7+) and Gray Balance (weighted ΔCh for CMY)

G7 Targeted

• G7 Grayscale metrics
• Substrate, CMYK and RGB Solids

G7 ColorSpace

• G7 Targeted metrics
• Avg ΔE 2000 and 95th Percentile over the entire IT8.7/4 target

Basic Color Proof

• For when you simply want to Verify a proof. Any target is supported.

CALIBRATE Tool

(available with the Calibrate or Complete license levels)

Updated Interface

Like the VERIFY Tool, you have easy access to prior calibration sessions including subsetting into presses / customers / etc.

Calibration from a smaller initial target

For some printing systems a target smaller than the venerable P2P is sufficient for G7 calibration. Curve+ supports “miniP2P” and “microP2P” targets with as few as 96 patches.

Recalibration from a very small target

(only available with Complete license)

When re-calibrating a printing system that has already been successfully G7 calibrated, it’s sometimes possible to use a very small target indeed. Curve+ supports Fast Re-Calibration using these targets (when it’s appropriate for the printing system and pre-calibrated state)

Recalibration from a non-P2P target (P2P-less mode)

(only available with Complete license)

If you’ve only run an IT8, ECI2002 or other non-P2P target, Curve+ can generate the information it needs from the supplied patches. It may not have the same level of accuracy as that provided by a P2P target but for many printing systems it’ll work just fine.

SCTV (Spot Color Tone Value) support

The Idealliance Print Properties group has determined that the Spot Color Tone Value method is the best for calibration of spot color inks. Curve+ fully supports this method.

Ink Channel Limiting / Balanced Neutral Black

Up to now, Curve has never altered the 100% level of any ink channels. For offset printing, this is the recommended method. But wth inkjet printing, where the gamut tends to be larger and the mass tone effect can cause significant hue shifts as ink density increases, limiting ink channels can be useful. Gray balance works better when the 300% CMY patch is close to neutral. Curve+ helps bring that CMY combination under control, improving gray balance and tonality in the process.

PressSync Curves

Curve+ can output PressSync™ curve codes as well as accept them for initial curve values for those printing with Esko’s curve specification method. We worked with Esko to ensure Curve+ uses this system properly.

BLEND Tool

(available with the Complete license level)

The BLEND tool is a group of functions to combine, massage and process color measurements so you can build the best ICC profiles possible (among other things).

Features include:

White Point Adaptation

Alter the white point of your measurements using SCCA-like calculations.

Smoothing & Smart Averaging

The same technology that powers Curve’s VPR function can be applied to spectral measurement data. This multi-dimensional smoothing function is a very effective method of improving measurements by minimizing measurement noise and other sources of error that lower ICC profile quality. BLEND also provides multiple methods of averaging different measurements together – mean, median, and weighted mean.

Apply Curves

Curves created in the CALIBRATE Tool can be applied to measurement sets for Virtual Press Run (VPR) simulation. This function is also available in the CALIBRATE Tool itself.