An Evaluation of the Effect of Instrument Geometry on Color Management for Printed Textiles

The present study analyzes spectrophotometers with two different optical geometries, namely unidirectional 45deg instruments and spherical 8deginstruments, for building ICC profiles of inkjet-printed textiles. Unidirectional 45deg instruments are utilized extensively in the graphic arts, while spherical 8deg instruments are more commonly used in the textile industry. One limitation to using spherical 8deg instruments for ICC profiling is that profiles built of printing conditions typically require readings of hundreds of patches, and there is only one known instrument configuration that can automate this process, while choices abound for automated instrumentation with unidirectional 45deg for ICC profiling.

Using a ColorScout A+, a robotic "x,y" table that is instrument agnostic and able to accommodate both handheld unidirectional 45deg instruments and spherical 8deginstruments in automating multiple readings, profiles are built and analyzed for two different inkjet-printed textile substrates.