MIDINK™

Identify color deviations and correct them before the next print

MIDINK™ doesn’t correct the printer; it corrects the print file before printing.

To do this, a printed MIDprint™ is photographed together with a lab-measured MIDdisc™. The smartphone is used only to take the photo; it does not measure absolute color values. MIDINK™ analyzes the relative

differences in color and brightness between the known reference and the actual print, all within the same photo.

This lets MIDINK™ assess the entire real-world print workflow—from the source file through the RIP, ICC profile, printer and ink to the finished result on the media.

If MIDINK™ detects a systematic deviation, it can create a MIDgrid™ to compensate for it in the print file before printing. Simply put: if the print system shifts a color in a particular direction, the file is adjusted in the opposite direction beforehand.

Create it once—use it again and again

Once created, a MIDgrid™ can be reused as often as you like with the free MIDINK™ Manager.

Simply load the file you want to print into the Manager, apply the appropriate MIDgrid™ locally, and export the corrected file in seconds.

The file’s resolution and dimensions remain unchanged. MIDINK™ changes only the color mapping.

Create separate MIDgrids™ for different conditions

MIDINK™ can save separate MIDgrids™ for different production conditions.

This matters because the same color can look different on a light substrate than on a dark one. Different inks, textiles, papers, coatings, pressing times, temperatures, print modes and other process changes can also affect the final result.

For these situations, MIDINK™ can create a separate, reusable MIDgrid™ for each set of conditions.

What makes MIDINK™ so easy to use

• 
  
• Free MIDINK™ Manager
• Free preliminary check to see whether MIDINK™ would recommend a correction
• MIDgrid™ from €1
• No spectrometer or additional color-measuring device required
• No changes to printer hardware, RIP, ICC profile or other components
• Works with virtually any print system that outputs image files
• Sign up with just an email address
• A new MIDgrid™ can typically be created in about 5–10 minutes
• Then use it indefinitely, as often as you like
• After that, apply it locally and independently with the free MIDINK™ Manager

Why test in between?

A printing path can change even if nothing has been modified on the printer itself.

For example, by:

• 
  
• other ink
• other textile or paper
• other material color
• new batch of material
• other coating
• changed pressing time
• changed temperature
• other drying or fixing
• changed printing parameters

MIDINK™ can check whether this has created a new need for correction and generate a suitable MIDgrid™ for these conditions.

The crucial idea

MIDINK™ does not measure absolute colors with a smartphone. It analyzes the distances between a known LAB reference and the finished print within the same image.

The detected deviation results in an inverse pre-correction of the next print file.

Create MIDgrid™ once and then manage any number of print files with the free MIDINK™ Manager pre-correct.