Color Channel Mapping

With the Channel Mapping options in manual jobs and workflows, you can apply self-defined rules for an automatic mapping of image channels. You can, for example, replace the channel of an image with a different color, or remove diecuts or varnish layers that have been defined as spot colors.

Map to db3: If you are using GMG OpenColor, you can map channels that do not hold color-critical information to db3 spot colors to save time in dynamic profiling.

All channel mapping rules are bundled into Rule Sets which can be used both for workflows and manual jobs.

Rule set settings

• Choose whether you want to replace, deactivate or invert a channel.
• You can add multiple rules.
• Use the asterisk sign (*) to map multiple input channel names with a single rule. The asterisk can represent one or more characters of the channel name.

Example Rule Set:

In our example rule set, all objects with the spot color "Diecut", "Varnish", "Fold", and "Cut" will not be printed. The spot color name "Weiß" will be replaced with the spot color name "White". The rather unspecific spot color names "Orange" and "Violet" will be replaced with more specific Pantone colors. The two spot colors SpecialBlue and SpecialGreen will be mapped to the Cyan and Magenta channels of the MX4 profile linked in the selected proof standard. For flexo printing, these CMYK channels are often modified into spot channels to simulate the specific overprinting behavior of spot colors.

Search filter for mapping parameters
Over time, a large number of individual rules and rule sets can accumulate. Managing all those channel mapping rules can be confusing and time-consuming. The search filter in the rule set overview and in the mapping dialog helps you to find specific rule parameters quickly and easily. Just enter a keyword into the search bar to filter the list in real-time for entries containing that keyword.

Channel Mapping in workflows

With the workflow option Channel Mapping, you can apply self-defined rules for an automatic mapping of image channels.

On the screenshot, you can see example rules defined in a customer-related set. To use and show the defined rule sets in a workflow, you need to enable the option Automatic Channel Mapping (1). To edit or create a new rule set, click the Edit button (2) next to the drop-down list. The top left shows the name of the channel mapping rule set (3). The Input Channel Name (4) is the spot color channel name as it appears in the input file. The Rule (5) defines how the spot color will be handled (either not printed or replaced by an alias color). For example, you can map a spot color named "Blue" to "Pantone Reflex Blue".