Hexachrome is a discontinued six-color printing process designed by Pantone. In addition to custom CMYK inks, Hexachrome uses orange and green inks to expand the color gamut for better color reproduction. It is therefore also known as a CMYKOG process.
Hexachrome was discontinued by Pantone in 2008 when Adobe Systems stopped supporting the HexWare plugin software. While the details of Hexachrome were not secret, its use was limited by trademark and patent to those obtaining a license from Pantone. The inventor of Hexachrome is Richard Herbert, who is also the president of Pantone Inc.
Software
To use the Hexachrome process in a digital printing process, Pantone produced a plugin for Adobe Photoshop that allowed the designer to work in an RGB color space more typical of computer work. The plugin was called HexWare, which contained a set of Adobe plugins used by printers and designers who used the Hexachrome system. Older versions of QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign also came with the Hexachrome system already installed and enabled.
Purpose
The main purpose of Hexachrome was to create a printing ink system that could depict brighter and clearer pictures by being able to produce more accurate colors. Using this system instead of the CMYK ink system also allowed for printing more accurate skin tones and pastels. The Hexachrome system let users print images from computer screens that were not able to be accurately duplicated before. As well as producing more accurate color photo reproduction than previous systems, Hexachrome also increased efficiency as it was able to match many more Pantone spot colors. Designers would specify Pantone spot colors when designing logos, but many of the Pantone colors could not be produced using the CMYK color system, requiring additional passes on the press for each Pantone color, increasing printing costs. By using the Hexachrome system, a wider range of custom colors could be printed on the same pass as the color photo images.
Users
Hexachrome was used by software companies including Aldus Corporation, Adobe Systems, and Quark and printer manufacturers including HP, Epson, and Xerox.
See also
References
- ^ Anchell, Steve. "The Pantone Story". Rangefinder Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- ^ Reid, Dan. "Hexachrome Printing". Digital Output. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Reid, Dan. "6 colors hits the spot". Business Source Complete (AN=18772022 not publicly available).
- ^ "An extreme color gamut can help". Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- "Pantone Expands the Color Range With Hexachrome System". Business Source Complete (AN=9897108 not publicly available).
- "Hexachrome on web offset line". Pantone Inc.
- "Richard Herbert". Electronic Publishing (AN=15409111, not publicly available).
External links
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| CIE | |
| RGB | |
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| Other | |
| Color systems and standards | |
For the vision capacities of organisms or machines, see  Color vision. | |