KERAjet COLORDIRECT

USER MANUAL

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■ Colordirect is a raster image processor program whose function is to convert CMYK or Multichannel images to the printing
format of KERAjet machines. The program resizes the image channels to the resolution of the different print heads, applies
halftone to the channels for binary or grayscale printing and has a series of tools to control the production tone from the PC of
any KERAjet or from a external PC.

INDEX

1. INSTALLATION AND REGISTRATION GUIDE

1.1. TECHNICAL RECOMMENDATIONS________________________________________________________Pag. 3
1.2. INSTALLATION AND REGISTRATION STEP BY STEP_________________________________________Pag. 3

2. CREATION OF PRINTING SCHEMES__________________________________________________________Pag. 6

2.1 LINEARIZATION CURVES________________________________________________________________Pag. 10
2.2 TABLEWARE SCHEMES_________________________________________________________________Pag. 13

3. PROGRAM INTERFACE____________________________________________________________________Pag. 14
3.1 PROGRAM OPERATION (INDIVIDUAL RIPPING)_____________________________________________Pag. 15
3.2 OPEN________________________________________________________________________________Pag. 17
3.3 CLOSE_______________________________________________________________________________Pag. 18
3.4 PRINT SCHEMES_______________________________________________________________________Pag. 18
3.5 EDIT_________________________________________________________________________________Pag. 19
3.6 TONE ADJUSTMENT____________________________________________________________________Pag. 19
3.7 PRINT________________________________________________________________________________Pag. 21
3.8 BATCH PRINT_________________________________________________________________________Pag. 21
3.9 TONES MOSAIC_______________________________________________________________________Pag. 23
3.10 PRINT PATTERN______________________________________________________________________Pag. 24
3.11 SERVER TAB (RIPPING BY HOTFOLDER)_________________________________________________Pag. 25
3.12 APLICATION TAB_____________________________________________________________________Pag. 26

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1. INSTALLATION AND REGISTRATION GUIDE

1A. TECHNICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

■ Colordirect can only be installed on computers with windows operating system, Windows version 7 onwards.
■ The ripping speed will depend on the capacity of this PC, if the designs to ripping are large format, with many color
channels or are composed of groups of large numbers of images, it is recommended that the PC is the latest generation,
emphasizing 3 factors that will determine its performance, processor, RAM and solid hard disk (SSD).
■ Colordirect can be installed on the machine PC, on an external PC, or on both, but for its operation the Colordirect license
USB Dongle must be connected.
■ With a single Colordirect license different employees can work from different locations thanks to online ripping by
Hotfolders.

1B. INSTALLATION AND REGISTRATION STEP BY STEP

■ The license of Colordirect comes connected to our machine, in KERAjet Master, rear door, side wall top in HUB usb. In
KERAjet Plotter connected in USB port of PC.

■ 1: Connect Colordirect USB Dongle (Fig.3) and Installer Flash Drive (Fig.2)

■ 2: Installer flash drive password (Fig.2): kerajet2016

■ 3: Go to: PC / F: (USB port) / Instaladores / Colordirect / Colordirect (Versión) .exe

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■ 4. Install:

■ 5. Run Colordirect from desktop icon

■ *Error message.

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■ 6. Application

■ 7. Register

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2. SCHEMES GENERATION

■ The printing schemes are the set of ripping features that match to the machine configuration (inkset and head type)
together with the required printing mode (BIN, GS4, GS8) and the selected halftone (it is the algorithm that distributes the
position of the dots to be printed in the designs): STOCHASTIC, SOFT STOCHASTIC and ADVANCED STOCHASTIC.
■ These schemes are editable and can be adapted to the needs of the production process, optimized to obtain the maximum
printing quality, maximum discharge in effects or maximum speed of the production line, according to the requirements.
■ There is also the possibility of generating multi-resolution schemes (for multi-head machines) and multimode (for
maximum resolution and maximum discharge in the same product, for example, schemes with GS colors and BIN effects)..
■ After install Colordirect, STD or generic schemes are displayed by default. These schemes include the most common ink
sets, different types of heads and main models of KERAjet machine. Being representative of most types of printing machine, it
will be easier to find one similar to the machine purchased to edit the characteristics of the scheme (more colors, less, different
order of inks, resolution, printing mode ...)

■ For editing printing schemes it is recommended to download and install the freeware text editor "Notepad++".
Download link: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.5.8.html

■ Open a ".sch" file for editing with this text editor, the printing schemes are installed in
C:/ kerajet / Colordirect / Settings / Schemes

■ Print scheme Colordirect:

For the print-scheme generation will select among the STD schemes the most similar to the characteristics of our machine
with the possibility to edit it completely; add or remove input or output channels, change ink names, its position in the inkset, edit
its assigned color (it will be the tone that will be displayed in the program for that ink), resolution, printing mode and halftone. If
the scheme does not have a halftone assigned, it will use the one selected in the Application/Preferences/Default dither type
tab. If you want to use different frames for different schemes, these must be configured in the schemes window (See point 3.4).

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■ STD PRINT-SCHEMES:

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2.1 LINEARIZATION CURVES IN PRINTING SCHEMES

■ Kerajet Colordirect includes the possibility of installing linearization curves within the printing schemes in .lut format.
This attachment is vital to rip designs and print them with the latest generations of high load print heads, because without
linearization, the printed results are far removed in terms of intensity with respect to their display in photoshop.

■ BENEFITS OF LINEARIZATION IN COLORDIRECT RIP PROCESS:

-Substantial improvement of on-screen display (especially in light designs).
-Agility in production tone adjustment processes, greater precision in adjustment tests.
-Adaptation of the amount of ink printed on each design to the intensity of those designs displayed on monitor.
-Ink savings thanks to the individual ink cuts made (optionally) by the linearization curves.

■ LINEARIZATION CURVES INSTALLATION STEP BY STEP:

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■ The .lut files generated in Colorjet 8 calibrations can be found in the following folder:
C: / Users / Public / Public Documents / Colorjet 8 / Color / Kerajet Master (or Kerajet Plotter) / “Scheme name” / .lut
■ You can also copy the .lut file, for more security, to a new folder created inside Colordirect at:
C: / Kerajet / Colordirect / Settings / Luts (new folder), and access this path to import the curves.

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2.2 TABLEWARE RIP
■ This section includes a new parameter in the rippage, the rip height.
■ For tableware machines with K11 printhead, the output resolution must be 360x360 dpi, GS8 mode with advanced
stochastic dithering and the rip height is selected before print considering the height of the plate to be decorated. You can also
save a certain height within the printing scheme to avoid errors.
■ Depending on the height of the plate, Colordirect adapts the drop sizes so when there is a big distance from the printing
surface (1cm to 5cm), the drops are printed with the highest quality.

■ Selectable heights: -Less than 8mm

-Between 8 and 14mm
-Between 14 and 28mm
-Between 28 and 45mm
-More than 45mm

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3. PROGRAM INTERFACE

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3.1 PROGRAM OPERATION

INDIVIDUAL RIPPING
■ Open Image
■ Select printscheme
■ Print
■ Save As: Select Destination Folder

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■ The file resulting from the ripping will be a folder with the separation of the channels of each color woven and rescalated to
the ripping resolution, a preview image (.jpeg) to identify the ripped file in the machine loading program and a printjob file (.txt)
with technical ripping information.
■ After ripping, copy the complete folder to the machine PC (if ripped on an external PC) so that the programs “Carga”
(KERAjet Master) and “MiniK” (KERAjet Plotter) recognize this file.

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3.2 OPEN
■ Opening an image to be ripped must first select the correct
printing scheme. (See p.2)

■ When Colordirect is installed, some STD printing schemes are automatically generated for its edition and adaptation to the
characteristics of our machine, leaving only one generic scheme and discarding the others (see p.2).
■ The images to be ripped must be CMYK, CMYK+n (in which case the scheme will be CMYK but with 6, 8, 10... input
channels), or MULTICHANNEL, and the program accepts PSD, PSB and Tiff formats.
■ After opening the image, it will appear in the lower left section of the program the preview of it with the colors set in the
print scheme according to the RGB values entered for each channel using the Photoshop color selector.
■ In the menu to the right of the previewed image, the "File" tab will display technical information about the image (file name,
dimensions, image resolution, color profile, image mode, and number of channels).
■ In the second tab "Scheme" there will be two tabs, input and output, with information in percentage of the amount of color
of each channel, and in output ripping resolution and shooting mode.

3.3 CLOSE
■ Close image.

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3.4 SCHEMES
■ List of printing schemes with the possibility of editing them (image mode, resolution and shooting mode, halftone, Lut),
delete or import. (See p.2 Creating and Editing Schemas).

3.5 EDIT
■ Tool for editing images if necessary, options to rotate, resize and crop.
■ The changes will only affect the ripped file, keeping the image in its original condition.

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3.6 TONE ADJUSTMENT
■ This tool modifes the intensity of the inks individually in order to adjust the production tone without the need for graphic editing
programs.

■ The changes made with this tool will be reflected in the ripped file and in the printed piece, but not in the original image that
will maintain the initial intensity.
■ These settings can be saved to be applied to different images, either in batch or individually.
■ It is recommended not to exceed 50% adjustments in each of the inks, for these cases it is advisable to use external graphic
editing software.

■ Once the tone adjustment is done, the program will show a preview of the change with the before and after of the treated
image. When we proceed to print it (print button), by default a label is created with the values of the tone adjustment. The label
will be printed in the upper left corner of the piece, if you do not want to print this label, just delete the text from it before
accepting it in the print window.

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■ The setting information is also reflected in the ripped file so that, regardless of whether we keep the label or not, the setting
values will be displayed in the image's identifying name when opened with the machine's loading software.

3.7 PRINT
■ Once you have opened an image and selected the printing scheme, click on the print button to proceed with the ripping. In the
pop-up window you can change the name of the ripped file and/or add a label that will appear in the upper left corner of the
printout.

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3.8 BATCH PRINT
■ This batch ripping option allows us to rip a group of images at the same time, so that they will all be ripped with the same
printing scheme.

■ In the settings tab within the 'batch print' options, we can assign the ripping scheme, tone settings and output folder to rip all
the selected pack of images.

■ With the "add file name label" option selected, each file ripped in the batch will appear with the name of the printed file at the
top left of the part.
■ Once confirmed the files selection, scheme with which they will be ripped and their possible color adjustments, we accept the
batch process and all files go to a print queue where we can see which files are already finished and which are in the ripping
process.

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3.9 TONES MOSAIC

■ Tone adjustments tool in the same piece.
■ Divide the image into as many columns as adjustments are made with the tone adjustment tool (P. 3.6).

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■ Printed result:

3.10 PRINT PATTERN

■ This tool generates a ripped file of the image separated by colours in order to create Production Patterns, which serve as a
reference in terms of colour and thus facilitate the tone adjustment in the next production.

■ The resulting separation includes; first, a column with all the colors together to identify the general tone of the model, then
a column for each machine ink and another in white to control also the glaze whiteness.

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■ Printed result:

3.11 SERVER TAB

■ Ripping online or ripping by Hotfolder.

1: Configuring the Hotfolder

2: Add new Hotfolder
3: Create new input folder where to copy the designs to be ripped.
4: Assign a printing scheme to the inbox.
5: Output folder in which the ripped images will be placed.
6, 7 and 8: Accept, save and start the job queue to activate the Hotfolder.

■ From this tab you can configure and activate the automatic online ripping by Hotfolder, useful for a team group ripping with
only one license.
■ To do this, you must configure the hotfolder (see image), which must be located on the hard disk of the PC on which the
program is installed, and share this network location so that the rest of the computers have access.
■ For the online ripping operation, the program must be opened and the job queue active (Start, pt 8).
■ A hotfolder must be created for each scheme. It is recommended to share a folder in which the different hotfolders are
inside plus the output folder (rippings), in order to have network access to the whole process.
■ To rip from other computers, just copy the images you want to rip to the corresponding HTF input folder. The ripped files
will appear in the output folder. When working with large images, it is recommended that you check whether you have finished
processing files before moving them.
■ Deleting or manipulating files while they are being processed can damage the operation of the program.

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3.12 APLICATION TAB

■ Preferences:
1. RIP options: Folder destination of the ripped files by default. Path for this folder highly recommended on the hard disk of
the PC, to get the best performance of the program.
2. Default halftone: Stochastic, smooth stochastic or Improved Stochastic (this one recommended for Grey Scale).All images
in the different schemes will be ripped with the selected halftone at this point. If you want to rip with another halftone punctually,
you can attach that halftone to a specific printing scheme.
3. Print schemes: If strict mode is activated, the image to be ripped must match the print scheme in mode (CMYK or
MULTICHANNEL) and in number of input channels. If you have more or less channels, and the image is not in the scheme
mode, an error message will appear when you open it and it will not allow its ripping.
If the strict mode is deactivated, the program accepts either CMYK or MULTICHANNEL images and any number of
channels. If the scheme is of 8 input channels and we rip an image with 4 channels, it will rip the first 4 channels in the same
order and the rest will generate blank channels. If the image is 9 channels it will ripe the first 8 and discard the last one.
4. Language: Languages available; English, Spanish and Italian.

■ If you have any questions about Colordirect's operation, installation or troubleshooting, please contact the ACS
KERAjet design department at the phone and email listed below.

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The images contained in this manual are for informational purposes only.
Items described in this manual may be subject to changes in their arrangement within the equipment.
KEEP THIS MANUAL FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
TAMPERING WITH THE CONTENTS OF THIS MANUAL OR ANY PART THEREOF IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

KERAjet, S.A.

PLEASE READ THE MANUAL CAREFULLY.

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KERAjet TECHNICIAN AT ALL TIMES.

Manufacturer

KERAjet, S.A.
Pol. Ind. Supoi-8. Avda. del Boverot, 24. 12550 Almazora (Castellón) España.
P.O. Box 446. 12540 Vila-real (Castellón) España.
Tlf: +34 964 500 018
www.kerajet.com e-mail:kerajet@kerajet.com

ACS Technical assistance +34 964 010 150.

On-call assistance +34 678 280 381. ONLY AVAILABLE OUTSIDE OF OFFICE HOURS
Technical enquiries: sat@kerajet.com

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