Colour management specialist X-Rite has launched the i1 Pro 3 Plus spectrophotometer, aiming to bring its expertise to industrial digital print applications including textiles and ceramics, as well as improving performance in more conventional print colour profiling applications.

Key features of the new colour instrument are a larger measurement aperture of 8mm, making it suitable for signage and other large format applications, and a polarisation filter that meets the M3 measurement condition and which reduces specular highlights and shadows on both fabrics and ceramics, as well as wet proofs and photo prints with heavy black coverage. This is said to provide ‘better blacks’ and richer colours on rough surfaces such as canvas, floor graphics or glossy media like photo papers.

A new LED illuminant source is said to give a better match to D50 lighting conditions and a simultaneous measurement capability means that the M0, M1 and M2 lighting conditions can all be measured in a single operation, allowing operators to predict colour behaviour on papers with optical brighteners under different lighting.

Measurement of transmissive or translucent materials, such as those used in backlit displays, is possible and there is support for the higher brightness levels now common with LED-backlit panels. Various other tweaks to the package are included, such as magnets to hold curled media flat on A3 calibration chart measurement backboard, plus a longer ruler for measuring charts produced for grand-format (over 3m roll width) print.

A new i1iO automated scanning table for reading printer test charts has also been introduced, along with a set of 249 new Pantone colours, particularly aimed at fashion, home and interior design applications. The X-Rite i1 Profiler software, which has also been updated, provides links to the Pantone Live colour data in order to hep with brand colour matching.

The i1 Pro 3 Plus is available in a number of pre-packaged configurations. The one most relevant to printers is the ‘Publish’ edition, which as well as the colour measurement hardware, includes software support for ‘CMYK+X’ printers that feature additional primary colours, as offered in some digital printer and press configurations. All versions are available now; a standard (3.5mm) aperture option for the spectrophotometer will be available in early 2020.