See colors “pop” while saving ink!

At the heart of ICEserver is FineEye’s next-generation color-aware algorithm, a patent-pending automated quality assurance engine called ICE (Intelligent Color Engine) that locks in the perceptual integrity of an image. With ICE essentially serving as an automated quality control agent, ICEserver is able to strike the perfect balance between visual accuracy and optimized ink usage. ICEserver utilizes an innovative new mathematical model to simulate the way the human visual system perceives printed color and is the result of nearly 40 years of practical and theoretical research.

FineEye, the inventor of ICEserver, pioneered a powerful new CMYK optimization process called Programmed Color Reformulation (PCR). PCR uses a unique mathematical model to optimize CMYK values, avoiding typical GCR artifacts — especially prevalent at higher GCR replacement levels. ICEserver also carefully preserves the rich look of deep saturated colors, while still aggressively saving ink — easily achieved with Euclidean screening from 65 to 200, and even with specialized stochastic printing. This is a key reason why ICEserver is as appropriate for printing high end catalogs and collateral as it is for newsprint. In fact, because PCR maintains color richness at lower ink film thicknesses, you can push the color further on press for an even more dramatic effect — without muddy, dark tones that frequently arise when dot-gain increases at higher ink densities.

The power of “intelligent” optimization

ICEserver uniquely boosts the number of CMYK color addresses from about 500,000 to more than 900,000. It then uses the larger gamut to reformulate all tertiary colors in 1/4-tone, mid-tone, and 3/4 tone regions. It also regenerates the black plate for optimum running gray balance. The bigger gamut makes it possible to isolate and preserve those colors most critical to print buyers and art directors, such as natural skin tones, smooth gradients and rich shadow color and detail. These colors, which are all vulnerable to mechanical distortion or halftone gains, are remapped using color combinations that are further away from the apex of the press gain curve, but remain visually equivalent when printed.