Planet Quark » Hardware

Pantone GoeBridge Coated fanbook converts Goe spot colors to CMYK, sRGB and HTML

Jeff Gamet — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:05:29 +0000

Pantone’s GoeBridge Coated guide is a fanbook on coated stock that makes it easier to recreate many of the new Pantone Goe spot colors in CMYK, sRGB and HTML. The guide includes swatches for all 2,058 Goe spot colors, with four-color process equivalents, and sRGB and HTML values.

GoeBridge Coated costs $99 until Jan. 1, then $129. An uncoated version is not currently available.

(Note: QuarkXPress 8.01 includes the Goe color libraries!)

Pantone Color Cue 2.1

Jeff Gamet — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:44:12 +0000

Pantone’s updated Color Cue 2.1 is a mouse-sized portable color sampling device that can match colors on real-world objects to their Pantone equivalents. Take it on-site to measure the color of tablecloths, wallpaper, menus, or carpets — without a computer.

The new model includes seven Pantone color libraries (such as PMS, Goe coated, and Goe uncoated) for 11,000 possible color matches, an LCD screen with several configurable displays, and stores the most recent 30 color samples for later viewing. It can also translate colors among RGB, HTML and Lab color spaces. Color Cue costs $299 until Jan. 1, then $349.

Pantone ColorMunki Create

Jeff Gamet — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:23:59 +0000

Pantone’s ColorMunki Create is a handheld display calibrator and software package for graphic designers interested in working with accurate color and creating pleasing color palettes. The package includes software that makes it easy to build complementary color palettes; it can isolate and extract colors from digital images; and it can “snap” selected colors to the nearest Pantone PMS or Goe swatch.

Among its most interesting new features are the ability to preview CMYK conversions of spot colors, preview colors under various lighting conditions, identify colors that can’t be printed, and an automatic way to synchronize its palettes to QuarkXPress and the Adobe Creative Suite applications.

All in all, it’s a tremendous value for $149.

Hard Drives Now 14¢/GB

Jeff Gamet — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:48:44 +0000

Have you seen how far prices have come down on hard drives? Right now, several online retailers are offering a 1 terabyte Seagate Barracuda hard drive for around $140 shipped.

For example:
SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB SATA 7200 RPM 32MB Hard Drive Bulk
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB Internal SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 32MB Cache Hard Drive ST31000340AS

That’s 1,000 GB for $140. Is it time for you to upgrade?

Galaxy Gauge: An Exceptional Graphic Arts Ruler

Jeff Gamet — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:43:41 +0000

Galaxy Gauge ($14.95) is a ruler designed by and for graphic designers. Its 18-inch frosted mylar length includes all the features you expect, plus some incredibly useful surprises. Its Leading scale lets you exactly match line spacing from a printed sample, while its Serif and Sans-Serif “E” scale lets you match a printed sample’s font size. A Screen Finder lets you easily determine the line screen of a printed image, while a Screen Density scale helps you visualize various grayscale tints if they were printed at 65, 85, 100, 133 and 150 lpi.

Its Circles & Corners tool helps you determine the correct radius for a circle or the corner radius for a rounded rectangle, while its Angles gauge measures angles to within one degree.

It shows the 18 most common proofreading marks, with explanations and examples. It has tables that convert Fractions to Decimals, show Download Times for files, and show file sizes for various Scan Sizes and resolutions.

It shows Bullets and Rules in all their common sizes. And, of course, it measures in Inches, Picas and Centimeters, with one-point accuracy.

You can read a review of the Galaxy Gauge products in X-Ray magazine here.

Make Your Own Leather Portfolio

Jeff Gamet — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:33:41 +0000

ArtZ’s BookMaker is a kit you can use to create a professional, hardbound leather portfolio containing your work.It includes 25 sheets of textured fine-art paper for your inkjet printer, in either a white or natural tone.

Each book can hold 10 to 20 pages. A 7×7-inch kit costs $75. The 10×10 kit costs $95 and the 11×14 kit costs $115.

Pantone-Colored Flash Drives

Jeff Gamet — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:43:53 +0000

Pantone now offers sleek, USB Flash drives in 15 Pantone colors. They’re reasonably priced, and the best part is that Pantone will engrave one or both sides of the drive with your artwork for free if you purchase 10 or more.Or, engrave the Pantone logo and/or your own text on either side for free in any quantity.

Here are the current prices:

512MB $10.99
1GB $14.99
2GB $19.99
4GB $34.99
8GB $49.99

Get them at www.pantone.com/pages/flashdrives/product.aspx

$299 11×17 Color Printer, Scanner, Copier, Fax

Jeff Gamet — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:46:07 +0000

Brother’s new MFC-6490CW establishes a new product category: an 11×17 color printer, scanner, fax, and copier for $299.

Yes, it scans and prints 11×17 inches. In addition, it has an automatic document feeder, wireless connectivity (along with USB and Ethernet networking), a memory card slot, and a color LCD display for printing photos without using a computer.

Other features are: up to 50 sheet automatic document feeder, dual paper trays with up to 400 sheet total capacity, up to 35/28 ppm black/color print speed, Super G3 33.6Kbps fax modem, and four separate ink cartridges.

Learn all about it at www.tinyurl.com, or buy it for just $202 (currently) at www.tinyurl.com.

Beautiful, Affordable Presentations

Jeff Gamet — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:46:17 +0000

Beautiful, Affordable Presentations

Itoya’s Art Profolio Evolution is a classy storage and presentation book so inexpensive you won’t mind giving it away. The durable black polypropylene cover is nice, but the stylish nylon stitching around the edge makes it special. It has acid-free, pH-neutral black mounting paper inside 24 crystal-clear PVC-free sleeves, for an effective 48 pages.

Now get the price: at www.artsuppliesonline.com,

the 8×10 model currently costs $5.35
the 9×12 costs $7.35, the 11×17 costs $13.27
the 14×17 costs $16.55
the 13×19 costs $17.83

Other sizes are available as well, and possibly from your local art supplies dealer.

HP DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display Sets New Price/Performance Standard

Jeff Gamet — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:04:46 +0000

HP’s DreamColor LP2480zx is a stunning 24-inch LCD monitor designed for color critical graphic design, video, photography, and animation work. Its RGB LED-backlit surface supports over a billion colors, and generates truer whites for better color consistency regardless of how bright or dark a room is. It includes pre-defined Adobe RGB, sRGB, Rec. 601, Rec. 709, and DCI-IP3 workspaces for accurate color matching, and support for a user-defined color workspace.

Features
The display includes DisplayPort 1.1, HDMI 1.3, DVI-I, analog, component, S-video, and composite inputs; tilt, swivel, height and pivot adjustments; a built-in 4-port self-powered USB 2.0 hub; and primary, gamma, white point and luminance controls with the optional HP DreamColor Advanced Profiling Solution with colorimeter.

Price
Here’s the amazing thing: at just $3,499, this display costs a fraction of the $20,000+ for displays of similar quality. And I say “similar” because this display uses entirely new technology, with entirely better results.