datacolor|TECHKON launches ChromaQA 7.5 with 18 updates for print color QA

datacolor|TECHKON has released ChromaQA 7.5, adding 18 new features and enhancements across its color quality suite for printers and brands. The update expands control over color standards, reporting and calibration workflows, with new tools for artwork measurement, ICC profile imports, PantoneLIVE support and more.

Why it matters: - ChromaQA 7.5 gives printers and brands more control over how color is created, measured, evaluated and reported. - The update is designed to simplify everyday color quality workflows across production, standards and calibration. - The release adds support for several workflows that can reduce manual steps and improve consistency.

What happened: - datacolor|TECHKON announced ChromaQA 7.5 is now available. - The release adds 18 new features and enhancements across SPEC, PRESS, STANDARDS, ADMIN and SmartINK. - The update includes new tools for measurement locations inside artwork, ICC profile imports, drawdown reports and multiple ScoreCards. - The company also expanded support for PantoneLIVE, Colibri colorant sets, SmartINK corrections and SpectroCheck calibration reporting.

The details: - In Chroma Spec, users can upload a PDF or JPG of printed artwork and select exact measurement locations after choosing color standards. - Chroma Spec now supports importing print standards directly from an ICC profile, alongside Chroma Standards, PantoneLIVE and GMG OpenColor. - The ICC import feature supports CIELab values and TVI curves, plus ICC v2 and v4 profiles. - The ICC import feature also supports CMYK and multi-channel profiles. - Chroma Standards can now generate customized drawdown reports in a few clicks and save them as PDF or print them. - PantoneLIVE users can now choose an illuminant/observer combination in Chroma Standards, and ChromaQA targets the matching CIELab values during sampling. - Chroma Press now includes Substrate Opacity as a new reporting metric. - Users can set an aim opacity value and tolerance in the template, then measure over white and black to display opacity in job results. - Chroma Admin now supports multiple ScoreCards for different scoring needs, including in-house scoring, GMI and brand-specific requirements. - Chroma Admin also adds upper limit thresholds so no single color can exceed a set limit. - Users can disable colors from standard color bars to work with fewer bar layouts. - SmartInk now imports Colibri colorant sets and automatically creates a matching colorant set for use in SmartInk. - SpectroCheck now supports a calibration report with reference values, measured values and deltaE values. - The new SpectroCheck report is positioned as helpful for ISO compliance. - SmartInk corrections are more precise with the “Show in Cups” feature, with corrections rounded to ¼ cup and recalculated to show the predicted deltaE. - Chroma Standards now supports sorting color books by name, date created and date modified. - Chroma Spec now lets users create master templates directly instead of duplicating existing templates. - Chroma Standards now allows individual Color deltaE tolerances that override the global value set in the template.

Between the lines: - The update pushes more decision-making into the software, which can reduce workarounds on press and in prepress. - Support for ICC profiles, PantoneLIVE and Colibri points to a broader effort to connect measurement, standards and formulation in one workflow. - Multiple ScoreCards and per-color tolerances suggest the suite is being tuned for customers with different brand and plant-level requirements.

What's next: - datacolor|TECHKON is directing users to its website for more information. - The company is positioning ChromaQA 7.5 as a broader workflow upgrade rather than a single-feature release. - The new features are likely to matter most for teams looking to tighten color control, reporting and compliance across printing operations.

The bottom line: - ChromaQA 7.5 is a wide-ranging update aimed at making print color QA faster, more flexible and easier to standardize.