Hexachrome

Hexachrome was a six-color printing process designed by Pantone Inc. In addition to custom CMYK inks, Hexachrome added orange and green inks to expand the color gamut, for better color reproduction. It was therefore also known as a CMYKOG process.

Hexachrome was discontinued by Pantone in 2008 when Adobe Systems stopped supporting their software. While the details of Hexachrome were not secret, use of Hexachrome was limited by trademark and patent to those obtaining a license from Pantone.

Software

In order to use the Hexachrome process in a digital printing process, Pantone produced a plugin for Adobe Photoshop that allowed the designer to work in an RGB color space more typical of computer work. Using a six-channel ICC profile, this was then converted to the Hexachrome gamut as part of raster image processing.

The plugin was discontinued by Pantone in 2008 because Adobe Systems no longer supported Pantone's Rosetta (legacy) plug-in format.

See also

• CcMmYK color model

External links

• U.S. Patent 5,734,800
• Pantone Hexachrome patent announcement news release, May 26 1998