IT8 is a set of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards for color communications and control specifications. Formerly governed by the IT8 Committee, IT8 activities were merged with those of the Committee for Graphics Arts Technologies Standards (CGATS) in 1994.
The following is a list of the IT8 standards, according to the NPES Standards Blue Book:
This standard establishes a data exchange format toenable transfer of numerical control information between diecutting systems and electronic prepress systems.The information will typically consist of numerical control information used in the manufacture of dies. 37 pp.
This standard defines an input test target that will allow anycolor input scanner to be calibrated with any film dye set used to create the target. It is intended to address the color transparency products thatare generally used for input to the preparatory process for printing and publishing. This standard defines the layout and colorimetric values ofa target that can be manufactured on any positive color transparency film and that is intended for use in the calibration of a photographicfilm/scanner combination. 32 pp.
This standard defines an input test target that will allow anycolor input scanner to be calibrated with any film dye set used to create the target. It is intended to address the color photographic paperproducts that are generally used for input to the preparatory process for printing and publishing. It defines the layout and colorimetric values ofthe target that can be manufactured on any color photographic paper and is intended for use in the calibration of a photographic paper/scannercombination. 29 pp.
The purpose of this standard is to specify an input datafile, a measurement procedure and an output data format to characterize any four-color printing process. The output data (characterization) fileshould be transferred with any four-color (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) halftone image files to enable a color transformation to beundertaken when required. 29 pp.
Calibrating all devices involved in the process chain (original, scanner/digital camera, monitor/printer) is required for an authentic color reproduction, because their actual color spaces differ device-specifically from the reference color spaces.
An IT8 calibration is done with what are called IT8 targets, which are defined by the IT8 standards.
After scanning such a target, an ICC profile gets calculated on the basis of reference values. This profile is used for all subsequent scans and assures color fidelity.