- Joined
- May 29, 2007
- Messages
- 2,646
- Reaction score
- 1,411
- Points
- 313
- Location
- Ghent, Belgium
- Printer Model
- 2x SC-900, WF-7840, TS705
After experimenting alot with this rather cryptic ARgyllCMS open source profile software and having learnt alot with printer profiling, I want to share with you my new optimized working flow.
Unlike commercial printer profile software supplied with the Colormunki or your Spyder3print spectrophotometer, the created profiles can be redistributed freely if you want. You can decide the profiles are yours only or can be shared with others.
I have experimented with several parameters with the different commands to get as much patches on a single sheet of A4 paper (21x29.7 cm) without compromising on legibility by your Colormunki. The maximum amount is 475 patches/sheet of A4, which is really astonishing.
To get this result, you will need to tweak the generated target file (tif) with for example Photoshop.
Note: this program requires typing of DOS commando's in a command prompt. I will start with a basic printer profile with 475 patches on a single sheet of A4. Note: for rather linear ink sets, this will produce a pretty good profile, much better compared to the ones created with the Spyder3Printer software (225 patches High Quality Target + greys onto 2 sheets of A4). For not so linear ink sets a larger set of patches is needed, but you can give this a try first.
I will call this basic printer profile "standard_profile"
To create the patches type in:
targen -v -d2 -G -e4 -g128 -f475 -t standard_profile
Now we have to create the printer target, which we will tweak later on with Photoshop. Type in:
printtarg -v -iCM -h -a0.82 -b -T360 -m3 -M3 -P -p225x370 standard_profile
This will force all the patches onto a single sheet of a fictional paper size of 225x360 mm, which we will need to downsize and compress a bit to fit into a single sheet of A4.
Now open this tif file with the name standard_profile.tif and we will have to remove the right vertically text (Argyll Color Management System - Test Chart -..........) by cutting this away with the rectangular marquee tool and by pressing delete.
The second stage is to move down the row with letters closer towards the columns, by again marking it with the rectangular marguee tool and then selecting the moving tool and click on the marked area of the letters. Now press down the down arrow exactly 30 times. The letters now should have come down, leaving a considerably smaller gap between the row of letters and the patches. Now deselect fix down the change.
The third stage is to crop the working area with the crop tool. For this we will have to define the cropping size with the following settings: width: 21,5 cm and height: 34,5 cm. Now this is only a preliminary setting, as we will later on compress the cropped size again. Click with the crop tool on the upper left, starting from just slightly above the letters and pull down towards the lower right corner. Now because of the fixed ratio, you will have to take care the white area on the right size is about the same size as on the left size. Now release your mouse button, to see the area selected. To center and to optimze the area, use the left/right/up/down cursor button on your keyboard to visually select the best focused area, taking care the all the letters are withing the this area and also enough white space on the bottom of your selection. Now press enter to crop the area.
Finally we will downsize the whole cropped image into A4 size (21x29.7 cm) by selecting in the menu of Photoshop: image > image size. First we will have to uncheck the "Constrain Proportions" box underneath of the pop up window of Image Size. In the document size type in for Width: 21 cm and Height: 29.7 cm and press OK to compress the image into a single sheet of A4.
Now save this modified and compressed tif file back in the same working directory (very important).
Now print this file on your photo paper of choice. Take care to write down your paper setting and black ink used for which this profile is valid (for example: photo black, paper setting: Premium Glossy Paper, print resolution: quality (1440x1440 dpi). A different paper setting and print resolution can yield different results, this is very important to get consistent results. For sake of maximum printable surface we will have to choose the borderless option to prevent possible clipping of the image, BUT without the expansion option, as you will need choose the constrain size option and also choose the center image option of Photoshop. Again: Do not forget to disable color management in your printer dialogue window !!! This is very important.
After printing the target, leave it properly dried for at least 24 hours to stabilise the colours.
After this we will read the target with your Colormunki by using the following command:
chartread -v -H -T0.4 standard_profile
The software will calibrate your Colormunki now (please have it positioned in the calibrate position) and when the software says, you can read row A, turn the wheel in the reading position.
Have your target sheet upside down with 2 sheets of the same papier palced underneath. You will read the patches from right to left, by swapping the Colormunki away from you.
For this reading process a ruler is required, as the patches are so tiny, you will have it really well aligned. The width of the mini-USB connector of the Colormunki is a good guide how to align the ruler, as it corresponds with the width of the scanner opening size, so to center the Colormunki as good as possible over the tiny patches.
When done with reading press "d" button to write the standard_profile.t03 file
Now the final state is to create the profile. Please place a copy of AdobeRGB1998.icc into your working directory, because you will need this. For creating the profile type in:
colprof -v -qh -i D50 -o 1931_2 -S AdobeRGB1998.icc -cmt -dpp -D"X" -CY standard_profile
where for X you should place your desired internal name of your profile and Y the string of copyright. For example you could type in:
colprof -v -qh -i D50 -o 1931_2 -S AdobeRGB1998.icc -cmt -dpp -D"Moab Satin 240 gsm Epson Pro 3800 OCP-K3 v2" -Cfreely distributable ARgyll CMS created profile standard_profile
I would say: have fun and create your own printer profiles, without the restricting software license of Colormunki and with much less paper compared to the standard non-compressed method, which will only put 210 patches on a single sheet of A4. With this method you will get an astonishing 475 patches on a single sheet of A4 without compromising on readibility by your Colormunki device.
Unlike commercial printer profile software supplied with the Colormunki or your Spyder3print spectrophotometer, the created profiles can be redistributed freely if you want. You can decide the profiles are yours only or can be shared with others.
I have experimented with several parameters with the different commands to get as much patches on a single sheet of A4 paper (21x29.7 cm) without compromising on legibility by your Colormunki. The maximum amount is 475 patches/sheet of A4, which is really astonishing.
To get this result, you will need to tweak the generated target file (tif) with for example Photoshop.
Note: this program requires typing of DOS commando's in a command prompt. I will start with a basic printer profile with 475 patches on a single sheet of A4. Note: for rather linear ink sets, this will produce a pretty good profile, much better compared to the ones created with the Spyder3Printer software (225 patches High Quality Target + greys onto 2 sheets of A4). For not so linear ink sets a larger set of patches is needed, but you can give this a try first.
I will call this basic printer profile "standard_profile"
To create the patches type in:
targen -v -d2 -G -e4 -g128 -f475 -t standard_profile
Now we have to create the printer target, which we will tweak later on with Photoshop. Type in:
printtarg -v -iCM -h -a0.82 -b -T360 -m3 -M3 -P -p225x370 standard_profile
This will force all the patches onto a single sheet of a fictional paper size of 225x360 mm, which we will need to downsize and compress a bit to fit into a single sheet of A4.
Now open this tif file with the name standard_profile.tif and we will have to remove the right vertically text (Argyll Color Management System - Test Chart -..........) by cutting this away with the rectangular marquee tool and by pressing delete.
The second stage is to move down the row with letters closer towards the columns, by again marking it with the rectangular marguee tool and then selecting the moving tool and click on the marked area of the letters. Now press down the down arrow exactly 30 times. The letters now should have come down, leaving a considerably smaller gap between the row of letters and the patches. Now deselect fix down the change.
The third stage is to crop the working area with the crop tool. For this we will have to define the cropping size with the following settings: width: 21,5 cm and height: 34,5 cm. Now this is only a preliminary setting, as we will later on compress the cropped size again. Click with the crop tool on the upper left, starting from just slightly above the letters and pull down towards the lower right corner. Now because of the fixed ratio, you will have to take care the white area on the right size is about the same size as on the left size. Now release your mouse button, to see the area selected. To center and to optimze the area, use the left/right/up/down cursor button on your keyboard to visually select the best focused area, taking care the all the letters are withing the this area and also enough white space on the bottom of your selection. Now press enter to crop the area.
Finally we will downsize the whole cropped image into A4 size (21x29.7 cm) by selecting in the menu of Photoshop: image > image size. First we will have to uncheck the "Constrain Proportions" box underneath of the pop up window of Image Size. In the document size type in for Width: 21 cm and Height: 29.7 cm and press OK to compress the image into a single sheet of A4.
Now save this modified and compressed tif file back in the same working directory (very important).
Now print this file on your photo paper of choice. Take care to write down your paper setting and black ink used for which this profile is valid (for example: photo black, paper setting: Premium Glossy Paper, print resolution: quality (1440x1440 dpi). A different paper setting and print resolution can yield different results, this is very important to get consistent results. For sake of maximum printable surface we will have to choose the borderless option to prevent possible clipping of the image, BUT without the expansion option, as you will need choose the constrain size option and also choose the center image option of Photoshop. Again: Do not forget to disable color management in your printer dialogue window !!! This is very important.
After printing the target, leave it properly dried for at least 24 hours to stabilise the colours.
After this we will read the target with your Colormunki by using the following command:
chartread -v -H -T0.4 standard_profile
The software will calibrate your Colormunki now (please have it positioned in the calibrate position) and when the software says, you can read row A, turn the wheel in the reading position.
Have your target sheet upside down with 2 sheets of the same papier palced underneath. You will read the patches from right to left, by swapping the Colormunki away from you.
For this reading process a ruler is required, as the patches are so tiny, you will have it really well aligned. The width of the mini-USB connector of the Colormunki is a good guide how to align the ruler, as it corresponds with the width of the scanner opening size, so to center the Colormunki as good as possible over the tiny patches.
When done with reading press "d" button to write the standard_profile.t03 file
Now the final state is to create the profile. Please place a copy of AdobeRGB1998.icc into your working directory, because you will need this. For creating the profile type in:
colprof -v -qh -i D50 -o 1931_2 -S AdobeRGB1998.icc -cmt -dpp -D"X" -CY standard_profile
where for X you should place your desired internal name of your profile and Y the string of copyright. For example you could type in:
colprof -v -qh -i D50 -o 1931_2 -S AdobeRGB1998.icc -cmt -dpp -D"Moab Satin 240 gsm Epson Pro 3800 OCP-K3 v2" -Cfreely distributable ARgyll CMS created profile standard_profile
I would say: have fun and create your own printer profiles, without the restricting software license of Colormunki and with much less paper compared to the standard non-compressed method, which will only put 210 patches on a single sheet of A4. With this method you will get an astonishing 475 patches on a single sheet of A4 without compromising on readibility by your Colormunki device.
