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Author Topic: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?  (Read 6506 times)

colorforest

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rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« on: November 10, 2013, 05:43:49 pm »

Hi.

I was always making my profiles for my printers but I always used pro rip (gmg, efi, oris) so I have no experience driving printers directly using a driver. Recently a friend asked me to make profiles for his printers. He is a photographer and he does not use any rip.

He has Canon ipf6400 and Epson 7880. My question is what type of profile do I make using i1Profiler? rgb, CMYK or cmyk with 1, 2 etc? I don't know what kind of a chart to make. Epson 7800 does not have anything except cmyk colors unlike epson x900 series and canon has red, green, blue etc.

Do I think that pro printer be just treated as the cheapest inkjet you can buy for $100?

Should I pick rgb chart assuming that somehow printer driver manages split of colors correctly?
Derek
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TylerB

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Re: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2013, 06:12:14 pm »

...
Should I pick rgb chart assuming that somehow printer driver manages split of colors correctly?
...

yes, and have him use the Canon export module...
Tyler
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colorforest

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Re: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2013, 07:28:10 pm »

Thanks Taylor.

This is amazing that printers that cost many thousands of dollars are profiled same as $100 printers. We (pro rip users) buy super expensive rips, extra accurate spectros and profiling options and if you want to use a driver all the printers can be profiled with colorMunki.

I know that rips have many options like linearization, iterative profiling, auto nesting, hot folders, matching multiple printers to print standards and each other etc. but still the price difference is unreal.

Can I ask what is the Canon export module? Are you talking about Canon Photoshop plugin? What about if I want to print form any different application? Acrobat, InDesign, Apple Preview, QuarkXpress etc? Would that affect color? Should I make 2 ICC profiles? One for photoshop canon plugin and one using let say Adobe Print Utility? I wanted to use Adobe Print Utility to print a chart originally.
Just for my learning...
« Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 07:36:15 pm by colorforest »
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Scott Martin

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Re: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2013, 09:09:26 am »

Printer drivers manage color in RGB mode and the printer has it's own, on-board chip that does the RGB-8+ color conversion. This conversion and the screening are high value intellectual property that Epson and Canon in particular have invested heavily in and will hold close to their chest. Essentially all the ink limiting, linearization, etc are built into the driver and are presented as "Media Types." These days it works fantastically well and we should congratulate Epson, Canon and HP for making it so easy for us. When you're buying a large format printer you're partly buying the shit-ton of work they've put into making this work so well. So make some awesome RGB profiles (pay attention to the Perceptual rendering options) and marvel at the quality.

Honestly I wish we had printer driver for more large and grand format printers. UV curable, Epson's Surecolor, Agfa's Ardeco, etc. It's all too easy for the manufacturers to let the RIP handle all that work. Of course when it comes to using white or silver inks that's where the capabilities of the OS drivers end and where a RIP is needed. Too bad Apple and Microsoft don't have what it takes to take the printer driver API's to the next level.

As for the Canon iPF printing plug-in - Canon iPF users love it for it's simplification, speed and reliability. It's the only 100% reliable way of printing profiling targets without color management and the profiles you'll end up making are compatible with both the plug-in and the driver that other applications will use.

When it comes to things like Nesting and tiling - you don't necessarily need a RIP for that. Canon's "Free Layout" app lets you perform basic nesting when using the driver from any application. And there are a new breed of applications (that call themselves RIPs for simplicity) that have things like nesting, tiling, sharpening, Postscript rasterizing, color management, etc that use use the driver to connect with the printer. ImageNest, ColorBurst Overdrive and Qimage are a few of these "RIPs" and they prove how good the driver technology can be. If you're a nesting geek, nothing beats ImageNest's nesting algorithms (which are also included in Overdrive's "Layout" app).

OS Printer Drivers are the future for aqueous printers. RIPs that handle multicolor+white and silver are the future for Solvent and UV curable machines that sometimes use these inks that the printer drivers aren't capable of.
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Scott Martin

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Re: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2013, 09:10:40 am »

Did somebody say Quark?
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colorforest

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Re: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2013, 05:26:16 am »

Yes. Still have to use Quark from time to time. I usually export as PDF but still use it. Just upgraded to version 10.
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digitaldog

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Re: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2013, 07:07:56 pm »

My question is what type of profile do I make using i1Profiler? rgb, CMYK or cmyk with 1, 2 etc?

RGB
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Scott Martin

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Re: rgb or cmyk profile mode for large printer?
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2013, 11:19:11 am »

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