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Author Topic: Icc profiles  (Read 7645 times)

Thenolands

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Icc profiles
« on: September 13, 2017, 11:19:16 am »

A few questions regarding .icc files

1. How difficult is creating a custom icc profile?
2. What software is needed and is it very $$$?
3. How different would a custom profile be from the manufacturer's default profile or from one I would purchase? It seems that creation of a profile is very methodical and exact so wondering why lots of people create their own. Doesn't the manufacturer follow a similar process to what one does when they create a custom profile?

I don't print on too many different papers (so if software is several hundred dollars I would just buy a few profiles) but I am interested in learning about the process and getting the best results I can.

All I have currently for color management is x-rite passport and photoshop/Lightroom
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digitaldog

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Re: Icc profiles
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2017, 02:49:18 pm »


Not all ICC profiles are created equally


In this 23 minute video, I'll cover:
The basic anatomy of ICC Profiles
Why there are differences in profile quality and color rendering
How to evaluate an ICC output profile
Examples of good and not so good canned profiles and custom profiles on actual printed output.


High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/Not_All_Profiles_are_created_equally.mp4
Low resolution (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNdR_tIFMME&feature=youtu.be
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BradSmith

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Re: Icc profiles
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2017, 04:11:27 pm »

Have you checked Google and YouTube?

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Alan Goldhammer

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Re: Icc profiles
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2017, 07:36:35 am »

If you are ambitious, you can use ArgyllCMS software to create your own print and monitor profiles.  The software is free but there is a learning curve.  Torger (a frequent contributor here on LuLa) has a very nice introduction as to how to do this with an X-Rite ColorMunki:  https://www.ludd.ltu.se/~torger/photography/argyll-print.html#toc0   You would have to purchase that instrument.  There is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to do monitor profiling but for paper profiling, ArgyllCMS requires you to use the command line.  X-Rite has raised the cost of the ColorMunki in recent years and it's not as affordable as it once was.  However, you also can use it to profile your monitor which is very important.
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nirpat89

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Re: Icc profiles
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2017, 10:25:32 am »

If you are ambitious, you can use ArgyllCMS software to create your own print and monitor profiles.  The software is free but there is a learning curve.  Torger (a frequent contributor here on LuLa) has a very nice introduction as to how to do this with an X-Rite ColorMunki:  https://www.ludd.ltu.se/~torger/photography/argyll-print.html#toc0   You would have to purchase that instrument.  There is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to do monitor profiling but for paper profiling, ArgyllCMS requires you to use the command line.  X-Rite has raised the cost of the ColorMunki in recent years and it's not as affordable as it once was.  However, you also can use it to profile your monitor which is very important.

Alan, Hi: 

Just got my own ColorMunki Photo.  Have not done anything with it yet.  It comes with its own profiling software.  Wondering what is the advantage of using Argyll over X-rite's. 

:Niranjan.
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Alan Goldhammer

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Re: Icc profiles
« Reply #5 on: September 15, 2017, 11:07:02 am »

Alan, Hi: 

Just got my own ColorMunki Photo.  Have not done anything with it yet.  It comes with its own profiling software.  Wondering what is the advantage of using Argyll over X-rite's. 

:Niranjan.
Argyll gives better profiles.  I had a ColorMunki for a couple of years and did some direct comparisons between profiles made with the CM using X-Rite software and Argyll.  Gamuts were pretty much the same but the Argyll profiles were much smoother.  I ended up selling the CM and upgrading to an i1 Pro as the patch sizes required are much smaller and one doesn't need to use as much paper.  That being said, there definitely is a learning curve to using Argyll and Torger's tutorial is a very good start.  It would be nice if there were a GUI for print profiling but it would be a challenging coding task as there are so many options for printer profiling compared to monitor profiling.
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nirpat89

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Re: Icc profiles
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2017, 12:14:05 pm »

Argyll gives better profiles.  I had a ColorMunki for a couple of years and did some direct comparisons between profiles made with the CM using X-Rite software and Argyll.  Gamuts were pretty much the same but the Argyll profiles were much smoother.  I ended up selling the CM and upgrading to an i1 Pro as the patch sizes required are much smaller and one doesn't need to use as much paper.  That being said, there definitely is a learning curve to using Argyll and Torger's tutorial is a very good start.  It would be nice if there were a GUI for print profiling but it would be a challenging coding task as there are so many options for printer profiling compared to monitor profiling.

Perhaps the number of patches have something to do with the smoothness of the profile - looks like Munki has 50 (or 100 if you consider the second set separately) whereas Argyll starts at 400. 
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digitaldog

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Re: Icc profiles
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2017, 12:16:03 pm »

Perhaps the number of patches have something to do with the smoothness of the profile - looks like Munki has 50 (or 100 if you consider the second set separately) whereas Argyll starts at 400.
That and many other factors.
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