I suppose we should be happy the application doesn't produce such targets.
Yep, and the default, pre-installed targets, are 8 bits. And these printed targets are 8 bits.
But, if you use the patch generator, this fails.
Check this out.
1. Open I1Profiler and select printer profile.
2. Using Patch Set, select 400 patches.
3. Click on the second horizontal patch along the black to red gradient. It reads R=42.5
4. Select Test Chart and save the tiff file as test1.tif.
5. Go back to Patch Set and save it using the default (.pxf).
Note that saving the patch set as a CGATs file and reloading the CGATs file does not alter the fractional RGB values. Saving using the default format gets rid of the fractional RGB values. Sadly, it gets rid of them differently than printing the fractional values which also gets rid of them.
6. Now read the saved patch set and click on the same patch. It now reads R=42
7. Now select test chart and save the tif file again but as test2.tif.
8. Load test1.tif and test2.tif in Photoshop and read the same patch (they now run along the vertical)
They aren't the same. The one in test1 is R=43, while the one in test2 is R=42. When a patch set is saved it truncates fractional RGB values, but when it's printed or saved as a tiff, it's rounded.
But what RGB set is used in making a profile? Turns out if you just create the fractional patch set without saving and reloading, the profile engine uses the fractional values. It neither rounds nor truncates.
Fortunately, all the preinstalled targets and patch sets are not fractional so no problem with those. But generating patches, including generating patches on a second pass "improved" profile does. Which is why my advice is to always, always, save and reload patch sets any time the patch generator is used.
Just sloppy, sloppy X-Rite work but because the effects are only rarely noticeable, it just doesn't get fixed.