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Author Topic: Blurb Soft Proofing  (Read 1523 times)

fotagf8

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Blurb Soft Proofing
« on: January 28, 2019, 12:23:57 pm »

I work in a color-calibrated environment.  My prints come out as expected.  I'd like a Blurb printed book to come out as expected.

This is the response I received from Blurb about soft proofing:

Quote
I can see that you have a few questions about how you should o about making your book and our ICC profile. Blurb is a self-publishing platform but not a publisher. You, as the self-published author, are the publisher (This means the content of your book is one of your responsibilities) and as Photoshop isn't a Blurb program we simply don't have the tools available to assist you with that program.

Blurb currently offers 5 different paper choices for your books. We felt that trying to supply a color profile for each of the paper types left too much room for confusion. Instead what we have done is to have our printer calibrate and target their printing device directly to our single Blurb ICC profile against the paper type chosen during checkout. This takes any confusion out of the equation while still providing the most advanced color management available for a print on demand workflow.

The Blurb ICC Profile is based on the GRACoL2009 reference used in high-end commercial printing. Our entire print network adheres to this standard for the most consistent results possible with print on demand. By using this color profile, you can manage colors and soft proof your images while in RGB to see how they will look when printed, or use the profile to actually convert your images to the CMYK color space of the print device to eliminate the press-side conversion. This gives you more control over the images and how they will eventually print.

If you have any other questions please feel free to send those my way. In the meantime, I hope you're having a magnificent Monday.

I don't find the response particularly helpful in terms of the options in the dialogue box that I am supposed to select (Black point compensation, relative or perceptual, etc) to simulate Blurb's output.  Does anyone have some practical experience they could share regarding Blurb books.  I am concerned because whether or not Black Point Compensation or Simulate Paper are checked makes a big difference.  It seems Blurb's attitude is--take it on faith, it will be good enough.

Thank you.
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digitaldog

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Re: Blurb Soft Proofing
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2019, 12:36:26 pm »

Do a search here, this was covered in the past. Bottom line is you can't. Because Blurb doesn't provide actual profiles for their printing process. They offer a generic profile that really has nothing to do with how the print.
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fotagf8

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Re: Blurb Soft Proofing
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2019, 06:15:44 pm »

Thanks.  I had done a search, finding a lot of back and forth and debate.
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digitaldog

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Re: Blurb Soft Proofing
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2019, 06:38:01 pm »

There's no debate it's pointless to try soft proofing for Blurb. You gotta have the output profile.
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