All the RGB CGATs files that were used to construct each of the profiles shown here all come from the 8 page target attached in the previous post. RGB and LAB pairs were extracted from the measured charts and used to construct these profiles using Argyll's software. Each of the profiles was used to analyze the deltaE 2000 between 848 measured patches distributed randomly in gamut and 192 near neutrals. I consider near neutral performance important because many prints are in B&W or have large areas that are de-saturated. Human vision is more sensitive to small hue changes near neutrals and this is reflected in the higher sensitivity that delta E 2000 shows even though printers have multiple gray inks to help neutral accuracy.
Each of these charts shows the overall average dE2000 of 848 color patches. It groups the 192 near neutrals in steps of 10 L*.
Profile StructureEach of the profiles is constructed with spacing such that there are 5,6,7,8,9, or 12 points on each of the RGB axis. The number of RGB colors are thus 5^3, 6^3, … 12^3. Additionally, so called "packed" grids, where additional RGB colors are placed in the center of each of cube. This adds exactly (N-1)^3 more patches. Experiments show a small improvement in profile quality even accounting for their increased size as can be seen by looking at the results for 343 patch set (7^3 patches) v the 341 packed set (6^3 + 5^3).
Near NeutralsThese tables also show the impact of adding 3 different, near neutral patch sets. These 3 sets are 130, 260, and 476 in additional, near neutral patches. They show differing impact depending on how large the base, color patch count is. The largest set, immediately helps the near neutral performance of even the smallest patch profiles. However, as the color patch size increases, the differences between the 3 near neutral sets become very small.
Decoding the ProfileThe profile names follow a pattern that defines their construction. Their last letters consist of an "M", a Number, an optional "P", and ends with an optional "N", "N5", or "N3". The number following the "M" is the grid space count. For instance, 9 would mean 9^3 RGB patches. The "P" means that an additional set of RGB values are added in the center of each cube. The three, near neutral sets are "N" 134 patches, "N5" 260 patches, and "N3" 476 patches.
The attached CGAT zip files are not scrambled and easily examined in a text editor. The main RGB grid is placed first, the centered grid, if present, second, and the near neutrals, if present, last. They can, if you wish, be used for your own printer profile construction and can be used with Profile Maker 5, Argyll or I1Profiler.
Summary and recommendationFor the best overall accuracy, the M12PN5 profiles with 3314 patches, are best. For excellent B&W work, the M5PN3 and M6PN3 are very good, and small enough to profile w/o lots of paper and time.
Pro1000 with Canon Platinum Pro Glossy Paper
Black Point Lab: 1.89 -0.13 0.13, White Point: 94.83 -1.41 -2.18
Profile performance for standard grid sizes of 5,6,7,8,9,12
Profile | Patches | AveCol | AveNeuts | <10 | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 | 40-50 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 70-80 | >80 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M5.icm | 125 | 1.16 | 1.51 | 1.60 | 1.95 | 2.67 | 2.20 | 1.32 | 1.29 | 1.26 | 0.70 | 0.62 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M6.icm | 216 | 0.89 | 1.13 | 1.54 | 1.85 | 2.17 | 1.20 | 0.70 | 0.85 | 0.54 | 0.65 | 0.64 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M7.icm | 343 | 0.74 | 1.06 | 1.46 | 1.44 | 2.14 | 0.82 | 1.14 | 0.72 | 0.59 | 0.59 | 0.63 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M8.icm | 512 | 0.68 | 0.90 | 1.36 | 1.31 | 1.38 | 0.76 | 0.80 | 0.72 | 0.58 | 0.59 | 0.63 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M9.icm | 729 | 0.61 | 0.83 | 1.37 | 1.19 | 0.99 | 0.83 | 0.65 | 0.77 | 0.55 | 0.51 | 0.59 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M12.icm | 1728 | 0.51 | 0.72 | 1.37 | 1.04 | 0.75 | 0.57 | 0.61 | 0.66 | 0.47 | 0.45 | 0.56 |
Profile performance for standard grid sizes of 5,6,7,8,9,12
including inset grid at center points of cubes
Profile | Patches | AveCol | AveNeuts | <10 | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 | 40-50 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 70-80 | >80 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M5P.icm | 189 | 0.86 | 1.22 | 1.91 | 1.39 | 2.26 | 1.31 | 0.73 | 0.93 | 0.72 | 0.84 | 0.85 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M6P.icm | 341 | 0.68 | 0.94 | 1.52 | 1.28 | 1.53 | 0.82 | 0.78 | 0.75 | 0.59 | 0.51 | 0.63 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M7P.icm | 559 | 0.60 | 0.85 | 1.40 | 1.22 | 1.19 | 0.74 | 0.86 | 0.66 | 0.51 | 0.47 | 0.62 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M8P.icm | 855 | 0.57 | 0.76 | 1.28 | 1.02 | 0.79 | 0.71 | 0.65 | 0.79 | 0.54 | 0.46 | 0.57 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M9P.icm | 1241 | 0.52 | 0.73 | 1.25 | 0.98 | 0.76 | 0.81 | 0.64 | 0.68 | 0.49 | 0.46 | 0.52 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M12P.icm | 3059 | 0.45 | 0.61 | 1.01 | 0.76 | 0.57 | 0.61 | 0.57 | 0.63 | 0.46 | 0.40 | 0.47 |
As Above but also including 134 near neutrals
Profile | Patches | AveCol | AveNeuts | <10 | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 | 40-50 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 70-80 | >80 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M5PN.icm | 320 | 0.79 | 0.60 | 1.10 | 0.65 | 0.48 | 0.57 | 0.62 | 0.63 | 0.42 | 0.42 | 0.49 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M6PN.icm | 472 | 0.67 | 0.57 | 1.06 | 0.64 | 0.49 | 0.55 | 0.58 | 0.59 | 0.38 | 0.38 | 0.45 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M7PN.icm | 686 | 0.58 | 0.57 | 1.06 | 0.69 | 0.44 | 0.56 | 0.60 | 0.59 | 0.40 | 0.37 | 0.46 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M8PN.icm | 986 | 0.56 | 0.56 | 1.02 | 0.61 | 0.38 | 0.57 | 0.61 | 0.61 | 0.40 | 0.39 | 0.45 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M9PN.icm | 1371 | 0.51 | 0.57 | 1.01 | 0.61 | 0.39 | 0.61 | 0.63 | 0.60 | 0.40 | 0.38 | 0.47 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M12PN.icm | 3188 | 0.45 | 0.53 | 0.90 | 0.55 | 0.39 | 0.57 | 0.60 | 0.58 | 0.39 | 0.36 | 0.42 |
... Including 260 near neutrals
Profile | Patches | AveCol | AveNeuts | <10 | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 | 40-50 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 70-80 | >80 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M5PN5.icm | 446 | 0.81 | 0.61 | 1.14 | 0.76 | 0.49 | 0.55 | 0.63 | 0.56 | 0.42 | 0.44 | 0.52 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M6PN5.icm | 598 | 0.68 | 0.56 | 1.07 | 0.69 | 0.43 | 0.53 | 0.56 | 0.54 | 0.37 | 0.36 | 0.48 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M7PN5.icm | 806 | 0.59 | 0.57 | 1.08 | 0.68 | 0.45 | 0.54 | 0.61 | 0.54 | 0.39 | 0.36 | 0.49 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M8PN5.icm | 1112 | 0.56 | 0.55 | 0.98 | 0.65 | 0.39 | 0.55 | 0.58 | 0.55 | 0.40 | 0.38 | 0.46 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M9PN5.icm | 1497 | 0.51 | 0.54 | 0.94 | 0.61 | 0.38 | 0.57 | 0.58 | 0.55 | 0.39 | 0.36 | 0.47 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M12PN5.icm | 3314 | 0.45 | 0.50 | 0.83 | 0.51 | 0.40 | 0.54 | 0.55 | 0.53 | 0.38 | 0.35 | 0.43 |
... Including 476 near neutrals
Profile | Patches | AveCol | AveNeuts | <10 | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 | 40-50 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 70-80 | >80 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M5PN3.icm | 662 | 0.78 | 0.52 | 0.87 | 0.55 | 0.34 | 0.54 | 0.59 | 0.59 | 0.38 | 0.40 | 0.46 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M6PN3.icm | 814 | 0.67 | 0.50 | 0.87 | 0.53 | 0.34 | 0.52 | 0.56 | 0.53 | 0.37 | 0.35 | 0.43 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M7PN3.icm | 1022 | 0.58 | 0.50 | 0.87 | 0.55 | 0.32 | 0.53 | 0.56 | 0.54 | 0.38 | 0.34 | 0.44 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M8PN3.icm | 1328 | 0.56 | 0.50 | 0.86 | 0.50 | 0.34 | 0.53 | 0.56 | 0.55 | 0.38 | 0.37 | 0.42 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M9PN3.icm | 1713 | 0.51 | 0.50 | 0.84 | 0.55 | 0.32 | 0.54 | 0.57 | 0.55 | 0.38 | 0.36 | 0.43 |
Printer-P1000PlatPro_M12PN3.icm | 3530 | 0.44 | 0.49 | 0.81 | 0.47 | 0.34 | 0.53 | 0.57 | 0.54 | 0.37 | 0.35 | 0.41 |