Can you create an Argyll 'ti1' file for the synthetic data set that users can create patch sets for different papers? I've tried adapting CGATs files in the past but I cannot get them to read properly.
I haven't looked much at ti1 files but they appear quite specific to Argyll. Also, Argyll doesn't support i1iSis spectro so it's not an attractive approach.
Also, if I adopted only using Argyll tools there would have to be extensive revisions to the io in my code.
Argyll does have a nice conversion utility that processes I1Profiler CGATs files into ti3 files which work quite well for making Argyll profiles.
Since I1Profiler, unlicensed, can be used to create/print charts and save CGATs files it's a good alternative.
I've attached a file containing 6 files including the final icm profile. It's got a large B&W patch set, 0 to 255 step 1 repeated 3 times and scrambled. Much more than needed. A 52 patch set works just fine but this lets me average patches and evaluate print consistency compared to printing with regular color mode.
Here's a rough workflow:
Run the program to create patch sets. 52 and 256 CGATs sets are created with an option to make N duplicates to reduce the impact of printed patch variation.
Load the cgats file "256BW3x.txt" into I1Profiler by dragging and dropping it into the patch set block. Select the instrument and chart type then print it using B&W settings and whatever tint is desired. Save the settings for easy printing later.
Scan the target then save the result as a CGATs file making sure LAB is one of the selected fields. Spectral data does not need to be saved.
Next run the program with the name of the CGATs measurement file. This creates two new CGATs files that have RGB and LAB data. They have the original name with "RGBLAB" and "RGBLAB_adj" appended. These contain the RGB and measured Lab data as well as appended synthesized data to make profiling software happy. The "RGBLAB" CGATs file has the a* and b* fields zeroed while the "RGBLAB_adj" includes the measured Lab data.
Profiles can then me made by dragging and dropping these file into the Measurement tab of I1Profiler or, for Argyll profiles, running the CGATs files through the short batch file included. Both work.
The program then runs with the names of the two profiles and the white point and A2B1 table is copied from the "RGBLAB_adj" made profile into the "RGBLAB" made profile. The RGBLAB made profile can then be installed and softproofing performed. It will show proper paper white and any tint in the print.
The same profile can be used to print using the usual process with Epson printers or the workaround described earlier for Canon.
The profile included is from MP101 Matte on the Canon Pro1000. Ignore the name, it's from testing. Since the paper has a fairly large amount of OBAs and measurements were made with M1, having a L* min of 18, it makes for a pretty good demonstration of softproofing showing the blue shift of the OBAs.