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	Spyder3Print Hints of Profiling

Solution Make sure you attach the spectro to a powered USB port. The safest USB ports (you'll always know they have power) are those built directly into the computer. Sometimes there's enough power in the USB port on a keyboard for it to work; other times, not. If you plug the spectro into a keyboard USB port, it may not "show up" on your system, or even if it does, there may not be enough power for it to work correctly. If you plug it into an unpowered hub: it won't work at all. If you plug it into a powered hub which doesn't supply enough power, or which has other devices connected that draw a lot of power, it may not work at all, or it may not work consistently. If a powered hub isn't getting any power (it's DC power cable is loose, or it's power adapter isn't plugged in, etc) then you make think there isn't a problem (some or all other USB devices on the hub may work fine, not all USB devices require much power) but the spectro won't work because it definitely needs a certain amount of power to work.

The basic technique for building profiles is as follows: Run Spyder3Print/PrintFIX PRO; step forward one screen, then click on Skip To Profiling Process (bypassing the Print Quality Check and Media Setting Check screens, which are not required). Select the 225 patch target (recommended for most profiling). Click the Print button, to print it, with all color management disabled in the driver (In OSX, use the Print Settings pane to choose your paper type, output quality/speed settings; use the Color Management pane to turn color management OFF; in Windows, select the printer, go into the printer preferences/properties, and use the printer driver's UI to do the same thing). This will give you a target print for measuring.

The target prints should always be dark and saturated. Darker is better.

And so, the measured colors will always be darker than the "pure" colors in the Target window display. Don't let this alarm you, it's expected. The profile that you build will compensate for this.

Don't perform the white calibration of the spectro on your paper - it will throw the measurements off in subtle ways. -Always- perform the calibration of the spectro (prior to taking a series of measurements) in the base; on the round white calibration tile.

Put one or two blank white sheets of the paper you're profiling beneath your target, when measuring.

When measuring, it's easiest to switch from Split display mode to Measured, so you can see full color patches as you measure them. Easier to see errors this way. The measurements, on your calibrated screen, should "look" like the target patches that you're measuring.

Please do not measure "blindly"; pay close attention to what you're measuring. If your measurement for the black patch (always the first patch in every target) looks lighter than the other patches near it, you'll know instantly that something is wrong. If your measurement for the white patch ("paper white", which has no ink) comes out cyan, you'll know something is wrong...! Paper white won't show up as a pure, perfect white when you measure it... expect an L value of the low to upper 90's, and a and b values close to, but not exactly equal, to 0. It should display as a light gray, or something with a very SLIGHT color cast that's very close to neutral. If it looks like a "color", it's wrong. If you see scattered patches in the darker measurements that are noticeably lighter or less saturated than their neighbors: something is wrong. If you see patches that have noticeably changed color with respect to their neighbors: something is wrong. You can observe these "by eye" at the end of each row as you're measuring (see other hints below) and also after you've finished the entire target, by toggling the display between Pure and Measured and observing how the patches for the entire target change as a group. Your eye is a very good judge of color and this is the best way to check for problems.

Measure across a row; after the bell, look up and visually check your measurements. Look for totally incorrect patches; or any that stand out incorrectly from their neighbors, particularly in the shadows. (Lighter/less saturated than they should be). If you see any like this, use the left arrow, go back and remeasure.

When you're done with the entire target, do one more visual check this way, before you close it.

Using the profile in Photoshop: Use View:Proof Setup:Custom to softproof through the profile, prior to printing. Select your profile, check Preview, use the Saturation intent; do NOT check "Preserve Color Numbers" (doing this shows you what the image would look like if printed without color management, the same way that you'd printed your target; this is useful as an expert test, to see the darkness, saturation, and color cast of the uncalibrated printer, but it won't show you what the image will look like when printed).

In CS2, use "Print with Preview" to Print. In CS3, use "Print". Show the Color Management controls in that dialog, select "Photoshop Manages Colors", select the printer profile beneath that, and then the other controls to match how you'd set them for softproofing (above).

In Elements and Lightroom, there is NO ability to softproof. This will somewhat limit your ability to get exact screen-to-print matching, since softproofing shows you any slight changes in color (from out-of-gamut colors) and brightness (sometimes none, sometimes slight) that may occur when you're actually printing through the profile. This isn't a flaw in our profiles; it's a limitation of how those two programs work. Presumably, Elements doesn't do this because it's a low-end program, so softproofing may never be available there. Lightroom is a professional tool and it's more likely that softproofing will show up there in a future version. (If you want this feature, email Adobe and make your request known; as many others have already done). In Elements, use the color management controls in the Print dialog to apply the profile, similar to the description for CS2 and CS3 above, and then set up the printer driver properly, as described below. In Lightroom, there are similar controls in the Print module; it's a little less obvious; you have to manually add custom printer profiles, including those you've created with PrintFIX PRO, to the Profile list. All the way at the bottom of the Print module (scroll down, on the right side of the window), open the Color Management section, click on Profile, select Other..., and the select a PFP profile. This will add it to the list that shows up in the Profile control. THEN, choose THAT profile, instead of "Managed by Printer", and choose the Saturation intent beneath that. Then (again, as below), make sure that color management is turned off in the driver when you print.

When you continue to print, you HAVE to MAKE SURE that the printer driver settings are configured exactly as they were when you printed the target. These driver settings usually do NOT STICK between prints, or Photoshop sessions, and you should check them before doing each and every print. In Windows, you'll need to select your printer, click on the button to see it's preferences/properties, and then go through the dialog/tabs etc to make sure they're correct (if not, change them). In OSX, you'd do the same thing with the Print Settings and Color Management panes in the OSX printer dialog. For both operating systems, there should be controls that you can use to save all of your printer driver settings into a named "preset" in the driver, so that a single command will let you switch them all back into effect again.

Article Details

Article ID:

768

Created On:

10 Apr 2008 12:14 PM

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