ABSTRACT
Now we get to the nitty-gritty, the nuts and bolts, the main event; building ICC printer/output profiles. Producing profiles for printers is probably the most complex of all profiling processes but one that ultimately provides great satisfaction. Unless the final computer image is to appear only on-screen, we have to output the numbers in our files to a printer to view the final image. There are an enormous number of different printers and printer technologies existing today. The same printer may be driven by a number of different print drivers or RIPs, which alone can play a profound role in the color appearance and quality of the final print. Some printers allow the use of multiple substrates (a fancy name for papers) as well as different inks or other materials to create a color image. Some printers have a relatively small color gamut whereas others have a relatively large color gamut. Some printers require the data for output to be in an RGB color space; others require a CMYK color space. Often the same image will need to be printed to a multitude of output devices, all having many different behaviors. Ultimately we want the color appearance we see on our calibrated and profiled displays to be the color appearance we reproduce in print. The key to producing this goal is the use of ICC profiles. Did you think I’d suggest anything else?
