[argyllcms] Re: FW: Profiling Epson ABW Print Driver
- From: Ernst Dinkla <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: argyllcms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:33:34 +0200
On 07/06/2011 02:06 PM, Alan Goldhammer wrote:
I know of only two approaches. Eric Chan has posted some ABW profiles for
the Epson 3800 and 3880 on his website
(http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/dp/Epson3800/index.html) and also will
make ABW profiles for a modest cost. (He has prepared 3880 ABW profiles for
the three gloss papers that I usually print on but not the matte papers).
All that is required is to print out a 51 step B/W target that is on his
site. The second approach is to get Roy Harrington's QTR program
(http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRoverview.html) which provides both a RIP
and some added tools that allow building of an ICC compliant ABW profile.
Unfortunately, the background material on his site is a little dated and he
calls for using an i1pro with Profilemaker 5 to read the charts (either 21
or 51 step B/W). Profilemaker 5 did come in a trial version that could read
or scan patches but with the recent upgrade in the software by X-Rite is no
longer available. One could read the charts manually and enter the data
into the program but that is not especially appealing. When I looked a year
ago, the major profile making vendors did not support an ABW only profile in
their software.
If you look at
http://www.outbackphoto.com/printinginsights/pi045/essay.html#20070201 you
can see Giorgio Trucco's observations of the Epson 3800 ABW driver. The
driver is pretty darn linear but a profile will give you some additional
help. You can also then experiment with the tone settings in the Epson
driver to see which will give optimal results on an image by image basis
since having an ICC profile will permit softproofing in Photoshop which
cannot do in the absence of one.
I suspect a good software tool would be of value to all those who use Epson
printers since the company has implemented the ABW driver across all of its
models. I don't know how Canon and HP implement their B/W printing paths
(whether they have a dedicated driver). Unfortunately, I'm not a good
enough programmer to figure out how to implement this.
Alan
The price of QTR at 50$ can hardly be called steep. Shareware + free
upgrades. If you only use the profiling tool I think you could donate
less. It is more a moral obligation than anything else.
When Roy started with it I followed the developments from day one and
paid the price as it could drive a quad ink customised Epson 9000. When
the linearisation and profiling tools became available I measured the
targets with a SpectroCam and converted the files that QTR's tools could
use them. It is even simpler with the Eye 1 models and you do not need
any extra software but some free X-Rite or GM applications. I am sure
someone could send you them. I have to check what there is in my
archive, Windows though. Any Lab or Density measurements file would be
sufficient, the Lab one allows as an extra the creation of a profile
with a color softproof side (not more than that though, the printed B&W
color can not be influenced by it). I am not familiar enough with
ArgyllCMS but it would surprise me if there is no tool that can deliver
either Lab or Density values from (custom) greyscale targets + an Eye 1
and deliver them to the QTR profiler.
I have some issues with Color Center on my HP Z models right now but
some months ago I made some greyscale targets to measure with the Z's on
board spectrometers. Export in Color Center makes files available that
are usable too for QTR's profiling tool and for more tasks. As soon as I
get the issues solved I will continue with that work. For about 4 years
I have the "ABW" of the Z3100 model QTR profiled with the SpectroCam so
without using the internal spectrometer.
--
Met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
Dinkla Gallery Canvas Wrap Actions
| Dinkla Grafische Techniek |
| www.pigment-print.com |
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