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Create a profile from a standard test pattern

This tutorial explains how to create a printing profile starting from a standard test chart without a calibration step.

To faithfully reproduce colors on your printer, you will need a paper profile that matches your printing conditions. (Printer, inks, paper, resolution and illuminant)
By default, you can use the profiles and settings provided by the paper manufacturer.
But sometimes this is not enough, maybe you will need more precise chroma to meet your requirements.
In addition, paper manufacturers do not always provide all icc profiles for all printers.

Create your personalized profile

Let's start by launching the profile creation module by clicking on the "Create Profile" logo in the upper left corner.

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The "Calibration & Characterization " module window will appear. Click on the " Characterization " button

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Typically, you will select RGB mode if you need to print from a driver (For example, if you want to print directly from Photoshop or another application without going through printer software (RIP))

If you are printing from a professional RIP (EFI, Caldera, Onyx, Ergosoft, Wasatch, NeoStampa, Epson Edge Print, etc.), you may need to create your ICC profile in CMYK mode.

In this tutorial, we will create a CMYK profile from an ECI2002R test pattern with 1485 patches.
The creation of an RGB profile is very similar, the only differences are the targets and the management of the black ink.

Selection of the benchmark

Click on the " CMYK " button

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A list of benchmarks appears.

By clicking on the " Show all patches " button you can view all the patches in the range.
This button is located under the crosshairs

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When you hover over the staff with the mouse, a " Select reference " button appears.
Click on the " Select reference " button corresponding to the ECI2002R test pattern

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Editing the test pattern

At this step, you can customize your test chart before printing it.

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To find out more, see the chapter: Customizing charts

Printing the test pattern

When the test chart is finished, export it in Tiff or pdf format to print it.

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Patterns can be made up of multiple pages, depending on the number of patches and the page size.

Important: you must print the ranges without color management.
If the profile is intended to be used by a RIP, you must print the CMYK or RGB targets under the conditions defined by the RIP.
If the profile is intended to be used via a printer driver, you must print the RGB targets under the conditions defined by the printer manufacturer.

For more information, see the chapter: Printing an RGB test patternvia a driver

Target measurement

Once the test chart has been printed, click on the " Start reading " button to start measuring the range.

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Select the measurement options, then click the " I'm ready " button.

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Position the spectrophotometer in its calibration position

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Then click on the " Start calibration " button.

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Perform the range measurement

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Tape playback begins from the blank of the paper on the right of the letter and ends on the blank on the opposite side.

The measurement starts with line "A", Measure the line corresponding to the line selected on your screen.

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When you have read a line, Coraye will make you read the next unread line.

You can visually check whether there is any error when measuring the line, by comparing the top and bottom color of the measured patches.

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Saving the measurement

To save the measurement in the form of a .table file, click on the green " Export reading " button located at the bottom of the window.
This will be added to the files in the left column.

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When the range measurement is complete, click on the " Reading complete " button

Parameters for creating the icc profile

Before calculating the profile, you can choose some options:

Let's start by giving a name to the profile This name will correspond after the calculation to the internal name, which you will see appear in the applications.

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Reference illuminant

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Observe

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Default calculation mode

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Profile quality We advise you to stay on the " Medium " quality

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Reference profile

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The management of the black ink for the calculation of the CMYK profiles, is done, quite simply, by moving the points of the graph.

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When the parameters are defined, click on the " Calculate profile " button

The profile is calculated

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Once the profile has been calculated, it appears in the left column.

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In order to check the consistency of the profile, it is recommended to display it in the Gamut Viewer

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You can also print a test image to assess your impression. You can download a test image here:

But be careful, you must use the correct light source to visualize your print.

Don't forget to save your profile

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