[Tool] ChromIQ – a macOS and Windows GUI for ArgyllCMS printer profiling (v3.13.0-beta)

[Alan G]

@itsab1989 - Yes, I see that but the spec is for 462. I need to have room to clip the chart on to the reader panel. Targen on command line, followed by printtarg give me 22 rows of 21 patches which is just the right size for i1 Pro to read in the -H mode. The only utility that has ever been able to print a target in the right size is the one from Dry Creek Photo. It only works in Windows. The Adobe Utility scales patches down and they know about the bug but don't seem to care.

This is what I use when I do a one page preconditioning target with 462 patches:
targen –v –d2 –G –f462 PaperName_Precon
printtarg -v -ii1 -t300 -pPaperName_Precon

 

[itsab1989]

In settings there is a new section where I tried to implement pharmacists recommendations to use the i1Pro more effectively. In the dropdown choose the legacy option. This uses Argyll defaults for this device and try again please. I just tried again with your commands and it is giving me the expected results. Again: sorry for all of this back and forth. I am trying to learn from all of the feedback here. But what is right for one person seems wrong for the other. It is hard to find the right mix to make everyone happy.

 

[Alan G]

Thanks, I would have never thought about looking for this in the preferences.

 

[itsab1989]

Again, I am sorry for this confusion. Maybe I make this the default again as this is what most users would expect and leave the other setting optional.

 

[pharmacist]

I have found the culprit: it only works in guided mode.

In manual mode:

Als I have discovered with the guided mode AND multiple pages: no "page x of y" printed on the legenda

Tip for guided mode: use the following standard targen arguments for 1 page (528 patches):

targen -d2 -G -e4 -B4 -g32 Profile_Name

This will improve grey separations (currently: -g17)

for the current setting for printtarg (-a.95) you can easily cramp up to 600 patches per A4 without any problems

(some photoshopping putting the above 600 patch target onto the guided target):

for multiple pages: multiple "-g32" with the amount of pages, thus for 2 pages: -g64 up to maximum -g128 (more is not really needed). The -e4 -B4 can indeed be increased with 50% with each additional page (not more than -e8 -B8)

 

[itsab1989]

Thanks for the tip with the guided mode. This is something I have been waiting for and I will adjust this. However Please tell me what other settings you are using in manual. I have just entered the same values as on your screenshot (the ones I can see) and it works for me.

Maybe my math is wrong but the target you photoshopped in guided has only 529 patches. That's the rreason there is a second page in manual I guess.

 

[pharmacist]

Sorry I will update later my fault but 600 should be possible let me figure out

 

[itsab1989]

New version with adjusted guided mode settings is uploading. I took your values as a base and let it calculate from there. For instrument and paper combinations that fit very few patches there might be some deviation. But in my opinion the guided mode should only give users a good starting point and does not need to perfect. Manual mode leaves room for improvements and you could share presets for example. Therefore I will probably not squeeze the last few possible patches out of the i1Pro for guided. I consider this for inexperienced users who might prefer slightly larger patches to have a little more wiggle room. See for example Alan. I do understand that it is confusing when the app uses other defaults for the instrument as someone might know from years of using Argyll. So I am not sure which defaults I will keep for this. I would like to do everyone justice. But someone likes it one way, someone else like it the other way. It is hard to find a solution to satisfy everyone.

 

[itsab1989]

@pharmacist:

When doing the two pass process with the pre-conditioning profile would it be correct that in the second pass neutral axis steps (-n) should be used instead of grey axis steps (-g)?
If this is the case I would automate this in guided mode.

 

[pharmacist]

@pharmacist:

When doing the two pass process with the pre-conditioning profile would it be correct that in the second pass neutral axis steps (-n) should be used instead of grey axis steps (-g)?
If this is the case I would automate this in guided mode.

Yes you should. I would use -n32. The first profile with -g32 is to do the grey separation (to determine how good the printer can print grey separation, NOT about the teint of grey). The second iteration will use the first data (from which the neutral axis is determined) and from the first data the real neutral axis can be determined. Again, many thanks for your work. I think 529 patches should be enough for more than satisfactory printer profile (will be much better than the Colormunki 50 + 50 method).