Using ArgyllCMS + Colormunki to produce excellent printer profiles

pharmacist

Printer VIP
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
May 29, 2007
Messages
2,555
Reaction score
1,255
Points
313
Location
Ghent, Belgium
Printer Model
Epson SC-P800,WF-7840,XP-15000
After experimenting alot with this rather cryptic ARgyllCMS open source profile software and having learnt alot with printer profiling, I want to share with you my new optimized working flow.

Unlike commercial printer profile software supplied with the Colormunki or your Spyder3print spectrophotometer, the created profiles can be redistributed freely if you want. You can decide the profiles are yours only or can be shared with others.

I have experimented with several parameters with the different commands to get as much patches on a single sheet of A4 paper (21x29.7 cm) without compromising on legibility by your Colormunki. The maximum amount is 475 patches/sheet of A4, which is really astonishing.

To get this result, you will need to tweak the generated target file (tif) with for example Photoshop.

Note: this program requires typing of DOS commando's in a command prompt. I will start with a basic printer profile with 475 patches on a single sheet of A4. Note: for rather linear ink sets, this will produce a pretty good profile, much better compared to the ones created with the Spyder3Printer software (225 patches High Quality Target + greys onto 2 sheets of A4). For not so linear ink sets a larger set of patches is needed, but you can give this a try first.

I will call this basic printer profile "standard_profile"

To create the patches type in:

targen -v -d2 -G -e4 -g128 -f475 -t standard_profile

Now we have to create the printer target, which we will tweak later on with Photoshop. Type in:

printtarg -v -iCM -h -a0.82 -b -T360 -m3 -M3 -P -p225x370 standard_profile

This will force all the patches onto a single sheet of a fictional paper size of 225x360 mm, which we will need to downsize and compress a bit to fit into a single sheet of A4.

Now open this tif file with the name standard_profile.tif and we will have to remove the right vertically text (Argyll Color Management System - Test Chart -..........) by cutting this away with the rectangular marquee tool and by pressing delete.

The second stage is to move down the row with letters closer towards the columns, by again marking it with the rectangular marguee tool and then selecting the moving tool and click on the marked area of the letters. Now press down the down arrow exactly 30 times. The letters now should have come down, leaving a considerably smaller gap between the row of letters and the patches. Now deselect fix down the change.

The third stage is to crop the working area with the crop tool. For this we will have to define the cropping size with the following settings: width: 21,5 cm and height: 34,5 cm. Now this is only a preliminary setting, as we will later on compress the cropped size again. Click with the crop tool on the upper left, starting from just slightly above the letters and pull down towards the lower right corner. Now because of the fixed ratio, you will have to take care the white area on the right size is about the same size as on the left size. Now release your mouse button, to see the area selected. To center and to optimze the area, use the left/right/up/down cursor button on your keyboard to visually select the best focused area, taking care the all the letters are withing the this area and also enough white space on the bottom of your selection. Now press enter to crop the area.

Finally we will downsize the whole cropped image into A4 size (21x29.7 cm) by selecting in the menu of Photoshop: image > image size. First we will have to uncheck the "Constrain Proportions" box underneath of the pop up window of Image Size. In the document size type in for Width: 21 cm and Height: 29.7 cm and press OK to compress the image into a single sheet of A4.

Now save this modified and compressed tif file back in the same working directory (very important).

Now print this file on your photo paper of choice. Take care to write down your paper setting and black ink used for which this profile is valid (for example: photo black, paper setting: Premium Glossy Paper, print resolution: quality (1440x1440 dpi). A different paper setting and print resolution can yield different results, this is very important to get consistent results. For sake of maximum printable surface we will have to choose the borderless option to prevent possible clipping of the image, BUT without the expansion option, as you will need choose the constrain size option and also choose the center image option of Photoshop. Again: Do not forget to disable color management in your printer dialogue window !!! This is very important.

After printing the target, leave it properly dried for at least 24 hours to stabilise the colours.

After this we will read the target with your Colormunki by using the following command:

chartread -v -H -T0.4 standard_profile

The software will calibrate your Colormunki now (please have it positioned in the calibrate position) and when the software says, you can read row A, turn the wheel in the reading position.
Have your target sheet upside down with 2 sheets of the same papier palced underneath. You will read the patches from right to left, by swapping the Colormunki away from you.
For this reading process a ruler is required, as the patches are so tiny, you will have it really well aligned. The width of the mini-USB connector of the Colormunki is a good guide how to align the ruler, as it corresponds with the width of the scanner opening size, so to center the Colormunki as good as possible over the tiny patches.

When done with reading press "d" button to write the standard_profile.t03 file

Now the final state is to create the profile. Please place a copy of AdobeRGB1998.icc into your working directory, because you will need this. For creating the profile type in:

colprof -v -qh -i D50 -o 1931_2 -S AdobeRGB1998.icc -cmt -dpp -D"X" -CY standard_profile

where for X you should place your desired internal name of your profile and Y the string of copyright. For example you could type in:

colprof -v -qh -i D50 -o 1931_2 -S AdobeRGB1998.icc -cmt -dpp -D"Moab Satin 240 gsm Epson Pro 3800 OCP-K3 v2" -Cfreely distributable ARgyll CMS created profile standard_profile

I would say: have fun and create your own printer profiles, without the restricting software license of Colormunki and with much less paper compared to the standard non-compressed method, which will only put 210 patches on a single sheet of A4. With this method you will get an astonishing 475 patches on a single sheet of A4 without compromising on readibility by your Colormunki device.
 

stratman

Printer VIP
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
8,712
Reaction score
7,163
Points
393
Location
USA
Printer Model
Canon MB5120, Pencil
Thank you for that detailed post, pharmacist.

After printing the target, leave it properly dried for at least 24 hours to stabilise the colours.
Anyone else remember the debate over dying time before scanning that we had on the forum a few years back? Some convoluted logic was presented as I recall.
 

rodbam

Printer Master
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
773
Reaction score
173
Points
213
Location
Australia
Printer Model
Canon Pro 9000 mk2 & Pro 9500
Yes thanks for passing on the information. I did download the Argyll but found it too complicated. I will give it another try. Thanks mate.
 

pharmacist

Printer VIP
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
May 29, 2007
Messages
2,555
Reaction score
1,255
Points
313
Location
Ghent, Belgium
Printer Model
Epson SC-P800,WF-7840,XP-15000
I forgot you will need to change the standard X-rite Colormunki driver into the one from ArgyllCMS by right click on My Computer > Manage > Devices > X-Rite Colormunki: change driver....into the one from ArgyllCMS and you will to reboot the system to activate this new driver.
 

pharmacist

Printer VIP
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
May 29, 2007
Messages
2,555
Reaction score
1,255
Points
313
Location
Ghent, Belgium
Printer Model
Epson SC-P800,WF-7840,XP-15000
I just have found a method and tweak to get 572 patches on a single sheet of A4 and created a very good profile with this new procedure. With this method only 2 sheets are needed to create a high quality printer profile (1144 patches), but even the single sheet profile with 572 sample points is incredible good. I will write down this procedure later on.
 

siusiuenen

Getting Fingers Dirty
Joined
Apr 11, 2009
Messages
75
Reaction score
0
Points
28
Thanks for share your work , Pharmacist !
I am too almost pass this great little program because i need time to learn about it and i don't know where to start . Just get Artisan 835 refurbish and some cheap pigment ink ( actually not as cheap but well know quality OCP but i just want to try) claim to use German materials and make in China . Colormunki and their own software fail to give me correct colors ( Brown cast + too dark )and i thought cause by bad combined Epson + HP Everyday Photo paper + Cheap made China Ink
I see your post and Wow, things become easier . I did not use exactly your command but basic is AdobeRGB1998.icc, 475 patches and g128 . I can't believe on my eyes how the beautiful print on the first try . Colors matches very well but a little lighter than on my monitor since i just profile and print by photo setting but not best photo ( take forever to dry if i used that on this paper) . Still , not perfect on grayscale ( little bronze ) but i don't care since i'm not print B&W
Thanks you again and waiting for release on your new procedure .
 

Emulator

Printer Master
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
1,675
Reaction score
1,308
Points
277
Location
UK
Printer Model
Canon Pro9000 II
Hi pharmacist

Just found this post for the first time, very interesting.

Now I have sorted out the light cyan ink problem, I am finding the SpyderPrint profiling is working well. I am using two colour targets and two grey targets i.e. 4 sheets of A4 and 480 patches total. I haven't tried reducing the patch size, but I will experiment.

I will also try to explore ARgyllCMS, but as Rod says it looks rather demanding. You say it interfaces with Colormonki (which I have not), but does it work with SpyderPrint?

The issue of copyright seems unreasonable. As a user you provide more input to your own profiles, but have no rights! It is like saying the printed output from a printer is copyright to the printer manufacturer.

Regards Ian
 

pharmacist

Printer VIP
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
May 29, 2007
Messages
2,555
Reaction score
1,255
Points
313
Location
Ghent, Belgium
Printer Model
Epson SC-P800,WF-7840,XP-15000
Hi Ian,

Live with the copyright nonsense....As soon as you use the software of Colormunki or Spyder3print you are bound to the license.

Unfortunately the ArgyllCMS does not work with the Spyder3print apparatus. I now have made an even more compact profile with an astonishing 572 patches per A4 sheet. It is more than enough to encompass 7^3=343 colour patches + 128 grey patches to neutralize black&white printing. This is more than the 480 patches in total for your 4 sheets of A4 paper. The expert target of Spyder3print has 9^3=729 steps in each RGB direction.

I also have sort out an expert target using only 1 sheet of A3 or just 2 sheets of A4 with 1144 patches, which more than enough to include 10^3=1000 steps in each RGB direction + 128 grey steps . This is far superior to the 9^3=729 patches of the expert target of the Spyder3print.
 

Emulator

Printer Master
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
1,675
Reaction score
1,308
Points
277
Location
UK
Printer Model
Canon Pro9000 II
I came across this site:-

http://www.behrmann.name/index.php?option=com_weblinks&catid=69&Itemid=95

A useful list of software, you may already be aware.

I also had another look at the licence conditions and found they are not as restrictive as some suggest. You can't share profiles that you build on a public forum. You can't build a profile for sale. You are permitted to profile individual printers, either your own, or other individuals and you can provide these profiles to other individuals, but you can't build one profile and make it available to more than one person at a time.

You are permitted to send target files to an individual by email, so that they can be printed on that person's printer and paper. The prints can be posted back and profiled and the profile sent to that individual.

See also "dmiller62" from Data Color on http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1003&message=29791168&changemode=1

Regards Ian
 

crenedecotret

Print Addict
Joined
Oct 5, 2006
Messages
161
Reaction score
52
Points
163
Sorry to resurect an old thread, but I have a colormunki on order. I'm using Linux so I will be using ArgyllCMS. I have some Letter size paper i'd like to profile when I receive the unit, how would one adapt your workflow to that paper size? thanks
 

Latest posts

Top