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I want to buy a Colorchecker passport soon, but understand that Affinity Photo has no support for that.
So I wanted to test how it works when I create an ICC profile with X-rite's software, and assign this profile to a photo. 
I have downloaded a test file from the internet and generated an ICC profile. 
Only, when I want to print such a photo and use a Soft Proof adjustment layer, nothing happens. 
I'm pretty sure some colors are out of gamut. I tested that with GIMP, which does issue out of gamut warnings for the same image. 
But in Affinity Photo the image remains exactly the same with the Soft Proof adjustment layer on or off.
Does anyone have an idea why this is so? Are not all ICC profiles compatible with Affinity?

I wanted to attach the files I tested with in this post, but getting an error -200.
 

 

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There is a good video available on YouTube that shows how to use a Soft Proof adjustment layer within Affinity Photo. It's based on the image having an Adobe RGB colour profile and applying a Soft Proof Adjustment layer using a ICC paper profile already installed in the OS to simulate how it will look when printed. It's worth comparing your workflow to this to see where the issue may be occurring.

The Gamut option will work and highlight areas of the image if there is a difference between the colour profile of the image and the one selected in the soft proof adjustment.

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Thanks Lee D. I did see the video, but that is not the problem that I see. 

It seems when I assign the ICC-profile generated with the software from X-rite, a softproof layer is not doing anything anymore. Assigning another profile (for example sRGB) results in getting expected results when adding a softproof layer again.

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As I am unable to upload a file, I made a ICC profile available on my webserver: http://www.spaanbroek.net/ScannerProfile.icm. When assigning this profile to an image and then adding a Soft Proof layer, this layer is not doing anything. Even when adding a curves layer and push the colors to real extremes, there is no sign of out of gamut colors. Doing the same in The Gimp for instance is showing out of gamut colors, so I really think this is a bug in Affinity?

Assigning another ICC profile to the image again (for instance an sRGB profile) results in the Soft Proof layer working again and shows the out of gamut colors again.

 

I would like to be able to assign the ICC profile taken from my ColorChecker to correct colours and tones, and then make any corrections that would be necessary to make a good print. 

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I'm not at a computer so I can't view the profile, but seeing it called "scannerprofile" makes me think it could be an RGB type with a wide gamut, which could explain why nothing in your document is falling outside of it.

Soft proof is an on screen version of a hard proof - so the profile should be that of an output device. I can't see why you would use a scanner profile here (unless of course the file name is a red herring).

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@Emile Spaanbroek:  It's not clear to me exactly what you're doing when you add the Soft Proof adjustment.

Please clarify:

  • What document color profile you are using; and
  • What profile you tell the Soft Proof Adjustment to use.

Also, if (as BofG speculated) you're using an output profile as a document profile, that's an unusual setup/workflow, I believe.

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Hi, thanks for trying to help me. And sorry for any misunderstanding because of a language barier ;).

 

The SannerProfile.icc is a profile created with a colorchecker and the software from X-Rite (colorchecker camera calibration). It should be assigned to the document you want to be color corrected, so it says in the manual.

 

When I assign it I make some basic adjustments like leveling, curves and sharpening. Then, when I want to print it, I use a custom printer profile for my printer and paper (http://www.spaanbroek.net/HP-Q2510A-MENC.icc) to soft proof. I make a soft proof adjustment layer and choose this printer profile. When ticking the option to accent out of gamut colors nothing happens when the colorcheker profile is assigned to the document (even when I have very deep blacks which I know the printer cannot print). Also I see no changes when I activate and de-activate the soft proof layer (I have it on top of the layer stack of coarse).
When I assign for example the standard sRGB profile to the document soft proofing seems to work again.

 

I am not an expert on color profiling (even far from that), but just follow the workflow that is in the manual of the colorchecker and which I also saw in several reviews.

 

Thanks again for helping!

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To check the soft-proofing adjustment layer and how it responds to your printer profile, make sure you use a test image that certainly contains out-of-gamut (OOG) colors - test images available here:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/printer-test-images/

will give you a variety of options for examining documented OOG colors and how AP's soft-proofing responds to them.  This way, you are not adding another unknown (the scanner profile assignment) into the mix and you are using a known reference that has OOG colors.  The test image from Datacolor, for example, is about 40% OOG across the entire image for your HP printer profile when using a soft-proof adjustment layer.  I tested this on the Mac version of AP, v 1.8.4.

Kirk

 

 

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Thanks for the url of the printer test images. I downloaded them and when I leave the AdobeRGB profile assigned to it and add a soft proof layer to it with my printer profile I get indeed about 40% OOG. But when I assign the profile created by the X-Rite colorchecker camera calibration software all of a sudden the soft proof layer seems to be inactive (or all colors are in gamut, which a doubt).

 

When I do the same in The Gimp I see much colors are still OOG, in Affinity I see none. So, the problem seems only there when assigning color profiles from the X-Rite colorchecker camera calibration software to a document in Afiinity. Then the soft proof layer seems inactive and I can not soft proof for prints at all. 

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I added your ICC profile to my ColorSync folders (Mac) where ICC profiles are supposed to live.  I restarted AP and, while attempting to assign the profile to the Datacolor test image, noted that the ICC profile does not show up on the list of profiles that I can assign.  

When I ASSIGN the Datacolor test image your scanner profile in Photoshop and then soft proof in PS with your printer profile, the only area of the test image with OOG color is the upper left corner of the image, with the CMYK color ramps and the red peppers - some areas in this sub image of the test image are OOG.

Kirk

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Thanks for testing kirkt! I've read you are working on a Mac. I am on Windows 10 with the latest version of AP. May be that's why there is a difference in how color profiles are handled and you don't see them. 

Does anyone know if Affinity support is reading this forum? I really would like to know why Affinity is acting like this with these profiles. 

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