Fail: Affinity Photo -> Import ICC Profile for Epson P600

[afdojo]

I'm trying to import ICC profiles for printing on an Epson P600. When I navigate to the profile directory, all the files are grayed out (i.e. not selectable).

A few (possibly) relevant bits of info:

.. The Epson P600 was discontinued about three years ago.

.. My MacBook is running macOS 11.0.1 (Big Sur)

.. The Epson ICC download page does not provide ICC Profiles for Big Sur so I downloaded the Profiles for 10.15.x (Catalina)

.. The file type for the ICC files is .icm -- my understanding is that .icc and .icm files have the same contents.

.. A Google search result hinted that .icm files are for Windows but I can't confirm this.

.. The Epson download saved the ICC profiles in: /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Epson SC-P600/

Sorry if this has been asked/answered already but I couldn't find anything.

So, the question is -- any suggestions on how to diagnose the problem or how to fix it?

Thanks,

Doug

[v_kyr]

Read this thread here, maybe it helps for Big Sur ...

• Custom ICC Color Profiles in v1.8.6 not working!

BTW, .icc and .icm profiles should work both just fine under both OS (Win/Mac) here.

[afdojo]

Thanks.

Yes, I found and read this thread but it talks about ICC profiles not found or, if found, not working properly. The profiles on my MacBook (both Epson and Nikon) are just where they should be and File -> Import ICC Profile displays the file names but they are grayed out so I can see them but can't import them.

Here's a screen scrape --

 

Doug

[v_kyr]

See also ...

• Printer profiles missing on macOS: A permanent solution

... which tells one or two things about Epson related profiles.

[afdojo]

Thanks again. Yes, I found & read that article too. It gives very good instructions on finding missing ICC profiles but my problem isn't that they are missing -- my problem is that Affinity Photo refused to import them.

 

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, afdojo said:

...my problem is that Affinity Photo refused to import them.

Those are printer profiles and not document based screen/display profiles! - You would have to apply them to the shared system printer panel under the printer drivers ColorSync settings in order to make use of them for printing on let's say Epson related printer papers etc. - See also the online help here about color management.

Quote

To assign an installed color profile with your printer:

1. In Finder, select Go > Utilities and open ColorSync Utility.
2. Select the Devices tab.
3. Select the printer with which to associate the profile.
4. Select the profile from the pop-up menu next to Current Profile.

 

[afdojo]

OK, sorry, I guess I'm not being clear. I know these are printer profiles (see my original post) -- I downloaded them from Epson for my P600 printer. Eventually I want to actually print something but I'm not there yet. Unless I'm missing something, my understanding is that I need to import the Epson printer profiles to soft proof the image -- that is, add a "Soft Proof" adjustment layer. Here's the video I watched on how to use soft proofing in Affinity Photo:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/152413642/

When I try to add the "Soft Proof" adjustment layer, it shows a list of default ICC profiles but none of my Epson profiles. Again, unless I'm missing something, I need to import them and despite the fact that Affinity Photo can see them, it refuses to import them.

I'm starting to get a sinking feeling that I'm missing something really basic but no idea what.

Thanks again for your help.

Doug

 

[thomaso]

32 minutes ago, afdojo said:

Unless I'm missing something, my understanding is that I need to import the Epson printer profiles to soft proof the image -- that is, add a "Soft Proof" adjustment layer. (...)

When I try to add the "Soft Proof" adjustment layer, it shows a list of default ICC profiles but none of my Epson profiles. Again, unless I'm missing something, I need to import them and despite the fact that Affinity Photo can see them, it refuses to import them.

Just to make sure: Do you seek for a way to softproof an Affinity document – or to make your plugged printer's profile work for printing (like your initial post sounds)? – Note that "Softproof" usually shouldn't be activated when printing.

Printing with profiling in Affinity is reported quite a few times to be tricky. See for instance @Lagarto's related posts in various threads. As a start this note of Serif might be useful:

My impression according to the macOS file structure:

a.) You don't need to "set" in Affinity (or install in macOS) your printer's .icc profile since plugged "Printers" are managed by macOS, their profiles included. Plugged printer's profiles aren't in the macOS folder "Library" > "Color Sync" but > in "Printers".

b.) You can't select for "Softproof" in Affinity every single of all existing .icc profiles on your mac.

c.) .icc files can have two names: either 'obvious' in their file name / macOS Finder, or 'hidden' / visible for internal use.

 

Same said with screenshots:

a.) You don't need to "set" in Affinity (or install in macOS) your printer's .icc profile since plugged "Printers" are managed by macOS, their profiles included.
Plugged printer's profiles aren't in the macOS folder "Library" > "Color Sync" but > in "Printers":

 

b.) You can't select for "Softproof" in Affinity every single of all existing .icc profiles on your mac / ... but might find options which don't appear in macOS Finder:

 

c.) .icc files can have two names: either 'obvious' in their file name / macOS Finder, or 'hidden' / visible for internal use:

 

[lepr]

19 hours ago, afdojo said:

Thanks.

Yes, I found and read this thread but it talks about ICC profiles not found or, if found, not working properly. The profiles on my MacBook (both Epson and Nikon) are just where they should be and File -> Import ICC Profile displays the file names but they are grayed out so I can see them but can't import them.

Here's a screen scrape --

 

Doug

 

The Import ICC Profile function in AP on macOS wrongly does not consider ".icm" to be an acceptable extension. Simply change the extension to ".icc" to make a profile importable by AP.

[afdojo]

@anon2 Fantastic! I renamed the ICC profile files to ".icc" and now Import works.

Thank you so much!

Happy New Year!

Doug