Soft Proof: How do I know which Proof Profile to select?

[TrentL]

Hi all,

I'm trying to learn more about the Soft Proof adjustment layer, which as I understand it is a way to show a better representation of what your document will look like when printed.

In practice, how can we determine which "Proof Profile" to choose? Is this something that is specified by the printer's documentation? Or the printer paper documentation? I looked around at a few common printers and the paper, even going to their websites, but it was rarely helpful.

Thanks

 

[walt.farrell]

Ideally you would have printer profiles that are specifically developed for your printer, the inks it is using, and the paper you're going to print on. Many manufacturers of high-end printers, or high-end papers, or high-end inks may supply them for their specific products. Or there are services that will create them for you, for a fee. 

Or if you're using a commercial printing service you may be able to get the profiles from them.

You would then install those profiles, and select them while printing. Those are also the profiles you would select for Soft Proofing.

[TrentL]

Thanks for the info! So is it pretty rare for consumer grade printers and paper to specify these parameters? 

[walt.farrell]

High-end consumer printers may have them. My Epson printers intended for good photo work do, for example. 

But my less-expensive general purpose Epson printer doesn't. 

And for the ones that do, the available profiles are for Epson ink using Epson papers intended for those printers. 

But if I wanted to use other papers, or other inks, there are some manufacturers that also supply profiles.

[v_kyr]

See related ...

• Designing for professional printing  (Affinity Spotlight article)
• ICC-Profiles for Canon Pro Printers (en)
• ICC-Profiles for Canon Pro Printers (de)
• ... etc.

 

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, TrentL said:

Or the printer paper documentation? I looked around at a few common printers and the paper, even going to their websites, but it was rarely helpful.

Here is a sample print provider with a range of various softproof profiles for its different print materials (and machines). Whereas the thread below points to known issues especially with their profiles in Affinity V1 and missing options when assigning a softproof profile.

(for instance these requirements for the "Hahnemühle Photo Rag" paper:

• Preserve RGB Numbers: Deactivate
• Rendering Intent: Relative colorimetric
• Black Point Compensation: Activate
• Simulate Paper Colour: Deactivate )

I can't tell if V2 was improved in softproof options / issues. - EDIT: it appears not to be fixed in V2.

Edited August 31, 2023 by thomaso