Color Management in [AP] and [AD] and Sierra, current status?

[F_Kal]

How is AP/AD doing with color profiles? Is everything stable? Or are there any quirks?

 

I just got my hands on an i1pro spectrometer. Being a discontinued product, the bundled software won't run on Sierra (software support is limited up to OSX Lion). For this reason I tried creating an .icc profile by pairing it with the free displayCAL/argyllcms but being totally inexperienced, I'm not even sure I got it right.

 

When applying different profiles (system preferences->Display->colors) without quitting AP, AP seems to be flashing a bit before stabilizing to the new colors. Once, it even got stuck flashing colors non-stop. Other times I get the feeling that when reenabling the same display profile I get different colors (but can't be sure about that, might be my eyes attuning to finer hue variations). It also shows very different colors compared to the built in OSX Preview app.

I tested the preview app using a gray gradient .tif file (with no embedded color profiles). 

 

Unfortunately I no longer have PS to cross-check so I'm not even sure there is a problem whatsoever; and then I remember reading that AP/AD and LibreOffice have some issues in Sierra that get resolved only if you choose the default display profile!

 

Could somebody who has followed the topic a bit more and is using AP/AD with display profiles, give some feedback about whether (and to what extend) do color profiles work okay with AP and AD? (I'm runnning the latest betas - 1.5.2 and 1.5.4 respectively

 

Thanks!

-Fotis

 

[DivSmart]

Hi there, I am asking related questions about color profiles.

I can't be much help to you on the self-created icc profile, but did you make the file with the Calibrate button?

It creates an automatic profile, unless you hold down the alt key while pressing Calibrate button and will let you fine tune an icc file saved in ~Library/ColorSync/Profiles folder.

 

If you get a chance to look at my question I would appreciate it, as you have ventured into color management more than I am game to. Here is the link to the thread. 

Hi Fixx, It seems you have some experience on the icc profile, although I don't use FOGRA39 

 

 

You can see my computer setup below. My preferred printer is international, but I send the work to their plants in the US, as they do all my European print sizes, This is necessary for me do business in a French territorial region that demands 85mm x 55mm business cards instead of US size.

 

The printers are G7 certified so they only use GRACoL2006_Coated1v2.icc profile color management proofing matched with their Heidelberg XL Speedmaster. This is great because I get product that matches the client's proof and expectations.  

When I worked with Illustrator (pre Affinity), I added the GRACoL icc in the usual folder ~Library/ColorSync/Profiles - In AD I select the Gracol...icc in the CMYK colorspace. from the drop down list each time I create a new document. 

 

However when I use the OS' display calibration it creates yet another .icc file in that same folder, but does not display Gracol...icc in the drop down list so I am wondering if my computer is really using the right colors as I am designing even though the colrspace in AD is set correctly.

 

Can you shed any light on this?

 

Should I be seeing Gracol in the Built-in Display list being it is a .icc aware application?

 

Should I still be selecting Adobe RGB (1998)?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Michael

 

[F_Kal]

hi @TechniSmart! Thank you so much for the feedback.

Regarding my icc files, they were created with a spectrophotometer (a device for the purpose). I did try the System Preferences -> Display -> Calibrate route too, but I was looking for something more accurate and since I could borrow the spectrophotometer, I went "the pro route". Sadly, I bit off more than I could actually chew  :rolleyes: and after all the reading, I'm still not 100% sure about the whole process!

 

I read your question on the other thread and replied (there) but please don't take this advice as a professional one, since it's merely what I've understood so far - and may eventually be wrong.

 

Hope this helps!

-Fotis

[DivSmart]

Hi Fotis,

 

Your reply to my questions on the other thread confirmed my research.

 

I suspected you had a calibrator. My eye is on an X-rite as the next investment. What do you think of the i1Display Pro

 

So for print would you export to TIFF CMYK instead of PDF?

My printer accepts them all, but I was only leaning towards PDF-X/3 because that outputs to CMYK.

I will comment on attachment on the other thread, but they are very helpful.

 

Thank you

 

Michael

[F_Kal]

Hi Michael, glad I could help.

Yes, I was also using an X-rite calibrator: I used an old-school i1 Pro (i1Xtreme). X-rite products are certainly very good so I don't think you can go wrong with the i1 display pro model.

 

Still before you invest money, you should better speak with somebody who is more knowledgeable than myself. I had never used a calibrator up to a month or so ago, and even then I just happened to borrow one that a friend had lying around. All my understanding comes from speed-reading threads and articles on the web, but when it comes to actual experience? None. Zero. 

 

Plus that I haven't printed anything (pro or at home) since 2005! Being a UX and web-designer I target uncalibrated monitors of web-users. I did my calibration merely out of curiosity, and because I found the calibrator lying around. It's not something needed in my line of work!

 

If (as an amature non-professional) I was about to print bitmap/pixel data, I could go either with TIFF or PDF since both can can hold CMYK (I haven't delved into PDF flavors). If you send a PDF, just make sure the embedded bitmap images are compressed in a lossless way, otherwise you may end up with artifacts. For a few pages, I could go with CMYK TIFF but for a whole book I'd go with a CMYK PDF, since it's easier to distribute. 

 

However, If I was about to print vector data (everything that Affinity Designer creates), or mixed content (eg. a book with photos and vector lettering) in theory I'd go with PDF since it can hold both vector and bitmap data and thus produce smaller files and sharper prints. Since you are using Affinity Designer, I suppose you do vector-work, so there is theoretical benefit in using PDF, as long as Affinity designer doesn't rasterize any stroke by accident (read this old bug thread).

 

How to check rasterization didn't happen?

While Exporting the document in PDF, check if it says "some areas will be rasterized" like in the image below. If it does then some of the vector line art will be converted to bitmap and this may look strange.

 

In case there are unwanted rasterized elements in the PDF, expect them to be less sharp than the sharp vector elements. At this point you have to make a decision based on the nature of these rasterized elements. If it's not a book where sharp text is of paramount important, it's often easier to opt for a TIFF file that performs rasterization all over your page (with the slight albeit uniform softness this implies), rather than be sending a PDF that mixes both soft and sharp shapes in an uncontrolled manner.

 

Hope it helps!

-Fotis

[DivSmart]

Hi Fotis,

 

Hi Michael, glad I could help.

... 

In case there are unwanted rasterized elements in the PDF, expect them to be less sharp than the sharp vector elements. At this point you have to make a decision based on the nature of these rasterized elements. If it's not a book where sharp text is of paramount important, it's often easier to opt for a TIFF file that performs rasterization all over your page (with the slight albeit uniform softness this implies), rather than be sending a PDF that mixes both soft and sharp shapes in an uncontrolled manner.

Yes the discussion was helpful. I exported to PDF/X-3 and it came out perfectly.

 

Michael