What is an ICC profile?

A: An ICC profile or International Color Consortium is a standard put in place to ensure that a color seen on a CPU monitor or a color read by a scanner and the color produced by a printer all match. There are many types of profiles relating to the machine you are working with. In the digital printer world the term ICC profile has grown to encompass a variety of variables used to output the correct color. 1) In order to determine how large of a color gamut a given media can recreate you must first determine the maximum amount of ink the media can hold without causing excessive bleeding and or drying problems. 2) Once the maximum amount of ink is determined for each color, a linearization table must be created. This is to ensure that if a certain color requires 25% of a given ink (cyan for example) the printer actually outputs 25% of the maximum allowed ink for that particular color. 3) Once the printer is ‘linearized’ a color chart is printed out. This chart contains colors of known values. Once the chart is printed, it is read on a device called a spectrophotometer (or colorimeter) to compare the actual values printed by the printer to the expected values, creating a conversion that will allow the printer to produce the correct color.

How to Properly Use ICC Profiles

When you make an ICC Profile, you are making a “snapshot” sort of speak, of a printer, with a specific ink set, on one specific material printed, using a single specific set of settings, such as DPI, number of passes and Dither Pattern. If any of these factors are changed when you are sending your print, the results may vary from what was achieved when making the profile.

To achieve the same quality results as when the ICC Profile was made, you need to exactly match the settings at the time of profiling. In Diamond Shield profiles, we have included: Media Name, DPI, and Dither Pattern. In some cases the number of passes and whether it was made at uni or bi directional, will be included.

If you are using Scanvec/Amiable RIPs, these will be specified in the Preset file, and if changed, may cause questionable results in many cases. In Onyx, these settings will be found in the media manager. When you have a specific media selected, make sure to look down in the list of dither patterns and resolutions until you see profile files on the right side when a specific Dither and Resolution is highlighted. This will be the resolution and dither pattern you need to use when printing. In many cases Mutoh uses FDRP diffusion in Onyx which tends to work well in our printers. If you do not see FDRP on the list of dither patterns, you will need to select it in the Dither Pattern under the Media menu. Also under Media – Options, you can see the number of passes and uni-directional or bi-directional. If these are changed, you may get questionable results.

For the absolute best printing results, a custom ICC Profile should be made at your location with your specific printer. This will take into account your specific environment and how the media is acting when acclimated to your work area, as well as slight variations from printer to printer. Many dealers will offer custom profiling services, as well as certain training companies. You can also get specific training to make your own color profiles, which will require the purchase of a Color Reading device. Many customers are making their own output profiles to increase the quality of their output. This also allows the individual to work around changing environmental conditions that can sometimes cause issues. If you have questions about purchasing a Color Reading Device, contact you local Mutoh dealer.