Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

b2martin_a
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Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I downloaded the windows version of PrintFab to use with my Epson 3880 printer, but no paper profiles for PrintFab are available. Where can I download PrintFab profiles for the Epson papers?
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

Anyone able to evaluate this software without printer paper profiles available?
zedonet
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Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

the driver comes with color profiles that can be selected by choosing an appropriate type of "Paper" in the printer driver settings (tab "Main").

Please note that the profiles that are included are stored in a PrintFab specific file format and are currently not directly acessible as "ICC profiles".
This means that you don't specify the printer&paper specific profile in applications that support color management (e.g. Photoshop or Indesign). Instead, you select the document color space (sRGB / ISOCoated / ...) in the application print dialog and also in the PrintFab driver settings, tab "Color".

Please see the PrintFab PDF manual, chapter 10 "Printing from applications" for details.
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I have tried to generate printer profiles for PrintFab (Windows version) using ColorMunki Photo without success. Could you point me to directions on how to generate profiles, I have read what is in the manual.
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I tried a second time to generate printer profiles for PrintFab with an Epson 3880 printer using ColorMunki Photo, but after importing it to PrintFab profile a print using it has problems. Colors maybe acceptable, but the print is very dark. I am using the Windows version of PrintFab on a computer using Windows 7 Professional 64 bit operating system. I generated printer profiles using the Epson 3880 print driver and ColorMunki Photo and prints look excellent, so ColorMunki Photo works great with the Epson Driver, but not with PrintFab. Any recommendations on how to resolve this problem?
zedonet
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Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by zedonet »

PrintFab can use any ICC profiles, however you will only get proper results if you print the color chart with PrintFab and not with the original Epson driver:

Different printer drivers have different color output, depending on the dithering algorithm, linearisation, use of light (photo) inks vs. regular inks, black generation etc.

Please see the instructions included on how to create an ICC profile which you can find in this thread:

http://www.turboprint.info/support/view ... 164&p=3496
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I did print the color chart using PrintFab for the profile that I imported into the PrintFab profile. I did a second color chart using the Epson driver and used it with the Epson driver and it worked great.

I have not found any instructions on how to generate profiles for PrintFab, can you be more specific on where they are located?
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I now see the topic you listed on generating profiles for PrintFab. I will review that to see what I am doing wrong.
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I used ColorMunki to generate a profile for PrintFab using the steps your suggested. When I tried to use the profile in Lightroom, it would not display the profile even though it is in the correct folder. I did a little searching and found that Lightroom will not display CMYK profiles. It does display the ColorMunki profiles I generated using the Epson driver, but not the ones generated using PrintFab. I think this may be the problem, but I don't know how to get ColorMunki to gererate an RGB profile with PrintFab instead of a CMYK profile. Any comments?
zedonet
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Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by zedonet »

I suggest to create an RGB profile with PrintFab:

First, create a new profile entry in PrintFab Control Center, dialog "Profiles"

Then print your profile chart and measure and create your profile - only two things should be different when creating an RGB profile:

1) use the RGB target instead of the CMYK target

2) when printing the target, select "RGB color" instead of "CMYK proof" in the printer settings, tab "Color"

Please note that the new profile entry will be visible as an additional "Paper" entry on tab "Main" of the printer settings - make sure to choose this "Paper" when printing the target and also later when making test prints.
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I tried again to generate an RGB profile with ColorMunki Photo for the Epson 3880 using PrintFab Beta 0.93 on a Windows 7 Professional 64 bit system. Color mode is set to Color (RGB), Dithering is Error Diffusion, Intent is No Correction (print profile chart), and Color Space is ProPhoto RGB. ColorMunki Photo automatically selects the type of profile based on the printer and it sees this combination as a CMYK printer and prints a chart for a CMYK profile.

If I use the Epson driver instead of PrintFab, ColorMunki Photo sees the printer as an RGB printer and prints a chart for an RGB profile.

Any recommendations on how to solve this problem? Is this a bug in the software?
zedonet
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Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by zedonet »

I would say it is an inflexibility of the ColorMunki software that you cannot decide whether you want to profile in CMYK or RGB mode.

Theoretically you can print the target also with a different software - e.g. PhotoShop.
In the ColorMunki profiling software, you can select any "RGB" printer and check "I already printed my target" and measure the chart.

The problem is that ColorMunki doesn't provide the target as an image file - I could find instructions on the web on how to create such a target image, but I couldn't find the final images yet.
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

I am communicating with someone on the DPReview forums that is using PrintFab (Mac version) with an Epson 3880 and generating RGB profiles with ColorMunki Photo without any problems. I have set PrintFab up the same, but can only get ColorMunki Photo to generate CMYK color charts. Does this indicate that something is different between the Mac and Windows version of PrintFab that is causing the problem?
zedonet
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Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by zedonet »

The Mac and Windows versions of PrintFab are quite similar.
I found that the profiling software "EyeOne Match" (supplied with XRite i1 spectrophotometer) recognizes PrintFab as "RGB" printers, other printer drivers like "AdobePDF" or a Lexmark color laser are recognized as "CMYK" printers.

This seems to be controlled by an entry in the PPD postscript printer description file which is either

*DefaultColorSpace: RGB
or
*DefaultColorSpace: CMYK
b2martin_a
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:34 pm

Re: Epson 3880 Paper Profiles

Post by b2martin_a »

Is it possible for me to change the PPD postscript printer description file?

Does some input I set in the printer preferences of PrintFab determine which of the two values is used in the PPD postscript printer description file?

In the Color Tab I set Color Mode to Color (RGB), Dithering is Error Diffusion, Intent is No Correction (print profile chart), and Color Space was changed to ProPhoto RGB. Could and of these affect how ColorMunki Photo recognizes the printer as a CMYK printer instead of RGB printer?

I have not found a way to force ColorMunki Photo to use RGB color charts rather than CMYK for PrintFab. I did send an a question to X-Rite about this problem, but have not received a response.
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