17.3. Profiling Steps
There are five distinct stages to creating a Media profile as outlined below:-
Print Mode - The pre-requisite stage that defines the characteristics of the print output in terms of quality, speed and all other related physical parameters that control the print operation. These parameters and settings are normally defined and documented by the printer manufacturers and must be adhered to in order to avoid any unsatisfactory and unpredictable results. Rosetta RIP includes a number of factory defined profile template files that each has been properly created to be used as a starting point.
Ink Loading – This is the first stage that is required in establishing the characteristics of the media and ink being used. Most printing media have a threshold in terms of amount of inks that they can absorb. If you exceed these limits then over-inking will occur. The RIP needs to establish ink limits that although overcome these problems but at the same time do not reduce the available colour range and fidelity unnecessarily. The Rosetta RIP utilises a proprietary ink limiting technique for one, two, three and four colour inks combination that maximises the colour reproduction of the system.
Linearization - This is a very important stage that ensures the device (printer) is in a normalized state before the actual colour calibration is carried out. This process also makes the device perform optimally so that we are using as much of the device’s dynamic range and colour gamut as possible.
Grey Balancing - this is an optional stage in the process that results in neutral grey balanced output. In colour printing, combinations of cyan, magenta, and yellow inks which produce neutral shades of grey. Improper proportions of any of these colourants will result in one particular dominant hue, which may or may not be desirable. Regardless, it is necessary to ensure a consistency of the grey balance throughout the proofing and printing processes.
ICC Profiling– In this final stage the RIP will map the input colour space to the output colour space available using various rendering intents (gamut mapping). The RIP utilises the ICC based profiles for this purpose.
These distinct stages are carried out in the order listed and changes in any of the previous stages would require redoing of all later ones. Rosetta Colour module presents all these steps in a logical and easy to follow manner. The culmination of all these steps together defines a media profile table that is used in the RIP for managing colours.