skogskalle Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 ok, this is probably a very very newbe-type-question, but Im having big problems with this so.... I dont print any images in-house, I allways let a print-company do that. Problem is that the colors on the printed image allways are a little different from the colors shown on my monitor. The prints come out oversaturated all the time, which ofcourse isnt very good. If I show an architect a test-render on my computer and he likes it, he wont appreciate if the final print looks different. I know close to nothing about color-management, rgb-settings and all that, which is why I turn to you guys. Is there an easy (and free) way of making sure the final printed image has the correct color-values? //kalle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muzzy Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 Hi, Jeff posted two pdf files along this line. May be that can help you. Check the link http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=900 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skogskalle Posted March 16, 2004 Author Share Posted March 16, 2004 thanks muzzy! And thanks jeff, great stuff. just one small question.... : Should I do anything different when using a laser-printer? Or is it the exact same procedure there (ICC profiles etc)? thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skogskalle Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 im confused... In photoshop my RGB settings are Adobe RGB (1998). When I open a newly MAX-rendered image (that looks as usual in max) its colors are waaayy off. (the red-tones are totally brown etc.) When I "proof" the colors (and use my monitors ICM) the image is displayed perfectly in photoshop. But, if I save the image as a jpeg (with ICC profile) and open it with another image-viewer program the colors are a little too bright and saturated. Now... I thought that if I used my own monitors ICM in photoshop, the resulting image would display perfectly on my monitor - but it doesnt, and this bugs me. I have NOT done a monitor calibration yet - and maybe this is all I have to do. But I dont have any software/hardware for doing so, and Im as allways a bit low on cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Jeff Mottle Posted March 17, 2004 Administrators Share Posted March 17, 2004 Should I do anything different when using a laser-printer? Or is it the exact same procedure there (ICC profiles etc)? As with any device you need to have it's ICC profile in order to use it as the proof in Phototshop. However, I can tell you right now that no laser printer is going to ever give you exact color matching. Unless you have a photographic printer (Like an inkjet, dye-sub etc) you won't be able to match colors effectively. It will be better but never exact. You can usually download ICC profiles from the manufactuer, but I dount they do them for laser printers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Jeff Mottle Posted March 17, 2004 Administrators Share Posted March 17, 2004 im confused... In photoshop my RGB settings are Adobe RGB (1998). When I open a newly MAX-rendered image (that looks as usual in max) its colors are waaayy off. (the red-tones are totally brown etc.) When I "proof" the colors (and use my monitors ICM) the image is displayed perfectly in photoshop. Yeah becuase when you do that you are viewing the output as how it would be shown on your monitor. This is good when you do web work or work that is always viewed on a monitor. You really should be using the ICC profile generated by a hardware monitor calibrator. Otherwise, your colors are most likely way off. If you don't calibrate your monitor, then using color calibration and profiling is basically useless. Dangerous in fact. A badly tagged image (ie tagged with a profile from an uncalibrated system) is almost worst than no calibration/profiling turned on at all. But, if I save the image as a jpeg (with ICC profile) and open it with another image-viewer program the colors are a little too bright and saturated. Most image viweing applications can not read the embeded ICC profile. Photoshop, Illustartor, Acrobat, Quark are all apps that I know can read them. What you see outside of PS for example should be pretty close to a proof with the Monitor's ICC profile. I'm not exactly sure what you have done but as you have already said you have not calibrated your momitor, so it's hard to tell what is going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Ramsay Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 You can usually download ICC profiles from the manufactuer, but I dount they do them for laser printers. They do... we have a colour laser at work that comes with its own ICC profile. Yeah becuase when you do that you are viewing the output as how it would be shown on your monitor. This is good when you do web work or work that is always viewed on a monitor. You really should be using the ICC profile generated by a hardware monitor calibrator. Otherwise, your colors are most likely way off. If you don't calibrate your monitor, then using color calibration and profiling is basically useless. Dangerous in fact. A badly tagged image (ie tagged with a profile from an uncalibrated system) is almost worst than no calibration/profiling turned on at all. Most image viweing applications can not read the embeded ICC profile. Photoshop, Illustartor, Acrobat, Quark are all apps that I know can read them. What you see outside of PS for example should be pretty close to a proof with the Monitor's ICC profile. I'm not exactly sure what you have done but as you have already said you have not calibrated your momitor, so it's hard to tell what is going on. Yeah this is a wierd one... Jeff remember you sent me your images of Gogarburn? Even tho we both use the same hardware to calibrate our screens, I couldn't get your profile to work right so things like trees etc were too dark Total head f**k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skogskalle Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 jeff - is there anything related to CG graphics that you dont know? =) thanks again for your help. ok, so I should probably try to find myself a monitor-calibration gadget of some sort.... Which leads to my next question: do you know of any cheap and reliable calibration devices? (I guess this is something I cant work without so I must get me one, but Im constantly struggling with money, so I cant spend a lot Im afraid) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 If ICC-profiles are too complex do it the 'old' way... Print an image at home that looks like you see it on screen and send this along to the printer (the person, not the machine). Your printer has good knowledge about calibrating and it should be a piece of cake for him to tune his print to yours... rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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