I make custom ink separation images all the time, and over the past week I came up with a new method that automatically generates custom ink separation reference files for only the inks you want to use and in what order you want to print and measure them in. These reference files used by ColorPort or i1 Profiler to generate a patch set for whatever spectrophotometer you might have for either i1 profiler or ColorPort (These could also be read by the SpyderPrint in manual spot measurement mode). I've tested it with a user here over the last few days and it works pretty well. I'm putting the final touches on it and will be sending it to a few beta testers next week and hopefully release it mid-September.
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The following is a really short except from the section on ink separation images from the QTR book I've been working on for the past forever (I just need to stop coming up with new methods of doing stuff and just finish the thing...)
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You can create your own ink separation images for specific needs by using these Red and Blue values listed below to control what ink is being printed. Remember that the files must be either a tiff or psd file with **no assigned ICC profile** and **no embedded ICC profile**.
The values in the Green Channel will control how much of each separate ink is printed as a percentage of whatever the Ink Limit slider is set to when printing in QTR Calibration Mode.
- RGB Values for creating custom Ink Separation Images
- K (Black) R: 127 B: 255
- LK (Light Black) R:253 B:255
- LLK (Light Light Black) R:254 B:255
- C (Cyan) R:191 B:255
- M (Magenta or Vivid Magenta) R: 223 B:255
- Y (Yellow) R:239 B:255
- LC (Light Cyan) R:247 B:255
- LM (Light Magenta) R:251 B:255
- O (Orange) R:255 B:127
- G (Green) R:255 B:191
- The Orange and Green inks are only found in the x900 printers, and are rarely, if ever, used in making normal QTR profiles. Those channels can be used with creating custom toning profiles with third party ink sets when making custom profiles on Mac OS (the Windows QTRgui has not been updated to work with the 10 ink printers).
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