Datacolor User to User Support Group.

>Dear Dave,
>
>Many many many thanks for your effort in sorting me out. The
>softproof shadowed blue (it went shiny black in the shadows) is now
>GONE!!!! My softproof looks incredible now.

Glad to hear it!

(I knew that remeasuring those 9 patches was going to make a difference,
as soon as I saw the big "dent" in the bottom of the profile shape from your
original measurement set).

Just goes to show how MUCH effect that a small number of patches can have
on a profile. (And that, in this case, some of the patches were off, but
in subtle ways that weren't obvious). I probably wouldn't have noticed if
I was just looking at the patches in the 3-page format; going through that
little procedure in the 1.1.1 software to make them displayable in the
single page format was what made the problem stand out.

I'd still like to encourage you, now, to print the 225 patch target;
measure it; and build a profile. (This will go nice, fast, and easy compared
to doing the big one). Do another print through that, and compare to what
you've gotten from the 729 patch profile, and see if you can find any
differences. If not: profiling this way can save you a lot of time, paper,
and ink.

>And guess what !!!!
>
>I'll print some more prints with the profile and wait for it to dry
>to then determine the monitor-print matching. Initial results is that
>the print is very close to the monitor soft proof now. And I mean
>very very close. I'm so excited. This is incredible.

That's more like it...:-)

>I have to be careful with metamerism. Noticed that as i swing around
>the print actually changes from cold to warm back to cold depending
>on the quality of light. And as the sun ducks behind clouds or comes
>out - the prints changes from being cold to warm too!

There's nothing much you can do about that, unfortunately. That's a function
of the printer/paper/ink that you're using.

>Oh Yeah, one more tip or maybe something you can reinforce. I used
>another packet of Photo Paper Pro bought from another country and the
>prints was yucky. So will you advise that we buy the papers in bulk
>so that it'll be the same batch and it'll print all right with the
>profile done on the same batch of paper. Just because its the same
>paper type does not gurrantee it'll perform 100% identical if its
>from another batch. I remember 1 year ago when i printed the A4
>picture to the 4R size prints, the results were like it was from a
>different paper type although it was still the Photo Paper Pro
>(canon).

That's right; although some manufacturers' paper may be more consistent
across batches than others.

>
>When I first read that you'll get 1st time success, i was quite
>skeptical but I'm a believer now.

We're very pleased that you're pleased...:-)

I think we'll have to consider adding a feature that will make it easier
to "eyeball" the results after measuring, for cases like the 3 page 729
patch target, in which the measured colors don't "line up" nicely for a quick
visual check. The trick I wrote about here today will work, but it requires
a little bit of time and effort, and a few steps to create a reformatted
copy of the measurement file.

>The adjustment sliders will also affect the soft proof right?

Yes, that's what the "Show Edits in Preview" check box is about; by default,
it's "on", so that if you make a slider adjustment, you'll see it in both
the prints through the profile, and the soft-proof as well.

>If the answer is yes, then if i need to add 'warm up' by adding
>yellow to match the softproof - how do i do that?

Turn off the "Show Edits in Preview" check box before you make slider
adjustment(s) and then build a new profile from your measurements. This way,
your slider adjustments will go into PRINTS that are made through the profile,
but not into the softproof. As an example: saturation. Lets say your
softproof is just a bit more saturated, to your eye, than the prints. Turn
off that checkbox, bump the saturation slider slightly (maybe 2 or 3 points);
build another profile from your base set of measurements, and maybe append
S+2 to the name, so you'll know how you built it. This should give you a
slightly more saturated print, but softproofing through the S+2 profile should
look the same as the base profile.

(Doing this only takes a few seconds, since you always have your original
measurement set available. Just select it, go to the Build screen, make
your adjustments, pick a new profile name, and build: a few seconds later,
you're done. Then you can test-print from PFP if you like, or just run
Photoshop and test print any of your own images through it).

>
>Thank-you Dave.

You're welcome!


Best regards,

-- 
David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
ColorVision