Or more specifically, do I need ColorCast?
I make prints from scanned film or digital cameras and then sell them. The prints, that is. I use current inkjet printers profiled with i1 Photo, and all the usual/unusual software.
So, will ColorCast bring anything to the table for me?
Darrell
A very good question.
ColorCast can be used in a number of ways (probably some I haven’t thought of) but the primary way is to embed the “effect” of one profile inside another.
A couple of examples are in order:
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you can embed the “proofing effect” of a multi-channel profile such as Hexachrome inside the Adobe RGB profile. The resulting RGB profile can then be used in Photoshop to soft-proof and hard-proof Hexachrome with NO plugins. (Photoshop doesn’t support device profiles other than RGB & CMYK)
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you can embed the SWOP or ISO CMYK press profiles inside your desktop Epson inkjet profile. Then whenever you use the inkjet profile, the printer will automatically proof CMYK. This works even from within software like iPhoto, MS Word, etc.
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you can embed an abstract profile (it may contain an effect such as saturation boost, sepia, cross-processing) inside Adobe RGB and then apply it’s effects to images in Photoshop (Photoshop doesn’t support abstract profiles). You could also embed that profile inside a digital camera profile permanently enhancing it.
Each rendering intent in the “proofing” profile is captured in the ColorCast profile so you can select intents while soft proofing and see the intent change.
It’s an unusual technique (unusual enough to be patent-pending) and where people need it it can come in very handy.
In your specific case I’m not sure if you would use it but there certainly are possibilities. If you have any other questions or want additional examples please let me know.
regards,
Steve
While I do see some fun could be had with color cast… as far as using it with photoshop to create a CMYK proof off of a desktop RGB space inkjet … That function is already covered in Photoshop itself. You can easily cross-render with photoshop as long as you have good profiles for your RGB device/media and CMYK device/media.
As far as hexachrome… aren’t you still going to need a spectrophotometer and software combo to read in a hexachrome profile to begin with - that or pay valet or another service to read in a hex profile for you?
At 8:19 AM -0800 1/25/06, Reggie Barton wrote:
While I do see some fun could be had with color cast… as far as using it with photoshop to create a CMYK proof off of a desktop RGB space inkjet … That function is already covered in Photoshop itself. You can easily cross-render with photoshop as long as you have good profiles for your RGB device/media and CMYK device/media.
right. That’s not what it’s for.
As far as hexachrome… aren’t you still going to need a spectrophotometer and software combo to read in a hexachrome profile to begin with - that or pay valet or another service to read in a hex profile for you?
yes you would. Or at least you need an n-channel profile.
The primary use of ColorCast (until we think up others) is to proof one system on another. In most cases this would be in a situation where it is either not currently possible or is difficult & costly. So a few example uses would be:
- soft and hard proofing HexaChrome and other n-channel profiles in Photoshop without ANY plugins or filters
- altering any inkjet output profile so that it proofs SWOP, HexaChrome, etc ANY time it prints. This can be cool as it will work so a cheap desktop inkjet is proofing SWOP even when printing from Word or iPhoto or Pages or any number of other proofing-unaware applications.
It (like many other Pro-level features) is intended for people who are in the thick of these issues so we do expect that users already have the n-color profile for the printing system.
make sense?
Regards,
Steve
o Steve Upton CHROMiX www.chromix.com
o (hueman) 866.CHROMiX
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–>- altering any inkjet output profile so that it proofs SWOP, HexaChrome, etc ANY time it prints
So Steve, does the final data going to say a Quickdraw driver go out as RGB (which it needs)?
Could we use such drivers and build a family of CMYK profiles for use in this workflow to control say GCR to our desktop Epson’s without the need of a RIP (or substitute driver) which would have a hissy fit if fed CMYK?