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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac OS X > I'm a ColorSync moron: pls help me!

I'm a ColorSync moron: pls help me!
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Oct 20, 2003, 03:39 PM
 
I have an iBook and G5 that I routinely make scientific figures on. These are mostly generated from Photoshop and Illustrator using images created from some custom software. I output these figures to either an HP Color LaserJet or an Epson Inkjet. The problem is that the color on the screen rarely matches that of the printers and I end up manually adjusting the color balance, contrast, etc and printing a bunch of times until it looks the way I want.

I know enough to know that ColoSync should be able to help me, but I haven't got a clue how to make it all work. Can someone give me a clue? I'm currently using Jag, but will be updating to Panther next week so it would be nice to here from people who are already using Panther if things have changed dramatically since Jag.

Thanks,
kman
     
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Oct 21, 2003, 12:27 PM
 
I had the same issue recently upon acquiring a Phaser 750 Color Laser.. and I managed to get fairly consistent color output from Photoshop by trial and error with playing around with ColorSync, since I had no previous experience with it and found documentation within the OS very limited, and tips around the web were just as scarce.

I'm also running Panther, so I can let you know how that differs. It doesn't differ much, but I'll note where it does.

The first thing you need to do is assign appropriate ColorSync Profiles to the various devices you'll be working with.. in my case (and I assume yours), we're looking at a display and a printer. These profiles define the way these devices display color so ColorSync can "Translate" between the two when you go to print to keep color consistent.

First, you need to either calibrate your display using the Display Calibrator application or assign a premade ColorSync profile for your monitor in the ColorSync preference pane. (Under Panther, this has all been moved to the ColorSync Utility located in the Applications -> Utilities folder.) Some monitor manufacturers include profiles you can just load up.. although most don't. Lucky thing is, calibrating your display is pretty easy and straightforward, just follow the directions in the calibrator. When you're finished with the calibrator, you will be able to save the profile. In the ColorSync control panel (ColorSync Utility app under Panther), select this profile as your RGB Default, since your display is your RGB device.

Next, check your printer's support website for a downloadable ColorSync profile. Most color printer manufacturers have these, and I believe OS X has some built in for the more common models. I was able to get a Phaser 750 profile from Xerox without an issue.. in the ColorSync control panel (ColorSync Utility app under Panther), assign the downloaded profile for your printer as your CMYK profile, since your printer is your CMYK device.

Once you have your profiles set, you need to set up your color settings in Photoshop to utilize these color settings. In the Photoshop Color Settings (Under the Photoshop app menu, I believe..) Set your Working for RGB and CMYK to "ColorSync RGB" and "ColorSync CMYK".. this will tell Photoshop to use the color profiles you previously defined in the ColorSync pref pane or Utility App. Under Color Management Policies, set RGB to "Convert to Working RGB" and CMYK to "Convert to Working CMYK".. this will cause any document you open in Photoshop to be converted to the proper color working space for the type of image it is. (If you open an RGB image, it will convert to your monitor's RGB color space.. if you open CMYK, it will convert to your Printer's CMYK color space.) If you keep "Ask when opening" checked, Photoshop will ask you when you open a document whether or not you would like to convert the document to the proper working space.

Once you have that all set up, it's ColorSync that does the heavy lifting from there. One thing I found out that you may have an issue with as well - The Phaser 750 printer tries to do its own color correction in the printer that absolutely kills the color in the image if I tried to print an RGB mode image from Photoshop.. I found that if I converted the document from RGB to CMYK (Image Menu -> Mode) once I had the CMYK space in Photoshop set up, I get perfect output every time. As I understand it, ColorSync is supposed to translate for you automatically, I think it's just a weird quirk with my particular printer that causes me to work around it.

I'm no ColorSync expert, but this is how I did it, and I hope it helps you on the way to getting perfectly matched color output! Good luck!
The Quintessential Featherhead.
     
   
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