GIMP Printing and ColorSync... ?

Hi Norm,

Turn off ColorSync (how?)

I don't think it is using ColorSync unless you maybe have a Preset saved in the Print Dialog under Color Matching.

Re-calibrate new ICC profiles for the printer (again, how? By using the ColorSync Utility?)

Normally that's the way if an icc profile isn't supplied.

http://www.macworld.com/article/45798/2005/07/augustdigitalphoto.html

Norm Caryl wrote:
Since discovering I can now print (to my Epson Stylus Color 1160) printer using the GIMP drivers furnished in Tiger 10.4.11, I nevertheless seem to be missing ColorSync support.

I would suggest that the first thing you do is to download and install the latest version of the Gutenprint (Gimp-Print) drivers from http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php. There have been some changes to the PPDs. The most notable change is that the PPDs now specify to use the sRGB ICC profile rather than relying on whatever the default profile is being used in OS X at the time.

When I search on the Internet for an explanation of the GIMP/ColorSync issue, I find numerous articles that assert that these GIMP drivers do not support my old ColorSync (ICC) profiles, and which articles are otherwise oblique, abstruse, and equivocal.

Profiles are only good for a particular driver and a particular paper. The Gutenprint drivers do not produce the same output as the Epson drivers did. That is why your old ICC profiles will not produce the same output as you got from the Epson drivers.

-- Turn off ColorSync (how?);

You cannot turn off ColorSync. OS X will always do color management.

-- Re-calibrate new ICC profiles for the printer (again, how? By using the ColorSync Utility?);

See the article in BDAqua's post for a starting point. Whether you go the route and create all new ICC profiles is up to you. You will probably need to spend some time, effort, ink, and paper to fine tune the color settings available in the Gutenprint printer features.

Hi Norm, I think Matt is far more knowledgeable on it & explained it far better.

Norm Caryl wrote:
I've downloaded GutenPrint 5.2.6, but haven't installed it because the docs (seem to) say that it won't reliably use the printer ICC profiles that I previously assigned via the Epson software...

The documentation has only a paragraph or two in the entire "manual" to address ColorSync.

The Gutenprint drivers are written to be used on many systems such as Linux, Mac OS X, and other *nix platforms. They were not written specifically for OS X and for use with ColorSync.

What the manual is saying is basically what I mentioned earlier. ICC profiles that were supplied by Epson for use with their own drivers paper, and ink will not produce the same output when used with a different driver such as Gutenprint. Likewise, the Epson provided ICC profiles will not produce the same results if you use third party ink or third party papers.

The Photoshop "color space" for my files is the "Adobe RGB (1998)." Not sure what will happen if I change this to sRGB for the image... (if that's possible).

I am far from expert in color managing. It may be of some benefit if you read a discussion on the Gutenprint forums at https://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-print/forums/forum/4359/topic/3810875. Of course each printer is going to be different, but the principles outlined there would still apply. In that discussion, it was found that changing the color space to AppleRGB and then printing using "Same as Source" was getting close to the right output. You still may need to make some adjustments to the Density or Gamma controls in the Gutenprint settings.

One thing you will need to pay particular attention to is to make sure that you have the type of paper selected properly in the print window under Printer Features. Also, you will need to set the proper resolution and image type in the Gutenprint settings under Printer Features.

ColorSync profiles show up in the (Tiger) GIMP printing routine (one for each paper stock), but I'm not sure where these came from -- are they my original ICC profiles from my Epson software, or are they profiles GIMP furnishes?

The Gutenprint drivers do not provide any ICC profiles. The PPDs do contain directives to manage to the sRGB profile that comes with OS X as that is the color space that Gutenprint expects.

I was hoping there'd be a "simple" way to convert my old ColorSync profiles so that I could print them with reliable color rendition...

As I have 30 or 40 photos (of approx. 220MB) to be printed at 13" x 19", I'm a bit reluctant to go in and color balance them all in the ColorSync Utility (especially as I don't understand whether or not the ColorSync Utility is producing an ICC profile for the printer. (Or is the ColorSync Utility merely creating another screen profile?)

I have pretty much reached my knowledge limit on the use of ColorSync and the use of it with the Gutenprint drivers. As a practical matter, it is always best to experiment with smaller test prints and use copies of any images you test just to make sure you don't accidentally corrupt a good file.

To recover, in the meanwhile, I'm now thinking my best strategy would be to re-install Panther (and the Epson printing software) on a volume, somewhere, and start up from that OS when printing the legacy photos.

Norm, I think that's your best bet at this tome. 🙂

Try the following................



System Preferences>Display>Display
Check the Colors & Brightness settings.
My Color setting is set to Millions which I believe is the default setting.

Now click on the Color button.
Check Display Profile
Is Show profiles for this display only enabled or disabled?
If necessary click on the Calibrate button & do the necessary.

Now in the bottom right corner, click on the purple button w/the black ? mark in the middle. This will bring up the help window.

Midway down, click on the Colorsync Utility link.

The next window should be Profile First Aid.
Read & follow the instructions/details of About Profile First Aid: & do the necessary to Verify & Repair.





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Hope it works & you're welcome.





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