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TO DO:
• Add settings for Quark
• Add settings for printing
• Add settings for Illustrator
• Add extensions and control panels needed
• Add version numbers of programs of these examples
The problem with almost every sinle colorsync article out there is that they try to explain too much or too little. For me a designer, I just want to know what exactly to do to gain accurate color.

Most articles try to explain both the setup and the different situations in one thing. I think it would make much more sense to seperate them.

Here are the EXACT steps to take to gain more accruate color across the board.

First I cover what settings to create on your computer. THEN, I cover the different situations that arrive and how to handle them. In most cases I will get into detail about why you use these settings. If you would like to know in-depth detail about why the particular settings or options are used, there are source links at the end of every situation/setting that refer to the source article(s).
Setup stage:

Calibrating your monitor
Open the Monitors Control Panel. (found in your apple menu)

Select "Color" at the top
Hit "Calibrate" at the bottom.

This window appears:

Follow the instructions to calibrate your monitor and create a custom ColorSync profile for your monitor.
On some screens you will wonder which options to choose.

Select 6500 for your Target White Point. This is recommened by most color experts. However, some recommend one as low as 5000.

Here, choose 1.8 for your target gamma. This setting is not to be confused with the gamma setting in Photoshop color settings where it is 2.2.


This is the final window for calibrating your monitor. Remember the name you give your profile. You will need it later.



ColorSync

1. Open the Monitors Control Panel. (found in your apple menu)
2. This version of ColorSync is 3.0.2
3. Do these settings
Just make absolutely sure that Input is NOT your monitor profile.

Not sure about:
• Output: Not sure if this should be our proofing printer in-house, the press's cmyk profile, or somthing generic
• Proofer: I'm not sure what this is for yet, so I'm leaving the default on.



Not sure about:
I'm not sure what to choose here, so it will stay as Automatic.



Photoshop

1. Go to File > Color Settings > Profile Setup.
2. Do this for your settings
3. Click "OK"


Source:
AR0004 http://www.appleimac.com/creative/ama/0102s/photoshop.html

1. Go to File > Color Settings > RGB setup
2. Do this for your settings
3. Click "OK"


Notes:
• RGB setting: ask your printer what they use. otherwise use Adobe RGB (1998). Gamma, White Point, Primaries will auto-fill according to what you pick in the RGB box.
• The Monitor box will have the name of your colorsync profile that your monitor is using. Mine currently is 20011206-18.
• Make absolutely sure that the RGB setting is NOT your monitor profile. If it is, then you will greatly crap up your final files.

Source:
AR0004 http://www.appleimac.com/creative/ama/0102s/photoshop.html
AR0043 http://www.gatf.org/colorsync/color3.htm (download the pdf: "Profile Embedding"
1. Go to File > Color Settings > CMYK Setup
2. Do this for your settings. If you have a CMYK profile from your printer, select that for your profile.
3. Click "OK"



Notes on settings:
• Intent stands for "rendering intent." It should be left at Perceptual for color images.
• Until hardware and software allow users to find and set their monitor's black point, leave Black Point Compensation unchecked or it might clip your gamut.

Source:
AR0004 http://www.appleimac.com/creative/ama/0102s/photoshop.html

1. Go to File > Color Settings > Grayscale Setup
2. Do this for your settings
3. Click "OK"

Not sure about:
• I know this is correct



Notes on these settings:
• If you do a majority of print work, set this to "Blank Ink"
• If you do a majority of web work, set this to "RGB"
• Don't worry if you do both types of work, because when you open a grayscale file, you always have the immediate automatic open of which behavior to choose with the particular file.

Source:
AR0004 http://www.appleimac.com/creative/ama/0102s/photoshop.html

Driver settings
These are the most important settings to get accurate color from the your in-house printer.
This can be done in any application that has the ability to print. But let's set it in Quark 4.11.


Quark Settings

Quark Step A

1. Open your Quark file.
2. Go to File > Print...
3. Click the "Setup" tab.
2. Do this for your settings
3. Click the output tab for the next step

Not sure about:
• I know this is correct


Notes:
• no notes

Source:
AR0067 http://www.creativesight.com/cp/col_printers/colsync_pr.htm



Quark Step B

1. Click the "Output" tab.
2. Do this for your settings
3. Click the "Printer..." button at the bottom for the next step

Not sure about:
• I know this is correct


Notes:
• no notes

Source:
AR0067 http://www.creativesight.com/cp/col_printers/colsync_pr.htm

Quark Step C
1. This window will pop open when you click the "Printer..." button from the previous step.
2. Where it says "Printer: Creative #2" let's pretend "Creative #2" is the name of your printer.
3. In the pull down menu where it says "General", select "Color Matching"
4. Go to next step

Notes:
• no notes

Source:
AR0067 http://www.creativesight.com/cp/col_printers/colsync_pr.htm

Quark Step D
1. From the previous step, you had selected "Color Matching" in the pull-down menu
2. Use the rest of these settings.
3. In the pulldown menu where it says "Color Matching", select "Printer Specific Options 1"
now this is correct


Notes:
• "Phaser 780 Enh Paper" is the printer profile that is specified in the ColorSync Control Panel.

Source:
AR0067 http://www.creativesight.com/cp/col_printers/colsync_pr.htm

Quark Step E
1. From the previous step, you selected "Printer Specific Options 1" in the pulldown menu
2. Make sure "Color Correction" is set to "None"
3. Use the rest of the settings
4. Click on Save Settings

Notes:
• If you don't select "None" for "Color Correction" Quark will ignore all the Colorsync settings.

Source:
AR0067 http://www.creativesight.com/cp/col_printers/colsync_pr.htm

Quark Step F
1. From the previous step, you selected "Save Settings"
2. This new dialog box will appear.
3. Click "OK"

Notes:
• Now these settings from Quark steps C, D, E will be set for all future jobs to this printer Creative #2.

Source:
AR0067 http://www.creativesight.com/cp/col_printers/colsync_pr.htm

Quark Settings
1. In Quark, go to: Edit > Preferences... > Color Management...
2. This dialog box will appear.
3. Use these settings
3. Click "OK"

WARNING:
Quark makes some use of profiles and is compatible with the way Photoshop employs them. It’s main drawback is lack of EPS support and rendering intent controls.


Notes:
RGB Image should be your scanner profile
Display Correction:
• "Composite Printer Color Space" allows you to simulate your output device on your monitor
• "Seperation Printer Color Space" allows you to simulate your press on your monitor


Notes:

Source:
AR0068 http://www.mpressdigital.com/ColorSync.pdf

Illustrator 8.0 Settings
1. In Quark, go to: File > Color Settings
2. This dialog box will appear.
3. Use these settings
3. Click "OK"

WARNING:
Illustrator does not currently embed profiles in EPS files and cannot manage color from imported EPS files.

Notes:

Source:
AR0068 http://www.mpressdigital.com/ColorSync.pdf
Questions to ask you printer / service bureau:

Scanner Questions:

1. Do you use Colorsync?
If yes, go to #2
If no, you are done asking questions. Use the Generic profile as mentioned in sitiuational #1

2. Does your scanner have a Colorsync profile?
If yes, go to #3
If no, you are done asking questions. Use the Generic profile as mentioned in sitiuational #1

3. Can you send me the Colorsync profile? So I can properly color manage this file?
If they say no, go to #5
If they say yes, go to # 4

4.
take the Colorsync profile and stick it in your ColorSync profiles folder. See situational #14. when opening the scanned photoshop file, into photoshop, make sure that when you convert color spaces, you have the "from:" field as the scanners colorsync profile. It should be automatically be chosen in this dialog box, because this profile should be embedded in the the photoshop file. If the profile doens't automatically appear, it's one of these problems: 1) The scanner person did not embed the right profile. 2) you have the wrong profile in your colorsync folder.

5.
Ask them to convert the file using Situational #16 Switching profiles while photoshop file is open. (you want to get the file from them as a Adobe RGB 1998.)


Printer Questions:

Do you use Colorsync?


What RGB working space do you use?
Generally whatever color working space they use, the designer should use as well. (unless the printer doesn't know what they are doing)

Do you have a ICC profile for your presses? Can I have it to simulate your press color on my color printer? (for rough proofing purposes).
Designer can use printer's ICC cmyk profile if the designer chooses to convert their images from rgb to cmyk (WARNING see note #7).


 
All questions and comments can be sent to: matt@spudart.org
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