Custom Printer Profile: Printing a target

This article is in development and should eventually include a couple of videos to show how to print a custom printer profile target (tif) image to allow the generation of a custom profile for a specific printer, paper and ink set.

Printing Tool(s)

If you have Photoshop CS4 or earlier, or your image software allows you to print without colour management being applied then you will be able to print your target without installing any other tools so skip to the section “Printing the Target“

If you have Photoshop CS5 or above or editing software that doesn’t allow this you will need to download and install the Adobe Color Printing Utility (ACPU).

ACPU – Adobe Color Printing Utility

Windows: ACPU.zip

MacOS: ACPU (only for MacOS version 10.14.x or earlier)

Additional discussion on this point is available in this Adobe forum thread

Installing ACPU

The ACPU app doesn’t need to be installed unlike other apps. Instead you simply:

1. Unzip (on windows) into a folder where you can find the app later.
2. Locate the folder/directory for the ACPU and double click on the “Adobe Color Printer Utility.exe” file (or right click and choose “Open”)
3. As the app opens it will immediately ask you what image you wish to print, so select the appropriate TIF target image file and click “Open”
4. The app will then open showing the image and two function buttons.
5. Now click the “Page Setup” button
6. For now click on “OK” to go back to the App main screen
7. Now click on “Print…”
8. Now move on to the instructions under the “Printing the Target” heading

Printing the Target

1. You should now select the printer you wish to print the target on.
2. Once selected, click the “Properties” button
3. Select the following:
   1. Media Type: Please use select the one recommended for your paper/media by the manufacturer.
   2. Print Quality: High
   3. Printer Paper Size: A4
   4. Orientation: Portrait
   5. Color Management (see below)

Color Management Setting:

This is the important bit for printing a custom profile target. Color/Colour Management has to be turned off and how you to this depends on your printer manufacturer and model.

For Canon (eg: Image ProGRAF 300)

1. Look for “Color/Intensity Manual Adjustment” and tick/click it.
2. Locate the “Matching” tab and click it
3. Under “Color Correction” select the “None” option.
4. Click OK/Apply, etc…

For Epson (eg: XP-540)

1. Look for “More Options” tab and click it
2. Locate “Color Correction” and click on “Custom” then the “Advanced” button next to it
3. Locate and select the “No Color Adjustment” option
4. Click on “OK”

Other printer models and drivers are likely to differ but the overall approach is the same. You need to disable Color Management before you print the target.

NB: Turning off colour management is essential because it stops any existing profile interfering with the custom profile you’re trying to create.