Creating a new contone proofing mx4

The PDF document attached to this article contains the full documentation regarding the creation of an mx4 proofing profile in ColorProof, including:

• The profile building blocks
• Defining the profile settings
• Simulations, noise, missing dots
• Measuring and calculating
• Iterating
• Optimiszation and colour corrections

Additionally, the steps below describes the basic profile creation process from taking a set of target values (from a test chart or icc) to the final iterated mx4.

Before you begin, ensure your printer is calibrated tightly in ColorProof.

1) First, go to File > New CMYK MX4.

2) Next, define the printer model, gamut (mode/paper), measuring device and chart. Click OK.

3a) If you are creating the new MX4 from an ICC profile, click Import/Export > Import ICC... Change the mode to 'Lab values' and navigate to the folder containing your ICC profile. Click on the ICC profile and then press OK.

3b) If you are creating the new MX4 from a fingerprint, click Measure > All Target Values and measure your fingerprint.

4) With the Target Values in place, go to Measure > Calculate with Target Values and wait for the calculation to complete. Then, save the MX4.

5) Now you are ready to print the first chart in ColorProof. In ColorProof, click File > New Job. In the manual job window, select the relevant test chart in C:/Users/Public/GMG/ColorProof/Testcharts or C:/Program Files (x86)/GMG/ColorProof05/Testcharts depending on your installation.

They are organised by test chart type (folder), and then by the measuring device (files).

For the Proof Standard, choose 'Custom' and link to the MX4 you saved in step 4. Ensure the printer, medium and calibration set are correct.

Choose Print.

6) Once the first test chart has printed via ColorProof, go back to ProfileEditor and choose Measure > All Current Values. Now your MX4 profiles has the initial target values and some current values present.

7) Check the Statistics tab, and make a note of the Maximum and Average values as located in the screenshot below.

8) Go back to the 4d Color Space tab and choose Measure > Calculate with Target and Current Values.

9) Wait for the calculation to complete and save the MX4.

10) Print the test chart again in ColorProof as a Manual Job (as per step 5) with the new, calculated MX4 profile.

11) Go to Measure > All Current Values and measure the new current values from the test chart printed in the previous step.

12) Check the Statistics tab. If the maximum patch is below 3 and the average patch is below 1, then no further iterations are required. Move to step 13. If the maximum is above 3 or the average is above 1, repeat steps 8 to 12 to create another iteration.

Note: if you have trouble getting the maximum and average down, there could be a problem. For example, the printer or calibration may not be stable, or the target values are out of gamut. Please contact support if you need assistance.

13) Once the maximum and average values are below the recommended threshold, the profile can be finalised. Perform one more calculation under Measure > Calculate with Target and Current Values. Now save the MX4. 

The MX4 can be added to your ColorProof database as a new Proof Standard and used in future jobs/workflows. You may like to perform some visual checks first, by printing some images and making comparisons to the fingerprint.

For further details or information about colour corrections, please see the attached documentation.