soft proofing rendering intents?

[JvdW]

I am not quite sure how to set the different proofing rendering intents in the color management options.

My setup:
- LCD monitor calibrated and profiled with a HueyPro (profile is very close to sRGB colorspace)
- custom printer profiles created with a Spyder3Print
- images are stored in ProPhoto colorspace (48 bit tiff)

As my monitor profile is matrix based it wil always use a relative colorimetric rendering intent. In my current workflow I convert images to sRGB colorspace with 'preserve identical colors and black point' prior to printing to get the colors in the file closer to the colors on screen. Then I print using the 'maintain full gamut' intent.

How should I set the rendering intents for printer and monitor in the proofing section of the color management dialog to get the most accurate preview? Can I get a good softproof even before converting to sRGB?

[jsachs]

I recommend you use the same proofing settings you are using when you print, but it may be worth experimenting. Not all printer profiles support all rendering intents.

Generally soft proofing is most useful when using a printer with a smaller gamut than the monitor since obviously colors outside the monitor gamut cannot be displayed. Originally soft proofing was created for pre-press applications and it is not nearly as useful with the newer generation of wide gamut inkjet printers.

[JvdW]

The gamut of my printer is close to sRGB (a bit more greens and a lot less dark and saturated colors, I checked the profile in a 3D viewer)

I print with a 'maintain full gamut' rendering intent. So I guess my settings should be:
printer proofing intent: 'maintain full gamut'
monitor proofing intent: 'preserve identical colors and black point'

Why is there a separate monitor proofing intent? Does this mean that the program first calculates the colorspace conversion to the printer gamut and then uses the resulting image for a second conversion to the monitor gamut?

[jsachs]

Yes, that's exactly what it means.

[Dieter Mayr]

As my monitor profile is matrix based it wil always use a relative colorimetric rendering intent.

Is using relative colorimetric rendering intent a requirement when using a matrix based profile ?
I have not found any info about this.

Thanks!

[JvdW]

Is using relative colorimetric rendering intent a requirement when using a matrix based profile ?
I have not found any info about this.

As far as I understand it (and I am not an expert) al rendering intents other than relative colorimetric are defined by look up tables inside the target profile. If the target profile doesn't have any tables the relative colorimetric intent will be use regardless of the settings in the software.
Colorspaces such as sRGB, AdobeRGB1998, ProPhotoRGB and many (but not all) monitor profiles are matrix based.

For more info see: http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Color_Man ... yths_21-25

It is not absolutely required to use relative colorimetric rendering intent setting when using a matrix based profile, because it will happen anyway. But it will be much less confusing in your workflow if you do select colorimetric rendering for all matrix based profiles and colorspaces.