Rollout of Color Calibration at Smoothe

Step 1. – Update all workstations that will be printing, with the latest print drivers from the EPSON
website. http://www.epson.com

Step 2 – Download and install the latest ICC profiles (printer specific) from the EPSON website.
http://www.epson.com. These profiles need to be installed on ALL workstations.

TIP: To speed up the process of the copying ICC profiles to all computers simply copy the desired
profiles in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\color folder to all workstations.

ICC profiles are a numeric description of a particular device. Photoshop uses these numbers to ensure
that the data that you see on your screen is converted accordingly to print correctly on the output
device. ICC profiles are specific to the ink type, printer and paper type. Changes to any one of these
elements requires a different profile. The ICC profiles generated by Epson assume EPSON inks are
being used as well as EPSON Papers. As such they are described by the printer name and paper type.

Step 3 – In the printer driver preferences dialog boxes save out a default set for each paper type and
orientation. This is done by configuring all of the options and saving them to a preset (see the Save
Settings section below)
The important settings that MUST remain consistent between all systems are the color management
settings which MUST be set to ICM -> No Color Adjustment. The ICC profiles we installed are what we
want to use so we do not want the print driver interfering with this process. The reason we need to
save out the settings is so we can ensure consistency between all users. If they only have to select a
pre-configured option we will not have to worry about wrong settings getting chosen.
The other options and setting can be whatever you select.

I would suggest these preconfigured setting being named like:

A4 – Landscape
A4 – Portrait
A3 – Landscape
A3 – Portrait

If you use different paper types then there will need to be settings saved out with those options as well
and be named accordingly.

TIP: To speed up the process of the copying printer presets to all computers simply copy the contents
of the C:\Program Files\EPSON\[Printer Name]. The files should have the extensions .UCF and .WAT.

Step 4 – Set up Photoshop/Enable Color Managment

a. Install Color Settings. Using the smoothe.CSF file provided by me (Jeff Mottle) copy this file to
the C:/Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Color/Settings folder of ALL workstations, even
those that are not going to print. This file contains all of the color management settings that
are be standardized on in PhotoShop.
b. Open Photoshop and go to Edit -> Color Settings and from the “Settings” pull down at the very
top, select ‘Smoothe’ and then OK. This must be done on all machines and must NEVER be
changed, nor should any of the settings that this preset configures be manually overridden.

c. Set-up ICC Proofing profiles. With no image open perform the following steps

1. Go to View -> Proof Setup -> Custom

2. In the Profile Box Choose the ICC profile (installed in step 2) that matches the
printer and paper type combination.
3. Select “Relative Colormetric” for the Intent as well as the check box “Paper
White” and “Use Black Point Compensation”
4. Use the save button to save this to the folder C:\Program
Files\Adobe\Color\Proofing. Name the file by the printer name and paper type. i.e.
SP1200_Premium PP
5. Repeat this for all of the printer types and paper types that will be used.
6. You also must set up a proofing profile for web proofing. (See Working with and
editing images for web output in the color calibration users guide.) Follow step 1
but skip steps 2-5. Instead in the profile pulldown choose the current monitor
profile that was created when you did the monitor calibration and ensure that the
 “Preserve Color Numbers is checked”. Then use the save button to save this to
the folder C:\Program Files\Adobe\Color\Proofing with the name “Web Proofing”.
You will have to ensure that after each time a monitor is re-calibrated that the
web-proofing profile is re-saved with the latest monitor profile.
7. Copy the contents of the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Color\Proofing folder to ALL
machines, even those that will not be printing.

Proofing profiles allow you to preview what an image will look like on the selected output device and
paper type.

Step 5 – Calibrate the monitor

a. If applicable remove Adobe Gamma from the system by first deleting Adobe Gamma from the
startup menu and REBOOT (Some systems may not have this installed). After the reboot
 rename the file ‘Adobe Gamma.cpl’ in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration
folder to ‘Adobe Gamma.cpl.bak’ This ensures that this program can not be accidentally run
from the control panel. Doing so would override the settings performed by the Spyder.
b. Read all of the instructions provided with the Pantone Color Spyder and follow them explicitly.
Ensure that you have read them in length before you start the calibration process as there are
steps that are crucial to the successful completion of this process.
c. We are standardizing on the following settings during the PreCal and OptiCal sessions.

i. White point: D50

ii. Gamma: 1.8 (Target Curve)

d. Once you have gone though both the PreCal and OptiCal Sessions you will have generated and
saved out a monitor profile. This profile is saved to
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\color folder. When you name these files they should be
named with the monitor name and the date. i.e. ViewSonic P95f – 03/05/21.
e. While the OptiCal program should have automatically loaded the new profile as default it is
VERY wise to double check this. You can verify the currently loaded profile by going to the
Display Property Settings Tab and clicking on the advanced button. Look in the Color
Management tab in the section entitled “Color Profiles currently associated with this device”.
You should see the profile that you just created. If you do not you will need to browse for it
and add it to the list and make sure it is set as default. It should be the only profile listed. If
there are others, be sure to delete them.
 This calibration process needs to be done on a bi-weekly and more practically a monthly basis. The
OptiCal software can be set to remind users when their monitors need to be re-calibrated.

Step 6 – Proofing and adjusting images

We have just enabled color management in Photoshop (Step 4) and can now use this to preview
images. When you open an image everyone MUST now ensure that they are editing in Soft-
Proofing mode. To do this simply go to View->Proof Setup and chose the proofing profile from the
bottom of the list that is applicable to your output device and paper type. These are the same
profiles that we saved out in step 4c. What we are doing is telling Photoshop to display the image
as it will look when it is printed out on the device and paper selected. This setting must be enabled
every time an image is loaded to ensure you are editing a preview that is representative of the
output.

NOTE: I should also qualify this by saying that the accuracy of what you see on screen and what is
actually printed is entirely dependant upon the environment’s lighting conditions, the quality of the
Printer ICC profiles and the quality of the monitor. Ideally lighting conditions should be two full f/stops
below the monitor brightness and you should be using D50 fluorescent light tubes and if possible a
viewing booth. Also I am not 100% convinced that the profiles provided by EPSON are very accurate
and I would recommend that we get professional profiles generated for our printers if the colors are
not suitably close.

Step 7 – Loading Images

See Users Guide to the Smoothe Color Calibrated Environment

Step 8 – Printing Images

See Users Guide to the Smoothe Color Calibrated Environment

Step 9 – Setting up Adobe Acrobat

Printing to a PDF file is covered in the Printing to a PDF sections of the Color Calibration users guide,
however, before this can be done certain profiles must be set up in the Acrobat environment.

1. From any program capable of printing to a system printer go to Print, then

choose Acrobat Distiller as the printer and press the Properties button.
2. From the Adobe PDF Settings tab press the Edit Conversion setting button
then select the Color tab.
3. In the Adobe Color settings section select the Smoothe preset from the
Setting File drop down that was provided earlier for Photoshop
4. Adjust the other settings from the other tabs to match the desired quality
for the PDF print job type (Print, web etc) It may be worthwhile to look at
the already predefined settings that come with Acrobat to determine which
settings are required or use one as a template and then save it out as a
different name.
5. Once you have configured all of the settings press Save As and save the
file out as Smoothe – Press, Smoothe – Web etc.
This will be the settings that users use to output PDF documents that are of a specific quality and use
color management.

Step 10 – Setting up Quark Express