colprof

profile/colprof

Summary

Create an RGB, CMY or CMYK ICC profile from the .ti3 test chart patch values.
[ Note that currently, Monochrome and N-Color profiles are not supported. ]

Usage Summary

colprof [-options] inoutfile -v         Verbose mode -A "manufacturer" Set the manufacturer description string -M "model"         Set the model description string -D "description"   Set the profile Description string (Default "inoutfile") -C "copyright"     Set the copyright string -Z tmnb          Attributes: Transparency, Matte, Negative, BlackAndWhite -Z prsa           Default intent: Perceptual, Rel. Colorimetric, Saturation, Abs. Colorimetric -q lmhu        Table resolution - Low, Medium (def), High, Ultra -b [lmhun]     Low quality B2A table - or specific B2A quality or none for input device -ni        Don't create input (Device) shaper curves -np        Don't create input (Device) grid position curves -no        Don't create output (PCS) shaper curves -nc        Don't put the input .ti3 data in the profile -k zhxr Black Ink generation: z = zero K,                 h = 0.5 K (def), x = max K, r = ramp K -k p stle stpo enpo enle shape                 stle: K level at White 0.0 - 1.0             stpo: start point of transition Wh 0.0 - Bk 1.0             enpo: End point of transition Wh 0.0 - Bk 1.0             enle: K level at Black 0.0 - 1.0             shape: 1.0 = straight, 0.0-1.0 concave, 1.0-2.0 convex -K parameters      Same as -k, but target is K locus rather than K value itself -l tlimit      override CMYK total ink limit, 0 - 400% (default from .ti3) -L klimit      override black ink limit, 0 - 100% (default from .ti3) -a lxXYgsmGS       Algorithm type override                       l = Lab cLUT (def.), x = XYZ cLUT,                       X = display XYZ cLUT + matrix, Y = display XYZ cLUT + debug matrix                       g = gamma+matrix, s = shaper+matrix, m = matrix only,                       G = single gamma+matrix, S = single shaper+matrix -u         If input profile, auto scale WP to allow extrapolation
-ua            If input profile, force Absolute Colorimetric intent -uc            If input profile, clip cLUT values above WP -U scale         If input profile, scale media white point by scale -R                 Restrict white <= 1.0, black and primaries to be +ve -B X,Y,Z           Display Black Point override hack -V demphasis       Degree of dark region cLUT grid emphasis 1.0-3.0 (default 1.00 = none) -f [illum]         Use Fluorescent Whitening Agent compensation [opt. simulated inst. illum.:                       M0, M1, M2,A, C, D50 (def.), D50M2, D65, F5, F8, F10 or file.sp ] -i illum   Choose illuminant for computation of CIE XYZ from spectral data & FWA:             A, C, D50 (def.), D50M2, D65, F5, F8, F10 or file.sp -o observ Choose CIE Observer for spectral data:             1931_2(def.), 1964_10, 2012_2, 2012_10, S&B 1955_2, shaw, J&V 1978_2 or file.cmf -r avgdev    Average deviation of device+instrument readings as a percentage (default 0.5%) -s src.icm|cperc Apply gamut mapping to output profile perceptual B2A table for given source, or compression percentage -S src.icm|experc Apply gamut mapping to output profile perceptual and saturation B2A table, or expansion percentage -nP                Use colormetric source gamut to make output profile perceptual table -nS                Use colormetric source gamut to make output profile saturation table -g src.gam         Use source image gamut as well for output profile gamut mapping -p aprof.icm,... Incorporate abstract profile(s) into output tables -t intent         Override gamut mapping intent for output profile perceptual table: -T intent          Override gamut mapping intent for output profile saturation table:             a - Absolute Colorimetric (in Jab) [ICC Absolute Colorimetric]                aw - Absolute Colorimetric (in Jab) with scaling to fit white point                aa - Absolute Appearance                 r - White Point Matched Appearance [ICC Relative Colorimetric]            la - Luminance matched Appearance                 p - Perceptual (Preferred) [ICC Perceptual]                 pa - Perceptual Appearance
                 lp - Luminance Preserving Perceptual                ms - Saturation                 s - Enhanced Saturation [ICC Saturation]              al - Absolute Colorimetric (Lab)                 rl - White Point Matched Colorimetric (Lab) -c viewcond        set input viewing conditions for output profile CIECAM02 gamut mapping,                       either an enumerated choice, or a parameter -d viewcond        set output viewing conditions for output profile CIECAM02, gamut mapping                       either an enumerated choice, or a parameter:value change                       Also sets out of gamut clipping CAM space.                       Enumerated Viewing Conditions:    pc - Critical print evaluation environment (ISO-3664 P1)                  pp - Practical Reflection Print (ISO-3664 P2)            pe - Print evaluation environment (CIE 116-1995)           pm - Print evaluation with partial Mid-tone adapation          mt - Monitor in typical work environment        mb - Monitor in bright work environment        md - Monitor in darkened work environment        jm - Projector in dim environment            jd - Projector in dark environment           pcd - Photo CD - original scene outdoors            ob - Original scene - Bright Outdoors        cx - Cut Sheet Transparencies on a viewing box     s:surround n = auto, a = average, m = dim, d = dark,                          c = transparency (default average)       w:X:Y:Z       Adapted white point as XYZ (default media white)         w:x:y         Adapted white point as x, y       a:adaptation Adaptatation luminance in cd.m^2 (default 50.0)       b:background Background % of image luminance (default 20)                       l:imageewhite Image white in cd.m^2 if surround = auto (default 250)
            f:flare       Flare light % of image luminance (default 0)             g:glare       Glare light % of ambient (default 5)             g:X:Y:Z       Glare color as XYZ (default media white)         g:x:y         Glare color as x, y             h:hkscale     Helmholtz-Kohlrausch effect scale factor (default 1.0)             m:mtaf        Mid-tone partial adaptation factor (default 0.0)             m:X:Y:Z       Mid-tone Adaptation white as XYZ (default D50)         m:x:y         Mid-tone Adaptation white as x, y -P                   Create gamut gammap_p.x3d.html and gammap_s.x3d.html diagostics -O outputfile        Override the default output filename & extension. inoutfile    Base name for input.ti3/output.icc file

Options

-v Turn on verbose mode. Gives progress information as the profile is created. Since colprof can take a long time to generate, this is often useful to monitor progress.

The -A parameter allows setting of the device manufacturer description tag. The parameter should be a string that identifies the manufacturer of the device being profiled. With most command line shells, it will be necessary to enclose the parameter with double quotes, so that spaces and other special characters are included in the parameter, and not mistaken for the start of another flag, or as a final command line parameters. By default no manufacturer description string tag will be generated for the profile.

The -M parameter allows setting of the device mode description tag. The parameter should be a string that identifies the particular model of device being profiled. With most command line shells, it will be necessary to enclose the parameter with double quotes, so that spaces and other special characters are included in the parameter, and not mistaken for the start of another flag, or as a final command line parameters. By default no model description string tag will be generated for the profile.

The -D parameter allows setting of the profile description tag. The parameter should be a string that describes the device and profile. On many systems, it will be this string that will be used to identify the profile from a list of possible profiles. With most command line shells, it will be necessary to enclose the parameter with double quotes, so that spaces and other special characters are included in the parameter, and not mistaken for the start of another flag, or as a final command line parameter. Many programs that deal with ICC profiles use the description tag to identify a profile, rather than the profile filename, so using a descriptive string is important in being able to find a profile. By default, the base name of the resulting profile will be used as the description.

The -C parameter allows setting of the profile copyright tag. The parameter should be a string that describes the copyright (if any) claimed on the profile being generated.. With most command line shells, it will be necessary to enclose the parameter with double quotes, so that spaces and other special characters are included in the parameter, and not mistaken for the start of another flag, or as a final command line parameters. By default a generic copyright string will be generated for the profile.

The -Z parameter allows setting of the profile attribute flags. There are four flags: t to set Transparency, the default being Reflective; m to set Matte, the default is Glossy; n to set Negative, the default is Positive; b to set BlackAndWhite, the default is Color.

The -Z parameter allows setting of the profile default intent. The default intent can be one of the four standard intents: p to set Perceptual, r to set Relative Colorimetric, s to set Saturation, and a to set Absolute colorimetric. Some CMM's will use this to determine the default intent that they will use.

The -q parameter sets the level of effort and/or resolution in the resulting profile. For table based profiles ("cLUT" profiles), it sets the main lookup table size, and hence detail in the resulting profile. For matrix profiles it sets the per channel curve detail level and fitting "effort". It is highly recommended that -qm be used as a starting point, and other settings only tried after this has been evaluated. NOTE that -qu is a test mode, and shouldn't be used, except to prove that it is not worth using.

The -b flag overrides the -q parameter, and sets the lut resolution for the BtoA (inverse) to a low value. The creation of the B2A table is fairly time consuming, and if the profile is only going to be used by targen, or if it will only be used as an input space profile, or if it will only be linked as an output profile using Argyll's collink tool using the -G option (inverse AtoB option), then a high detail BtoA table is not required, and some time and profile space can be saved. If the profile is to be used as an output space profile with another CMS, or is going to be linked using the simple (-s) or mapping mode (-g) options, then a good quality B2A table is needed, and the -b flag should NOT be set. Optionally, a specific B2A table quality can be set.

For input devices, the presence of a B2A table is not mandatory, and it can be omitted entirely from the profile by using -bn. Note that input profiles and matrix profiles will only contain a colorimetric intent table or matrix.

Normally cLUT base profiles are generated with three major elements:- per device channel (shaper) input curves, the multi-dimensional lut table, and per PCS channel (shaper) output curves. The Using the -ni flag disables the creation of the per device channel curves, while using the -no flag disables the creation of the per PCS channel curves.
For cLUT based profiles, the input curves that are written to the profile are composed of two components, a shape to best match the detailed shape of the device behavior, and a shape to distribute the input values evenly across the LUT input indexes. The -no flag disables the former, while the -np flag disables the latter.

-nc Normally the device and CIE/spectral sample data and calibration curves used to create a profile is stored in the 'targ' text tag in the resulting ICC profile. To suppress this and make the resulting profile smaller, use the -nc flag. Note that this will then preclude final calibrated device value ink limits from being computed for the resulting profile in subsequent use (ie. collink, xicclu etc.).

-k parameter sets the target level of black (K) when creating a B2A CMYK output tables. This is often called a black level, a black inking rule, black generation, or under color removal. These set the target black level.

Possible arguments to the -k flag are:

-kz selects minimum black (0.0)
-kh selects a black value of 0.5
-kx selects the maximum possible black (1.0)
-kr selects a linear black ramp, starting at minimum black for highlight, and maximum black for shadow (equivalent to -kp 0 0 1 1 1). This is the default.

-k p stle stpo enpo enle shape allows an arbitrary black value ramp to be defined, consisting of a starting value (stle) for highlights, a breakpoint L value (stpo) where it starts to transition to the shadow level, an end breakpoint L (enpo) where it flattens out again, and the finishing black level (enle) for the shadows. There is also a curve parameter, that modifies the transition from stle to enle to either be concave (ie. the transition starts gradually and and finished more abruptly) using values 0.0-1.0, with 0.0 being most concave, or convex (the transition starts more abruptly but finishes gradually), using values 1.0-2.0, with 2.0 being the most convex.

Typical black value generation curve with parameters something like: -kp 0 .1 .9 1 .5

         1.0 K |         enpo                  |         _______ enle                  |      /                  |        /                  |      /                  |      /            stle | ------/                +-------------------          0.0 K 0.0    stpo        1.0                White              Black
For minimum sensitivity of printed output to the lighting spectrum, it currently seems best to use the maximum possible black, but other black generation levels (ie. 0.3 to 0.5) may well be preferred if one wants to minimize the noisy appearance of black on an inkjet device, or if the banding behaviour or other rendering flaws of the printer is to be minimized.

Note that the black level curve is applied throughout the gamut, resulting in GCR (Grey Component Replacement). There is no facility to restrict black to just neutral colors, hence UCR is not currently supported.

The xicclu tool can be used to plot out the resulting black level for a given set of parameters, by using the -g flag of a profile already created from the same .ti3 file.

-K parameters. Any of the -k options above can use the -K version, in which rather than an absolute black value target being defined by the inking rule, the black proportion out of the maximum possible for each color is defined. This makes the inking curve scale proportionally over the gamut, rather than clipping in dark chromatic regions where not much black can be added.

The -l tlimit parameter sets the total ink limit (TAC, Total Area Coverage) for the CMYK separation, as a total percentage from 0% to 400%, and overrides any ink limit specified in the .ti3 file. The limit value should generally be set a little below the value used in the test chart generation, to avoid the very edges of the gamut. If the test chart ink limit has been chosen to be a little beyond an acceptable level, then this number should be the acceptable level. Although limits can be set below 200%, this will generally restrict the color gamut noticeably, as fully saturated secondary colors will not be reproduced. Values are between 220% and 300% for typical printing devices. Ink limits will be in the final calibrated device values if the .ti3 includes the calibration table.

The -L klimit parameter sets the black channel ink limit for the CMYK separation, as a total percentage from 0% to 100%. For printing press like devices, this can be used to prevent the black channel screening pattern "filling in". Typical values might be from 95% to 99%. Note that with the current implementation this can slow down the creation of the profile quite noticeably, so do not use -L unless you really need to. Ink limits will be in the final calibrated device values if the .ti3 includes the calibration table.

The -a parameter allows choosing an alternate profile type.

By default (equivalent to -al) profile creates a cLUT based table profile with a PCS (Profile Connection Space) of L*a*b*, which generally gives the most robust and accurate results, and allows for the four different rendering intents that ICC profiles can support.

A cLUT base table profile using a PCS of XYZ can be created if -ax is used, and this may have the advantage of better accuracy for additive type devices (displays, scanners, cameras etc.), may avoid clipping for displays with a colorant chromaticity that can't be encoded in L*a*b* PCS space, and may give a more accurate white point for input devices by avoiding clipping of values above the white point that can occur in L*a*b* based cLUT input profiles. A disadvantage of this type of profile is that it can be a lot less robust if given a test patch set that is sparse, or too unevenly spaced.

-aX with Display profiles will create a profile with both XYZ cLUT tags and fallback shaper/matrix tags for situations in which the profile needs to work with Applications or CMMs that don't support cLUT. To help diagnose this situation.
-aY will create a similar profile for Display devices, but the matrix will have dummy values that deliberately interchanges Red, Green and Blue channels, so that it is obvious if the cLUT tables are not being used.

For RGB input or display profiles, a simpler type of profile using either a gamma curves or a general shaper curves, combined with a matrix can be created, although such a profile cannot support perceptual or saturation intents. Gamma curve and matrix profiles can be created by specifying -ag or -aG, the former creating three independent gamma curves, one for each device channel, and the latter creating one common curve for all the device channels. The latter may be needed with certain applications that will not accept different gamma curves for each channel. General shaper curve and matrix profiles (which are superior to gamma curve profiles) can be created by specifying -as or -aS, the former creating three independent shaper curves, one for each device channel, and the latter creating one common curve for all the device channels. The latter may be needed with certain applications that will not accept different shaper curves for each channel.

The -am option will create a matrix profile with linear (i.e. gamma = 1.0) curves. This may be useful in creating a profile for a device that is known to have a perfectly linear response, such as a camera in RAW mode.

-u: Input profiles will normally be created such that the white patch of the test chart will be mapped to perfect white when used with any of the non-absolute colorimetric intents. This is the expected behavior for input profiles. If such a profile is then used with a sample that has a lighter color than the original test chart, then a cLUT profile will clip the value, since it cannot be represented in the lut table. Using the -u flag causes the media white point to be automatically scaled (using the same type of scaling as the -U scale option) to avoid clipping values up to full device white, while still correcting the hue. This flag can be useful when the white point of the test chart doesn't represent the white points of media that will be used in practice, and that white point adjustment will be done individually in some downstream application.

-ua: For input profiles, this flag forces the effective intent to be Absolute Colorimetric even when used with Relative Colorimetric intent selection in a CMM, by setting a D50 white point tag. This also has the effect of preserving the conversion of colors whiter than the white patch of the test chart without clipping them (similar to the -u flag), but does not hue correct white. This flag can be useful when an input profile is needed for using a scanner as a "poor mans" colorimeter.

-uc: For input profiles it is sometimes desirable that any highlights brighter than the white point, map (clip) exactly to white, and this option post processes the cLUT entries to ensure this is the case. Note that due to the finite nature of the cLUT grid, this may affect the accuracy of colors near the light surface of the device gamut.

-U scale: Input profiles will normally be created such that the white patch of the test chart will be mapped to perfect white when used with any of the non-absolute colorimetric intents. This is the expected behavior for input profiles. Sometimes the test chart white is not quite the same as the media being converted through the input profile, and it may be desirable in these cases to adjust the input profile white point to compensate for this. This can happen in the case of a camera profile, where the test chart is not perfectly exposed. The -U parameter allows this. If the media converted is a little darker than the test chart white, then use a scale factor slightly less than 1.0 to make sure that the media white comes out as white on conversion (ie. try 0.9 for instance). If the media is a little lighter than the test chart white and is "blowing out" the highlights, try a value slightly greater than 1.0 (ie. try 1.1 for instance). The -u option sets the scale automatically to accomodate a perfect white, but -U scale can be used on top of this automatic scaling.

-R: Normally the white point, black point and primary locations (for matrix profiles) are computed so as to create profiles that best match the sample data provided. Some programs are not happy with the resulting locations if they have negative XYZ values, or if the white point has a Y value > 1. The -R option restricts the white, black and primary values, so as to work with these programs, but this will reduce the accuracy of the profile.

-B X,Y,Z This option is for display profiles only, and allows overriding the black point of the resulting profile. The XYZ value is in absolute instrument measurement units. This option should be used only in special circumstances, for instance if the display has a very low black point and the instrument is not capable of measuring the black point accurately or consistently. In this case a manual estimate of the black point could be made and provided as the argument to -B. It may also be useful for displays with black points that approach perfect black (ie. Plasma or OLED) where a value of 0,0,0 may be more accurate than typical instrument measurements. A value that is too different to the default computed black point will likely result in a profile with strange behavior near black.
Note that the default contents of the .ti3 created by dispread is normalised to be 100 for the white point Y value, and similarly values returned by icclu -ia -px are normalized to a white Y value of 1.0, which is not what the -B option expects, so some care needs to be taken in specifying and evaluating the resulting black point XYZ values.

The -V demphasis parameter allows sets the degree to which cLUT grid spacing should emphasize the accuracy of modelling the device response in the dark regions, over that of the lighter regions. By default this value will be a scaled down version of the one set using the targen -V parameter, and values in the range 1.3 - 1.6 are a good place to start. Display devices used for video or film reproduction are typically viewed in dark viewing environments with no strong white reference, and typically employ a range of brightness levels in different scenes. This often means that the devices dark region response is of particular importance, so increasing the density of cLUT grid points in the dark region may improved the balance of accuracy of the resulting profile for video or film reproduction. This is most valuable when used in concert with a set of test points that more densely sample the dark regions, by use of the corresponding targen -V parameter. Emphasizing the dark region characterization will reduce the accuracy of modelling the lighter regions given a certain quality/grid resolution.

The -f flag enables Fluorescent Whitening Agent (FWA) compensation. This only works if spectral data is available and, the instrument is not UV filtered. FWA compensation adjusts the spectral samples so that they appear to have been measured using an illuminant that has a different level of Ultra Violet to the one the instrument actually used in the measurement. There are two ways this can be used:

The first and most useful is to use the -f flag with the -i illuminant parameter (i.e. "-f -i D50"), to make the color values more accurately reflect their appearance under the viewing illuminant. This will work accurately if you specify the actual illuminant spectrum you are using to view the print, using the -i flag. If you are doing proofing, you need to apply this to both your source profile, and your destination profile. Note that it is not sufficient to specify an illuminant with the same white point as the one you are using, you should specify the spectrum of the illuminant you are actually using for the proofing, including its Ultra Violet spectral content, otherwise FWA compensation won't work properly. This means you ideally need to measure your illuminant spectrum using an instrument that can measure down to 300nm. Such instruments are not easy to come by. The best alternative is to use the illumread utility, which uses an indirect means of measuring an illuminant and estimating its UV content. Another alternative is to simply try different illuminant spectra in the ref directory, and see if one gives you the result you are after, although this will be fairly a tedious approach. The ref/D50_X.X.sp set of illuminant spectra are the D50 spectrum with different levels of U.V. added or subtracted, ref/D50_1.0.sp being the standard D50 illuminant, and may be somewhere to start.

[Note: Generally using -f with the standard (-i) D50 illuminant spectrum will predict that the device will produce bluer output than the default of not FWA compensation. This is because most instruments use an incandescent illuminant (A type illuminant), which has lower relative levels of UV than D50, so the FWA compensation simulates the effect of the greater UV in the D50. Also note that in an absolute colorimetric color transformation, the more a profile predicts the output device will have blue output, the yellower the result will be, as the overall color correction compensates for the blueness. The opposite will happen for an input profile.]

The second way of using the -f flag is to provide it with a instrument simulation illuminant spectrum parameter, in addition to the default D50 or -i parameter CIE XYZ calculation illuminant (i.e. "-f M1", or "-f A -i D65" etc.). This more complicated scenario simulates the measurement of the spectral reflectance of the samples under a particular instrument illuminant, then computes the CIE XYZ values of that reflectance spectrum under the default D50 or -i parameter illuminant. This is not used to give a more accurate real world result, but to provide simulations of various standardized measurement conditions. For instance, to reproduce ISO 13655:2009 M2 measurement conditions, the -f D50M2 could be used (together with the default -i D50 setting). There are shortcuts provided for ISO 13655:2009 conditions:

    -f M0        equivalent to    -f A
    -f M1        equivalent to    -f D50
    -f M2        equivalent to    -f D50M2

Note that using -f M2 gives a result that is comparable to that of a U.V. cut filter instrument. See also the discussion About Fluorescent Whitening Agent compensation.

The -i parameter allows specifying a standard or custom illumination spectrum, applied to spectral .ti3 data to compute PCS (Profile Connection Space) tristimulus values. A, D50, D65, F5, F8, F10 are a selection of standard illuminant spectrums, with D50 being the default. If a filename is specified instead, it will be assumed to be an Argyll specific .sp custom spectrum file. This only works if spectral data is available. Illuminant details are:

        A   CIE tungsten filament lamp 2848K
        D50 CIE daylight 5000K
        D65 CIE daylight 6500K
        F5 CIE Fluorescent 6350K, CRI 72
        F8 CIE Fluorescent 5000K, CRI 95
        F10 CIE Fluorescent 5000K, CRI 81

Custom illuminants are most often used when a viewing booth or other known viewing conditions is going to be used to view results. Other illuminant reference files could be created using a suitable measuring instrument such as a spectrolino, or an eyeone using spotread, although such instruments do not themselves provide the necessary response down to Ultra Violet that is needed for accurate operation of Fluorescent Whitening Agent compensation. The best way of measuring a custom illuminant is to use illumread, since it uses a special method to estimate the illuminant UV in a way that complements FWA compensation. (See the discussion above for the -f flag).

Note that if an illuminant other than D50 is chosen, the resulting ICC profile will not be standard, and may not work perfectly with other profiles that that use the standard ICC D50 illuminant, particularly if the absolute rendering intent is used. Profiles should generally be linked with other profiles that have the same illuminant and observer.

The -o flag allows specifying a tristimulus observer, and is used to compute tristimulus values. The following choices are available:
1931_2 selects the standard CIE 1931 2 degree observer. The default.
1964_10 selects the standard CIE 1964 10 degree observer
2012_2 selects the proposed CIE 2012 2 degree observer
2012_10 selects the proposed CIE 2012 10 degree observer
1955_2 selects the Stiles and Birch 1955 2 degree observer
1978_2 selects the Judd and Voss 1978 2 degree observer
shaw selects the Shaw and Fairchild 1997 2 degree observer
file.cmf selects an observer specified by the given .cmf file.

Note that if an observer other than 1931 2 degree is chosen, the resulting ICC profile will not be standard, and cannot be freely interchanged with other profiles that that use the standard 1931 2 degree observer. Profiles should only be linked with other profiles that have the same illuminant and observer. The 1978_2 observer or shaw observer may give slightly better results than the 1931_2 observer.

The -r parameter specifies the average deviation of device+instrument readings from the perfect, noiseless values as a percentage. Knowing the uncertainty in the reproduction and test patch reading can allow the profiling process to be optimized in determining the behaviour of the underlying system. The lower the uncertainty, the more each individual test reading can be relied on to infer the underlying systems color behaviour at that point in the device space. Conversely, the higher the uncertainty, the less the individual readings can be relied upon, and the more the collective response will have to be used. In effect, the higher the uncertainty, the more the input test patch values will be smoothed in determining the devices response. If the perfect, noiseless test patch values had a uniformly distributed error of +/- 1.0% added to them, then this would be an average deviation of 0.5%. If the perfect, noiseless test patch values had a normally distributed error with a standard deviation of 1% added to them, then this would correspond to an average deviation of 0.564%. For a lower quality instrument (less than say a Gretag Spectrolino or Xrite DTP41), or a more variable device (such as a xerographic print engine, rather than a good quality inkjet), then you might be advised to increase the -r parameter above its default value (double or perhaps 4x would be good starting values.)

-s -S In order to generate perceptual and saturation intent B2A tables for output profiles, it is necessary to have something that defines what source gamut should be used to create the source to destination gamut mapping. [For more information on why a source gamut is needed, see About ICC profiles and Gamut Mapping]. The -S parameter is used to do this, and doing so causes perceptual and saturation tables to be generated. If only a perceptual intent is needed, then the -s flag can be used, and the saturation intent will use the same table as the perceptual intent.

There are two ways of specifying a source gamut 1) Specify a specific source ICC profile or 2) Specify a general compression of the output gamut as a percentage. With the second choice, incoming colors that are up to the percentage outside the devices gamut will be compressed to fit into it. The same percentage is used for expansion if a saturation table is generated, or a separate percentage can be specified by including both a -s and -S percentage. You can optionally specify both an input ICC profile and a general compression percentage by using the -S option twice, in which case the input profile determines just the luminance range mapping, with the percentage determining the gamut volume compression. If a percentage compression is specified without an ICC profile, then the incoming luminance range will be assumed to be full range (perfect white to perfect black), which is compatible with idealized colorspaces such as sRGB, AdobeRGB and other working RGB spaces. The input viewing conditions are applicable to the assumed full range input.

If no source ICC or compression percentage is specified for a cLUT Display profile, then an ICC Version 2.2.0 profile will be created with only an A2B0 and B2A0 tag. If a source gamut is specified, then an ICC Version 2.4.0 profile will be created with a full complement of B2A tags to support all intents.

The source gamut is created from the corresponding intent table of the provided profile to the output table being created. A TIFF or JPEG file containing an embedded ICC profile may be supplied as the argument, instead of an ICC profile.

Note that input profiles and matrix profiles will only contain a colorimetric intent table or matrix, and hence the -s and -S option is not relevant.
Note that an input, output, display or device colororspace profile should be specified, not a non-device colorspace, device link, abstract or named color profile.
Note that specifying a very large gamut colorspace as the source gamut (i.e. ProPhoto etc.) is probably NOT what you want to do, since unless the source images have a similar very large gamut to that of the colorspace, they will end up getting over compressed and come out looking dull. Instead use a source profile that has a gamut more representative of the images gamut, or you should provide a gamut using the the -g parameter.

-nP: Normally when a source profile is provided to define the source gamut for the output profile perceptual table gamut mapping, the perceptual source table is used to determine this gamut. This is because some profile have gamut transformations in their perceptual A2B tables that is not in the colorimetric A2B table, and this needs to be taken into account in creating the perceptual B2A table, so that when the two profiles are linked together with the perceptual intent, the gamut mapping works as intended. The -nP option causes the source gamut to be taken from the source profile colorimetric table instead, causing the perceptual gamut mapping created for the perceptual table to be from the natural source colorspace gamut to the output space gamut.

-nS: Normally when a source profile is provided to define the source gamut for the output profile saturation table gamut mapping, the saturation source table is used to determine this gamut. This is because some profile have gamut transformations in their saturation A2B tables that is not in the colorimetric A2B table, and this needs to be taken into account in creating the saturation B2A table, so that when the two profiles are linked together with the saturation intent, the gamut mapping works as intended. The -nS option causes the source gamut to be taken from the source profile colorimetric table instead, causing the saturation gamut mapping created for the saturation table to be from the natural source colorspace gamut to the output space gamut.

The -g flag and its argument allow the use of a specific source gamut instead of that of the source profile. This is to allow optimizing the gamut mapping to a source gamut of a particular image, which can give slightly better results that gamut mapping from the gamut of the source colorspace. Such a source image gamut can be created using the tiffgamut tool. The gamut provided to the -g flag should be in the same colorspace that colprof is using internally to connect the two profiles. For all intents except the last one (no. 7), the space should be Jab appearance space, with the viewing conditions generally being those of the input profile viewing conditions. The input profile will normally be the one used to create a source image gamut using tiffgamut. Note that a source gamut is not used if a general compression ratio gamut mapping is used.

The -p option allows specifying one or more abstract profiles that will be applied to the output tables, after any gamut mapping. An abstract profile is a way of specifying a color adjustment in a device independent way. The abstract profile might have been created using one of the tweak tools, such as refine.
If a single abstract profile is specified, then it will be applied to all the output tables (colorimetric, perceptual and saturation). To specify different abstract profiles for each output table, use a contiguous comma separated list of filenames. Omit a filename between the commas if no abstract profile is to be applied to a table. For instance: -p colabst.icm,percabst.icm,satabst.icm for three different abstract transforms, or: -p ,percabst.icm, for just a perceptual table abstract transform.

One strategy for getting the best perceptual results with output profile when using ICC profiles with systems that don't accept device link profiles, is as follows: Specify a gamut mapping profile of opposite type to the type of device being profiled, and when linking, use the relative colorimetric intent if the two profiles are of the same type, and perceptual intent if the two profiles are of the opposite type. For instance, if you are creating a CMYK output profile, specify an RGB profile for the -s or -S parameter. If linking that profile with a CMYK source profile, use relative colorimetric intent, or if linking with an RGB profile, use the perceptual intent. Conversely, if creating an RGB output profile, specify a CMYK profile for the -s or -S parameter, and if linking that profile with an RGB source profile, use relative colorimetric intent, or if linking with a CMYK profile, use the perceptual intent.

(Note that the perceptual and saturation table gamut mapping doesn't make any allowance for the application of the abstract profile. This is a bug.)

Normally, the gamut mapping used in creating the perceptual and saturation intent tables for output profiles is set to perceptual and saturation gamut mapping (as would be expected), but it is possible to override this default selection for each intent using the -t and -T flags. The -t flag can be used to set the gamut mapping for the perceptual table, and the -T flag can be used to set the gamut mapping for the saturation table. A more detailed description of the different intents is given in collink. Note that selecting any of the absolute intents will probably not function as expected, since the perceptual and saturation tables are inherently relative colorimetric in nature.

Since appearance space is used in the gamut mapping (just as it is in collink), the viewing conditions for the source and destination colorspaces should really be specified. The source colorspace is the profile specified with the -s or -S flag, and the destination is the profile being created. The -c and -d options allow specification of their respective, associated viewing conditions. The viewing condition information is used to map the profile PCS (Profile Connection Space, which us either XYZ or L*a*b*) color into appearance space (CIECAM02), which is a better colorspace to do gamut mapping in. The viewing conditions allow the conversion into appearance space to take account of how color will be seen under particular viewing conditions.

Viewing conditions can be specified in two basic ways. One is to select from the list of "pre canned", enumerated viewing conditions, choosing one that is closest to the conditions that are appropriate for the media type and situation. Alternatively, the viewing conditions parameters can be specified individually. If both methods are used, them the chosen enumerated condition will be used as a base, and its parameters will then be individually overridden.

Appearance space is also used to provide a space to map any remaining out of gamut colors (after a possible gamut mapping has been applied) into the device gamut.

The -P option causes diagnostic 3D X3DOM plots to be created that illustrate the gamut mappings generated for the perceptual and saturation intent tables.

The -O parameter allows the output file name & extension to be specified independently of the final parameter basename. Note that the full filename must be specified, including the extension.

The final parameter is the file base name for the .ti3 input test point data, and the resulting ICC output profile (.icm extension on the MSWindows platform, .icc on Apple or Unix platforms). The -O parameter will override this default.

For information on typical usage, see the Typical Usage Scenarios page.

Discussion

Note that monochrome profiling isn't currently supported. It may be supported sometime in the future.

If the -v flag is used (verbose), then at the end of creating a profile, the maximum and average fit error of the input points to the resulting profile will be reported. This is a good guide as to whether things have gone smoothly in creating a profile. Depending on the type of device, and the consistency of the readings, average errors of 5 or less, and maximum errors of 15 or less would normally be expected. If errors are grossly higher than this, then this is an indication that something is seriously wrong with the device measurement, or profile creation.

Given a .ti3 file from a display device that contains calibration curves (generated by dispcal, passed through dispread) and the calibration indicates that the VideoLUTs are accessible for the device, then colprof will convert the calibration into a vcgt tag in the resulting profile so that the operating system tools can configure the display hardware appropriately, whenever the profile is used. If the VideoLUTs are not marked as being accessible, colprof will do nothing with the calibration curves. In this case, to apply calibration, the curves have to be incorporated in the subsequent workflow, either by incorporating them into the profile using applycal, or including them after the profile in a cctiff profile chain.

Given a .ti3 file from a print device that contains the per-channel calibration information (generated by printcal, passed through printtarg and chartread), colprof will save this along with the .ti3 file in the 'targ' text tag in the profile, so that subsequent evaluation of ink limits can compute the final calibrated device values.

The viewing condition parameter m: is a hack, intended to address certain situations involving the use of papers containing FWA/OBE brighteners when viewed in an environment that has a very noticeably warmer white point than the paper itself under the illuminant. While the white point will remain that of the paper, it allows the mid-tones to be partially adapted to a warmer white point, possibly reducing visual discrepancy. NOTE though, that this viewing situation doesn't often arise in real world viewing of such media, as such documents are typically viewed in isolation or against a background of other pieces of the same paper. Note that it is a trap to evaluate such FWA/OBE rich paper using standard proofing viewing conditions, since they deliberately use a spectrally flat grey surround, unnaturally emphasizing the white point difference between FWA/OBE rich papers and spectrally flat neutrals, something that isn't present in real world conditions. The pm preset condition has mtaf value of 0.7, and Wxyz2 of D50.