Apple

You will probably find that the target should enable the profiling software to establish just what happens IF you print solids in all colours, including 400% even though in your situation you never ever will! The theory for creating REFERENCE profiles used to be that you instructed the software to go to 400%. I still do this, but suspect it is less relevant today. One reason (when printing offset publications) was that some "creative" just might send in an image with 400% and should discover how it looks printed!

2 - If the 550 patches cover adequately the highlight, midtone and shadow areas is that enough patches?

3 - Looking at the reference files that are supplied with the supplied targets (IT8, ECI, etc) it appears that their TIL, GCR or
UCR, black start point and black width are the same as the standard Inkjet settings that are selected when making a profile
(I am using PM 5.0.5b): TIL 400, GCR3, Black Start 40 and black width 1. Should I follow this lead or change settings if I am
later going to create a Profile using, let's say, UCR instead of GCR3?

4. If I know my TIL on the press is 74% CMY and 100% black should I set that as the TIL when I create the custom target?

5 - How do the settings used to make the target effect a profile if the settings to make the profile are different?

A standard (IT8 or ECI) target will have a full range of densities. This will enable the profiling software to establish the colorimetric attributes of your press; i.e. what is actually happening. A printer profile will need to know what kind of "Black Generation, UCR, GCR, TIL, etc.) you require on your press. Once you have read the charts with a spectro and SAVED the data you can re-generate the profile with completely different Black generation, if you want to. If you find that your press is printing too heavy in solids, or if you have "set-off" problems, or would like to save ink, you can regenerate the profile with reduced TIC (TAC).

I like to think that there are THREE types of CMYK output profile: 1) A Press profile which you will convert your RGB images to. This MUST have the correct TIC or TIL required for your printing conditions; 2) A Reference profile, which will describe how your press actually prints, good or bad. What happens if images have too much TIC%? You need to know how any image will actually look; 3) the proofer (usually inkjet) profile. This needs to be very carefully made, after setting correct Lin, etc. Incidentally, with the latest Best Rips, the Lin process is very thorough and seems to do a very good job.