On Jul 27, 2012, at 10:39 AM, Terence Wyse wrote:
In case anyone had any doubts what the Blurb ICC profile is modeling, it's definitely GRACoL2006 Coated1, right down to the paper white L*a*b*. What they're using is essentially a copy of the IDEAlliance GRACoL profile and has little to do with how they're actually printing.
On their web page, they state:
The Blurb ICC Profile is based on the GRACoL2009 reference used in high-end commercial printing. Our entire print network adheres to this standard on all of their print devices for the most consistent results possible with print on demand. By using this color profile, you may soft proof your images while in RGB to see how they will look when printed, or use the profile to actually convert your images to the CMYK color space of the print device to eliminate the press-side conversion. This gives you more control over the images and how they will eventually print.
http://www.blurb.com/guides/color_management/workflow So what would lots of fun would be to send off an RGB target within a book measure it and compare that to the profile as a reference. As to which paper, who knows.
What's bothersome to me about their supplied profile is this likely doesn't represent how they're actually printing, they're just using GRACoL as a generic CMYK target or "working space". The papers they're using certainly don't match GRACoL and, in my experience profiling Indigos and other digital presses, these devices typical don't match GRACoL...although using profiles or device links and internal color management they can get reasonably close.
Exactly! What’s the point? Also interesting is a forum post they have with respect to ICC profiles where one poster suggested that the reason Blurb doesn’t supply individual profiles for all papers is “you can’t profile an Indigo” which is silly, but not refuted by Blurb. Andrew Rodney http://www.digitaldog.net/