Getting Started

Getting started

This page walks through one complete profile: new paper, new folder, printed chart, measurements, ICC file, install. After you have done this once, the other pages in this guide fill in the details.

If ICCery is not in Applications yet, see Installing on Home. You need macOS 12 Monterey or later.

Prepare the printer

1. Add the printer in System Settings so it appears in the print queue list.
2. Open any print dialog for that printer and find colour management. Set it to Off, No Color Adjustment, or Application Managed. The exact words depend on the driver. If the driver still "improves" the chart, the profile you build later will fight that correction.
3. Load the paper you will profile, not a leftover scrap of a different stock.
4. Plug in the spectrophotometer. If macOS asks whether to allow the accessory, allow it.

Prepare a folder

Create an empty folder for this combination of printer, paper, and ink. A useful name is the paper plus the ink set, for example P900-CansonRag-PK in your Documents folder.

ICCery will write several files there. They share a short name called the basename. If you save the target as canson-rag.ti1, the basename is canson-rag and later files will be canson-rag.ti2, canson-rag.ti3, and canson-rag.icc.

Do not put a slash in the basename. Do not reuse a folder that already holds a different paper's files unless you intend to overwrite them.

Open ICCery

You see one window. The left column is the sidebar. The right side is the current step. If a coloured banner appears at the top of the right side, read it. That is how the app reports problems.

Optional now, useful later: after Stage 1 has a folder and a basename, use File > New Project or File > Save Project As so you can reopen this work next month. See Projects.

Click the question mark in the sidebar if you want short labels on the controls. Click it again to hide them.

Step 1. Generate the target

1. On the right, choose RGB (print drivers) unless you send CMYK to a RIP.
2. Choose a patch count. A few hundred patches is enough for a first look. A final profile is happier with more patches if you can measure the extra pages.
3. Click Working Dir and choose the empty folder.
4. Click Browse and save the .ti1 file. That save also sets the basename.
5. Click Generate Target. Wait until the button returns to its normal label.

Step 2 in the sidebar should light up. If it does not, the .ti1 file was not written. Read the banner.

Step 2. Lay out and print

1. Check page size, TIFF bit depth, and the instrument that will later read the chart.
2. Click Create Layout. Thumbnails of the pages appear.
3. Choose the printer queue. Set Portrait or Landscape to match how you loaded the paper.
4. Print each page, or print all pages. Wait for the printer to finish.
5. Let the ink dry. Gloss and heavy rag often need longer than you think.
6. Click Advance to Stage 3.

If the printed greys already look "photo ready", the driver is still managing colour. Change the driver and print again. Do not measure a managed chart and hope the profile will undo it.

Step 3. Measure

1. Click the refresh control next to Instrument if the list is empty.
2. Choose Auto, or pick the named port if you have more than one device. If you set a default instrument in Settings and that device is plugged in, it is offered first.
3. Click Start Read. Follow the status line: calibrate on the white tile, then measure strips or patches as asked.
4. Click Done and Save when the chart is complete.

A .ti3 file appears in the folder and step 4 unlocks. If a first pass looks noisy, print a second sheet of the same target and use Measure Another Sheet, then Finish and Average.

Step 4. Build the profile

1. Leave quality on High unless you are only testing the pipeline.
2. If you created printer curves in Calibrate Printer and want them inside this profile, turn on Apply calibration curve and point at the .cal file.
3. Click Create Profile.

When it finishes you have an ICC file in the folder and step 5 unlocks. The app also tries to write a .gam file for Gamut Viewer.

Step 5. Verify and install

1. Click Verify Profile. You get an average and a maximum colour difference (delta E 00) and a good / warning / fail status. Those colours use the thresholds in Settings.
2. Optionally click View Gamut to see the printable range, and Add compare if you want a second profile on the same plot.
3. Click Install Profile. User library is the safe default. System library needs an administrator password.

Installing the file does not select it in the print dialog. You still choose the profile when you print a real photograph.

Next time on the same paper

1. Open the project if you saved one.
2. Or choose the media recipe you captured after the last good run (sidebar Media).
3. Generate a new target only if you need a new chart. If the old measurements are still valid, you can open the existing files instead.

If a step stays locked

The sidebar follows files on disk, not the last thing you remember doing. See Troubleshooting.