<x-flowed>At 10:40 AM -0700 9/24/01, Paul D. DeRocco wrote: >I think my point is being missed here. No, I understand what you're saying. >If on the other hand you select a media type that normally uses a lot of >ink, and you build a profile for a non-Epson profile that needs less ink, >the profile should be able to limit the amount of ink merely by limiting the >range of numbers it sends to the driver, i.e., not using numbers that go all >the way to zero at the dark end of the scale. The profile will do its best to do this, but it's a recipe for frustration at best. At the very least, you're limiting the number of colors the printer can print in an arbitrary and uncontrolled way. If you're profiling using a scanner-based tool, you'll almost certainly get weird behavior in the shadows. Even if you're using a spectro, the profile will be a very long way from optimal. > >It would therefore make sense always to use the media type setting that >allows the maximum amount of ink to be delivered to the paper, and rely on >the custom profile to limit the amount of ink. My guess is that setting >would be Plain Paper. I've been there and done this more times than I care to count. You will get a much better profile if you set reasonable ink limits before printing the target, and keep those ink limits for all other work. Ink limiting, linearisation, and the like, are essentially calibration process. They should be done before you profile. You always want to make sure that the device is printing optimally before you profile it. In the case of the Epsons, about all we can with the Epson driver is find a media setting that lays down enough, but not too much, ink for that substrate. Believe me, if you rely on a profile to handle inking a substrate that can handle 280% ink when you printed the target with 360% ink, you will get disappointing results. If you experiment with the media settings until you find one that's somewhere close to optimal for the paper in question, you'll get a much better profile that needs to do a great deal less work. Bruce -- bruce@pixelboyz.com - Turn off HTML mail features. Keep quoted material short. Use accurate subject lines. http://www.leben.com/lists for list instructions. </x-flowed>