Simulate Target Printer
Some applications require one printer to emulate the printing behavior of another, either for proofing purposes to test prints on a less expensive machine before comitting to the final production output, or to ensure that multiple printers print the same way for distributed production runs. Ergosoft RIP makes this easy with the simulate target printer feature.
Simulate Target Printer uses the color profiles to adapt one printer's output to another, effectively simulating the print behavior of the reference printer on one or more different printers.
Preparation
To use Simulate Target Printer, you’ll need to have an accurate color profile and density linearization for all involved printers. Ideally, the reference printer would be the one with the smallest color gamut, since this makes it more likely that the other printers can actually print all the colors that the reference printer can. If that’s not the case, you can of course still use Simulate Target Printer, but out of gamut colors might appear differently on the simulating printers, since they can’t physically match that color. In such cases, the Rendering Intent will determine how the color is actually printed.
Once you have all printers properly linearized and profiled, open the Print Environment settings of your reference printer and go to the Quality tab. Click the Export button next to the color profile and export the color profile to an external ICC file. Having it as a standalone file will let us select it for simulation later. Once exported, close the Print Environment settings again.
Configure Simulate Target Printer
Simulate Target Printer is applied on a per image basis. It can be applied either by configuring it for specific images, by applying it as a template through ImagePresets, or globally through Application Defaults. The actual dialog and settings are exactly the same regardless of where you configure them, but how and when they are applied is slightly different.
To apply Simulate Target Printer to a specific image, import the image into the JobComposer and select it. Go to Properties & Actions and click on the Simulate Target Printer tab. By configuring it this way, the settings you make only take effect for the selected image. But you can save your settings as a Simulation Preset to quickly apply the same settings to other images too.
To automatically apply Simulate Target Printer to every image that is imported into the JobComposer or by manually applying the ImagePreset, click the New ImagePreset button in the Toolbar and go to the Simulate Target Printer tab, or go to Tools > Edit Presets > Composite Presets and click the New ImagePreset button and go to the Simulate Target Printer Tab. Note that this setting will not have an effect on any currently imported images, but only from the next images you import onward, or if you apply the ImagePreset manually by right clicking on the image and selecting your Preset in ImagePresets.
To make a global Simulate Target Printer setting that is applied to every image and Job automatically, go to Tools > Application defaults > Color Management > Simulate Target Printer. Note that this setting will not have an effect on any currently open Jobs, but only from the next Job you open onward.
Once you have the dialog open, configuring your target printer simulation could not be easier. Simply open the dropdown menu in Select the printer profile you want to simulate and look for the color profile that you exported in the preparation phase, i.e. the one that should be simulated and select it. Now confirm the dialog.
You can either leave the rendering intent at the default setting, or change it to the one that best suits your application. If you are unsure which one to choose, check out our Tips for choosing the right Rendering Intent.
Once you have both the profile and the Rendering Intent selected, confirm the dialog to apply your changes. Depending on where you configured Simulate Target Printer, your changes will either take effect immediately, for the next image you import, or the next job you open (as described the first paragraphs of this chapter).
You can of course apply this simulation to as many image as you like. The RIP will always try to simulate the reference printer for the image in the output on the Print Environment you are using.
Once the setting is applied, you simply print the image. As long the Simulate Taget Printer setting has been applied to the image that is printed, the simulation happens automatically during the Color Management process while rastering the print data and will affect the ouput.
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