[EN] Profile variants and versions (legacy)

+++ Update +++

The ECI has issued a new version of the profile PSR_LWC_PLUS_V2_M1.icc with its gravure package in 12/2019. A profile with the same name has already been issued in 2018. Both profiles differ in their color properties, whereas the ECI says that the new version improves the proof results.

Here you can find the 2018 profile and here the 2019 profile. The time stamp of the profiles was kept in order to differentiate the versions.

What's it all about?

The preflight report notifies you that you have used the wrong ICC profile in your output intent, although the name of the required ICC profile and the embedded profile are the same.

Indeed there are more "versions" of ICC profiles, even though they have the same name. This can have a number of reasons.

There are users that adapt the available profiles and "optimize" them.

Then there are the publishers of the profiles that have not always been transparent in their development of their profiles.

How does the DUON Portal check?

Within the DUON portal the profile is being checked a number of ways:

1. It is being checked, whether the Output Intent has been set and whether it contains a profile
2. It is being checked, whether the ICC profile and profile embededded in the Output Intent are identical. Before (in the old DUON-Portal) the names were being compared. Now the "fingerprint" of the profile is being compared. This means comparing the MD5-Hashvalues according to ISO 15076.
3. It is being checked, whether the profile embedded in objects (for example pictures) is identical to the Output Intent. This ensures that no other profiles have been used.

Only files that contain the exact profile required are being accepted.

How do I find out whether I am using the wrong profile?

You can look up the required profile under the header "TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS". Not the name of the profile is being checked but the MD5-Hash of the profile.

In case you have Acrobat Pro you can find out yourself whether you have embedded the right profile.

Here are the steps necessary:

1. Open the file you want to check in Acrobat Pro
2. Tools > Print Production > Preflight
3. Go to the header Profile and start a preflight by double clicking on a setting (for example "conformity with PDF/X4)
4. Go to the header "Results"
5. Expand to: Overview > OutputIntents > OutputIntent [Name] > ICC-output profil
6. You will find the MF5-Hashvalue at the bottom of the list

Why all this? What is the worst that can happen?

Short Read

The DUON Portal demands quite a lot from the printing material producers, publishers and printers. The goal is to establish the maximum of quality and production safety for all participants.

For every magazine, every issue and every placement (i.e. cover pages, inner pages) there is a specific profile, which represents the characteristics of the print.

Only when this exact profile is being used when writing the PDF can the printing results be simulated realistically.

If profile p is being required but the producer is using the profile p' (the line represents a profile with the same name but different properties), this can lead to wrongly created and simulated files.

Long Read für Profis

The use of p' can lead to inferior results when the properties of p and p' are different. This has already happened. There have been a few files transmitted through the DUON Portal where "experts" "optimized" the original profiles while not being aware of the consequences. Usually older versions of profiles are being used.

A differing simulation is a problem: the embedded profile in the Output Intent Profile, in order to manipulate the view of the file in Acrobat.

Everywhere - within agencies or publishers and printers - it is handled that because of different (technical) reasons the profiles in the Output Intent are consciously being ignored and replaced internally. This is not a problem as long as p and p' aren't different.

It is problematic when p and p' are different in color properties and mathematical properties. Because then a simulation in Acrobat (p' is being used) looks different than in a hard- or soft-proof environment (here p' is being ignored and replaced by p).

For the calculation and simulation different mathematical calculations are used based on A2B-tables, CLUTs, Matrix parameters or white points of the embedded profiles within the Output Intent among others.

Through the Profile Connection Space (PCS) different values are being transmitted into the simulation color scheme through B2A-tables of the device g of the to be simulated device (i.e. a monitor or proofer profile). Often ready made profiles from hard- and soft-proof systems are being used. Here the destination profile of the printing method p and device profile g are being absorbed into a simulation profile s. The simulation of the simulation profile s only succeeds when the profile p - not the profile p' - is being used.

Solution to this problem

1. Find out how the finale file was created. Who created the file and what system was used?
2. Download the exact profile required. You can find the up to date download link under TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS or in the HelpCenter under [DE] ICC-Farbprofile herunterladen
3. You know need to replace the "wrong" profiles with the "correct" profiles. Depending on the system you need to replace the profiles in several folders. There is an articel on how to do that in our HelpCenter under [DE] Profil installieren.
4. Now create the PDF file anew.

Tip for agencies

It is reasonable that not every graphic artist has to do this herself. It is best to download all profiles and replace them on all computers and systems.