How to make test samples for printing?

Software ART
1

I’m preparing a small booklet to be printed on Magcloud (owned by Blurb). 16 images and 14 pages of text. It’s all ready, the layout (with Latex) and the images (in ART). Eventually, I will be getting 24 copies.

The problem is the printing. I have done the stuff in srgb but that’s it, no actual colour profile (that I found).

I want to do a test print of the booklet, especially the images. Do I need to +.5ev on the middle tones? or +1ev on the middle tones?

I’d like to create a split image for each photo: left third at 0, middle third at +.5 and +1 on the right third for each of the 16 images.

Any suggestion on how to do that in ART or any other software?

Thanks

2

can they provide you an icc for the printer/paper??

3

I’d love to, it would get me in the ballpark.

But I can’t find it and I have they don’t have any support email (published). They have facebook, but I don’t have any facebook account.

The ICC would get me in the area but I would still need the testing and doing the slice but then instead of .5 I would do .33.

Thanks

4

I think this is the way to do it. Go to their location, and ask them for the calibrated profile for the printer. If they look at you as if a dog watching TV, then go home and use sRGB… :crazy_face:

5

The ability to use something local that you can work with would likely guarantee a better result…bit like ordering a shirt on line vs going in the store and trying it on …

6

I wish, but I don’t know of any local places that will do the booklet, 1/2 of “letter” and can print only 1 copy without having to spend a few hundred dollars.

Once, BC (before covid) I asked and was told about $235 (canadian) + $75 for the prepress preview.

7

reply to myself:

I used imagemagick convert to slice and montage to assemble the pieces together:

convert input.jpg: -crop 3x1@  +repage  +adjoin  slice_%d.jpg
montage  slice_*.jpg  -tile 3x1  -geometry +10+10  triptych.jpg