imagePROGRAF Media Configuration Guide

February 3, 2009

Table of Contents
1 2 Introduction . ........................................................................................................................................................3 Definition of Media ............................................................................................................................................4

2.1 Genuine vs. Supported vs. Custom media.................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Advantages of using Genuine and Supported paper............................................................................................... 4 2.3 ICC profiles ............................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Using custom media . ........................................................................................................................................7

3.1 Precautions .............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 3.2 Printer Configuration Settings........................................................................................................................................... 8

Troubleshooting Custom Media . .................................................................................................................................................... 17

4.1 Adjustments to Alleviate Head Rubbing Issues. ........................................................................................................17 4.2 Solving Ink Running or Bleeding....................................................................................................................................18

Appendix................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

 1 Introduction
Canon large format inkjet printers are designed to produce high quality output on Canon genuine as well as specific supported media. Although Canon recommends Canon genuine and supported media, Canon realizes the presense of third party paper companies in the marketplace that may meet the unique needs of end users. Therefore, in order to effectively utilize third party media in conjunction with an imagePROGRAF printer, Canon recommends that end users configure their printers appropriately to accomodate the characteristics of the media to acheive the highest quality printouts. Please note that while Canon is providing suggested printer settings, Canon does not assume any responsibility for the final output or malfunctions that may occur when using third party media in the printer.

 2 Genuine vs. Supported vs. Custom Media

2.1

Definitions

In order to understand the terminology utilized throughout this document, the definition of each paper type is as follows:
Genuine Paper Supported Paper (Paper tested by Canon) Paper sold under the Canon brand. Although it is not Canon Genuine paper, it has been evaluated and its feedability, during such evaluation, has been verified and approved by Canon. (Paper listed on our price list) Any third party media that has not gone through any testing by Canon but is compatible with inkjet printers.

Custom Media

2.2

Benefits of using Canon Genuine and Supported Paper

Canon Genuine paper is optimized to produce the highest image quality corresponding to the characteristics of the printer at high speeds. Not only will Canon guarantee the quality of the media, but since it is Canon branded media, the printer will automatically make appropriate adjustments for the paper selected to accomodate the best image quality in a variety of environments. Supported paper is not Canon Genuine paper, but it has undergone evaluations, including feedability and image quality testing, that have allowed the media to be listed as supported paper. However, Canon does not guarantee the quality of this media. Canon's large format inkjet printers automatically make a number of adjustments for Genuine and supported paper to help produce the best quality output. The chart below highlights the advantages of using the Canon genuine and supported paper:

Image Quality Advantages

Optimum print mode settings Automatic selection of the best black ink to optimize final output in relation to paper coating C  olor profiles for each paper provided within the printer driver to produce the best image quality Canon's genuine high-quality ICC profile provided (*for genuine and some supported media) Color calibration support (*for genuine and some supported media) Available ambient light correction print function  (*For the 12-color and 8-color models with glossy paper, semi-glossy paper, poster paper, proof paper set to fine and high resolution modes)

Feedability Advantages
High feed accuracy for sheet fed paper A  utomatic adjustment of the head height to help produce the optimal image quality for the operating environment and the paper thickness S  etting of the appropriate platen suction amount to help prevent the print heads from rubbing and the paper from wrinkling C  hecks for optimum cutter operation and wear for cutting thick media and cloth

2.3

ICC Profiles for Genuine and Supported Media

This section is geared towards providing information to help you understand the naming procedure used for each ICC profile developed by Canon.

2.3.1

Name and Description

The name and description of each ICC profile provided by Canon explains what information is stored in each ICC profile. This description is displayed within the list of printer profile settings. If you stop the cursor on an item in the list, you can check the name of the ICC profile in a tiny popup window. (Refer to the figure on page 12.)

Canon
Model Name

iPFxxxx GlossyPhotoPaper (Highest)

Model Name Name of the supported printer. Uses the name of the media on the driver. Because of this, the driver media name and the ICC Driver Media Name Print Quality

Media Name

description name are both written in English. However, long names do not always fit within the dialog box. In these cases, they are shortened. The print quality is placed in parenthesis to differentiate it from the media name.

Print Quality

If there is more than one quality type that the profile can be used with, it will be displayed as follows: Example - High/Highest.

Improvements for New iPF Printer Models

In the past it was difficult to determine the relationship between the ICC profile name and the media name for a specific type of media, because multiple types of media shared the same ICC profile.
Therefore, to improve the ease of use, an ICC profile name has been provided for every type of media.

2.3.2

Providing modified ICC profiles

iPF6200 and later models added the "ICC profile installer" item for batch installation of profiles. (Diagram shown below)  Prior existing models (models released in 2007, ICC profiles developed based on new requirements are planned for periodic release on the Web.

 3 Using Custom Media

3.1

Precautions when using Custom Media

When using custom media in conjunction with an imagePROGRAF printer, it is important to take note of some media characteristics to maximize image quality from the printer/paper combination. Therefore we have outlined some important warnings

Image Quality Precautions

Select products will experience bleeding or running of ink when printing as a direct result of the paper properties and ink configuration. In the example of bleeding below, look at the boundaries between the red patch, the red patch in the blue, and the green patch, the dark colored parts, and the black text in the yellow area. When ink bleeds or runs, the color boundaries become muddled, colors become mixed, and bead.

Beading If ink absorption is not fast enough, ink droplets on the paper stick together forming beads. This phase occurs just before the ink begins to run. If absorption of the media is poor, the ink may run off the paper and onto the printer.

Bleeding Ink is bleeding between the color boundaries (primarily 2 inks)

Important considerations when selecting paper :



Select roll paper with a paper thickness between 0.07 and 0.8 mm. This enables the media to dry appropriately. If drying takes too long (and depending upon the type of ink absorbing layers), ink absorption may be too slow and lead to poor image quality.

Depending upon the environment, film-based products may curl excessively and cause paper jams. When using thick canvas, cloth (fabric media) and film media, turn the cutter to off because the printer may not be able to cut this media.

3.2

Printer Configuration Settings for Custom Media

In order to print on custom media, it is important to familiarize yourself with the following procedures for the most accurate print results.

3.2.1

Using existing genuine paper settings to configure printer

First, try selecting a paper setting for a type of Genuine or supported paper that is similar in thickness and coating to the custom media you are using.

Similar printed surface material (coated (matte) paper, glossy paper, fabric, plain paper) Similar thickness (heavyweight, lightweight)

When conducting the first test print, take note to the following:

Are the heads rubbing the paper? Does the ink run? Is the color as expected? Does the paper feed correctly?

Reset the head height if you are concerned about the head rubbing the paper.

Tips

Media where rubbing is likely to occur Media that is thin, lacks body, and/or where ink causes the paper to wrinkle or curl. Media that is thick and remains curled after printing. Media that curls in towards the printed side (more likely to occur in low humidity environments).

*Do not worry about stripes between the bands during test printing because you can adjust (auto band adjustment) to compensate for this later.

Guide for Selecting Similar Media Types

Custom media

Corresponding settings for Canon Genuine and supported media Plain paper

Plain paper

Plain paper (high quality) Plain paper (high color) Coated paper

Coated paper

HW coated paper Premium matte paper Photo glossy paper

Glossy paper Semi-glossy paper

Photo semi-glossy paper Premium glossy paper Premium semi-glossy paper

HW glossy paper HW semi-glossy paper Glossy film Art paper

HW glossy paper 2 HW semi-glossy paper 2 HW premium glossy paper HW premium semi-glossy paper Fine Art (photos) Fine Art (thick photo)

HW Fine Art paper

Fine Art (painting) Fine Art (water colors) Fine Art (block prints) Japanese paper

Japanese paper

Coated paper HW coated paper Premium matte paper

Cloth Canvas

Flame-retardant cloth Canvas (matte) Canvas (semi-glossy)

3.2.2

Using Special Paper Settings

Use special paper (1 to 10) settings when the appropriate Genuine paper settings are unavailable. Special paper is not the name for an existing type of paper. Special paper settings are Canon original paper settings that are highly versatile and are provided to support custom paper. Ten sets, from "Special 1" to "Special 10" are provided, preset with a color profile and paper parameters for general use with a wide variety of paper. (The five color imagePROGRAF models only have "Special 1" through "Special 5 (photo black)".)

Tips

The preset paper parameters make adjustments to the printer settings for optimum head height, paper feed, platen suction strength, and speed of the cutter to get the highest image quality from each type of paper.

The iPF series includes two types of black ink, matte black for matte paper and photo black for glossy paper to best reproduce blacks in accordance with paper characteristics. (Matte black on the 5 color models primarily uses photo black (dye) on paper other than plain paper because reactive pigment ink is used for plain paper.) For glossy and semi-glossy paper use Special 1 - 5 (photo black), and use Special 6 - 10 (matte black) for matte, coated, and regular paper. (*If the normal glossiness exceeds 20, using photo black provides a better printout.) There are also 5 settings, for each type of black ink, that change the amount of ink used during printing according to how the paper absorbs the ink. Generally, depending on the media, more ink widens the color reproduction range. However, this may cause more frequent beading and wrinkling. The amount of ink used for each media setting is shown in the table below.
Black Ink Used Special 1 Special 2 Special 3 Special 4 Special 5 Special 6 Special 7 Special 8 Special 9 Special 10 Matte Black Photo Black Maximum Amount of Ink 160% 180% 200% 220% 240% 160% 180% 200% 220% 240%

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The following procedure will help to efficiently find the optimal print setting for custom media. *Remember Special 1-5 uses Photo Black Ink and Special 6-10 uses Matte Black Ink. First, print a sample using "Special 1" or "Special 6", which uses the least amount of ink. Make sure to print an image that is dark and if the ink does not run, print another sample using "Special 2" or "Special 7", which uses more ink. Repeat these steps slowly moving toward "Special 5" or "Special 10". If the ink starts to run, the previously used special paper setting is the best setting.

Tips

If you detect an overall color shift, adjust the colors on the driver. Once you have adjusted the settings to the way you like, you can register the settings as a favorite.

If you notice banding in the print, you can make adjustments to the printer settings to correct: From the front panel on the printer, select "Advanced Paper Adjustments", "Print Adjustment", "Auto band

Adjustment", "Advanced Adjustments" for the custom media set. You can use "Advanced Adjustments" to widen
the adjustment range and devise support for custom media.

3.2.3

Using ICC Profiles

Some media manufacturers have ICC profiles that you can download from their website. Since these profiles have not been created or tested by Canon, Canon does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or compatibility with the imagePROGRAF devices. It is important to check the print driver settings when using ICC profiles from the paper manufacturer. Check

"Media Type", "Print Priority", and "Print Quality". The way the settings are shown is different for each
manufacturer. Some manufacturers include instructions for the printer settings on their website while others distribute it with their ICC profiles. Configure the settings after thoroughly checking the paper manufacturer's website. If only the "Media Type" setting is defined by the manufacturer, use the driver defaults for "Print Priority" and "Print Quality". If a media is not specified, then select either "Special 1" through "Special 5" or "Special 6" through "Special 10" and print test pages to determine the media type. The following describes how to use custom third party ICC profiles in the printer driver.

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For Windows
For Windows, double-click the ICC profile to automatically store the profile in the specified location. (These operations require Windows administrator's privileges.) You can also manually copy the ICC profile into the following folder. Destination folder

(OS folder) \system32\spool\drivers\color Example 1: C:\Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color Example 2: C:\WINNT\system32\spool\drivers\color

Next, the Printing Preferences dialog box for the imagePROGRAF printer driver opens and the Advanced Settings mode screen opens. Select the correct options for the following items according to the ICC profile being used. Media Type Print Priority Print Quality Next, click the [Color Settings] button. When the color settings dialog box appears, click on the matching tab and select the ICC Matching Mode as the Matching Mode.

Configure the following settings on the matching tab.

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Click the [OK] button until you get back to the print dialog box. Click the [Print] button in the print dialog box. The image is printed using colors that were adjusted by the ICC profile produced by the media manufacturer.

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For Macintosh (Mac OS X)

Move (or copy) the ICC profile to the specified folder (Mac).

/System/Library/ColorSync/Profiles /User/(User name)/Library/ColorSync/Profiles

Next, open the Print Settings dialog box for the imagePROGRAF printer driver. Click Set in the Color Mode portion of the box and then click on the Matching tab.

On the Matching tab, under Matching Mode select ICC Matching Mode. Next, open "Edit Profiles" in the Printer Profile Settings.

When the window opens, select "Add profiles to

the list" and press OK to open the "Add profiles"

window.

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In this window you can select the specified ICC profile, and press "Add" to add the ICC profile. You can now select it from the printer driver window.

Click the [OK] button until you get back to the print dialog box. Click the [Print] button in the print dialog box. The image is printed using colors that were adjusted by the ICC profile produced by the paper manufacturer.

After the profile has been added, it should now be included as an option within the Printer Profile Settings listing.

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The matching mode settings are configured as shown below. Setting Matching Mode Value ICC Matching Mode Perceptual Remarks Be sure to select ICC Matching Mode. Recommend for printing when smooth tones are important. Recommended for precise color matching. Some Colorimetric tones that are outside the range of colors that the printer can reproduce may be lost. For printing colors that are comparatively brighter Matching Method Saturation than when using "Perceptual". Depending on the ICC profile, there may be no difference from printing with "Perceptual". Colorimetric (no neutral point compensation) Select an ICC profile Input Profile that is suitable for the image data being input. Printer Profile Settings Select an ICC profile for the printer. For reproducing colors including the color of the paper. Depending on the ICC profile settings and the paper, there may be no difference from printing with "Colorimetric". For example, a profile such as sRGB or Adobe RGB that is most suitable for the characteristics of the colors in the image being printed is selected. Specify the ICC profile provided by the paper manufacturer.

Tip

The explanations displayed in the list in the printer profile settings are the "Descriptions" recorded in the ICC profile. If you stop the cursor on an item in the list, you can check the name of the ICC profile in a tiny popup window.

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 4 Troubleshooting Custom Media

4.1

Head Rubbing

If the print head is not set appropriately to match the thickness of the paper, you may notice rub marks appearing on the print out. An example of the rub marks are shown below. Continuing to print while the head is rubbing on the paper may damage the print head.
The head may be rubbing if evenly spaced black (or colored) streaks appear on the print out perpendicular to the direction the paper is being output.

How to Fix
Set an appropriate head height by selecting "Menu" - "Advanced Paper Settings" - the media that is set - "Head

Height" from "Advanced Information" for the media that was set on the printer's front control panel. Select "Standard" or "Slightly High". If the rubbing continues after selecting Slightly High, select High.

Tips

Generally, the lower the head the better the quality of the print out. You can get higher print quality by setting the head as low as possible without rubbing.

Tips

With roll paper, rubbing tends to happen more often at the end of a roll than at the beginning of a roll because of the difference in the paper's curl.

Tips

As a note, the head tends to rub more in environments that are low in humidity.

Head rubbing can also occur if the paper lifts off the platen because of the environment or the hardness of the paper. If this happens, select "Menu" - "Advanced Paper Settings" - the media that is set, and then adjust the suction strength by selecting "Slightly Strong" or "Strong" to alleviate the problem.

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4.2

Solving Ink Running or Bleeding Issues

Ink may bleed or run if there is a mismatch in paper/printer settings. For example, if the printer is laying down too much ink for the absorption level of the paper, the ink will bleed or run as a result. If you continue to print under these conditions the inside of the printer will become dirty and the printed images may experience a reduction in image quality.

Solution
Set the driver and the front control panel paper settings to Special 1 - 10 (use 1 - 5 for the 5 color model).

For glossy and semi-glossy paper use Special 1 - 5 (photo black); use Special 6 - 10 (matte black) for matte, coated, and regular paper.
The amount of ink used for each media setting is shown in the table below. Black ink used Special 1 Special 2 Special 3 Special 4 Special 5 Special 6 Special 7 Special 8 Special 9 Special 10
(*The five color models only have "Special 1" through "Special 5 (photo black)".)

Maximum amount of ink 160% 180% Photo black 200% 220% 240% 160% 180% Matte black 200% 220% 240%

In a trial and error approach, test the various settings to discover which setting works the best for the custom media. For example, if you are experiencing bleeding when using Special 4, try Special 3 and analyze the printout.

Tips

In general, depending on the paper, using more ink creates a wider reproduction of color.

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If setting "Special 1" or "Special 6" does not alleviate the problem of bleeding or running ink, use the front control panel (or the driver) to select "Menu" - "Advanced Paper Settings" - the media that is set - "Scan Interval Wait" and set the necessary time. By altering the time in this setting, the printer will pause throughout printing to provide drying time for the image. It will increase the overall print time; however, a higher quaility image will be the result.

Tip

The longer the interval the less likely that the ink will bleed or run, but the printing time also increases.

Chart 1

Appendix

With the various models that have been introduced in recent years, there is some overlap in the profile compatibility with the different devices. Therefore the chart below can serve as a reference as to which printer profiles are able to be utilized with mutliple imagePROGRAF devices.

Gr.No Gr.0 Gr.1 Gr.2 Gr.3 Gr.4

Ink Dye (5 color) Pigment (12 color) Pigment (12 color) Pigment (8 color) Pigment (8 color)

Printer iPF500,iPF510,iPF600,iPF605, iPF610,iPF700,iPF710,iPF720, iPF810,iPF820,LP17,LP24 iPF5000,iPF8000,iPF9000 iPF5100,iPF6100,iPF6200,iPF8100, iPF9100 iPF8000S, iPF9000S iPF6000S

Memo

The profile are not same as Gr.1. because the ink was changed.

The profile are not same as Gr.3. because the nozzle arrangement was changed.

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1-800-OK-CANON www.usa.canon.com Canon U.S.A., Inc. One Canon Plaza Lake Success, NY 11042

CANON and IMAGEPROGRAF are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be registered trademarks or trademarks in other countries. IMAGEANYWHERE is a trademark of Canon. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. 2009 Canon U.S.A., Inc. All rights reserved.

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