KB306306810: Imaging Engine 20.1 - Info on warning/error when output intent is different than source profile

Question

What is the behavior of the "Task ends in error when the output intent is different from the source profile" option in the Color Management tab of the Proof for Contract Approval and Image to Unscreened Proof ticket.

Answer

Since the November 2020 release of Esko Software Platform (20.1) this option is added to prevent a mismatch between the output intent of the input file and the source profile of the Proofing Color Strategy. This option only makes sense when using native PDF files or PDF+ files.

To have a good understanding of the behavior it is important you understand the output intent concept.

What is an output intent?

An output intent is the intended printing process described by an icc profile. For example, if you know that a design will be printed on coated paper in offset with the ISO12647-2 specified printing conditions then the ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc profile represents the intended printing process. This profile can then be assigned to the design as an output intent when saving as a PDF/x.

How to assign an output intent with Adobe applications?

In Illustrator, one can assign an output intent when saving a document as a PDF/x. Either the Document Color Profile or another icc profile can be used as output intent.

How to assign an output intent to a PDF+?

In an Esko environment one can define a default output intent in ArtPro+, DeskPack and Automation Engine.

• ArtPro+: Go to Edit > Options > Color Engine > Default Document Profile.
  The Default Document Profile is assigned whenever a PDF is opened in ArtPro+ without an output intent.
  Note that the "Document Profile" is saved as an output intent.

• DeskPack: The Document Color Profile is saved as an output intent when using the PDF+ document mode (can be set in the Ink Manager) and saving the Illustrator document as an Esko PDF.
  Note: The ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc profile is assigned when no Document Color Profile is used.
  
  

• Automation Engine: The Optimize PDF ticket will automatically assign an output intent when processing a file. The output intent assigned is the one specified in Tools > Configure > Processing Preferences > PDF+ Processing.

Taking into account the output intent when using the Proof for Contract Approval ticket

Since PDF+ files always include an output intent, it should also be used as input profile. However, the input profile of the Proofing Color Strategy can't be replaced by the output intent without increasing the RIP time. Therefore this is not done! A match between the output intent of the PDF+ and the input profile of the Proofing Color Strategy is expected.

A mismatch between the output intent and the input profile of the Proofing Color Strategy is always done in case of a PDF+ or Native PDF. The task will end with a warning when a mismatch is detected, the log of the task contains the warning info (e.g. "Output intent (ISOnewspaper26v4) is different from the source profile (ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc)"). If you want that the task ends with an error then you should enable the "Task ends in error when the output intent is different from the source profile" option in the Color Management tab of the Proof for Contract Approval ticket. The error message in the log file looks like this "Imaging.CheckOutputIntentMismatchFailed ISOnewspaper26v4 ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc"

Note: A Normalized PDF doesn't contain an output intent, as such the option will not be active! No warning nor error message will be generated.

• Document profile versus Output intent: why is the option not called "Task ends in error when the document profile is different from the source profile"? "Document Profile" is a concept used by applications, the PDF language doesn't use / know that concept. Also, the ticket is reading the "Output Intent" info from the PDF structure and not the unexisting "Document Profile" info.