ICC color management

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; both Harlequin Core and Harlequin MultiRIP.

ICC color management is a simple concept. One can model an input device and an output device using ICC profiles. The resulting source and destination profiles are connected using a Profile Connection Space (PCS) to create a standard ICC transform using the two profiles as illustrated. The transform converts colors between the input and output spaces and causes colors on the output device to appear much the same as they do on the input device. There are many details involved in doing ICC color management well, but most of the details fall on the profile producer, while the Harlequin RIP is a profile consumer with a relatively mechanical job of converting colors according to the recipes in the profiles.

For an introduction to ICC color management, the interested reader may start with http://www.color.org/icc_specs2.xalter and move on to the FAQ and other information and links available from http://www.color.org.

Figure: The Standard ICC Transform