Watch the detailed instructional video (creating a printer profile from start to finish).
The problem with traditional scanner profiling
Older scanner-based profiling tools depend on an IT8 or similar reference target. Those charts have to be purchased, shipped, stored carefully, and eventually replaced as they fade. If the target is lost or damaged, you’re stuck until you can get a new one.
Print Prism removes that entire Achilles’ heel. There is no separate reference target to buy, no serial-numbered chart that has to match a specific file, and nothing that has to be shipped to your door. Once you have a supported scanner, Print Prism is ready to go out of the box.
Instead of relying on a special IT8 target, Print Prism characterizes the scanner itself, turning it into a stable measurement device that can read profiling targets you print on your own printer.
A scanner that behaves like a spectrophotometer
Under the hood, Print Prism includes proprietary calibration data for each supported scanner model. Using in-house tools, the spectral response of those scanners has already been measured and modeled, and that characterization is built directly into the software.
When you select your scanner in Print Prism, it uses the pre-characterized spectral response for that model to treat your scanner as a makeshift "spectrophotometer" for reading color patches.
That calibration allows Print Prism to convert raw scanner RGB values into meaningful colorimetric data that can be used to build ICC printer profiles—without needing a physical, factory-printed reference chart.
- No IT8 or reference target to buy, track, or replace.
- No matching of chart IDs to specific data files.
- Consistent, repeatable readings from a device you already own.
In testing, profiles created with Print Prism have matched or exceeded the quality of profiles made with traditional handheld spectrophotometers—while being much easier and faster to produce.
Why this is easier than handheld devices
Handheld spectrophotometers can be accurate, but they’re tedious in practice: you have to carefully align the device, slide across rows of patches, avoid lifting or drifting, and redo strips if anything goes wrong.
Print Prism flips that experience:
- Print a dense target once.
- Drop it on the scanner glass and click Scan.
- Mark or auto-detect the corners in Print Prism and let it read 9,261 color patches in a single pass.
The current printer-target-40 chart contains 9,261 patches—far more than typical
strip-reading profiling tools use. Because a scanner can capture the entire sheet at once, there’s no practical
penalty for using that many patches, and the extra sampling density gives the profiling engine more information
to work with.
There’s no manual strip reading, no “did I skip that row?” anxiety, and no juggling a handheld device over a stack of prints. The scanner handles the mechanics; Print Prism handles the color.
Simple three-step workflow
1. Print the target
Print Prism includes a high-density target file named printer-target-40.tif, installed in your
Windows Pictures folder. You can use Qimage, Photoshop, Lightroom, or other photo software
to print it, as long as:
- All color management in the application is turned off.
- All color management in the printer driver is turned off.
You can profile any inkjet printer and paper combination—Canon, Epson, HP, OEM or third-party papers and inks—as long as the target is printed correctly.
2. Scan the target
After trimming the printed chart along the dotted line, place it face-down near the center of the scanner glass. Print Prism drives the scanner through its TWAIN driver (Epson Scan 2 or Canon ScanGear) using calibrated settings (Color mode, 300 dpi, and all color management / image adjustments disabled).
Once the scan is complete, Print Prism:
- Rotates and normalizes the target orientation.
- Locates the borders and patch grid.
- Samples each patch from a clean, central area to avoid edges and noise.
3. Create the profile
With patch data in hand, Print Prism analyzes the target and reports key statistics:
- Overall exposure and tonal range.
- The number of clipped patches.
- Lab gamut coverage for the printer / paper / ink combination.
When you’re satisfied with the scan quality, Print Prism builds an ICC printer profile ready to use in Qimage or any color-managed application. From that point on, just select your new profile when printing with the same printer, paper, and driver settings you used to print the target.
Supported scanners & system requirements
Print Prism is currently available for Windows only, supporting:
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
- Windows 8 / 8.1
- Windows 10
- Windows 11
The printer you are profiling can be any inkjet printer, but the scanner used to read the target must be one of the supported models below.
Supported scanner models
- Epson ET-8550
- Epson ET-8500
- Epson L8160
- Epson L8180
- Canon G600 Series (G610–G695)
As support for additional scanners is added, new models will be listed here and included in Print Prism’s scanner selection.