[Openicc] GoSoC 2011: CPD and ... Mike Sweet workflow

[Jan-Peter Homann]

Comments at the bottom:

>>> Mike:
>>> 1. The profiling app handles printing targets, reading targets, 
>>> generating profiles, and registering profiles with their associated 
>>> settings (call the combination a "preset" for lack of a better 
>>> word).  The same kind of application could create new presets using 
>>> existing profiles (i.e. this is where you would be able to choose an 
>>> alternate profile, even if it wasn't qualified for use with the 
>>> settings you want...)
>> Jan-Peter
>> Sure we can extend a profiling app with such functionalities. But we 
>> also could implement it in the "expert options" of a high end printer 
>> driver and call intermediately a profiling application.
> Mike:
> What is the use case for this? Accurate profiling requires a stable 
> target print, which requires some amount of drying/curing time. This 
> isn't an ad-hoc process...
Creating profiles for printers and integrating them into print-settings 
/ presets has several connections to the printer driver.

For shure this could be solved through an special app or through an 
"expert option" in the printer driver.
Between both I see only very few differences. If we think about an 
"high-end printer driver" with options for printing testcharts, calling 
a profiler like ArgyllCMS and functions for integrating the profiles 
into driver presets, we have the functionality of such a "special app". 
If we then create a driver version, where we just disable the "experts 
options" and create a new installer, we have both the driver for 
standard users and the "special app" for the experts.
So the main question is:
1) One Installer for a printer driver with experts options, which could 
be activated by all users
2) Two installers (standard and expert)

The more interesting questions in my eyes are:
1) How do we organize a workflow with easy creation, exchange, downloads 
and GUI integration for printing-presets with assigned ICC-profiles ?
2) Should the standard user be able to download and install printing 
presets with assigned ICC-profiles ?
3) Do such use cases make it necessary to create PPDs ,where all color 
related entries are stripped off, because the PPD concept is too 
inflexible for the described use cases ?
4) What are the roles of Colormanagement Frameworks like e.g. Oyranos or 
g-c-m / colord when it comes to the creation, exchange, download and GUI 
representation of printing presets with assigned ICC-profiles ?

For shure, there are different ways to deal with the questions 1) to 4), 
which lead to different implementation strategies.

I think both a positive and a confusing aspect of Open Source solutions 
is, that we could implement, test and discuss the results of different 
implementation strategies.

Here are my personal answers to the questions 1) to 4)

1) How do we organize a workflow with easy creation, exchange, downloads 
and GUI integration for printing-presets with assigned ICC-profiles ?
Jan-Peter:
My personal workflow favorite is decribes here:
http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/OpenIcc/ColorMangedPrintingPath
The core idea is to integrate the driver settings directly into the 
printer ICC-profile, which allow very easy exchange, donwloads and 
installation of printer presets with assigend ICC-profiles. ICC-profiles 
with integrated printer settings are named "ICC-driversettings"
The GUI for media and color options in the printer chooser is created 
through parsing the installed "ICC-driversettings"


2) Should the standard user be able to download and install printing 
presets with assigned ICC-profiles ?

Jan-Peter:
Yes, just download and import an ICC-driversetting and it will be 
presented in the printing GUI for media and color options.

3) Do such use cases make it necessary to create PPDs ,where all color 
related entries are stripped off, because the PPD concept is too 
inflexible for the described use cases ?

Jan-Peter:
Yes, there is no more need for color related options in the PPD file. 
The necessary informations for e.g. rastertogutenprint or 
rastertovendorXY are just read from the ICC-driversettings, which is 
embedded into the rsaterfile send to rastertogutenprint or rastertovendorXY


4) What are the roles of Colormanagement Frameworks like e.g. Oyranos or 
g-c-m / colord when it comes to the creation, exchange, download and GUI 
representation of printing presets with assigned ICC-profiles ?

Jan-Peter:
So far as I now, both Oyranos and g-c-m / colord have till today not 
published a concept for a direct interface to the printing GUI 
concerning media and color options. (Please correct me, if I´m wrong..)

We have to consider, that both Oyranos and g-c-m/colord are mainly 
"color management per computer" concepts. Printing is often a "color 
management in the network" process, where e.g. printer-settings with 
assigned ICC-profiles ("ICC-driversettings") are installed at the print 
server side and should be available to all printing clients without the 
need for manual installation.
On the other hand, we have often the case, that print client and print 
server are running only on one local machine.
For handling both use cases, I would recommend, that installation and 
management of "ICC-driversettings" are made always at the print server 
side.
The role of CPD is to create a GUI for the media and color options build 
from "ICC-driversettings" available at the print server and to connect 
to Oyaranos or g-c-m/colord for communicating the choosen 
"ICC-driversetting.
Oyranos or g-cm-/colord can now communicate the choosen 
"ICC-driversetting" to applications are toolkits, which could use:
- setting the ICC-driversetting as target profile in pdftoraster
- calculating a color maged print preview for CPD or inside an 
application with direct pinter interface.


Feedback and critic are welcome.

Best regards
Jan-Peter








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