Thread: Soft proofing

Soft proofing attempts to use either a computer display or a desktop colour inkjet or laser printer to emulate the performance of the final output media, i.e. a printing press. It is cheap, convenient and fast. However the term 'soft proofing' is also used to refer to colour proofs, such as PDP files sent by email, that do not attempt accurate colour reproduc¬tion, but serve merely as general proofs for checking layout, text and overall appearance. True soft proofing relies on the gamut of the display or desktop printer being larger than the gamut of the printing press.



This allows the colour engine in the colour management software to shift and constrain the image colour values inside the confines of the display or printer gamut so that the image appears as it will when printed on the press.