I print on various media using an Epson printer with aftermarket ink. I have ICC profiles for for my printer for various ink+medium combinations. Photoshop lets me pick an ICC profile to use on a per-print basis. I am setting up a (Windows) computer dedicated to printing. I'd rather not license Photoshop just for printing if I can help it. Most prints are done from PDF files. Is there any free/cheap software I can use to print PDFs that will let me choose the correct ICC profile on a per-print basis like I can do with Photoshop?
Good question! There might be. I hope there is. That said, one thing Adobe has done well, and has allowed them to keep such a tight grip on design software, is that they have put a lot of effort into color management--something most open source graphic design software hasn't been able to do.
Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 21:24Does your printer support color management? Atleast all printers i have acess to have color managenent settings. But yes there are many apps that can do this.
Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 6:29You may wanna check GIMP. its free software very close to Photoshop. Also can read PSD files. ;)
answered Jul 21, 2015 at 22:42 146 1 1 bronze badge I think Gimp can not handle cmyk files. Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 22:50I did see GIMP might be able to do this. It's on my list of software to compare to Photoshop. I'll report back on the results.
Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 3:04 Rafael: what do you mean by handling? you mean support? Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 5:52 Tom I will be waiting your feed back :) Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 5:52Interesting indeed. I think this will be a partial answer.
First of all, If you just need to print from a pdf you only need adobe reader.
The point is that if you need a specific color profile you need to give it to your clients before they send the file.
If you can not give it, then you need to convert the file to the required profile, so you do need photoshop not for printing, but for converting the file to the new color space.