Inconsistent print output on Mac and Windows PC (both using Adobe Photoshop and same ICC profile)

[Kyle Piggo]

Hi All

I'm new to the forum, and relatively new to colour profiles for print.

The problem I am facing is inconsistent printer output between OS (operating systems) between a Mac (using latest updates: MacOS Monterey v12.6) and a Windows 10 PC.

The ICC colour profile is developed for an Epson Printer (ET15000) using a specific paper and Adobe PhotoShop, with installation instructions provided for a Windows PC.

The results on the Windows PC are consistent, and appear to be correct (i.e. the final printout once sublimation printed and heat pressed) matches well with the onscreen picture I am replicating.

(Sidenote:  I have noticed that the same ICC profile for Adobe Illsutrator gives a slightly darker shade than for Adobe Photoshop on the same PC and all settings exactly the same).

I have followed (and checked and re-checked) the Colur profile installation instructions for Mac, and the profile is available and is working on my Mac for Adobe products.  (I confirmed this by doing test prints with selecting the new ICC profile, and the results were siginficantly different).

However. the output on the Mac using the same ICC profile as on the Windows PC is siginficantly different and I have tried numerous tests, and am unable to resolve the issue.  From the forums I have read, the ICC profile should be OS platform independent - and it is printing to the same printer (including inks and paper) and using the same current version Adobe Creative Cloud Account (using Photoshop and Illustrator).

(Sidenote2: I also get slightly darker shadings in Illsutrator than in Photoshop, howevr the actual colours are consistent on the Mac).

The obvious diffence is for the colour of the sky in the picture I am trying to print, which looks to have much more cyan (greeish blue) on the Mac printous and more of a blue/purple on the Windows PC.

Has anyone else ever done similar testing on a Mac and Win compute for exactly the same printer output?

(Has anyone noticed the difference in the printer output between Illustrator and Photoshop?)

I have attached a photo showing some examples:

- The outer 4 images are all printed on a Mac, and the inner 4 images are printed on Windows.

- The left 4 images are slightly darker shading printed using Adobe Illustrator and the right 4 images are printed using Adobe Phtoshop are slightly lighter shading.

- The outer images (printed on Mac) have a more greenish blue sky, while the inner images are mroe blue/purple.

The left 4 images have a slightly darker appearance (Illustrator) than the right 4 images (Phtoshop). 

Thanks in advance

Kyle

(Ps. Appologies, I have tried uploading a phto 3 times, and cannot see if it has been successful or not - so there may be 3 copies of the same image, or no copies of it)

[Kyle Piggo]

[TheDigitalDog]

You should always test output using good color reference images designed for that task. The color reference images RGB values are such that they are set for output and are editing and display agnostic. Test the output this way and examine for the same color issues so we know it's not your image-specific issues causing the problems:
http://www.digitaldog.net/files/2014PrinterTestFileFlat.tif.zip

The output from each OS should be identical. So some setting or something else is wrong, maybe in PS or maybe the actual print driver. 

Are you sure on the Mac you are using the Epson print driver and NOT one supplied by Apple (never allow this)? Do the drivers on each OS look the same in terms of the options? 

[Bob_Hallam]

I have had this issue and it turned out to be a problem in the Mac OS with ColorSync.  Resolved it by reloading the OS  (Command R at start up.). That solved the issue here.  

[NB, colourmanagement]

I hope I am understanding you right -

You need to be aware that differences in device (printer) behaviour (due to driver software etc) when running from a different computer type (I mean Mac -v- Windows) mean that a dedicated  ICC printer profile is needed for each system. 

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management