The use of profiles on CMYK and RGB images is essential for the creation of colour stable images which can be viewed at a later date on the same or different CAD station with the knowledge that the colours will be as consistent as they were the day they were created.

These days, profiles can be embedded within documents rather than relying on a single global system profile to be used for all files. These profiles can also be set on individual colourways or individual layers. Once set, they are automatically saved within AVA, PDF and JPEG files and are restored when the files are reopened.

The Layers Palette shows a small multi-coloured profile icon when a profile has been assigned to a layer.

If a profile is not set on any layers the software uses the setting from the Overprinting Settings window. However, if a profile is set the overprinting option Use ICC profile on CMYK/RGB Image is overridden.

In AVA, you can apply ICC profiles from the desktop to a file, from a file to another file or from within the same file, simply by dragging and dropping individual ICC profiles next to each layer. When you hover over the ICC profile icon, a + symbol appears which indicates that you can drop the profile there.

You can also set a profile by holding down the control key and clicking on the profile icon to access its contextual menu and selecting Load Profile.

The profile is only set for the current colourway but you can apply this profile to other colourways, if required, by selecting Apply to all colourways in the contextual menu. If a new colourway is created, the profile is automatically duplicated. However, if you hold down the option key and click the “+” button when creating a new colourway, no profile will be set.

Internal efficiencies ensure that only a single copy of each profile is saved within the file. This means that your files will not become too large as a result of having many colourways using the same profile.

Once set, a help tag showing the profile’s name will be shown when you hover over the profile icon in the Layers Palette.

Embedded profiles can be removed from layers by dragging them to the bin. you can also remove a profile by holding down the control key and clicking on the profile icon in the Layers Palette to access its contextual menu and selecting Clear Profile.

It is not possible to save an ICC profile by dragging it from a file to the desktop. Use the Save Profile command from the contextual menu instead.