Question 1: We linearize all our presses based on both density and a gray scale ramp prior to profiling them.
Question 2: We limit ink in the profile. The main reason is because our color management consultant didn’t know the nuts and bolts of this somewhat proprietary RIP, but understood Monaco Profiler. He opted to go with what he knew, so we limit in the RIP for no better reason than that.
We print on pressure sensitive vinyl (decal material) so your mileage may vary. However, the following procedure works wonderfully for us.
We use our trusty old X-Rite 404 densitometer to decide total ink limit and we set it in the profile after we put it through some testing.
We use a test file created for our conditions by our color management consultant.
We simply print it, wait 24 hours for the solvents to outgas, then take density readings of all the patches.
On each patch, the density values increase until they stabilize or decrease. We take the patch with the highest density and use that as our TIL.
Too much ink on the substrate will diffuse the reflection and the densitiy values can actually decrease. That is where we set our limit.
Our ink limit is a 300% and we set it in the actual profile. Our RIP doesn’t have express control over each individual color in that regard. The profile is the best place for us to do it based on the RIP we use.