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Issue #2
April 9, 2001
Welcome to the second issue of ColorNews, a (approximately) monthly
update on all things related to Color Management. We had lots of
positive feedback from our first issue, and hope you will continue
to let us know what interests you so we can address these concerns
in our coming issues. ColorNews covers newsworthy items including
new product releases and updates, and interesting, informative web
sites. Each issue will include a feature article covering an aspect
of color management such as profiles, workflow, and so forth. In
a visit to CHROMiX.com or profilecentral.com, you opted to receive
this newsletter. You may have also heard Steve Upton speak and requested
more information. If you have received this message in error, we
apologize. We value our relationship with you and do not want to
spam you. See below for details on how to provide feedback, how
to unsubscribe, or how to become a sponsor.
Table of Contents
1. Color News
2. New Releases
3. ColorFAQs - this month's FAQ is on Making Prints
and Monitors Match
4. ColorNews Administration (feedback, subscriptions,
etc.)
Color News
Seybold is in Boston!
This spring's Seybold seminar runs from April 8th through the 13th
at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Look for CHROMiX's own
Steve Upton to speak on a variety of subjects, including profiles,
digital camera profiling, and other tips and tricks. You will also
be able to find Steve in the GretagMacbeth booth upon occasion (more
below). For more information on Seybold, go to:
http://www.key3media.com/seyboldseminars/boston2001/index.html
CHROMiX ColorThink 2.0 Announced Today, at Seybold Seminars in
Boston, MA we announced ColorThink 2.0. This new version will support
Carbon and other Mac OS X technologies including OpenGL. The 3D
graphing in OpenGL is very cool with real-color shading of gamuts,
transparency and a 3D slicer for accurate gamut evaluation.
Also part of ColorThink 2.0 is full integration with ProfileCentral.com.
The Profile Manager receives a massive upgrade with the ability
to:
- Manage profiles between Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X profile storage
areas.
- Manage profiles for a workgroup across a LAN. Centralized administration
makes it easy to keep an entire workgroup up to date.
- Manage profiles worldwide. We have developed version tags which
can easily be embedded in ICC profiles. From within the Profile
Manager you can register a profile with profilecentral.com, upload
it to a share point on the Internet and then check all the profiles
on your system for updates.
ColorThink 2.0 will be entering Beta in 30-60 days and is expected
to ship fairly soon after that. For more information, please refer
to the press release on our website.
http://www.chromix.com/pages/cm/cctrelease2.html
New Releases
GretagMacbeth Announces Eye-One low-cost color management solution.
We are excited to announce a new scanning spectrophotometer by
GretagMacbeth. The Eye-One is a high-quality, hand-held color instrument
that will allow many more people to make their own quality profiles.
The Eye-One is available in three flavors:
Eye-One Monitor ($579) - will calibrate and profile CRT and **LCD**
monitors only.
Up to now the Spectrolino (at $3700) was one of the only choices
for quality LCD profiling.
Eye-One Pro ($1,459) - is a full featured spectrophotometer that
will calibrate and profile displays and also read prints by spot.
Profiling software is not in this package.
Eye-One Pro with Eye-One Match ($2,949) - is the Pro package and
instrument and adds the Match software for profiling monitors, scanners,
and printers. Readings can be performed by spot or, with the included
scanning ruler, entire targets can be quickly strip-read. The Match
software is based on the same high-quality code behind GretagMacbeth's
excellent ProfileMaker Pro software.
At CHROMiX have had the pleasure of working with GretagMacbeth
to test this product under their surprisingly secret NDA. We have
found it to be easy to use and capable of generating profiles that
rival $10,000 systems. All the new Eye-One products are now available
for order in our store and should ship to customers within two weeks.
Eye-One Monitor: http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=465
Eye-One Pro: http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=466
Eye-One Pro & Eye-One Match: http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=467
Eye-One Feature Comparison: http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=464
Adobe:- Photoshop 6.0.1 released - Adobe released a free upgrade
to Photoshop 6.0 with a number of significant fixes, including an
improved painting toolbrush picker, improvements to Image Ready,
and a variety of other small improvements. Download it at:
Mac http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/880a.htm
Windows http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/880e.htm
- Updates for InDesign for Macintosh are now available. This updates
from Version 1.5 to 1.5.2, including versions in Italian, Spanish,
Dutch, Swedish, French and German, as well as English. Check it
out:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/idmac.htm
- Adobe Photoshop Elements offers unique features designed specifically
for amateur photographers, hobbyists, and business users who want
an easy-to-use, yet powerful digital imaging solution. Unlike Photoshop
LE or PhotoDeluxe, Elements has support for color management! To
download a 30 day free tryout, check out:
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/demoregzdnet.html
- Acrobat 5.0 will ship in early April, with an estimated street
price of US$249. Existing users can upgrade for $99. Adobe plans
to make Acrobat 5 Reader available for download on April 17. For
a detailed article on the changes you can expect in this version,
check this out:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0103/12.acrobat.shtml
- IMI Europe announces Digital Printing Summer School at Christ's
College, Cambridge, England. For more information on this upcoming
event, and on US events running from April on into the fall, check
out:
http://www.imieurope.com/
- Crosley Bendix, Director of Stylistic Premonitions, U.M.N., announces
the discovery of a new primary color, Squant, in a story that promises
to revolutionize the color industry and, indeed, color as it is
known worldwide!
http://www.negativland.com/squant/story.html
And, by the way, Happy April Fool's!
| A D V E R T I S E M E N T
| New Training CD's!
| Our colleagues at Rods and Cones have put their considerable
| experience into two excellent training CD's and we are proud to
| carry them in our Color Store.
| Profile ToolKit - Monitor shows, step-by-step, how to setup,
| calibrate and profile your monitor for great screen color.
| Profile ToolKit - Photoshop includes all the expertise of Toolkit
-
| Monitor and also shows you how to: setup Photoshop 6.0 properly,
| how to prepare files for print (with and without RIP) and for
Web,
| and also how to softproof your files.
| Best of all, they're inexpensive! Profile Toolkit - Monitor is
$35,
| and Profile Toolkit - Photoshop is $50. They are also available
| bundled with the ColorVision Monitor Spyder.
| see more here:
http://www.chromix.com/chromix/pages/store/toolframeset.lasso?contribid=7001
Other News Worth Noting
- Macintouch has posted a special report written by Adobe's Ed Edell
listing Adobe products' compatibility with OS X. Go to:
http://www.macintouch.com/adobemosx.html
- Macworld has a fabulous article on color management - what it
is, why it's important, and how to do it. We recommend anyone with
any questions on this subject read this article:
http://macworld.zdnet.com/2001/04/howto/color.html
- CreativePro has a two-part article on how the lighting in your
workspace can change your perception of the colors you see on your
monitor, and the best ways to remedy this problem. See:
Part A http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/11791.html
Part B http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/12054.html?cprose=2-10
- This just in... Bruce Fraser has written another excellent
article on color. This time it's about rendering intents. You can
find it on CreativePro as well:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/12641.html
ColorFAQs
Each month, our President Steve Upton will take time to answer
questions we receive on a regular basis. If you have specific questions
or comments, please see below for how to make submissions.
This Month - Making Prints and Monitors Match
by Steve Upton
It seems that the first thing people do when they get a color printer
is open the best color image they can find and print it. Then they
hold the sheet up beside the monitor and wonder why they are not
even close. It can be a fairly complicated issue so we decided to
spend some time on it this month.I printed my file and it does not
match the screen, why?
There are many reasons why a printed file doesn't match the screen.
First lets start with a quick test.
- open a white document in Photoshop and enlarge it so it covers
most of your screen
- pull a blank piece of paper from your printer and hold it up
beside the screen.
- see the problem?
Chances are very good that the white color of the paper does not
match the white color of the screen. We call this a white point
mismatch. If you do not have a match here, why would you think that
putting graphics on the screen and paper would help?Let's talk about
white.
Computers produce their version of white on the monitor by setting
the RGB values to 255,255,255. The flavor of white can vary from
a warm yellow-red color to a cool blue color. Typically we measure
these colors by referring to them in kelvin degrees. 5000K is a
fairly warm-looking yellowish light that is a compromise between
reddish typical home-lighting and daylight. 6500K is cooler in color
and looks more neutral without seeming too blue. 9300K, the color
temperature at which most monitors ship from the factory is quite
blueish.
Paper, on the other hand, is very dependant on the color of light
illuminating it. Papers have their own color as well but nothing
affects them more that the ambient light you have in your work area.
In many cases your ambient light consists of a mixture of overhead
fluorescent lights, daylight and perhaps desktop task lamps.
The human eye tends to see white as the basis for other colors.
That is, the eye "white balances" to the paper or monitor
white and all other colors fall out relative to that white. This
works quickly and typically quite well. We can see graphics under
many different shades of white and they pretty much look the same.
Problems arise however when two different whites are placed near
each other. The eye cannot adjust to both whites and so the difference
between them - and the graphics displayed on them - becomes quite
noticeable.
Now, back to your screen-to-print test. Chances are good that the
paper looked yellowish and the screen looked blueish.
This is very important so I want to emphasize it.
** If you do not setup your system so the white of the paper and
the white of the monitor are as close as possible, you will not
get a good screen-to-print match. **
OK, sounds like a nasty problem. Can I get it to work at all?
Yes. There will always be problem colors (more below) but if you
are careful, you can get a good screen-to-print match.
I should note that "match" here does not mean exact match.
How close? Well, people often use terms like 90% or 95% but I have
yet to see acceptable methods that numerically compare prints to
screens to give these types of numbers. I am comfortable in stating
that I have seen good and sometimes very good matches. The type
of match that causes our customers to smile and nod their heads.
To me, that's a good match.
If it's possible, then how do I go about doing it?
You need to concentrate on four areas:
- lighting
- monitor calibration and profiling
- print profile
- proper system setup and profile use
Lets start with lighting.
The international standard for lighting in graphic arts is 5000K.
Most lighting products you can buy are balanced to 5000K. Lighting
can come in a variety of forms. Fluorescent overhead lighting, either
installed in the ceiling or in hanging luminaires (light boxes),
viewing booths, or task lamps. For screen matching we typically
suggest small light booths with dimming capability. Setup the booth
beside the screen with about a 90 degree angle between them. Dim
the booth so the intensity of a white page in the booth matches
the intensity of the white screen - this is surprisingly important
and is the reason why we always suggest spending a little more on
the dimmable booths.
GTI Lighting Products: http://www.chromix.com/chromix/pages/store/toolframeset.lasso?contribid=925
Next, monitor calibration and profiling.
Make sure you start with a good monitor. Good typically means you
paid more than $500 for it and it is less than 2 years old. Spending
money on a monitor will not hurt you here. First adjust the monitor
using its built-in controls to get as close as possible to your
target white point (we suggest 6500K - more about that below). The
better monitors and software will allow you to fine-tune this color
using the monitor's gun controls. Then calibrate and profile the
monitor using a good quality monitor calibrator like the Color Vision
Monitor Spyder, the X-Rite Monitor Optimizer or GretagMacbeth's
new Eye-One. Make sure the profile is selected properly in the Monitors
and ColorSync control panels (Mac) or associated with the monitor
in the Display control panel (Windows). Photoshop looks here to
find which profile to use.
ColorVision Spyder: http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=410
X-Rite Monitor Optimizer: http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=375
GretagMacbeth Eye-One Monitor:
http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=465
The print profile is often a forgotten part of this. It is not
fair to expect that an RGB file displayed on screen will match a
print. The RGB file could contain many colors that cannot be printed.
To get the monitor to match the print you need the monitor to be
simulating the print. The only way to do that effectively is to
have a good print profile for the printer (or printing process)
in question. We build many of these profiles for customers in over
25 countries (so far). If you are wanting to simulate a proof then
try this:
- download our profiling kit: http://www.chromix.com/pages/cm/rps.html
- gang up the CMYK target in the kit with several of your favorite
CMYK test images on one 11"x17" sheet. (28cm x 43cm -
A3 size).
- Make a proof using that sheet (or send out to have one made).
- Clip the CMYK images off the sheet and save them.
- Send us the target to have a custom profile built. When building
proofing profiles it pays to take advantage of our $10,000 equipment.
- We will build a high quality CMYK profile and email it to you.
Setting up your system
This final piece of the puzzle is also often done incorrectly.
I am going to give you directions for Photoshop 6.0 (what? you haven't
upgraded yet?)
- Install your proofing profile onto your system.
- select Edit: Color Settings
- choose your CMYK profile under Working Spaces: CMYK
- open the CMYK test images you sent off for proofing
- place the printed proof images in your light booth
- dim or brighten the booth until you feel the lightness matches.
You should now have a fairly close match. If you find the blacks
or paper white are still off try this:
- select View:Proof Setup-Custom
- select your proofing profile for Profile:
- check "Preserve Color Number" <-- very important
for CMYK files
- ignore the "Intent" setting
- check the "preview" box
- while you can see your images, try selecting Paper White and/or
Ink Black.
- you can name this proofing method by clicking "save"
then it will appear in the proofing menu for use later.
Paper White will attempt to simulate the white (or non-white) of
the proofing stock. Sometimes this looks great, other times not.
Ink Black will simulate the grayness of the black ink as recorded
in the profile. For printing processes like newsprint where 100%
is a dark gray, this will lighten up the blacks on screen.
If they still don't look close, go back and try the blank-paper-beside-the-screen
test. You may want to calibrate your monitor at a different white
point to better match the white of your viewing booth/paper.
| A D V E R T I S E M E N T
| Monitor calibration specials this month in the CHROMiX ColorStore
| We're holding over these specials as they are so popular.
| Get the great Monitor Spyder for only $195 - save almost $30
| http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=410
| Bundle the Spyder with a custom proof profile for great softproofs
| for only $249 - save over $70
| http://www.chromix.com/chromix/store/toolsearch.lasso?toolid=453
Wiggle Room - or what to do when it doesn't match as well
as you want.
Matching a screen to print is a pretty tough thing to do. Don't
get too discouraged if it doesn't work perfectly the first time.
What we are finding is that setting things up the "theoretically"
correct way may not be the best way.
- white on monitor - In theory you should calibrate your monitor's
white to 5000K to match a viewing booth with 5000K bulbs. In reality
5000K on screen often looks too warm / reddish. We suggest calibrating
your screen to 6500K. It will give you a more pleasing white color
on screen and will probably match your booth better. If your monitor
calibration system allows the selection of many different white
points, experiment to see which one works best. Before you get worried
that this may be an unorthodox method, remember that your eye is
the final judge. If the viewing booth has good quality 5000K bulbs
installed and an instrument-calibrated monitor looks wrong then
change the monitor's white (in the profiling software). Just because
the instrument says it's OK doesn't mean you should believe it!
- lighting - Viewing booths with fluorescent lights are not the
only way to go. Ottlites are a popular task lamp which has 5000Kish
lights. I don't think they have been certified for graphics arts
use though so don't take them as gospel. Also Tailored Lighting
has created a remarkable set of halogen lamps that can be installed
in track lighting. They are the closest lighting to sunlight and
don't suffer from spectral "spikes" like fluorescents
do.
Tailored Lighting / Solux: http://www.solux.net/
Understand the limitations
Remember that a monitor cannot display all the colors a typical
press or printer can print. Gamut differences can vary a fair amount
and it can get to be a complicated topic. If you want to learn more
about gamut comparing and device limitations I suggest you try our
ColorThink software. One of ColorThink's main features is its ability
to overlay multiple profile gamuts in 2D and 3D graphs. There is
simply no better way to see if the monitor will display all your
printing colors or if your inkjet printer can actually simulate
the proof or press.
As always, if you have feedback or questions on the above information
or anything else related to color management, feel free to contact
me at upton@chromix.com.
NEXT MONTH: Gamut and Gamut Comparisons
FEEDBACK and FAQs
To submit questions or feedback to CHROMiX, contact our online
customer service group at custsvc@CHROMiX.com.
Please include your
name and email address in all correspondence.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
To unsubscribe to CHROMiX ColorNews, reply to this message with
"unsubscribe" in the subject.
To subscribe, email colornews@lists.chromix.com with "subscribe"
in
the subject.
ColorNews is edited by Carolyn Hobart (hobart@chromix.com).
Entire Contents of CHROMiX ColorNews (c)2001 CHROMiX
CHROMiX, ColorThink, ColorNews, and profilecentral.com are trademarks
of CHROMiX. All other trademarks are property of their respective
owners.
CHROMiX ColorNews is intended as an informative update to CHROMiX
customers
and business associates. We are not responsible for errors or omissions.
Regards,
Steve Upton
o Steve Upton CHROMiX www.chromix.com
o (hueman) 866.CHROMiX
o upton@chromix.com 206.985.6837
o
o ColorGear ColorThink ColorValet ColorSmarts ProfileCentral
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