Search: for:

Process color

SmartNote: 119
Type: Term
ColorGeek factor: unrated
Process color refers to the inks and process used when a wide range of colors are reproduced using a limited number of inks.

CMYK is the most common process ink set. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and black(Key) inks are combined in varying amounts to produce a reasonably wide range of colors. This is much cheaper than using a different ink for every color required and in the case of continuous-tone images like photographs, makes printing in color possible.

See Also

Term: Ink
Term: Spot color
Term: CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Term: Subtractive primaries

CHROMiX ColorNews Issue #18 - Chromatic Adaptation

SmartNote: 1193
Type: ColorNews
ColorGeek factor:

Welcome to ColorNews, a periodic update on things related to Color Management. We are striving for a regular consistent newsletter of high value to our customers. Please let us know what your interests are so we can address these concerns in our coming issues.

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C H R O M i X C O L O R N E W S

Issue #18
June 2, 2005

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Several Quick Notes of Interest:

** CHROMiX will be discontinuing the FREE Eye-One Display promotion after June 30th. See details below.

** Steve Upton and the CHROMiX tech gang have a new ColorThink software update coming very soon that will also have some very cool additional features. See details below.

** GretagMacbeth has a new version of ProfileMaker v5 available at an introductory special. See excerpt in Color, Product & Industry News below.

** Don Hutcheson has some revealing thoughts about Fuji discontinuing the Velvia 50 film in Tech Notes below. Also, be sure to check out Tech Notes #2 and #3 for two, very good on-line articles.

** CHROMiX has a special offer to all GIA 'Color Without Limits' seminar attendees. CHROMiX will give you $225 credit towards the purchase of an Eye-One solution. See Ad below.

** TRADE in that old device and get $80 to $200 off of your next Eye-One purchase! See details in Ad below.

** Chromatic Adaptation - an article written by CHROMiX President Steve Upton

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Table of Contents

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1. CHROMiX News
2. Color, Product & Industry News
3. Shows and Events
4. Tech Notes
5. ColorFAQs - Chromatic Adaptation
6. CHROMiX USED items for sale
7. ColorNews Administration (feedback, subscriptions, etc.)


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CHROMiX News

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Since our last ColorNews Issue #17 here's what's going on at CHROMiX: (busy as usual)

Our new working relationship with eVolve, a great Seattle-based training group is, well, eVolving. There are two new events to tell you about:

Free CHROMiX / Evolve seminar "Adobe Creative Suite 2: Achieving Consistent Color in CS2". Come learn about the color management process and new color management capabilities in Adobe Creative Suite 2. Using the suite's "nerve center" the Bridge, you can now achieve consistent color in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, GoLive and Acrobat. Join us at Adobe's Seattle campus June 15 at 5:30 for cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and 6:00-7:30 for the seminar. For registration and more information follow this link:
Click Here

We will be offering a new co-developed class entitled 'PHOTOSHOP DIGITAL WORKFLOW with COLOR MANAGEMENT'. It is a 6-hour workshop on June 21st from 9:30 am - 4:40 pm for $300, and will be held at the Seattle Evolve facility. We would love to have you join us. For more details follow this link:
Click Here

Steve Upton will be presenting a WebEx seminar for the IPA on "An Introduction to Color Management" on July 13, 2005. This is intended as an intro for designers and art directors. The registration page is not yet online. Watch the IPA and CHROMiX sites for more information.
Click Here

ColorThink 2.2 beta is now available. In a free update to the current ColorThink software, we are fixing a number of bugs and folding in a few new features. One new feature is the ability to read Monaco Profiler Export and Session files and export them in the standard CGATS format that GretagMacbeth uses. So you can use ColorThink to convert Monaco Profiler readings for use with GretagMacbeth software. This also means you can use Profiler to drive the DTP-70 and then pass the readings through ColorThink and build profiles with GretagMacbeth. If you want to play with the beta, please go to our download page and take a look. (It will use your existing 2.x serial numbers.)
Click Here

ColorNews is now available in the RSS newsfeed format. CHROMiX will be using the RSS feed capability to post updates and announcements to our website and any RSS newsfeed subscribers. What this means to you is that CHROMiX will devote a part of our website to a live news feed of Color Management and related industry news - so you'll only need to go to one place to get any and all relevant information. If you have upgraded your Mac to Tiger, RSS reading is available as part of the new Safari. Just go to our website at Click Here and click on the blue RSS icon on the right side of Safari's location bar. To directly link to the feed file go here:
Click Here
Stay tuned... literally.

The CHROMiX ColorForums are growing in popularity and usage. Thanks to everyone who contributes and participates. ColorForums.com is the first full-featured online forum dedicated to color management tools, techniques and support. Not only is there a clear web-based interface to all forum topic areas, but it is backed up with a comprehensive email system. You can read and post messages via the web or email, so those of you who don't always have time to surf the web can have the color management community come to you. If you have a technical question or would like to discuss a topic, give it a try!
Click Here

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Color, Product & Industry News

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Apple just released Tiger, it's new Mac OS X operating system software. Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger) has some very cool features: Spotlight, Dashboard, Automator, iChatAV, and nearly 200 other new features. Tiger appears to be a very good product. However, as with every new operating system, there are a number of incompatibilities with existing software products, drivers, dongles, etc., until developers arrive at Tiger compatibility. Color management seems to have also changed a bit with Tiger. Look below in our Tech Tips section for Tiger tips.
For more information, Click Here

Adobe has released Creative Suite 2 (CS2). CS2 is a dramatic improvement over CS1 and touts easier use and powerful new features. CS2 also has a more consistent and robust color management functionality when moving from Photoshop to Illustrator to InDesign. Plus, you can synchronize your color settings (and other stuff) from one location in Bridge Center, a new centralized file browser. Cool. There is a new 'safe' CMYK color management for InDesign & Illustrator users to ensure the CMYK isn't mishandled. CS2 also ships with a new Euro profile based on Fogra standards. Here are some great reviews from CreativePro.com:
Illustrator CS2 Click Here
InDesign CS2 Click Here
Photoshop CS2 Click Here
Don't forget that we are giving a seminar on color in CS2 in June. See above....

GretagMacbeth just announced a NEW addition to the ProfileMaker v5 suite called PM5 Publish Plus which has all of the features of PMv5 Publish Pro, but includes the MultiColor Module for CMYK+N profile generation. Publish Plus is ideal for expanding the gamut of devices with six additional colors like Digital Printers, Analog Presses, and LFP devices. Publish Plus is targeted at Publishing, Textile Printing and Sign Markets. Furthermore, GretagMacbeth is offering a special introductory value of a FREE Eye-One Pro spectrophotometer and Device Link Module. They've also added an ROI (return on investment) calculator to their site that you will find linked on the following page. For more information:
Click Here

GretagMacbeth has also released version 3.2 of their Eye-One Match software. This module includes the much-anticipated Digital Camera Module for profiling digital cameras. If you purchased an Eye-One Photo after December 15, 2004, a simple download is all that's required to start using this software (along with free registration):
Click Here
If you want this function as part of a different Eye-One bundle, it is also available as an upgrade:
Click Here

Fujifilm is releasing a new set of Fuji input/scanner targets. The new Fujifilm Color Targets II are a kit of 5 Fujifilm IT8.7 targets. Four targets are IT8.7/1 (transmissive targets) including 2 35mm format (Velvia, Provia), 2 4x5 format (Velvia, Provia); the 35mm targets are accompanied with batch-read colorimetric data, while the 4x5 targets include custom-measured colorimetric data. The remaining target is an IT8.7/2 (reflective target) made on Fujifilm Crystal Archive Paper (Type DP). Targets are not available for sale individually, only as the complete kit. CHROMiX will be reselling these kits when available.

Hoodman has announced a revolutionary new monitor hood that we hope will start shipping by the end of June. (we're taking pre-orders and will let people know when it starts to ship) This revolutionary new monitor hood will adjust to fit CRTs and Flat Panel monitors from 13" to 23" in size, and works especially well with the Apple Cinema Display. CHROMiX is taking pre-orders now and will make sure you get one of the first ones available. For more information:
Click Here

Printers are seeing increased printing activity on average as opposed to slowing down. The Printing Business Index (PBI) of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), the Association's broadest measure of print activity, rose to 60.1 in March 2005, up from 57.8 in February and 59.0 in January. Rising costs are tempering this progress a bit and providing a new challenge. For more:
Click Here

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Tech Notes

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#1 We asked Don Hutcheson how Fuji's discontinuation of the Velvia 50 film would affect the HutchColor HCT products. Here's what Don said:
"I keep track of dye transmission curves for many films and find the Fuji family to be very similar from Velvia 100 to 50, although you will see some differences in the published curves. Fuji and Kodak emulsion technologists have told me that the dyes for most of their respective slide films with similar family names (like Velvia) come from the same source, but will often show as different curves in the spec sheets for two reasons;

1) The method of sampling the curves is flawed by the fact that they do not measure pure dyes, but rather a developed dye image produced by exposing the films with narrow-band R, G and B light. Unfortunately there are no wavelengths that exclusively stimulate each layer without some cross-talk into the others, so the curves for the dye in one layer may well include some residual absorbencies happening in the other layers, which falsely indicate a different color dye.
2) The published curves represent only the particular batch that was sampled in the lab. So the differences between the published curves for Velvia 100 and 50 are partly due to batch variations, and may not reflect any basic differences between average batches of either film

What ultimately matters is how well a target on one emulsion reproduces images on other emulsions. In my experience a profile made from the current Velvia HCT works very well on a variety of Fuji transparency materials, as well as on other emulsions, like Ektachrome, but this depends a lot on the scanner filter curves.

I have no plans to make a separate HCT on Velvia 100, as I have not seen the need and Fuji 8 x 10 film is getting hard to buy in small quantities"

Thanks for the update, Don!

#2 Greg Exelby pointed out a great on-line article that we thought we'd share with you: PAPER & INK FAQ's, by Sabine Lenz. With all the great proofing technologies available these days, is there still a need for designers to come to press checks? If you are a designer, this is a very valuable read. If you're a printer or broker finding that it's impossible to keep creatives out of the pressroom, this article will highlight the need for taking the initiative to educate your customers about the behind-the-scenes work that goes into their print job. The link:
Click Here

#3 There is another very good article by Charles Pickett of Publish that discusses a possible new approach to the problems occurring while soft-proofing in variable ambient lighting environments. A must read.
Click Here

#4 Mac OS X (10.4) Tiger seems to be producing some color-related problems that we are monitoring:

- some users are reporting that ColorSync monitor profiles are not travelling between users when Fast User Switching. If you see this problem, try trashing the "com.apple.colorsync.profiles" files from the "/Library/Caches/" folder. Also, put profiles in the /Library/ColorSync/Profiles folder and they will be available to all users on your system.

- if you are having problems with your HASP-brand dongles under Tiger you may want to download the new drivers:
Click Here

#5 A great review of ColorEyes Display has been posted to the Luminous Landscape site. It reinforces what we have found ourselves: ColorEyes Display is good stuff!
Click Here
Click Here


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SHOWS & EVENTS

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June 6-9, 2005 Seybold Amsterdam. Click Here
Sept 11-14, 2005 Seybold Chicago. Click Here
Nov 29 - Dec 2, 2005 Seybold San Francisco. Click Here

June 7-9, 2005 IPA Technical Conference, Westin O'Hare, Rosemont, IL. A conference with focus on the latest trends, tools and techniques for graphics professionals. This event will highlight a Color Proofing RoundUP, a Workflow RoundUP, Keynotes from some very notable industry leaders, and a management track as well.
Click Here

June 12-15, 2005, NAPL & PIA/GATF Sheetfed Pressroom Conference at Marriott O'Hare Hotel, Chicago, IL General sessions and specific seminars will address managerial and technical issues relating to current Sheetfed Pressroom topics and concerns.
Click Here

June 23, 2005, 6 - 9 PM, Portland, OR. PDF Wine & Tasting Faire, presented by the Pacific Northwest Color Management Users Group. This event focuses primarily on PDF, and secondarily on PDF Color Management issues. Many vendors and consultants will be there, including Adobe's Peter Constable. The event details and location are available at:
Click Here

July 19-23, 2005, Las Vegas, NV, The Creative Suite Conference. Join leading Creative Suite experts in the largest Creative Suite (CS2) training event of the year.
Click Here

September 9-15, 2005 PRINT '05 at McCormick Place Complex, Chicago, IL Because of its mammoth size and international presence, PRINT occurs only once every four years and will take the place of GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO in 2005.
Click Here


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ColorFAQ - Chromatic Adaptation

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Each issue, 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.

First, a few corrections. Thanks to those who wrote in with the "what the..!?" questions.

1. In ColorNews Issue #16 I cut off a sentence mid-way leaving you all hanging... sorry about that. The sentence should have been: "This way he (Joseph Holmes) would bypass the potentially destructive scanner->smaller workingspace or workingspace->workingspace conversions. (he actually went further than this by creating a number of these color spaces which allow shrinking the gamut of an image by simply assigning different profiles)"

2. In ColorNews Issue #17 I incorrectly stated that delta-E stood for delta-Error - I am happy to say that it does not. The E stands for "empfindung" a German word for sensation. Change in sensation makes much more sense!

So, on to this issue's article:

Chromatic Adaptation

hocus-pocus?
useful color conversion?
fancy words for cocktail party impressions?

As the color management world works its way toward version 4.x profiles we find that we're getting more and more questions about the differences with v4 profiles and what they mean. One important difference is that all profiles (except device links) are now required to have a 'chad' tag (chromatic adaptation).

So what is chromatic adaptation?

It's probably best to take a step back and talk about how colors are calculated and the different flavors of Lab.

The Lab colorspace (more correctly written L*a*b* but who wants to do that all the time) is based on human perception and is typically calculated from spectral reading curves combined with human eye response curves (observer) and an illuminant (lighting) curve. While we can change the observer and illuminant curves, most Lab colors are based on the 'standard 2 degree observer' and the D50 illuminant curve. To be precise, the flavor of Lab used in Photoshop, ICC profiles and most other publishing cases is the "2 degree, D50" Lab and it's fair to assume that "Lab" written on its own is 2 deg D50 Lab. (it doesn't hurt to ask though)

If all our lighting conditions matched the spectral curve of D50 we'd be set. Unfortunately many don't even come close. In fact, it's impossible to reproduce D50 using any man-made light source! (see my article in issue #14 of ColorNews for more) In most situations, for instance, we recommend calibrating CRT displays to the D65 white point to better match office lighting and sometimes even 5000K light booths (see ColorNews #2). Also, neutral colors printed on inkjet printers achieve their tones by the careful balance of CMYK inks. This balance is calculated for a specific spectral lighting curve and may shift considerably under different lighting (sometimes called metamerism - see ColorNews Issue #5). While we try to build profiles that minimize this effect, sometimes we're better off calculating the color numbers for the profile using a totally different illuminant curve.

ColorNews past issues: Click Here

In order to calculate colors based on a different illuminant, we just substitute the new illuminant curve into the "spectral-reading (times) observer (times) illuminant" equation we use to calculate Lab (it calculates XYZ from which we then calculate Lab). So if we substitute the spectral curve for the D65 illuminant then we get a color number representing the measured sample under the alternate lighting. The important thing here is that it is now '2 degree D65 Lab'. As we rarely change the observer, let's just call it D65 Lab. While this flavor of Lab is quite useful it should never be handed to ICC profiling tools as they typically expect D50 Lab numbers - the ICC spec specifically states that all measurements will be D50 Lab.

So what do we do? Chromatic Adaptation. This series of matrix calculations will convert colors that are relative to one white point (D65) to be relative to a new white point (D50). Without this essential conversion we are handing the profiling software (and the profile, and ultimately the CMM) the wrong numbers and we will probably be disappointed with the result.

"But wait!" you say "if we wanted D50 numbers, why didn't we just calculate Lab using the D50 illuminant in the first place?". The answer, as I hinted above, is metamerism. The spectral makeup of D65 lighting can change the appearance of certain dyes and pigments significantly. So the color we get from calculating Lab using D65 and then adapting it to D50 can be noticeably different than calculating the D50 Lab color directly from the measurement....

Do you see where this leads?

In one calculation we get D50 Lab numbers as illuminated by a D65 light source and in the other, D50 Lab numbers as illuminated by a D50 light source. Now we can correctly calculate delta-E values and assign some numbers to the metamerism / gray balance failure problem we often see! This "metamerism index" can be handy in evaluating inksets and predicting what sorts of problems we're going to see when our gallery-viewed photograph (3500K Solux Lamp) is purchased and moved into an office (6000K fluorescent with nasty spectral spikes).

Another challenging situation is the color data within profiles. As I mentioned above, all measurements within profiles (or handed to profiling applications) are in D50 Lab. If the original measurements were not D50 Lab and were adapted to be D50 Lab then we need to know what flavor of Lab they were originally if we have a hope of reconstructing them. Why would we want to reconstruct them? Well, WE might not but CMM developers might (CMM is Color Management Module, the actual software that converts colors within your applications or OS). We (all of us using ICC profiles) are currently in the age of the "smart profile" and the "dumb CMM". This means that most color conversion smarts are built - hard coded - into profiles. When the CMM converts our colors from one profile to another, it does not do much analysis at all. Most calculations are concerning interpolating colors, which is fairly basic on the scale of things. Future CMMs, however, could do more analysis of the source and destination profiles, image data, etc. In order to do some of these advanced calculations, it can be helpful to be able to reconstruct the original measurement conditions. The 'chad' tag in v4 ICC profiles is required so that any chromatic adaptation calculation that created the profile's colors is documented and available to the CMM if it needs to "back calculate" any colors during its conversions. The good folks at the ICC are hoping that this will help in situations where conversions had broken down in the past.

So we have covered three specific situations where chromatic adaptation may be used:

- converting non-D50 Lab values to D50 Lab for profiling applications
- converting non-D50 Lab values to D50 (or some other, common Lab) for delta-E comparisons
- recording non-D50 Lab value calculations into profiles for better conversions

Are you going to use chromatic adaptation in your color pursuits? Perhaps. Most often these calculations will be performed by profiling software on your behalf. If you are doing color calculations for use in profiling software then you may need it. If you are trying to get your arms around metamerism and want to compare measurements under different lighting conditions then you will definitely need it to calculate delta-E values. I've built chromatic adaptation calculations into our upcoming ColorThink Pro software to save you some of the pain of relearning your linear algebra and to do quick metamerism checks. (And yes, I had to relearn my linear algebra.)

At the very least, you now know more about this calculation and when to watch out for incompatible color numbers. You also have new terminology to firmly establish your geek-hood at cocktail parties.

Thanks for reading,

Steve Upton
(card-carrying color geek)
June 2005


For previous ColorNews articles follow this link:
Click Here

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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.


USED PRODUCT FOR SALE - ColorNews newsletter-only specials
Occasionally we have demo or returned product that the manufacturer won't take back. We have tested these items and certify that they are in excellent working condition or near new. If you are interested, call Sales for more information.

2 ea used Monaco Optix XR (New $219) $175 <-- price drop

1ea X-Rite DTP-22 Digital Swatchbook (serial) $499 <-- price drop

2ea Fuji (ColourKit) Monitor, RGB Output Profiler & Image Processor software bundle. New. $299


FEEDBACK and FAQs
To submit questions or feedback to CHROMiX, email us at colornews(at)CHROMiX.com. Please include your name and email address in all correspondence (email, phone, fax etc).


SUBSCRIPTIONS
To unsubscribe from CHROMiX ColorNews, reply to this message with "unsubscribe" in the subject.
To subscribe, email colornews(at)chromix.com with "subscribe" in the subject.

Entire Contents of CHROMiX ColorNews (c)2005 CHROMiX, Inc.
CHROMiX, ColorThink, ColorNews, ColorSmarts, ColorGear, ColorForums and Profilecentral.com are trademarks of CHROMiX Inc.
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.
--

CHROMiX Launches ColorThink Pro

SmartNote: 1197
Type: PressRelease
ColorGeek factor:

Seattle, WA (Sept 7, 2005) - CHROMiX today announced significant new product based on award winning ColorThink software.

CHROMiX is a member of the Color Management Group and will be demonstrating ColorThink Pro in the Color Management Group booth #8633 at Print05

ColorThink Pro offers enhancements to 3D color graphing and ICC color profile analysis. Also introduced is a ground-breaking Color Worksheet tool for workflow modeling and color analysis, and the new ColorCast profile technology.

"Our ColorThink toolset is used by every major imaging company in the world, as well as color consultants, trainers, prepress technicians and photographers" explained Steve Upton, CHROMiX CEO and President. "As you can imagine, we've received a long and varied list of feature requests over the years. ColorThink Pro is the first in a new level of professional-grade tools that offers many of the advanced analysis and trouble-shooting tools that are needed today."

A color managed workflow involves multiple color conversions using several ICC profiles. If the resulting colors are not satisfactory, it can be difficult and confusing to isolate each color conversion and determine where the problem lies. The Color Worksheet allows the user to lay out the workflow graphically and use images or color measurements to illustrate where the problem lies.

But the Color Worksheet's utility doesn't stop there. Any list of profiles (including device, abstract and link types) can be bonded together to create device link abstract or standard device profiles. Linking existing device profiles to other profiles is a radical and powerful new technology called ColorCast that offers solutions to several sticky color problems around today.

ColorCast profiles capture complex color transformations such as proofing a 6-channel press and embed them inside regular workingspace and device profiles which can be used anywhere - see technology announcement for ColorCast, also announced today.

Tying all of this together is the ColorSmarts Guide. A combination automator and teacher, the ColorSmarts Guide is like having a color consultant standing over your shoulder. Select from over 20 tests that are built into the Guide, and it will perform them for you and present the results as a graph, worksheet or delta-E report.

ColorThink's graphing and profile analysis abilities have been expanded as well. Graphs can now be saved as movies or sessions, and include gridlines and a sectioning tool called the Slicer. The Profile Inspector adds dot gain curves, gamut volume calculation, and ink statistics.

ColorThink and ColorCast have patent-pending technologies and CHROMiX has engaged the firm of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt (www.schwabe.com) as our intellectual property representatives.

ColorCast and ColorThink Pro were both announced this week at the Print05 show in Chicago. (see related release for more ColorCast information). Drop by booth #8633 for a look or contact Carolyn Boone for an appointment.


About CHROMiX

CHROMiX was founded in 1998 to provide technical services and products to businesses in content-production industries. We have dedicated our efforts to color management and image fidelity and have combined an excellent suite of tools with many years combined industry experience. We feel we are uniquely qualified to serve our customers. Much of our business takes place in the US but we regularly provide products and services internationally and have customers, dealers and partners in over 95 countries.

Press Contacts

Steve Upton
President, CEO
(206) 985-6837
uptonPR(at)chromix.com

Carolyn Boone
Marketing
(206) 985-6837
boonePR(at)chromix.com

CHROMiX Announces ColorCast Technology

SmartNote: 1198
Type: PressRelease
ColorGeek factor:

Seattle, WA (Sept 7, 2005) - CHROMiX today announced ColorCast, a new color simulation and modeling technology used with ICC color profiles.

ColorCast technology alters ICC profiles by embedding color transformations into normal ICC device profiles. The result is a profile that is usable with any ICC compatible system but contains complex proofing or modeling transformations.

Photoshop, the CS2 suite, Quark and Freehand don't support Hexachrome® or other multicolor printing systems directly. End-users with the need to soft and hard-proof multicolor workflows are faced with the additional expense and confusion of plugins which aren't available for many of the professional publishing or desktop applications people use.

"ColorCast technology is remarkable because, while there is considerable color wizardry going on under the hood, the resulting profile is still a regular ICC-compatible print, scan, or monitor profile." explained CHROMiX president and ColorCast creator Steve Upton. "As a result, soft and hard-proofing of multi-color and abstract profiles is now available in ANY application, print driver or RIP that supports ICC profiles."

Multicolor printing is expanding every year and has seen significant inroads in the packaging industry. One challenge faced by printers is communicating the advantages of multicolor printing to their clients and allowing them to simulate final expected results. ColorCast profiles can be created to capture the effect of a complex multicolor printing system (up to 10 channels) within a client's working space or printer profile. The client can use the profile in a wide variety of applications to simulate final color. Rendering intent choices select the simulated profile's intents, allowing full flexibility.

The technology can also be applied to input and working space profiles. A digital camera profile could be combined with effect or utility profiles increasing contrast or modeling a film type. Working space profiles can combine with abstract profiles to inherit their abilities and still remain standard profiles supported in Photoshop.

ColorCast technology appears in the ColorThink Pro application (also announced today) and may appear in other applications in the future.

ColorCast contains patent-pending technologies and CHROMiX has engaged the firm of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt (www.schwabe.com) as their intellectual property representatives.

ColorCast and ColorThink Pro were both announced this week at the Print05 show in Chicago. Drop by booth #8633 for a look or contact Carolyn Boone for an appointment.


About CHROMiX

CHROMiX was founded in 1998 to provide technical services and products to businesses in content-production industries. We have dedicated our efforts to color management and image fidelity and have combined an excellent suite of tools with many years combined industry experience. We feel we are uniquely qualified to serve our customers. Much of our business takes place in the US but we regularly provide products and services internationally and have customers, dealers and partners in over 95 countries.

Press Contacts

Steve Upton
President, CEO
(206) 985-6837
uptonPR(at)chromix.com

Carolyn Boone
Marketing
(206) 985-6837
boonePR(at)chromix.com

CHROMiX ColorNews Issue #19 - Color Management Myths 26-28

SmartNote: 1199
Type: ColorNews
ColorGeek factor:

Welcome to ColorNews, a periodic update on things related to Color Management. We are striving for a regular consistent newsletter of high value to our customers. Please let us know what your interests are so we can address these concerns in our coming issues.

=============================================================

C H R O M i X C O L O R N E W S

Issue #19
July 20, 2005

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Several Quick Notes of Interest:

** FREE CHROMiX Color Management Utility Kit when you buy either an Eye-One Pro solution or an X-Rite Pulse ColorElite solution. See ad below.

** Big Price Drop on GretagMacbeth Eye-One products AND a further $200 off Eye-One solutions??
TRADE in your old measurement device and get up to $200 off your next Eye-One purchase! See details in ad below.

** Purchase an Eizo ColorEdge LCD monitor and get either half off a ColorEyes Display bundle, or get one absolutely free!! (offer varies depending on monitor model) This bundle is valued at $319, and is currently the most highly regarded LCD monitor calibration software & instrument on the market. See detail below.

** Got an old Eye-One? Wishing you could justify the purchase of one of the new ones with all the bells and whistles? Well, now's the time! GretagMacbeth, in discussions with CHROMiX, is preparing to launch it's new Customer Loyalty Program!

** 3 more Color Myths - an article written by CHROMiX President Steve Upton

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Table of Contents

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1. CHROMiX News
2. Color, Product & Industry News
3. Shows and Events
4. Tech Notes
5. ColorFAQs - 3 more Color Myths
6. CHROMiX USED items for sale
7. ColorNews Administration (feedback, subscriptions, etc.)


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CHROMiX News

================

Since our last ColorNews Issue #18 on June 2, here's what's going on at CHROMiX:

Rick Hatmaker of CHROMiX wrote an article for Digital Imaging Techniques (August issue) evaluating the GretagMacbeth Eye-One product line as well as the the X-Rite Pulse ColorElite solution. You may find this useful if you're shopping for either product or looking to upgrade. Find the article at: Click Here

Anne Taylor of CHROMiX will be speaking at this year's BioComm conference on July 24th in Portland, OR, about color management and workflow for the field of BioCommunications. Interestingly, most conference attendees are using the Adobe Creative Suite and have overwhelmingly requested color management as a key focus and emphasis. Workflow and color management are particularly problematic in the Biocommunications field due to the wide range of input and output devices used in medicine and the life sciences.
Click Here

We've had a big price drop on Eye-One Photo, Proof, XT and others. Nothing like a summer sale!
Click Here

CHROMiX is continuing to offer the training class 'PHOTOSHOP DIGITAL WORKFLOW with COLOR MANAGEMENT'. It is a one day workshop being held August 18 and September 21, from 9:30 am - 4:40 pm, at the Seattle Evolve facility, for $300. Recent attendees have mentioned how effective this class was for them. It could be for you too. Please join us. For more details follow this link:
Click Here

Steve Upton's Webinar for the IPA "An Introduction to Color Management" on July 13th was very well received! If you missed it, you can still catch part two of this Color Management for the Creative Community series. Part two is called 'Photoshop and Color Accuracy', and is scheduled for Wednesday, August 3rd at 1:00 PM Eastern. Steve will cover Photoshop essentials for accurate color matching, including:

- Manage missing profiles when opening files
- Confirm Photoshop is using your monitor profile
- Setup for accurate and easy soft proofs
- Use gamut warning to solve color problems
- Convert files for different destinations
- Get print files accurately to your printer
- Guarantee your proofs will match print
- and, learn a nifty trick for getting great Pantone matches!

For more information, or to register:
Click Here

ColorThink 2.2b15 beta is now available. It is a free update to the current ColorThink software. We continue to add fixes and look for feedback from our users. Download a copy, give it a try, and let us know what you think.
Click Here

CHROMiX at Print05 in Chicago. Yes we'll be there and we'll be showing off new versions of our software. We haven't determined which booth we'll be in yet so stay tuned! (we'll have a newsletter before Print05 giving all the details)

Steve Upton of CHROMiX is serving a second year on the GATF conference's advisory panel. The dates for the popular color management conference are December 4-6, 2005 in Phoenix AZ. A call for speakers has been issued, so interested speakers should contact Gwen Martin at the GATF.
Click Here

The number of users and topics of discussion continue to grow at our ColorForums website. Check it out if you are looking for answers to technical problems. It's free!
Click Here

Finally, please let us know how you like the new ColorNews RSS Feed service on our home page. We welcome your feedback.


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Color, Product & Industry News

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GretagMacbeth Customer Loyalty Program - this is just being finalized as we "went to press".
Customers who have an older Eye-One Match system (like Photo, Publish, etc) and have been interested in the speed of the new Rev B Eye Ones or have wanted to take advantage of the newer software features or ambient light reading can now upgrade to the new bundles at significant savings. Customers who purchase a new Eye-One system will get up to 50% of the purchase price back when they send in their old unit. The rebate amount depends on the age of your Eye-One and varies as follows:
30% off a new package for EyeOne purchased prior to 2002
40% off a new package for EyeOne purchased in 2003
50% off a new package for EyeOne purchased in 2004 / 2005
This is a brand new program. Rebate details and coupons are being prepared as you read this. If you want to be notified when all the information is available from GretagMacbeth, respond to this newsletter or send an email to sales(at)chromix.com and we will let you know.

GretagMacbeth has released the long-awaited ProfileMaker Packaging software. This extension to the ProfileMaker line is intended for the particular challenges of the packaging industry and includes the ability to create n-color profiles (profiles where the ink is in any order, up to 10 channels) and their patent-pending GOP profiling technology. GOP (Generic Output Profiler) allows the replacement of an ink, and the recalculation of the profile without having to perform an additional press run. This is going to be a boon for the flexo market. GretagMacbeth will have product information as well as an interactive training piece available on their site within the next day or so:
Click Here

In June, IPA announced the results of the 2005 Color Proofing and Workflow RoundUP. EFI ColorProof and GMG scored well for Proofing, and other RIPS were not far behind. Dr. Abhay Sharma, author of Understanding Color Management and a respected professor at Western Michigan University, conducted the event. The results are available on a CD for a nominal fee, and is well worth it, as this is one of the more legitimate product comparisons you'll find.
Click Here

Unless you live in a cave you probably already know this... Adobe is planning to buy Macromedia. More details at
Click Here

Apple has announced the plan to shift processor supplier from IBM to Intel. On June 6, 2005 Steve Jobs announced this decision at his Keynote speech at Apple's 2005 Worldwide Developer Conference. The first Intel processors should ship with Macs starting in 2006 and the entire product line should be running Intel by 2007. (All CHROMiX software products will be supported on the new platform.)

Microsoft announced PowerToy, an upcoming RAW viewer add-on for Windows XP that enables the handling of Canon and Nikon RAW formats directly within Windows. Microsoft will also be adding extensive RAW format support through a codec architecture for Longhorn, the next major release of Windows due in 2007.

ColorBurst will announce (on Friday 7/22) version 4 X-Proof and X-Photo RIP software that will support the Epson 4800. They will have an FTP site for downloads. ColorBurst mentioned that a free updater will be posted to the their website next week. ColorBurst has also recently been approved as part of two SWOP certified proofing systems on both Mac and PC platforms. This is the fifth SWOP certified proofing system for ColorBurst in the last two years.

GTI, maker of controlled lighting and viewing stations, has introduced several new models which reflect the ongoing shift toward wide-format and digital imaging. They have expanded the VPI Vertical Print Inspectors to include vertical (poster) format. GTi has also added the availability of rotary controlled dimming or digital dimming on their 24", 36", and 48"" overhead luminaires.


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SHOWS & EVENTS

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July 19-23, 2005, Las Vegas, NV, The Creative Suite Conference. Join leading Creative Suite experts in the largest Creative Suite (CS2) training event of the year.
Click Here

September 8-10, 2005, PMA Fall Imaging Conference and Mini Trade Show at Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, CA.
Click Here

September 9-15, 2005, PRINT '05 at McCormick Place Complex, Chicago, IL Because of its mammoth size and international presence, PRINT occurs only once every four years and will take the place of GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO in 2005.
Click Here
CHROMiX will be there! Stay tuned for more information about the booth location.

September 11-14, 2005, Seybold Chicago at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.
Click Here

September 28-29, 2005, Digital Imaging '05 at Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, CA.
Click Here

September 28 - March 1, 2005, SGIA Specialty Printing & Imaging Technology Show, New Orleans, LA.
Click Here

November 29 - December 2, 2005, Seybold San Francisco at The Palace Hotel, San Francisco, CA.
Click Here

December 4-6, 2005, PIA/GATF Color Management Conference at The Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort, Phoenix, AZ. This is the only US show with exclusive focus on color management technology. Hear about the latest tools, workflows, and trends in producing high-quality color.
Click Here


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ColorFAQ - 3 more Color Myths

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Each issue, 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 I wanted to cover a few more myths. There never seems to be an end to these...

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Myth #26: Graphing profiles to see their gamut gives pretty much the same results in the different tools that are available.

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ColorThink plots gamuts using the device->Lab (ie CMYK->Lab) "proofing" part of the profile. Like when you soft proof, we ask the profile "if I send 100% Cyan, what color will I get?" - only we ask it for a large number of these colors and we get a good estimation of the behavior of the device. If you built the profile yourself and have access to the original measurements, you can plot them along with the ColorThink profile gamut and they will match up quite closely (if it's a good profile). When we do this "proofing" conversion we use the absolute colorimetric rendering intent which gives us accurate paper whites and ink blacks.

The ONLY way to show the actual gamut of the _device_ is to use the Absolute Colorimetric intent when calculating. This pulls the white down to paper-white and shades it accordingly. None of the methods of viewing profiles in the ColorSync Utility allow this.

The ColorSync utility allows you to view the "gamuts of profiles" by either clicking on them in the profile list (which shows the perceptual mapping) or clicking on the various A2Bx tags when you open a profile. When you click on these tags in the profiles, the CSU shows you the perceptual, saturation and relative colorimetric gamuts. What do they represent? well, they show how colors in device-space (CMYK, RGB, etc) will appear when converted through the profile. Does this mean anything? sort of, but only to a very experienced user. People typically want to know 1) how is my device performing and 2) how is my profile performing when printing? (which is the opposite, Lab->device conversion)

So, ColorThink answers #1 (and is the only grapher I know of that does it this way, why I don't know) and graphing a color list or image and applying a profile to get vectors answers #2. The CSU doesn't answer either of these questions... not that what it's doing is technically incorrect.... well perhaps it is:

- each "unit" in Lab is supposed to represent the smallest color shift the eye can see - in any direction (lightness, saturation, hue). The lightness axis L goes from 0-100 while the a and b axes go from -128 to 127. This means the box defined by the ICC for Lab is not a cube but is wider than it is tall. There is no valid reason to stretch the vertical L axis to be the same size as the widths of a and b but many graphers do this including the CSU... This results in "tall" gamuts and ColorThink's are "flatter". As far as I can determine, flatter is correct yet most other graphing tools I've seen stretch the Lab space into a cube, producing tall skinny gamut volumes that don't make sense (at least to me)

Other graphers like Monaco, GretagMacbeth and others plot what I call the "rendered gamut" of profiles (as opposed to the device gamut). Using this method, Lab values are converted through the profile to device colors and then back to Lab. If very saturated colors are chosen at the outset then this round-trip method will squish them into gamut and then a gamut volume can be graphed. This volume can be useful but does not describe the device behavior alone - it really shows what the profile will give you if used to print to the device (and specifically how the very saturated colors will print). This may seem like splitting hairs but it's not. Many printers receive CMYK files separated by unknown profiles. A device gamut will describe the maximum space these images can occupy, a rendered gamut will not and, in fact, some image colors may appear outside of the rendered gamut. Another way to think of this is with the example of ink limiting. If you build a CMYK profile that has a total ink limit of 200% you will probably limit the gamut of files printed using that profile. When graphed in ColorThink you will see the gamut of the device, all the way up to 400% coverage. In other tools you will see the rendered gamut, which will be smaller, especially in the darker colors.

ColorThink Pro, which we are working on right now will allow both graphing methods so you can compare the profile's printing capabilities with the device's overall capabilities. The "normal" ColorThink will continue to graph device gamuts. They are the simplest to understand and jibe well with graphs of the device measurements used to build the profile.

A bit long-winded I know but that's the way it is with color..I hope this helps.

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Myth #27: Why would anyone ever want to choose a working space that is larger than you can print?

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This is a classic question and one that we receive only slightly more often than "Why does my printer keep recommending such small working spaces?"

The roots of these schools of thought are in the perspective of each user and how they tend to want to recommend (push) their workflow to other people. In studying color reproduction challenges over the years, I have broken workflows down to three distinct groups (I am exaggerating them a little):

- Input Centric - this is where people want to capture as much of the original film (or scene) as possible. They choose large working spaces (much larger than the monitor gamut) and archive high-bit images for the day when printers catch up with their desires. Monitors, printers and presses are necessary evils that all degrade the appearance of their work. If they have the ability they will fill a whole CD with one scanned image. You might guess that this is where photographers often reside.

- Output Centric - this is where the final print is the deciding factor in workflow decisions. Working spaces like ColorMatch are considered plenty big enough to contain all the colors one would want to print. So working spaces are chosen that will contain the gamut of a press and nothing more. Much of their work is done in CMYK (in-gamut by definition) and they wonder why anyone would bother capturing color that can't be printed. As you can imagine, prepress and printing folks are in this group.

- Display-Centric - this is where people just want what's printed to match what's on the screen. Computer artists, 3D artists, video editors and consumers tend to fall into this group. All work headed for the web also falls in this category. sRGB is typically chosen as the working space as it tends to match the display gamut fairly closely. It doesn't contain any more colors than the display can show so there are fewer surprises.

The truth is that each of us will find ourselves in these different roles at some time. There's nothing wrong with being in any of the groups and people may change groups depending on their budget or project. It's fair to say, however that folks who are entrenched in any one group have a lot of trouble understanding the other groups.

Ever try to get an offset printer to try to understand your photographic decisions? or vice versa?

So if John is an "Input Centric" and your are an "Output Centric" you will probably never see eye-to-eye on working spaces AND you may each be using spaces that are good for your respective pursuits.

In color management there is often no single correct way to do things. What we do suggest is a few things that will apply to all:

- choose a working space that is just large enough to contain your imagery; any bigger and you're wasting space.
- if you can, choose a standard working space like sRGB or AdobeRGB. If makes file exchange and discussions easier
- avoid converting between working spaces as the conversions don't deal with out-of-gamut colors well
- if the entire world used sRGB PROPERLY, color quality would go up significantly. What this means is that many color problems are not due to working space choices. So, it's important but there are other very important things that can make or break your color.

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Myth #28: The PowerBook G4 displays 16.7 million colors (or any display, for that matter)

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This is not true. Don't confuse RGB number combinations with the number of perceivable colors.

I can send 16.7 million different RGB NUMBER combinations to a PowerBook display (3 channels with 8 bits per channel) but it will only display 518,733 different colors. This means that 16,258,483 of the RGB numbers are basically "wasted". Another way of looking at this is to say that the entire gamut of 518,733 colors is chopped into 16.7 million separately addressable "chunks". Problem is, the difference between each of these chunks is smaller than is perceivable by humans. So if you glom chunks together until each blob is just barely perceivably different than the next, you'll end up with 518,733 of them.

That explanation is a bit of a stretch but sometimes it helps to break these things down to understand them. (pun intended)

This confusion is another example of the difference between RGB and CMYK values and actual colors.

Another example of this is with CMYK devices. I can send 100,000,000 CMYK values to print on newsprint (100x100x100x100). Does that mean I'm going to get that many actual colors? No, of course not. If I send those CMYK values to a sheet-fed press on glossy coated paper will I get that many colors? No, but I'll get more than I did from newsprint. I'd probably see even more from an inkjet. While I can address the colors on a press using CMYK combinations, each CMYK combination will not produce a unique color.

Thanks for reading,

Steve Upton
July 2005

For previous ColorNews articles follow this link:
<Click Here

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