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CHROMiX ColorNews Issue #57 - I Used To Do This In MeasureTool

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  CHROMiX ColorNews
   Issue # 57 - March 17th, 2015

This Month's Contents

  1. CHROMiX News
  2. Latest blog entries in ColoRants (and Raves)
  3. Shows and Events
  4. Color Industry News
  5. Forum Topics, Random Bits, etc.
  6. Article - I Used to Do This In MeasureTool
  7. CHROMiX Open Box items for sale
  8. ColorNews Admin (feedback, subscriptions, etc.)

CHROMiX Blog
For the very freshest color updates, check out our new blog Colorants (and raves).

Respond & Discuss
Don't forget, you can discuss this month's article and anything else from this newsletter in ColorForums.com

Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Find full details about subscriptions, etc at the end of this newsletter.

CHROMiX News What the heck have we been up to?

Maxwell MeasureWatch Control

Maxwell has been fully upgraded to support not only the ISO-13655 M-Series of measurement filtration but also scan mode, aperture, measurements-per-patch, measurement speed and contact, backing, instrument calibration standard, instrument make & model, environment sensors (when available) and more.

Implementing support for M-series measurements within a facility can be tricky.

As we add support for capable instruments like the X-Rite eXact and the Barbieri Spectro LFP and Spectropad our customers need to control the aperture, reflective / transmissive scan mode, M-series filtration and other features to ensure each measurement is gathered and recorded correctly. Control features range from intelligent default behaviors - like ensuring that production measurements automatically configure the instrument to match reference colors - to powerful management control - such as locking out instruments that don't provide the required M-series measurements

The new MeasureWatch Control features are free, included with current Maxwell subscription rates. We felt these control capabilities were too important to leave to chance so they're built into every measurement Maxwell makes.

MeasureWatch Control joins MeasureWatch Verify, Maxwell's instrument verification function launched in December 2011. MeasureWatch Verify enables instrument verification and trending by measuring a Color Reference Material target. CRMs including reference measurements can conform to ISO-9001 and reduce the need for expensive instrument re-certification.

Webinar:

CHROMiX will be holding a webinar about MeasureWatch Control and new wireless, seamless Barbieri Spectropad support on April 2nd at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern. Contact Rick Hatmaker at (206) 985-6837 x7 or hatmaker(at)CHROMiX.com to register.

Maxwell Client software v5 is required to take advantage of MeasureWatch Control, is currently in beta testing and is expected to be released this week.

Maxwell Support for Barbieri Spectropad

CHROMiX Maxwell integrates Barbieri Spectropad into the cloud for wireless, seamless color verification & reporting.

The Spectropad is a flexible and innovative instrument which allows untethered strip reading and on-instrument pass/fail reporting. We're excited to integrate it into Maxwell's cloud services and offer Spectropad owners unprecedented flexibility with very little setup. Basically, they just check a box and the Spectropad joins the cloud.

Color administrator's requirements automatically configure the Spectropad for online or offline measurements. Once re-connected to wifi or via USB, measurements are harvested and integrated into the Maxwell cloud automatically.

Best of both worlds:

Un-tethered measurements within the facility or off-site at customer locations have immediate pass/fail feedback, then full reporting and notification services from the Maxwell cloud when automatically synced.

Full integration with Maxwell's powerful services:

Integration is enhanced by Maxwell's new MeasureWatch Control features, allowing unprecedented management of the color measurement process.

MeasureWatch Control records and controls 16 important measurement parameters including ISO-13655 M-series filtration, scan mode, aperture and backing. It even records the temperature and humidity samples from the Spectropad at the time of measurement, which is useful for troubleshooting.

Maxwell's notification and reporting features are employed when measurements are synced from the Spectropad. Additional metrics can be evaluated and Maxwell will even print a label if desired.

Wireless, Seamless

Great for wide and grand format production facilities. Confidence of press-side verification and the flexibility to take measurements anywhere, even while the work is still in the press.

Webinar:

CHROMiX will be holding a webinar about wireless, seamless Barbieri Spectropad support and new MeasureWatch Control on April 2nd at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern. Contact Rick Hatmaker at (206) 985-6837 x7 or hatmaker(at)CHROMiX.com to register.

Maxwell Client software v5 is required to take advantage of Spectropad Autosync, is currently in beta testing and is expected to be released this week. Spectropads must have DOC functionality to take advantage of on-device pass/fail reporting.

CHROMiX launches Maxwell Certified Technician Program

The new certification program strengthens field support and provides new resources for Maxwell customers. CHROMIX would like to recognize the first 11 consultants who completed certification:


Dan Reid - RPImaging
Greg Irving - Prepress Consultants
Earl McGhee - McGhee Consulting
Lee Nelson - Full Gamut Consulting
Michael Neumann - Neugamut Consulting
Terry Wyse - Wyse Consulting
Thomas Holm - Pixl Aps
Eric Magnusson - Left Dakota
Dan Gillespie - CMG
Jim Memije - ColorHQ
Fritz Mahnke - Shutterfly

Press Release

CHROMiX Recognized by RIT

In early February, Rochester Institute of Technology recognized CHROMiX for donating ColorThink Pro and CHROMiX and HutchColor were recognized for donating Curve3 and Virtual Press Run (VPR) to the School of Media Sciences (SMS). These donations are used to train RIT students with real world tools. We're glad to help our good friends at RIT.

Press Release

Curve3 VPR (Virtual Press Run) Customer quotes

"VPR is a Critical part of Curve3 and has saved me MANY hours applying curves to data sets compared to earlier methods." Mike Rodriguez

"I use VPR to add curves to datasets for proofing, and dataset creation." Steve Smiley, SmileyColor & Associates

ColorValet Transmissive Profiles with LFP

CHROMIX has been making backlit/transmissive profiles for quite a while using a Barbieri LFP RT. For some reason we have not made this public knowledge. Our apologies! Many customers specifically request profiles made with this device. We feel that the LFP RT is the benchmark spectrophotometer for measuring backlit/transmissive materials. Excellent measurements plus CHROMiX profiling expertise produce GREAT backlit/transmissive profiles.

Try ColorValet Profiling Service and see for yourself!

 

CHROMiX Blog Here are some of the recent posts to our blog: Colorants (and raves)

Shows and Events Color-relevant gatherings to plan for

March 12th - 15th, 2015 - TAGA, 67 Annual Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA) Conference, Albuquerque, NM.

April 2nd, 2015 - CHROMiX will be holding a webinar about wireless, seamless Barbieri Spectropad support and new MeasureWatch Control on April 2nd at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern. Contact Rick Hatmaker at (206) 985-6837 x7 or hatmaker(at)CHROMiX.com to register.

April 8th - 11th, 2015 - ISA International Sign Expo 2015, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV.

CHROMiX is excited to be at the ISA Expo this year showing off the NEW seamless and wireless functionality between the Barbieri SpectroPad and Maxwell.

Of course we'll also also be promoting Maxwell, Curve3 and ColorThink Pro, plus getting together with key partners.

To see a demo or schedule a meeting, contact Rick Hatmaker at (206) 985-6837

April 11th - 16th, 2015 - NAB Show 2015, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

April 16th - 18th, 2015 - Graphics Canada 2015, Toronto International Centre.

May 3rd - 6th, 2015 - FTA FORUM 2015, OMNI Nashville, TN.

September 13th - 16th, 2015 - Graph Expo and CPP Conference 2015, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.

November 4th - 6th, 2015 - SGIA Expo 2015. Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta GA.

Events Calendar: For all current and future events, bookmark this calendar.

Color Industry News What's going on in the world of color

Konica Minolta FD-9 the worlds fastest spectrophotometer?

Speed is usually a welcome thing if it leads to more productivity while being accurate too. The new Konica Minolta FD-9 promises to be very fast. Due this summer. CHROMiX will be watching closely and report back.

Diet Coke Packaging Genius?!

Adweek raves about Cokes unique individualized design and printing. Very cool! And, quite a feat.

Windows 10

First peak at Microsofts upcoming version 10 OS

Forum Topics and other bits  Popular topics from ColorForums.com and other things we've found along the way.

The worlds BLACKEST material:   now has a name: 'Vantablack. This material is actually grown, not manufactured apparently. Quite simply fascinating. It certainly could have impact in our industry some day.

How many D65's are there in a 2 degree observer?:   This is a very entertaining blog post about how the eye works in relation to color, science and CIELab. From our friend John Seymour.

Now you can TOAST a SELFIE!:   Think breakfast fun.
If you've ever read Steve Uptons' concept article 'The Color of Toast' (linked below), you'll know why we are amused with this one.

The Color of Toast:   FREE Article download
This is a must read for anyone involved with color.

Love Pantone?:   The Pantone Hotel in Brussels seems to be a Pantone lovers dream apparently. Process that.

What color is THAT Dress?:   In this case, a Scottish wedding dress causes significant public controversy amongst non-color internet folks. A neuroscientist explains: What your brain really sees.
The fact that you're a ColorNews reader, means you probably are familiar with this phenomena already.




I Used to Do This In MeasureTool

Once a year they let me out of my tech support cage at CHROMiX and I get to travel to the PIA color management conference in Arizona. Its great to get out and shake hands with people with whom I have traded emails or talked with on the phone.

This year someone on our team commented about how surprising it is that we still find folks who are still bemoaning the loss of MeasureTool software. This was the measuring module component of the ProfileMaker suite from X-Rite, but which has been discontinued. Sure, X-Rite has a replacement in the form of i1Profiler, but many of the functions of MeasureTool that people relied on for evaluating measurements are no longer available. Or are they?

Did you know that you can do many of these same functions using ColorThink Pro?

Below are a few of the tasks that color geeks like to do, and ways to make each happen with CHROMiX's ColorThink Pro software.

Example 1: I used to like to just drop a measurement file or even a reference file into MeasureTool to see visually what it would look like:

This you can do in ColorThink Pro. Drag a CGATS file onto the ColorThink Pro dock icon (Mac), or the Worksheet icon (Windows) and the file will automatically open in the Worksheet, showing you a visual layout of the colored patches defined in the text file. Click "I" to expand the Images section of the Worksheet and a preview appears. This preview is color-accurate, meaning that the colors you see are actual representations of the RGB, CMYK or Lab values processed through the monitor profile of your display, just as Photoshop would do.

Example 2: I used to compare two measurements in MeasureTool:

You can do this in the Worksheet in ColorThink Pro. Open a measurement into the Worksheet as described above. Drag and drop a second measurement onto the "Images" or "Colors" section of the first measurement, and a new Workflow containing the second measurements will be added next to the first measurement. Click the dE button and a third column will be added showing dE differences between the two measurements. Open the Images section and see a heat map showing all the differences between the two measurements as they appear on the layout of the sheet. (More details on this is here)

While MeasureTool used to identify the worst patch with red and others with yellow, the ColorThink Worksheet gives you the ability to change a wide range of colors on the heat map. For example, a delta E window with adjustable sliding buttons allows you to dial in your shops tolerances so that a red on the heatmap shows up when a difference falls outside of a max dE of 5. Comparisons can be done between color lists or you can compare how an image is affected by different profiles. (More help is here in ColorWiki)

Of course, any of these 3 columns can be graphed, including the dE numbers. Viewing the dE differences as vectors in the 3D Grapher can be very useful in diagnosing problems. (And it looks cool too!)

Example 3: What if I want to compare using a different dE formula?

By default, ColorThink uses dE 2000 in its calculations (as does MeasureTool). You can change this to any of the other common calculation methods by clicking the box in the upper right corner of the Worksheet. Delta E 76, Delta E 94, Delta E 2000, CMC1:1, CMC 2:1 are all available - as well as delta Lab and delta LCH which allow you to see the differences between Lab elements or lightness, chroma, and hue. For example, you can use this feature to see if the difference between 2 measurements is mainly due to a change in lightness or a change in hue.

Example 4: What about specific patches? I used to be able to hover over a patch and see the Ref vs. Sample values:

Ditto for the Worksheet. Click the eyedropper tool in the Images section and hover over any patch. The values will be displayed across the Worksheet.

The illuminant and standard observer angles can be changed like in MeasureTool. The Color Setup dialog is found by clicking any of the headings in the Colors section.

Example 5: Can I create a report like in MeasureTool?

Yes. There is a "rpt" button in the Colors section of the Worksheet which lays out a dE report in text format. If you want to save this report as a file, it is an easy matter to copy and paste this text data into a text editor for saving.

ProfileMaker profiles used to have the reference and measurement data embedded in tags in the profile. I wish there were a way to extract that data now:

Keep in mind that any profile created using i1Profiler can be loaded into i1Profiler again, and it will automatically repopulate each portion of the workflow. This enables you to save out reference data and measurement data if you wish.

For those profiles not made by ProfileMaker or i1Profiler, you can do what we call "pushing numbers through a profile." A reference list is brought into the ColorThink Pro Worksheet, a profile is dropped on top of it, and ColorThink automatically adds the profile to the list, presenting you with the resulting list of Lab values. You can see how it affects the colors visually, you can view them in the Grapher or save the list out as a CGATS text file. This is incredibly useful for simulating what printing will do before you actually print, or capturing a set of ideal aim values for your favorite in-house target.

There is a description of this in the ColorWiki

More improvements and upgrades are coming to our flagship ColorThink software in the coming year. If you have some features you would like to see, drop us an email, or post a topic in the ColorForums.


Thanks for reading,

Patrick Herold
Tech Support
CHROMiX, Inc.

To view this article in the ColorWiki, click here:

ColorWiki: I Used To Do This In MeasureTool

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Entire Contents of CHROMiX ColorNews (c)2015 CHROMiX, Inc. CHROMiX, Maxwell, ColorThink, ColorNews, ColorSmarts, ColorGear, ColorForums, DisplayWatch 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. You may not copy or reuse any content from this newsletter without written permission from CHROMiX, Inc.