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User Manual

When Colour is Critical

Summary of Contents for SpectraView

Page 1: ...User Manual When Colour is Critical ...

Page 2: ...ng 12 3 Quick Start 17 3 1 The User Interface 17 3 2 Selecting a measurement device 20 3 3 Presets for calibration and profiling 22 3 3 1 Display type 24 3 3 2 Calibration method 25 3 3 3 Calibration settings 27 3 3 4 Profile settings 28 3 4 Presetting the monitor hardware 30 3 4 1 Brightness CRTs only 30 3 4 2 Contrast CRTs only 31 3 4 3 Color temperature LCDs and CRTs 31 ...

Page 3: ...ed 38 4 1 Preferences 38 4 1 1 General preferences 38 4 1 2 Profile Creation 39 4 2 Select system profile 39 4 3 Chromaticity and gamut Spectral distribution 40 4 4 Calibration methods detailed 41 4 4 1 Hardware combined HW SW calibration 41 4 4 2 Software calibration video LUTs 43 4 4 3 No calibration profile only 46 4 5 Custom settings 47 4 5 1 Color temperature 48 4 5 2 Tonal response curve 50 ...

Page 4: ...file type 56 4 6 2 Chromatic adaptation 57 4 6 3 V4 profile 59 4 7 Review 60 4 7 1 Validation 60 4 7 2 Ambient light 61 4 7 3 Checking viewing booth 62 4 7 4 adJUST JUST viewing booth 63 4 7 5 Edit calibration 65 5 Product information SpectraView Profiler 68 ...

Page 5: ...Chapter 1 Preface ...

Page 6: ...mputers video card s Video LUT or automatically via hard ware calibration only with supported displays To maximize your color management results with SpectraView Profiler 4 1 it is important to calibrate and profile all the components involved in the production process including scanners and printers By imple menting SpectraView Profiler 4 1 into your workflow you will be able to offer your client...

Page 7: ...Chapter 2 Installation and Licensing ...

Page 8: ...M Apple with Intel processor Mac OS X 10 5 8 or higher Minimum of 512 MB available system memory RAM Windows Intel Pentium III or 4 processor Windows XP with SP3 Windows Vista Windows 7 Minimum of 512 MB available system memory RAM All systems Minimum of 100 MB free hard disk space DVD drive Color monitor with a resolution of least 1024 x 768 pixels and color depth of 24 Bit 16 7 million colors ...

Page 9: ...to either system will be indicated Before beginning the installation process please make sure that your measurement device is not connected to the computer Connect it after the software has been successfully installed basICColor SQUID2 SQUID2wg basICColor RAY Colorvision Spyder 2 Colorvision Spyder 3 Gretag Macbeth EyeOne Display Gretag Macbeth EyeOne Display LT Gretag Macbeth EyeOne Display 2 Gre...

Page 10: ... Profiler 4 1 DVD ROM does not appear automatically go to My Computer and se lect the DVD ROM drive 3 Begin installation by selecting the SpectraView Profiler 4 1 Installer Follow the instructions on the screen 4 Once SpectraView Profiler 4 1 has been successfully installed you can begin calibrating and profiling your monitor You may now connect the measurement sensor to the computer The SpectraVi...

Page 11: ... driver Follow the instructions for manual installation The SpectraView Profiler 4 1 DVD ROM includes a folder with all the sensor drivers for the Windows operating system 5 To start SpectraView Profiler 4 1 double click the program icon If the measurement device has not been detected correctly you need to reinstall the driver manually Windows hardware assistant Insert the SpectraView Profiler pro...

Page 12: ...k the License button b If your computer is not connected directly to the Internet use another computer to access www spectraview nec display solutions com and click on Licensing Follow the instructions on the screen c If you do not have an Internet connection click on the Fax Form button to open a PDF document Fill it out and fax it to the fax number you find on the form If you have never register...

Page 13: ... TAN number or if you don t have a CD or don t have a TAN then go to the licens ing without a TAN section on the licensing website Your licensing request will be processed and after all technical and commercial requirements have been met you will get access to your individual license file Machine ID The number entered in this field must be the same as the number displayed in the SpectraView Profil...

Page 14: ... As soon as you receive your license file spectraview_profiler4_xxxx lic click on the button Load License and install the license file to the application Now the application is unlock and ready to use Once you have received your license file spectraview_profiler4_xxxx lic it is valid for all software updates and reinstallation of SpectraView Profiler 4 1 on that particular computer If you wish to ...

Page 15: ...u can check the status of your license in the SpectraView Profiler Licensing window The License menu opens the Licensing window and shows the status of your license in the top left corner In our example the license is permanent ...

Page 16: ...Chapter 3 Quick Start ...

Page 17: ...systems Because the color management system of Windows doesn t support profiles for more than one display connected to one graphics card without additional utilities Measurement device In this area of the main window the selected instrument will be depicted Main Area The detailed feature settings of SpectraView Profiler will be shown in this area Control Panel The actual calibration and profiling ...

Page 18: ...aView Profiler If you would like to use other settings than those defined in the presets you can enter them in the following windows by clicking Next You will be guided through the process step by step by SpectraView Profiler During the calibration and pro filing of your monitors please deactivate all screen savers and the power manage ment of your operating system Otherwise incorrect measurements...

Page 19: ...on and profiling of your monitor will start immediately with the settings that are shown in the main window of SpectraView Profiler You can also start the express calibration and profiling process at any time during setting individual parameters in the sub menus of the control panel of SpectraView Profiler ...

Page 20: ...ments A wrong mode can result in a color cast Spectrophotometers do not require different calibration modes Spectral is a universal mode for CRT and LCD dis plays You can use these devices for CRT and LCD displays After selecting the device it needs to be connected and calibrated before you can use it For the connection and calibration please click Connect and follow the instructions for the calib...

Page 21: ... next time The measurement device will be pre selected You will only be asked to calibrate the measurement device before you start the calibration and profiling process the next time Tip Calibration of the Measurement Device It is advisable to calibrate the measurement device directly before the measurement Otherwise the device could be readjusted when starting the measurement and the result will ...

Page 22: ...ections stray light Turn the monitor off and check if you can see any reflections of light sources on the screen If so you need to change the monitor position and or to shield the monitor with an ambient light hood Ambient Light The ambient light in your working environment should comply with the relevant standards For measuring the ambient light please refer to chapter 4 6 2 Ambient light Monitor...

Page 23: ...lease deactivate all screen savers and the power management of your operat ing system Otherwise incorrect measurements can occur during the calibration and profiling process Position of the measurement device Please check if the measurement device is positioned flat on the screen surface Otherwise ambient light can enter the sensor resulting in false measurements For an easy and quick setup of Spe...

Page 24: ...erent settings will be explained in more detail in the following part of this chapter 3 3 1 Display type Under this point you need to select your display type first After the first start SpectraView Profiler has no information on the kind of display connected to your computer The preset for this option is Please select Select the display type LCD or CRT before you continue with the next option LCD...

Page 25: ...omputer this option will show up in SpectraView Profiler and will be selected automatically If you connect a monitor to your system which doesn t sup port hardware calibration this option is grayed out and not available Combined hard and software calibration SpectraView Profiler can parentally hardware calibrate some so called prosumer monitors see HW_Support_List txt in the program folder by sett...

Page 26: ... not support video LUTs A software calibra tion will fail on these systems But you can use this option to create an ICC profile for these systems You can also use this option if you want to just profile the monitor using the present video LUT in your graphics card SpectraView Profiler will use the video LUT for the profiling process and will write this video LUT into the ICC profile Video LUT of a...

Page 27: ...g process and makes working with SpectraView Profiler much easier You can even make your own presets Please find a detailed explana tion in the extended part of the manual chapter 4 If you like one of the presets or if you made your own preset then just select the set which you like to use for calibrating and profiling your monitor and go on with the next step You can select one of the following p...

Page 28: ...filer offers you some presets for profiling as well You can select the base on which SpectraView Profiler will create and calculate the ICC profile for your monitor The selected profiling set will set all the parameters in the control panel Settings menu Profile How to create your own preset including all the options will be explained in the extended part of this manual chapter 4 You can choose be...

Page 29: ...ding to your settings Since you have selected presets you can skip the options Color temperature Tonal response curve Luminance contrast and Profile in the control panel If you want to deviate from the default settings you can change these settings to individual values Please find a detailed ex planation in the extended part of this manual chapter 4 If you have a monitor which supports automatic h...

Page 30: ...tor Brightness should be set to minimum 0 or to a level that allows you to see something on your screen If the black measurement patch looks gray then brightness is too high After this rough pre adjustment position the measurement device on the monitor and start the measurement by clicking Measure SpectraView Profiler now measures a few patches in a loop While measuring please adjust the brightnes...

Page 31: ...temperature LCDs and CRTs Most of the monitor OSDs offer various possibilities to set the color temperature If possible select a mode that allows you to adjust each channel R G and B separately This is the most precise method to preset your monitor to the desired color temperature If this option is not available please select a specific color temperature in Kelvin from the OSD If the measured colo...

Page 32: ...ame level in the green area of the diagram The measurement value has to be as close as possible to the desired value If this is not possible set the color temperature to a value which is slightly higher than the desired value about 50 500 K This measurement will not stop until you cancel it manually by clicking the Done button Before you do this please check if the luminance is set to the desired ...

Page 33: ...ing Done and Close This will take you back to the main window of SpectraView Profiler Now your monitor is prepared for software calibration and profiling Do not change the monitor settings in the OSD between calibrations These setting are the basis for your ICC profile When you change them the profile does not describe your monitor correctly any more Video LUT of a monitor with internal hardware c...

Page 34: ...ide of the window you can see the measurement values during the calibration and profiling process delayed by one patch Click the Measure button to start the calibration and profiling process The measurement process can be divided into four sections 3 5 1 Measuring color characteristic The first step of the calibration is to gather the actual color properties of the monitor This is required to dete...

Page 35: ...View Profiler will show you the results of the calibration and pro filing process The measurement window will close automatically the ICC profile will be saved to the defined folder and the new ICC profile will be activated So you don t have to select and activate the profile manually In the main window you can see a summary of the results of calibra tion and profiling and the location where the I...

Page 36: ...may not display correct colors any more Clicking Validate will open the well known measurement window Position the instrument on the measurement area and click Measure to start the validation process Validation is good when most of the measurement values are in the green area dE 1 Depending on the quality of your monitor some values might be in the yellow area but this is still acceptable Due to t...

Page 37: ...Chapter 4 Advanced ...

Page 38: ...anges you make here will only become effetive after relaunching the application 4 1 1 General preferences Here you select the language for SpectraView Profiler User Interface Click tone Additionally you can define if yo want a click tone with every measure ment DDC CI options If the SpectraView monitor is connected via a Mini Display Port to Display Port cable you should check this option and the ...

Page 39: ...e Startup Programs folder when you install SpectraView Profiler If you use a hardware calibrateable monitor neither of the operating systems provides a mechanism to download LUTs into the monitor Normally this information is stored in the monitor at calibration time and stays there permanently If you change profiles e g for different workflows photo and video you need to reload the appropriate vid...

Page 40: ... a color triangle the gamut of your monitor in the x y diagram In the menu Window Spectral distribution or with the shortcut 1 you open an additional window that shows the spectrum of the actual measurement This option is only available if the measurement instru ment used is a spectrophotometer Presently the only spectropho tometers avail able are Gretag Macbeth Eye One Pro and Eye One Monitor Cli...

Page 41: ...se SpectraView Profiler 4 4 1 Hardware combined HW SW calibration Hardware calibrateable monitors are connected to the computer via a digital data connection This could be a DDC CI video cable or a separate USB or serial cable SpectraView Profiler uses this connection to directly control the monitor and to calibrate it automatically based on the results of your measurements This functionality is o...

Page 42: ...anding Highlights and shadows can also be affected Hardware calibrateable LCD monitors work with signal processing of 10 or more bits per channel e g 10 bits 1024 steps If one channel should be reduced to 50 there will be enough remain ing data to describe the 256 steps of the color signal sent to the monitor This means that there is differentiation between all the colors they do not get clogged u...

Page 43: ...tion would set automatically can be set manually but instrumented with the help of Hardware setup in SpectraView Profiler For optimal calibration and profiling results for soft proofing and high end image retouching NEC recommends the use of hardware calibrat able LCD monitors 4 4 2 Software calibration video LUTs The monitor hardware needs to be set manually by the user using monitor controls or ...

Page 44: ...quality altogether Higher quality LCD monitors like the NEC MultiSync family of monitors offer 10 or more bit data processing Only this type of monitors satisfies higher quality demands These monitors offer settings for black and white luminance and white point CRT monitors In CRTs the intensity of the 3 phosphors is controlled by an analog signal that can be modulated nearly infinitely variable S...

Page 45: ... loader downloads the calibration curves into the video card When changing the monitor profile the LUT loader must be launched manually in order to download the correct LUT The downside of a software calibration compared to hard ware calibra tion is the reduction of tonal values by using 8 bit LUTs in the video card Depending from the extent of the correction banding and reduced definition in high...

Page 46: ...lor temperature and tone curve are not available in this mode Also adjustment of luminance and contrast can only be done manually SpectraView Profiler supports you with measurement values in setting these parameters Should the graphic card contain a LUT when launching SpectraView Profiler it will be taken over and saved in the ICC profile It is understandable that the results achieved with this me...

Page 47: ...s Pre sets there is no need to select these parameters separately The ease of use of SpectraView Profiler has been enhanced considerably There are several sets of Calibration settings that come with Spectra View Profiler They cover the most important workflow conditions and have been compiled with the most care In case you should not find suitable settings for your needs change the parameters in t...

Page 48: ...rated CRT monitor approx 9300 K Color temperature only describes a certain color sensation not a specific spectral distribution So it s unknown how the measured x and y values are composed spectrally The CIE Commission Internationale de l Eclairage have de fined spectral distributions of standard lighting situations the most important of which is the D series D Daylight D50 For the graphic arts in...

Page 49: ...d when all 3 channels R G and B Gains are set to max With this setting he luminance and gamut of the monitor are at their maximum Monitor s native is not recommended for color critical work in an ICC workflow This setting may be useful for lap top monitors if their luminance is inadequate after calibrating them to D50 Blackbody temperature As described earlier an illuminant can be characterized wi...

Page 50: ... the advantages of the L a b with the representation of tone values on a monitor The L method calibrates your monitor in such a way that gray scales appear visually equidistant If you increase the R G and B signals by the factor 2 the displayed color will be doubled in brightness This way the RGB monitor space is optimally adapted to the human visual sensa tion Since ICC profiles are based on L a ...

Page 51: ...f an Apple LaserWriter Thus gamma 1 8 became the typical Apple monitor gamma On a PC where you normally did your bookkeeping wrote letters and prepared presentations a more contrasty characteristic was desirable Thus gamma 2 2 became the typical PC gamma In a color managed environment these historic gammas do not make sense any more For one because LCD monitors show a completely different native t...

Page 52: ... response curve cannot be described with a gamma function although Photoshop for example reports a gamma value of 2 2 In the shadows it resemble more an L curve in the mid tones and highlights it follows the gamma 2 2 curve In order to exactly match sRGB data Spectra View Profiler is the only monitor calibration application that offers an sRGB calibration curve for these applications ...

Page 53: ...or Apperance Model 02 CIECAM02 is to take care about the luminance of the ambient light of the room The monitors gradation curve can be optimized to the luminance of the rooms ambient light to optimize the effective contrast ratio combination monitor and ambient light by choosing on of the CIECAM02 setting The NEC recommends to use one of the following settings depending on luminance of the ambien...

Page 54: ...the brightness of an LCD monitor or the contrast of a CRT the quantity of light and thus the white luminance will be reduced All monitors have a different native white luminance In order to be visually equal they need to be calibrated to the same maximum luminance The reference is always the monitor with the least bright ness All other monitors must be adjusted to the darkest one In order to deter...

Page 55: ... instructions on the screen Contrast The ratio between brightest and darkest value of a monitor is called contrast ratio The higher the contrast ratio the better is the differentia tion of tonal values If white luminance and black luminance of two monitors are equal the contrast ratio is the same So it is irrelevant if you calibrate to the same white and black luminances or the same luminance and ...

Page 56: ...le So only a certain number of color combi nations will be described in a profile the others will be interpolated mathematically Matrix based The simplest way to describe the color properties of a device is a color matrix It contains the 3 primaries red green and blue and a function that describes the tonal response curves for the 3 channels The main advantage of this profile type is its small siz...

Page 57: ...atic adaptation can be observed by examining a white object under different types of illumination such as daylight blueish and incandescent yellowish The white object retains its white appear ance under both light sources as soon as the viewer is adapted to the light source discounting the illuminant Within the ICC color management system D50 is the reference illumi nant Should a monitor be calibr...

Page 58: ...onitors calibrated to a lower color temperature than D50 lineare Bradford A widely used newer chromatic adaptation transform is the Bradford transform It was empirically derived by Lam from a set of correspond ing colors as determined from 58 dyed wool samples with varying color constancy evaluated under illuminants A and D65 The original Bradford chromatic adaptation transform contains a non line...

Page 59: ...reate ICC profiles according to the latest specification including the correct chromatic adaptation tag Under windows v4 profiles do not make sense since the Windows color management system ICM is not capable of utilizing these profiles ACE the CMM built into Adobe products can handle v4 profiles ...

Page 60: ...ed with the reference values calculated from the ICC profile For each patch you will find a DeltaE information along with Deltas for L a and b separately display CIE LAB This check box lets you switch between Lab and XYZ values it is checked by default Tolerancing model With the radio buttons in the upper right corner of the window you can switch tolerancing models from DetaE 94 de fault to DeltaE...

Page 61: ... order to measure ambient light you have to attach the ambient light head Gretag Macbeth EyeOne pro Not all Eye One spectrophotometers support ambient light measure ments you need one that came with the Ambient Light Head For ambient light measurement SpectraView Profiler offers reference data for three different situations Check the radio button that repre sents the desired situation In order to ...

Page 62: ...lluminance value of 500 125 lux and a color temperature of D50 Again attach the ambient light head to the instrument and hold the instrument towards the back wall of your viewing booth Make sure the background is a neutral gray In doubt use a gray card that has no metameric failure like the basICColor gray card In the measure window you ll see the measurement values updated with each measurement T...

Page 63: ... viewing booth at the workstation to each other Some of the JUST viewing booths are offering an USB interface which SpectraView Profiler can use to communicate with the viewing booth Via the USB interface SpectraView Profiler can control the luminance of the viewing booth based on measurements measurement device with ambient light head required Viewing booth and monitor comparison Using this setti...

Page 64: ...t booth will be automatically adjusted to a luminance of 2000 lux This is the standardized luminance to compare artwork photos and or press prints to proofs This setting should not be used to compare e g a proof with the display on the monitor other value other value emission To be not bound only to standard settings it is possible to adjust the lightbooths luminance to a custom value The values c...

Page 65: ...ecting the shape of the calibration curve If you click and drag the white point you reduce or increase white luminance in the selected channel Once you have reached 100 and continue dragging contrast but not the intensity will be increased but you will lose definition in the highlights If you click and drag the black point you can increase black luminance in the selected channel which affects the ...

Page 66: ...are affected in the same manner Red Only the tonal response curve of the red channel will be affected Blue and green channels remain unaffected Green Only the tonal response curve of the green channel will be affected Red and blue channels remain unaffected Blue Only the tonal response curve of the blue channel will be affected Red and green channels remain unaffected Undo Undo the last change Res...

Page 67: ...Chapter 5 Product information SpectraView Profiler 4 ...

Page 68: ...lor software product in whole or in part is strictly forbidden The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by the basICColor GmbH The basIC Color GmbH assumes no responsibility or liability for errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document No part of this user guide may be reproduce...

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