User Manual When Colour is Critical
Profiler User Manual Table of content 1. Preface..................................................................................................................... 6 2. Installation and licensing.......................................................................................... 8 2.1. Minimum system requirements....................................................................... 8 2.2. Installation.................................................................................................
Profiler User Manual 3.5 Calibration and profiling................................................................................. 34 3.5.1 Measuring color characteristic............................................................. 34 3.5.2 Setting the white point.......................................................................... 34 3.5.3 Iterating gray balance.......................................................................... 35 3.5.4 Measuring for profiling................................
Profiler User Manual 4.6 Profile (settings)............................................................................................. 56 4.6.1 Profile type........................................................................................... 56 4.6.2 Chromatic adaptation........................................................................... 57 4.6.3 V4 profile.............................................................................................. 59 4.7 Review............................
Chapter 1 Preface
Profiler User Manual 1. Preface With the purchase of this SpectraView Profiler 4.1 monitor calibration and profiling software you have received a product that will allow you to take control of color reproduction in your workgroup monitors. Along with creating an ICC-profile, proper calibration of workgroup monitors is a basic and indispensable requirement for accurate color reproduction. Both CRT and LCD flat screen monitors can be profiled and calibrated with this software.
Chapter 2 Installation and Licensing
Profiler User Manual 2. Installation and licensing 2.1. Minimum system requirements Apple Computer • Apple® with G4 / G5 processor • Mac OS X (10.3.9 or higher) • Minimum of 512 MB available system memory (RAM) • Apple® with Intel processor • Mac OS X (10.5.
Profiler User Manual Knowledge requirements: These instructions assume familiarity with the basic operation of the Mac OS X and/or Windows operating systems.
Profiler User Manual 2.2. Installation 1.) Turn on the computer on which you wish to install and use the software. 2.) Insert the SpectraView Profiler 4.1 DVD-ROM into your drive. • Mac: The SpectraView Profiler CD-ROM folder will appear on your screen. Click on it to access to the SpectraView Profiler 4.1 Installer or open the downloaded installer. We recommend a download as it ensures you have the latest version.
Profiler User Manual It is possible that the Windows operating system may not recognize the measurement sensor driver after a restart. In this case the hardware manager will flag the driver with an exclamation mark or question mark. The “hardware assistant “ window will pop up to assist you with manual installation of the sensor 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.
Profiler User Manual 2.3. Product registration and licensing Licensing and release of SpectraView Profiler 4.1 software is linked to an individual computer. You will receive an individual license file (.lic-file) that allows you to “unlock” and use the software on the computer on which it was initially installed. The first time you start SpectraView Profiler 4.1 the “Licensing” window will pop up.
Profiler User Manual and to download SpectraView Profiler 4.1 software updates. Once you have logged on you still have the option of selecting either the 14-days demo license file or the permanent software license file. Before making your selection please take note of the following: • TAN ... (TransActionNumber) There should be a sticker on the SpectraView Profiler 4.1 DVD-ROM cover with a TAN number or you will get a TAN from your reseller.
Profiler User Manual ately download your individual license file, or you will receive a message indicating that your request requires further verification and that you will receive an e-mail notification when your individual license file is available. IMPORTANT: Store your license file carefully! It is your key to unlock the SpectraView Profiler 4.1 software. You will also need this file for future software updates. This security method replaces the need for a hardware dongle.
Profiler User Manual You 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.
Chapter 3 Quick Start
Profiler User Manual 3. Quick Start 3.1 The User Interface After launching SpectraView Profiler the main window will show up on all connected monitors. Through the main window you can calibrate and profile each monitor separately. This option is only available on Apple Macintosh 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.
Profiler User Manual Tip: Screen Saver During the calibration and pro- filing of your monitors, please deactivate all screen savers and the power management of your operating system. Otherwise incorrect measurements will occur. Tip: User Permissions Please check your user permission before you start SpectraView Profiler. Only system Administrators have the permission to write to the system folder of an operating system where all the ICC-profiles are stored.
Profiler User Manual Express calibration and profiling When you press the button the calibration 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.
Profiler User Manual In this area of the main window of SpectraView Profiler you can see which measurement device is selected. The pop up window for selecting, connecting and calibrating the measurement device. Calibration position for Eye-One Pro/Monitor 3.2 Selecting a measurement device After the first start of SpectraView Profiler 4.1 you need to select a measurement device first. This can be done via the “File” menu under “Select measurement device...
Profiler User Manual basICColor SQUID2 GretagMacbeth EyeOne display The following measurement devices are supported by the SpectraView Profiler 4.1: basICColor RAY Colorvision SPYDER2 GretagMacbeth GretagMacbeth EyeOne display LT EyeOne display 2 GretagMacbeth GretagMacbeth EyeOne Monitor EyeOne pro Monaco OPTIXXR * ab Version 4.1.
Profiler User Manual 3.3 Presets for calibration and profiling After the setup of the measurement device SpectraView Profiler is ready to calibrate and profile your monitor automatically or semiautomatically. But before you start the process, please check some essentials in order to get the best quality out of your monitor. Cleanliness of the screen Please check if the screen is clean, free of dust, fingerprints etc. NEC recommends to clean the monitor each time before profiling.
Profiler User Manual Driver for the graphic card Please check if your graphics card uses the latest driver. SpectraView Profiler requires a driver which allows to write a video-LUT into the graphics card. Otherwise an error message will pop up in SpectraView Profiler during the profiling process. Screen saver / power saving mode During the warm up, calibration and profiling of your monitors, please deactivate all screen savers and the power management of your operating system.
Profiler User Manual In the main area you will see four menu options that allow you to select the presets for calibration and profiling: - Display type - Calibration method - Calibration settings - Profiling settings The different 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.
Profiler User Manual 3.3.2 Calibration method SpectraView Profiler can use four different methods to calibrate your monitor. You will find detailed information on the different methods in the extended part of this manual (chapter 4). Hardware calibration (monitor LUTs) SpectraView Profiler can hardware calibrate some monitors (see HW_ Support_List.txt in the program folder).
Profiler User Manual If you connect a monitor to your system which doesn’t sup- port hardware calibration, this option is grayed out and not available. Video-LUT of a monitor with a full hardware calibration Result: All RGB-colors can be used for the output on the monitor Video-LUTof an automatic/manually combined hard/ software calibrated monitor Result: Allmost all RGB-colors can be used for the output on the monitor. Video-LUT of a noncalibrateable monitor (e.g.
Profiler User Manual 3.3.3 Calibration settings Under this section SpectraView Profiler offers you some standard calibration presets for the most common workflows. When selecting a calibration preset, all the necessary settings will be done automatically by SpectraView Profiler. You don’t have to select all the calibration options like “Color temperature”, “Tonal response curve” etc. separately.
Profiler User Manual ISO 3664 and ISO 12646 - This set prepares your monitor hardware for standardized image retouching workflow. Laptop - Use this preset to use the maximum luminance of your laptop. Video - This set will optimize your monitor hardware for a video workflow. Webdesign - Use this set to prepare your monitor hard- ware for web design. 3.3.4 Profile settings As for calibration SpectraView Profiler offers you some presets for profiling as well.
Profiler User Manual Matrix-based (smaller) - This is a simple type of profile. Smaller than the LUT based profile, but not as accurate. If an application can not handle LUT-based profiles, please use this type of profile. Now you have done all the presettings for monitor calibration and profiling. The next step is to optimize the monitor hardware according to your settings.
Profiler User Manual 3.4 Presetting the monitor hardware This section explains how to prepare the monitor hardware manually. Depending on the type of monitor (LCD or CRT), the process differ. Because flat screens (LCDs) are using a different technology it’s not necessary or possible to set up the same parameters for LCDs as for CRTs. You can skip some of the steps necessary to prepare a CRT’s hardware. Click to go on with the next step. 3.4.
Profiler User Manual 3.4.2 Contrast (CRTs only) Open the measurement dialog by clicking . The contrast of your monitor should initially be set to maxi- mum. Position the instrument on the measurement patch and start the measurement by clicking . Please adjust the contrast via the OSD until the indicator is in the center of the diagram. When you are finished, click and to go back to the main window. 3.4.
Profiler User Manual Measurement window for presetting the color temperature and the luminance of the monitor. First a few color patches will be measured. Do not adjust anything in the OSD during this process. Then (after a few measurements) the software will toggle between two white patches (RGB = 255 and RGB = 242). Now you can adjust the color temperature via the OSD until the correct color temperature has been achieved.
Profiler User Manual Video-LUT of a monitor with internal hardware calibration. There are no corrections of the Video-LUTs in the graphics card. Luminance After setting the color temperature the next step is to ad- just the luminance of your monitor. This can be also done via the OSD of your monitor. If you can not exactly preset the color temperature (e.g.
Profiler User Manual 3.5 Calibration and profiling Before starting the calibration and profiling process, you need to enter a profile name. SpectraView Profiler is pre-configured to suggest the monitor’s name as the profile name. If you change the name, the new name will become the de- fault. Refer to the advanced part of the manual for changing the default name. Clicking the button will open a new measurement window. Position the instrument in the measurement area of this window.
Profiler User Manual 3.5.3 Iterating gray balance... SpectraView Profiler fine tunes the tonal response curve to the selected tonal response curve (L*, Gamma or sRGB) and optimizes the gray balance in an iterative process. 3.5.4 Measuring for profiling... After calibrating the monitor SpectraView Profiler measures the color characteristic of the monitor again to create the ICC-profile . 3.
Profiler User Manual 3.7 Review After the calibration and profiling SpectraView Profiler shows a short summary of the results. Now you can run a more detailed validation. Validation By using this option in the review menu of the control panel, you can gather more details about the quality of the calibration of the display. You should use this option once in a while to validate the calibration of your monitor. Over time the state of a monitor may change (aging, changing parameters in the OSD, etc.
Chapter 4 Advanced
Profiler User Manual 4. Advanced This part of the manual contains additional informations and explanations related to the settings and functions of SpectraView Profiler. 4.1 Preferences Use the menu bar or the shortcut �, to go to the settings menu of SpectraView Profiler. Some of the changes you make here will only become effetive after relaunching the application. 4.1.1 General preferences General preferences window Here you select the language for SpectraView Profiler User Interface.
Profiler User Manual Tip: Profile Names You can select an individual profile name. It will appear automatically after relaunching the app. If you delete it comletely from the name field, it will be replaced by a name generated automatically based on the rules you selected in the „Profile creation“ dialog under „Profile name default“. 4.1.2 Profile Creation This dialog allows you to specify the folder for storing the ICC-profiles you create.
Profiler User Manual 4.3 Chromaticity and gamut/Spectral distribution In the menu „Window -> Chromaticity and gamut“ or with the shortcut �2 you open an additional window that shows the actual measurement in an x-y diagram. On the left you see the measured X,- Y- and Z- values as well as L*, a* and b*. On the right you see the corresponding RGB- values. Once measured, the primaries Red, Green and Blue define a color triangle, the gamut of your monitor, in the x-y diagram.
Profiler User Manual Uncalibrated monitor: The tonal distribution is irregular and the grays show a color cast. Software-calibrated monitor: The tonal distribution is regular the grays are neutral 4.4 Calibration methods (detailed) A correct calibration of your monitor is the basis for a good profile. The better you pre-adjust the monitor hardware to the desired display characteristics, the better the quality of the resulting profile.
Profiler User Manual LCD flat screens LCD monitors normally use a backlight with defined lighting characteristics. Colors are generated by filtering this light source with liquid crystal filters. Simple LCD monitors work with internal signal processing with 8bit accuracy (256 steps per primary color). Depending on the desired white point (e.g. D50) the intensity of one or more channels must be reduced considerably.
Profiler User Manual CRT monitors Hardware calibratable CRTs need to be connected to the computer via a digital data connection. That way color tem- perature, brightness and contrast can be controlled. CRTs do not have any means to control the gradation curves. The correction of the monitor gradation needs to be done with video-LUTs in the video card. These are stored in 8 bit accuracy in the ICC-profile. Hardware calibratable CRTs are not supported by SpectraView Profiler.
Profiler User Manual LCD flat panels Some LCD monitors offer near to none of these control options (e.g. notebook monitors). Some of them have a brightness control only, which dims the backlight (not to be confused with CRT’s brightness control which sets the luminance of the black point). Due to the necessary correction, these monitors are not suited for color critical work or for soft proofing. LCD monitors with an analog connector only will yield inferior calibration quality altogether.
Profiler User Manual Tip: LUT-Loader Make sure that the „SpectraView Profiler4 VideoLUT Loader“ is the only LUT-loader in the Windows start-up programs folder. There will be a LUT conflict, result- ing in a wrong calibration, if other LUT-loaders such as Adobe Gamma are launched at system start-up.
Profiler User Manual 4.4.3 No calibration (profile only) In the worst case the graphic card does not support video LUT download (some PC graphic cards). The monitor must then be characterized in it’s present state. Corrections for color 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.
Profiler User Manual 4.5 Custom settings One of the key improvements of SpectraView Profiler 4 is the option to save and load custom calibration settings. Such a set of calibration parameters contains the settings for „Color temperature“, „Tonal response curve“ and „Luminance/contrast ratio“. By selecting a complete set under Settings/Pre- sets, there is no need to select these parameters separately. The ease of use of SpectraView Profiler has been enhanced considerably.
Profiler User Manual 4.5.1 Color temperature If you heat up a black body you will see that it radiates light. The spectral distribution of the emitted light can be correlated with the temperature of the black body. Any light‘s color temperature is the temperature in kelvins (K) at which the heated black-body radiator matches the hue of the light. The lower the color temperature, the more yellowish/red- dish the emitted light (e.g. incandescent lamp -> approximately 2800 K).
Profiler User Manual D65 This is the standard illuminant for the manufacturing industries (automotive, textile etc.), office and video production. If you are in one of these trades, you should calibrate your monitor to D65. Other D(aylight white point) For specific purposes it may be advisable to calibrate to a different daylight white point. Enter the full correlated color temperature here (e.g.
Profiler User Manual 4.5.2 Tonal response curve Shades of gray from black to white will be reproduced in a specific way, depending on the individual monitor. CRTs and LCDs are very different in their native characteristics. In order to normalize the response character monitor calibration corrects the tonal response curves to a defined function. L* (recommended) Theoretically, the ideal color system for cross media publishing is L*a*b*. It equals the characteristics of human color perception.
Profiler User Manual Gamma The Gamma function is based on the native behavior of CRT monitors. In CRTs, an electron beam excites red green and blue phosphors on the tube’s surface. Depending from the intensity of the electron beam, the phosphors glow more or less bright. Yet the intensity is not directly proportional to the voltage that controls the exciting electron beam. The ratio equals a gamma function. This gamma function can easily be modified into a different gamma behavior.
Profiler User Manual RGB IEC61966-2.1 sRGB is a working space for monitor output only. You find it mainly in the areas of Internet, multi media video and office applications. The tonal 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.
Profiler User Manual CIECAM02 How the effective contrast ratio will be reproduced in an workflow doesn’t depends on the monitor alone. Also the lightning conditions of the room is having a lot of influence on the effective contrast ratio of the monitor. In a very bright en lighted room the effective contrast of the monitor will not be the same like using the same monitor in the same room, but without any additional light sources and closed curtains (e.g. dark room).
Profiler User Manual 4.5.3 Luminance /contrast ratio Here you can define parameters that are important in different ways. If you should use several monitors in your environment, it makes sense to harmonize them to the same visual appearance. These settings allow you to do so in different ways. White luminance The addition of all 3 RGB primaries results in white light of the highest possible quantity of light. That makes white the brightest color a monitor can show.
Profiler User Manual Tip: Contrast control in LCDs The contrast control (OSD) of an LCD monitor works completely differently from CRTs. In most cases, there is no need to change the contrast settings. Please reset contrast to factory settings before attempting to calibrate an LCD monitor. Black luminance For the visual appearance of a monitor, not only the tonal response curve and the white luminance are of importance, but also the black luminance.
Profiler User Manual 4.6 Profile (settings) Like for the calibration settings, SpectraView Profiler allows you to save and load profiling settings (Menu „File/Save pro- filing settings...). 4.6.1 Profile type The function of an ICC profile is to describe the color characteristics of your devices in a device independent color model (e.g. CIELab). It doesn’t make sense to describe all 16.7 million color in a profile, this would result in a huge file.
Profiler User Manual 16-bit LUT based In this profile type, the gamut of a device will be described in a table of a defined number of points. All other color values will be interpolated. This allows to describe non-linear behavior of a device. The size of a LOUT profile can be some- where between 200 KB and more than 2 MB. With 16 bit encoding, the accuracy of a LUT profile will be increased dramatically (256 times more accurate), while the size only doubles.
Profiler User Manual none Is not really no CAT, it rather means: No other than the preferred ICC chromatic adaptation method. von Kries (HPE) The von Kries CAT assumes that chromatic adaptation is in- deed an independent gain control of the cone responses of the human visual system, and that the scaling is based on the ratio of the cone responses of the illuminants.
Profiler User Manual 4.6.3 V4 profile If you check „ICC v4 profile“ SpectraView Profiler will create 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).
Profiler User Manual 4.7 Review Under this tab you will find some useful quality assurance and editing tools. 4.7.1 Validation This tool allows you to check the quality of any profile and calibration, not only those created with SpectraView Profiler. After measuring the validation patches you see the „Validation Results“ window. The measured values are compared with the reference values calculated from the ICC profile.
Profiler User Manual 4.7.2 Ambient light This does not influence the results of calibration and profiling, it is for your reference only. On the other hand, you can find essential informations that help you set up your working environment. Presently two of the supported instruments allow for ambient light measurements: basICColor SQUID 2 / GretagMacbeth EyeOne display2 In order to measure ambient light, you have to attach the ambient light head.
Profiler User Manual 4.7.3 Checking viewing booth In order to be able to judge colors accurately on a monitor, you need a controlled environment as described in ISO 3664 and ISO 12646. These standards demand for a dimmed surrounding with a not more than 32 lux and a color temperature close to D50. Attach the ambient light head to the instrument and hold the instrument in front of your monitor with the ambient light head facing the room, not the monitor.
Profiler User Manual Viewing booth for hardcopy comparison only A viewing booth that is being used for comparing print and proof, is supposed to show an illuminance value of 2000 lux ± 500 lux and a color temperature close to D50. 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. When in doubt, use a gray card that has no metameric failure, like the basICColor gray card. 4.7.
Profiler User Manual ISO 3664 requires a luminance of 500 +/- 125 lux. Other settings are also possible but then they are not standardized and other users may not have the same exposure at their facilities. Viewing boot for hardcopy comparison only By using this setting the light 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.
Profiler User Manual White point edit: On the left, the white point was raised. You can see how many colors turn to white. On the right, luminance and contrast have been reduced Black point edit: On the left, the black point was reduced. You can see how many colors turn to black. On the right, luminance was raised which results in a reduced contrast 4.7.5 Edit calibration In principle there should be no need to edit the calibration performed by SpectraView Profiler.
Profiler User Manual If you edit R, G and B separately, you will change the color cast in white or black. Curves This option allows you to change the shape of the tonal response curves with three additional handles. Edit curve(s) Here you select, which curve(s) you want to edit. All - All Curves 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.
Chapter 5 Product information SpectraView Profiler 4
Profiler User Manual 5. Product information SpectraView Profiler Software - Copyright © 2001 - 2011 basICColor GmbH. All rights reserved. Manual - Copyright © 2011 basICColor GmbH. All rights reserved. This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied in accordance with terms of the license.
