What is ICC color management

Many design, publishing, and printing companies are using color management systems today. Although you may not know what color management is, you may be using it yourself. People can enjoy consistent and consistent colors from beginning to end in the workflow, and most of them are using systems based on ICC profile.

The ICC feature file named and signed by The International Color Consortium is a description of the color translation capabilities of a specific device. This specific device can be a scanner, digital camera, display, printer, or printing device. This characteristic file defines the gamut or color range of the device, and how the device distorts the color (that is, the deviation of the device from the normal color, which is important). ICC feature files make it possible for countless devices from different manufacturers to describe their color conditions in a standard portable format.

These characteristic files work with the other two components of the color management system: the first is the engine, or color management method, which relies on the characteristic file to interpret color from one device to another device. The second is software, in which feature files will be embedded (such as Adobe Photoshop) or used (such as Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand, QuarkXPress, and Adobe PageMaker).

The engine is no longer a big deal. Heidelberg's LinoColor engine has been used by Apple (in ColorSync) and Microsoft (in Windows 98 and later Windows systems). Other engines can also be obtained from other manufacturers. These vendors include Adobe, Agfa, Imation and Kodak. Support for application software outside of the imaging industry is still sporadic, but at least in image processing, illustration and typesetting software, ICC feature files have been basically used.

For most people who want to adopt a color management system, the biggest problem today is how to create their own profile. You can apply the general characteristic files provided by the hardware manufacturers (often downloadable from the Internet), but these general characteristic files are based on the perfect color correction equipment just produced from the production line. In the real world, it is necessary to use professional software for creating color profiles to customize profile to ensure the best results.

No matter what feature file format you need, the workflow will involve comparing the color data you tested with the reference data values. For example, to create a profile for a scanner, you will scan a color target. The typical target is the industry standard IT8. This target contains 264 color bars plus 24 gray levels. The software that creates the profile will convert the scanned color values ​​into device-independent values ​​and compare them with the original CIE values ​​(reference data) to create a profile.

There are many softwares in the market that follow the ICC rules for creating feature files. They have different performance and price points. We have collected nearly twenty-four basic information of this kind of software here.

Input and display

Some software only creates characteristic files for one device, such as a monitor, scanner, or printer, while other software can create characteristic files for all three devices. Therefore, you must first determine what kind of device you want to create a characteristic file. If you want to create characteristic files for input, display, and output devices, check out the software for creating characteristic files from Agfa, Barco, Candela, Color Savvt, Color Solutions, GretagMatch, Haidelberg, Kodak, Monaco, and Scitex.

If creating a profile for your monitor is your main job, you can do this without spending a penny: use Apple ColorSync 2.5 or the Adobe Gamma tool provided with PhotoShop, or do it for a small fee: use Pantone Personal Calibrator And Sonnetech Colorific tools, the prices are $ 60 and $ 50 respectively. You only need to use your eyes, not any other test equipment. Apple ColorSync 2.5 and Adobe Gamma allow you to calibrate your monitor and create characteristic files.

Another option is that you can use more carefully designed tools for creating feature files, such as appropriate modules from Color Solutions, Haidelberg, Kodak. In this case, the software will transmit the reference data to the screen. The test data is to use a colorimeter (an instrument for measuring the brightness of red, green, and blue light) or a spectrum analyzer (it tests a large number of bands in the entire range of visible light Intensity). These devices are connected to your monitor.

However, in order to create a characteristic file for the scanner, you must need a software to create a characteristic file. When comparing which software to use, be sure to determine the form of the IT8 provided-is a 35mm slide, 4x5 inch transparent film, 5x7 inch color print or all three forms. You will need a color print to create a characteristic file for the desktop flatbed scanner, for the slide scanner you will need a 35mm slide, for the roller scanner you will need a transparent film, etc. [next]

Proofing and printing

The most time-consuming part of color management is the creation of print profiles. Unlike monitors and scanners, the light they emit can be easily tested. Printers and printing equipment can only create characteristic files by printing test patterns of color bars. These test patterns are also tested with a colorimeter and a spectrum analyzer. Then compare the color data of the test with the color data (reference data) transmitted to the printer device. The software that creates the profile will create a very accurate description of the gamut limits and a description of the distortion of this particular individual color.

You can use low-cost spectrum analyzers, such as ColorTron and Digital Swatchbook (both from X-Rite), to build your print profile, but the process of using these instruments is not an efficient method because you Each color bar must be tested manually. The best solution is to use a strip reading instrument from X-Rite (such as the new DTP41) or GretagMacbeth SpectroLino with an optional SpectroScan form. This method is to automatically move the test instrument from a color bar when reading To another color bar.

If your software for creating characteristic files can use color-corrected scanners, you may consider using scanned prints and letting the software read the scanned data to create a characteristic file for the device. This method may give up the quality of the characteristic file, because the color gamut captured by most desktop scanners when scanning images is not as wide as that captured by colorimeters and spectrum analyzers.

The main sign of the establishment of the print profile is the number of color bars tested, from 25 to 1400 or more. In general, the more color bars, the more accurate the profile, although there are some exceptions. For example, Radius ColorMatch Seperation Lab software uses a database of thousands of standard printing conditions to create a characteristic file, rather than creating a characteristic file by testing your output. Another software, Delta E's Profiler, requires only eighteen test data (one hundred percent value for each color in CMYK and RGB, three-color black, paper color, and nine-step three-color grayscale) and Use mathematics models for human vision and perception to fill in other values.

Remember, in order to get the best results, you not only need to create a characteristic file for each printing device, but more importantly, create a custom characteristic file for each type of paper. For example, the color of inkjet printers printing on general flat office paper is completely different from that of printing on glossy paper. Some software for creating characteristic files (such as Agfa ’s ColorTune Pro, Kodak ’s ColorFlow, and Color Solution ’s ColorBlind) allow you to compensate for differences in paper, light conditions, and other factors by optimizing color tones or editing characteristic files The change.

The effort you put into creating an accurate printing profile will be more rewarding than when you print graphics, because printing profile has a greater impact on color fidelity than scanner and monitor profile. If you do not make the correct color judgment based on what is displayed on the screen, the monitor profile will be irrelevant. However, if you have a monitor that has been color corrected and has created a profile, you can modify all your graphics on the screen and then instruct your monitor profile to be the source profile in your color management system. A color-corrected display is very necessary for soft proofing. The display characteristics file will define the color gamut on the screen, so that the display can accurately predict the appearance of color patterns when printed.

How to use property files

Once you have created custom profiles for scanners, monitors and printer devices, what can you do with them? According to production requirements and workflow, you can use them in the following four aspects: drawing software (Illustrator, FreeHand, CoralDraw), image processing software (Photoshop or Live Picture), typesetting software (QuarkXPress or PageMaker), or connected to your Prepress server and RIP on the printing device.

In general, if you use a color management system from start to finish, you'd better use Photoshop (or other image processing software that complies with ICC rules) to embed source characteristic files that define the state of scanning and editing into each image. . PageMaker and Xpress (version 4.02 or above) will use these embedded feature files when printing. These two typesetting software also provide features for synthetic colors such as those used as shapes, line drafts, color boxes, and other typesetting elements File support.

In addition, if you only work with vector graphics now, the three major illustration software (Illustrator, FreeHand, and CorelDraw) all contain dialog boxes where you can define ICC characteristic files for the output device, so they are created as RGB on the screen Or the color of CIELAB value can be converted into CMYK ideally when printing. If you only work with photo images, you can directly apply the characteristic file as a filter in Photoshop or convert the ICC printing characteristic file into a custom Photoshop color separation table. This workflow is most suitable for photographers, people engaged in medical and scientific image processing, and people who want to output images with color management to word processing software or other office software.

The last method is to use color management in the prepress server or RIP when printing. This workflow typically relies on the PostScript color interpretation dictionary color-rendering dictionaries (CRDs), which are functionally identical to the ICC printing profile.

Some software for creating characteristic files can output and print characteristic file information in CRD format. This solution is especially suitable for large design centers and those environments that use many different output devices. For several years, publishers have been patiently waiting for a color management system that can actually be used. In 1995, the release of Apple ColorSync dealt with engine issues. In the past few years, virtually all major publishing software has carried color management support.

High Chair From 6 Months

High Chair for Kids,Baby High Chair 3 in 1,Feeding High Chair,7 month old high chair

NINGBO BABY FIRST BABY PRODUCTS CO.,LTD. , https://www.maxinfglobal.com