Color Management and Screen Proofing (I)

(Color Management and Proofing Focus on the Monitor) Since the spring of this year, the development of monitor calibration technology has made great progress. GretagMacbeth announced that they have developed Eye-One spectrophotometers for professional users so that they can obtain accurate display results on LCD monitors. Another company called Waytech also developed monitor embedded color management technology for the consumer market. In addition, some businesses are dedicated to finding ways to achieve calibration without a color management monitor. ProofitOnline's solution to this problem has been greatly improved. Durst-Dice and Integrated Software developed by them are now setting up remote proofing capabilities. Waytech: Embedded Display Calibration Technology Waytech Development Corporation Has always been committed to developing high-precision web browsers for consumers. Unlike his competitors, Waytech does not change the average consumer, but works with computer system manufacturers to add color management capabilities within the computer hardware and operating system so that consumers do not have to calibrate the monitor or anything else. Related operations. According to Waytech, this is the only way consumers are willing to apply color management technology. So far, 38 manufacturers have signed cooperation agreements with Waytech. Waytech's solution is simple and easy. Because system manufacturers sell entire systems, including pre-installed software, they understand the performance of monitors and graphics cards and the features of Waytech's web browser. This can be achieved through Waytech's help to manufacturer-developed Windows operating system patches for consumers. What needs to be reminded is that companies that join the Waytech program have a "Coloreal" label on their products. The question is whether users will naturally accept this system. Waytech is full of confidence. Consumers rarely change the computer's hardware, and they generally obtain operating system upgrades from their previous system vendors. More and more display manufacturers are beginning to remove the color control keys from the front-end operating platform, leaving only brightness and contrast control keys. Of course, consumers who like to replace the computer's internal configuration, such as young people, computer enthusiasts and other consumers will quickly change Waytech's program, but these users are not the target consumer group of Waytech. People always think that although color management technology is not mature at present, it is better than nothing. But it is always difficult to convince consumers to use an application or other tool that solves calibration problems. So Waytech thinks that there is only one possible solution: to develop the appropriate setup program and embed it in the computer system, and tell consumers how to eliminate these settings. Admittedly, this solution does not compensate for the aging of the lighting and the lack of room lighting, but it can provide 70% of the color accuracy that the "real-time" color management system can achieve without the user having to move a finger. degree. LCD-based Eye-One Calibrator: Free Software GretagMacbeth has developed a spectrophotometer software that can operate on flat-panel displays and standard CRT displays. The spectrophotometer claims to have a resolution of up to 5 nanometers. This is important because the spectrum of light emitted by LCD monitors is much higher than that of CRT monitors. Its interior uses a very common plastic diffraction grating, making the manufacturing cost relatively low. There are two versions of the Eye-One. The Eye-One Monitor is only available for auto-illuminators and costs $600. The Eye-One Pro has a built-in lighting source that can be used for automatic lights and prints. Reflectors, but the price of $ 1,500, so the original Eye-One can not be upgraded to Eye-One Pro mode. Both models have a USB interface to enable power output from the Mac or PC's mother machine. The Eye-One Pro model, which costs $1,500, can support GreetMacbeth's Eye-One Match plotting software. Debugging LCD displays may be more difficult than you might think because of the color variations that occur when such screens are squeezed. GretagMacbeth uses two methods to reduce the color distortion, one is to install a special base for the screen of the monitor, and the other is to set the monitor screen to be close to vertical when debugging. From the angle of view, because the base has a belt traction, the force surface is relatively balanced, and the horizontal force of the screen is almost zero. Shareware GretagMacbeth also introduced Eye-One sharing software that can generate color palettes. This palette is actually spectral data and can achieve the same color display effect under different lighting conditions and on different output devices. simulation. This palette is shared by software users and can also be embedded in many graphics packages. This Eye-One Share is freely available to users. It is bundled with the Eye-One spectrophotometer, users can use it with customers or colleagues, and can also be downloaded from http://this site. GretagMacbeth believes that if the sharing software is widely distributed, users will have a certain understanding of the spectrophotometer, which will stimulate people's desire to purchase spectrophotometers. Wacom Bundle The Wacom PL500 is a combination of a wireless force-sensing pen and a 15-inch LCD display that generates interactive image pads. The PL500 is priced at up to $4,000, but the feeling of drawing with it is quite close to the drawing experience on the drawing paper. The PL500 is tailor-made for designers and photographers. It is also used in medical imaging. It is a perfect match with GretagMacbeth's Eye-One. The two companies have announced the joint development of mutually supportive products. Monaco 2nd Edition: Support for Extension Tables Monaco Systems' Ezcolor profile generator version 2 has some improvements, and its user interface and help functions have been improved. The second edition allows the user to easily edit the profile, and the user can also change the overall brightness, saturation, and contrast as well as color balance adjustments to achieve high brightness, neutral tone, or shadow display. EZcolor 2 supports extensions for profile views. These extensions have recently developed related standards and basic color conversion formulas by ICC to improve the color performance of LCD displays. Unlike CRT, this technique is not simulated by ordinary gamma curves. The docking station makes it easy for users to use the scanner and related equipment to generate an accurate profile. The Ezcolor is priced at $300. The software package also contains a high-precision IT8 target software for scanner image generation. The EZcolor and MonacoSensor monitor colorimeters are priced at $500. Durst-Dice: ASP. Durst-Dice America, a content proofing company, is launching a new service for image product makers. It is a remote proofing system called Lynx. It includes a web server, storage system, and RIP. Lynx doesn't have color management or annotation capabilities, so it can't be fully satisfied with RealTimeImage or ProofitOnline alone. However, Lynx is designed for "content proofing", mainly to check whether the text and layout are correct and whether the picture is placed in an accurate position. Lynx's specific operation is this: put the need to proof the workpiece into the RIP based on the DDA's Cheetah annotator, and then output the 72-dpi view file, the file can be saved to the network server's file directory, of course, those file directories are With a password, it is easy for the customer to keep secret. Then the metadata information such as the part number, version number, and keyword is sent to the database for the customer to retrieve. Finally, only the customer is notified by e-mail. DDA is not able to provide immediate modification services, view files are not co-opted, DDA believes that hard copies will always have a market, so Lynx is only used to eliminate errors as much as possible before production. Lynx sells for $120,000, including Windows 2000 software and a DVD-ROM drive that facilitates big data storage. The DDA's job role is equivalent to an ASP. Each year, the first 5,000 files cost $5,900, more than 30 per file. Cents billing.