NEC SpectraView manual

User Manual When Colour is Critical[...]

2 Proler User Manual T able of content 1. Preface .................................................................................................................... 6 2. Installation and licensing ......................................................................................... 8 2.1. Minimum system requirements .......................[...]

3 Proler 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.[...]

4 Proler User Manual 4.6 Profile (settings) ............................................................................................ 56 4.6.1 Profile type .......................................................................................... 56 4.6.2 Chromatic adaptation ...................................................................[...]

Chapter 1 Preface[...]

6 Proler User Manual 1. Preface With the purchase of this SpectraView Profiler 4.1 monitor cali bration 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 [...]

Chapter 2 Installation and Licensing[...]

8 Proler 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 (10.5.8 or higher) • Minimum of 512 MB available system memory (RAM) Windows® ?[...]

9 Proler User Manual Knowledge requirements: These instructions assume familiarity with the basic operation of the Mac OS X and/or Windows operating systems. Documentation: This document describes the application of SpectraView Profiler for both Mac OS X and Windows. Any differences in operation or special instructions that apply to either syste[...]

10 Proler 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 SpectraV iew 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 in[...]

11 Proler User Manual It is possible that the Windows operating system may not recog - nize 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 .[...]

12 Proler User Manual 2.3. Product registration and licensing Licensing and release of SpectraView Profiler 4.1 software is linked to an individual computer . Y ou 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 [...]

13 Proler 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: • T AN ... ( T ransActionNumber) There should be a sticker o[...]

14 Proler 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. IMPORT ANT : Store your license file carefully! It is your key to unlock the SpectraView Profi[...]

15 Proler User Manual Y ou 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[...]

17 Proler 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[...]

18 Proler User Manual The main window is clearly structured and easy to handle. So you can achieve a proper calibration and profile for your monitor very quickly and easily . All important information will be shown in the main window and you will get a quick overview about the present status. Measurement Device After the first start of SpectraVi[...]

19 Proler User Manual Express calibration and profiling When you press the <Express> button the calibration and profiling of your monitor will start immediately with the settings that are shown in the main window of SpectraView Profiler . Y ou can also start the express calibration and profiling process at any time during setting individua[...]

20 Proler User Manual 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...” or with a click on the instrument icon in the main window of SpectraView Profiler 4.1. Y ou can change the inst[...]

21 Proler User Manual The following measurement devices are supported by the SpectraView Profiler 4.1 : • basICColor SQUID/SQUID 2/SQUID2wg • basICColor RA Y (Please select: X-Rite DTP 94 USB) • Colorvision Spyder/Spyder 3 • Gretag Macbeth EyeOne display/EyeOne display 2 • Gretag Macbeth EyeOne Monitor/EyeOne pro • NEC MDSV Sensor (P[...]

22 Proler 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[...]

23 Proler 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 SpectraV iew Profiler during the profiling process. Screen saver / power saving mode During the wa[...]

24 Proler 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 poin[...]

25 Proler User Manual 3.3.2 Calibration method SpectraView Profiler can use four different methods to calibrate your monitor . Y ou will find detailed information on the different methods in the extended part of this manual (chapter 4). Hardware calibration (monitor LUT s) SpectraView Profiler can hardware calibrate some monitors (see HW_ Suppor[...]

26 Proler 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. Software calibration (video LUT s) Monitors without hardware calibration should be prepared via the OSD (On-Screen-Display) of the monitor . After manual preparation of the hardware (adjusting[...]

27 Proler User Manual 3.3.3 Calibration settings Under this section SpectraV iew 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 . Y ou don’t have to select all the calibration options like “[...]

28 Proler 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 d[...]

29 Proler 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 profil- ing. The next step is to optimize the monitor ha[...]

30 Proler 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 dif fer . 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 CRT s. Y ou[...]

31 Proler User Manual 3.4.2 Contrast (CRT s only) Open the measurement dialog by clicking <Measure>. The contrast of your monitor should initially be set to maxi- mum. Position the instru- ment on the measurement patch and start the measurement by clicking <Measure>. Please adjust the contrast via the OSD until the indicator is in th[...]

32 Proler User Manual 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. All the [...]

33 Proler User Manual 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. notebooks), the luminance should be set slightly higher (about 10 to 30 cd/m 2 ) than the desired luminance,[...]

34 Proler 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 chan[...]

35 Proler 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 SpectraV iew Profiler measures the color charac- teristic of[...]

36 Proler 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. V alidation 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 . Y ou should use thi[...]

Chapter 4 Advanced[...]

38 Proler User Manual 4. Advanced This part of the manual contains additional informations and explana- tions 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[...]

39 Proler User Manual 4.1.2 Profile Creation This dialog allows you to specify the folder for storing the ICC-profiles you create. (For the System profiles folder you will need administrator rights, for the user profiles folder , standard user permissions are suffi- cient). By checking one or more check boxes you can define the de- fault profile[...]

40 Proler 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 corres[...]

41 Proler User Manual 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. By calibrat- ing the monitor you will improve the representation of all colors beca[...]

42 Proler User Manual LCD flat screens LCD monitors normally use a backlight with defined lighting characteris- tics. 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[...]

43 Proler User Manual CRT monitors Hardware calibratable CRT s need to be connected to the computer via a digital data connection. That way color tem- perature, brightness and contrast can be controlled. CRT s do not have any means to control the gradation curves. The correction of the monitor gradation needs to be done with video-LUT s in the v[...]

44 Proler 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 [...]

45 Proler User Manual Mac OS X The color management framework of OS X (ColorSync) automati - cally detects the presence of calibration curves in an ICC-profile and downloads them into the video card at system start-up or when allocat- ing a different ICC-profile using the monitors control panel. Windows The Windows color management framework (IC[...]

46 Proler 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 o[...]

47 Proler 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 calibra- tion parameters contains the settings for „Color temperature“, „T onal response curve“ and „Luminance/contrast ratio“ . By selecting a complete set under Se[...]

48 Proler 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 l[...]

49 Proler User Manual D65 This is the standard illuminant for the manufacturing industries (automo- tive, 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 dif ferent daylight white point[...]

50 Proler User Manual 4.5.2 T onal response curve Shades of gray from black to white will be reproduced in a specific way , depending on the individual monitor . CRT s and LCDs are very differ- ent in their native characteristics. In order to normalize the response character monitor calibration corrects the tonal response curves to a defined fun[...]

51 Proler User Manual Gamma The Gamma function is based on the native behavior of CRT monitors. In CRT s, 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. Y et the intensity is not directly proportional to the voltage that con[...]

52 Proler User Manual RGB IEC61966-2.1 sRGB is a working space for monitor output only . Y ou 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[...]

53 Proler 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 sa[...]

54 Proler 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 primarie[...]

55 Proler User Manual 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. SpectraView Profiler allows you to calibrate monitors to a defined black luminance. Here the highest black luminance is the refer- ence for harmonizing multiple [...]

56 Proler User Manual 4.6 Profile (settings) Like for the calibration settings, SpectraV iew 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. CIEL[...]

57 Proler 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,[...]

58 Proler User Manual none Is not really no CA T , it rather means: No other than the preferred ICC chromatic adaptation method. von Kries (HPE) The von Kries CA T 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 resp[...]

59 Proler User Manual 4.6.3 V4 profile If you check „ICC v4 profile“ SpectraV iew 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,[...]

60 Proler User Manual 4.7 Review Under this tab you will find some useful quality assurance and editing tools. 4.7.1 V alidation 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 „V alidation Results“ window . The mea[...]

61 Proler 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 informa - tions that help you set up your working environment. Presently two of the supported instruments allow for ambient light measurements: basICColor SQUID 2 / [...]

62 Proler 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 instrumen[...]

63 Proler 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 boot[...]

64 Proler 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. [...]

65 Proler User Manual 4.7.5 Edit calibration In principle there should be no need to edit the calibration performed by SpectraView Profiler . There are rare occasions when the monitor still shows a color cast after calibration (depending from the filter set in the instrument and the phosphor or LCD filter set of the monitor). In these cases you [...]

66 Proler 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[...]

Chapter 5 Product information SpectraV iew Profiler 4[...]

68 Proler User Manual 5. Product information SpectraV iew Profiler Software - Copyright © 2001 - 201 1 basICColor GmbH. All rights reserved. Manual - Copyright © 201 1 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 [...]