NEC SpectraView Profiler 5 User Manual
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NEC SpectraView Profiler 5 User Manual

NEC SpectraView Profiler 5 User Manual

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When Colour is Critical
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Summary of Contents for NEC SpectraView Profiler 5

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

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Profiler User Manual Inhalt 1. Preface ........................7 2. Installation and Licensing ..................9 2.1. Minimal Systemrequirements ................ 9 2.2. Installation ....................11 2.3. Product registration and licensing ..............12 3. Quick Start ......................18 3.1 The main window ..................18 3.2 Selection of the calibration preset ..............
  • Page 3 Profiler User Manual 3.6 The profile creation process ................. 24 3.6.1 Measuring Color Characteristic............24 3.6.2 Setting the White Point............... 24 3.6.3 Iterating gray balance................. 25 3.6.4 Measuring for profiling................ 25 3.6.5 Results ....................25 3.7 Validation ...................... 26 3.7.1 Target values ..................
  • Page 4 Profiler User Manual 4.6 Color Temperature ..................47 4.7 Tonal response curve ..................50 4.8 Luminance / contrast ratio ................54 4.9 Profile ......................56 4.9.1 Profile type ..................56 4.9.2 Chromatic Adaption ................58 4.9.3 V4 profile ..................... 60 4.10 Review ......................
  • Page 5 Profiler User Manual 5.5 Online-Services .................... 73 5.6 Settings in the main menu ................74 5.6.1 Select system profile................74 5.6.2 Chromaticity and gamut / Spectral distribution ......... 75 5.6.3 Validation results ................. 76 6. Product information and Contact Data ..............78 6.1 Product information SpectraView Profiler .............
  • Page 6 Chapter 1 Preface...

  • Page 7: Preface

    Profiler User Manual 1. Preface With the purchase of this SpectraView Profiler 5 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 requirement for accurate color reproduction.
  • Page 8 Chapter 2 Installation and Licensing...

  • Page 9: Installation And Licensing

    Profiler User Manual 2. Installation and Licensing 2.1. Minimal Systemrequirements Apple Computer • Apple® with Intel Processors • Mac OS X (10.6 or higher) • min. of 512 MB available system memory (RAM) Windows® • Intel® Pentium® III or 4 Prozessor •...
  • Page 10 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 5 for both Mac OS X and Windows. Any differences in operation or special instructions that apply to either system will be indicated.

  • Page 11: Installation

    • Mac: The SpectraView Profiler CD-ROM folder will appear on your screen. Click on it to access the SpectraView Profiler 5 Installer or open the downloaded installer. We recommend a look at our download area as this ensures you have the latest version.

  • Page 12: Product Registration And Licensing

    Public Display series. Only if no SpectraView display is connected to the computer a separate (paid) license is needed to unlock SpectraView Profiler 5. On the follow- ing pages you can find a step-by-step guide for licensing and unlocking SpectraView Profiler.
  • Page 13 NEC account. Your registered e-mail address and password will allow you to log on to the NEC web site to request license files and to download SpectraView Profiler 5 software updates.
  • Page 14 If your SpectraView Profiler 5 CD-ROM cover does not have a TAN number or if you don’t have a CD or don’t have a TAN, then go to the ...
  • Page 15 IMPORTANT: Store your license file carefully! It is your key to unlock the SpectraView Profiler 5 software. You will also need this file for future software updates. This security method replaces the need for a hardware dongle. If you should lose it, you can retrieve it from the licensing server at any time by logging in to our web-site from within the application and going to the ...
  • Page 16 Profiler User Manual window and shows the status of your license in the top left corner. In our example the license is permanent.
  • Page 17 Chapter 3 Quick Start...

  • Page 18: Quick Start

    User Manual 3. Quick Start 3.1 The main window When SpectraView Profiler 5 starts up a main windows will pop up on all monitor connected to the computer. Every single display can be calibrated individually through this main window. All important information about the monitor and the calibration settings are located in this main window.

  • Page 19: Selection Of The Calibration Preset

    Otherwise the generated profile can not be stored in the system folder. At the bottom area of the main window of SpectraView Profiler 5 the If you do not have adequate user per- current active display profile is shown. Additional information about a...

  • Page 20: Preparation Of The Monitor Calibration

    3.3.1 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. 3.3.2 Reflections / Stray Light Turn the monitor off and check if you can see any reflections of light sources on the screen.

  • Page 21: Screen Saver / Power Saving Mode

    Profiler User Manual graphics card. Otherwise an error message will pop up in SpectraView Profiler 5 during the profiling process. 3.3.6 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 operat- ing system.

  • Page 22: Starting The Profile Creation

    Profiler User Manual 3.4 Starting the profile creation After the selection of a calibration preset the calibration and profiling process can be started by a click on the -button. The - button is located under the row of workflow-icons.

  • Page 23: Selecting A Measurement Instrument

    Tip: Measurement instrument At the first start of SpectraView Profiler 5 there is no measurement basICColor recommends to connect the instrument selected. Besides selecting the instrument there are some...

  • Page 24: The Profile Creation Process

    Profiler User Manual 3.6 The profile creation process After the connection of the measurement instrument with SpectraView Profiler 5 a measurement window pops up. The window should be located to the middle of the display and the measurement instrument has to be positioned to the middle of the measurement window.

  • Page 25: Iterating Gray Balance

    Profiler User Manual 3.6.3 Iterating gray balance... SpectraView Profiler 5 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. 3.6.4 Measuring for profiling... After calibrating the monitor SpectraView Profiler 5 measures the color characteristic of the monitor again to create the ICC-profile 3.6.5 Results...

  • Page 26: Validation

    Profiler User Manual 3.7 Validation After the calibration and profiling process SpectraView Profiler 5 is processing a detailed check. This check is a simple integrity test of the calibration and the created profile. This test was not designed to check if a display is able to be a softproof- ing display.
  • Page 27 Profiler User Manual Every calibration should be checked once a while (e.g. once a week) to check if the display calibration and the profile are achieving the param- eters which where achieved at the original calibration time. To validate the display place the measurement instrument in the middle of the measurement window and start the validation process with a click on .

  • Page 28: Target Values

    Profiler User Manual 3.7.1 Target values The target values are the original measurement values which where taken to create the calibration and profile. 3.7.1 Achieved values These values are the current readings of the same colors. 3.7.3 Tolerances Quite often it is hard for users to sort in the pure DeltaE results and to decide if the validation result is ok or if the display has the be calibrated and profiled again.

  • Page 29: Display Cieab

    The validation results are saved by the date and time they have been created. 3.7.6 Save report as... Another useful option of SpectraView Profiler 5 is to save the currently shown validation result as a PNG-image file.
  • Page 30 Chapter 4 Advanced Settings...

  • Page 31: Advanced Settings

    User Manual 4. Advanced settings This part of the manual contains additional informations and explana- tions related to the settings and functions of SpectraView Profiler 5. 4.1 Select instrument If the measurement instrument was not identified automatically or if you want to change the instrument it is possible to select the instru- ment manually.

  • Page 32: Mode

    Profiler User Manual Select the instrument of your choice in the selection list and connect the instrument with a click on and follow the given instruc- tions. 4.1.1 Mode LCD- and CRT-Displays need different adjustments of the instrument to be calibrated. Some instruments are offering a preselection of the mode the instrument should run in.
  • Page 33 Profiler User Manual Please click on to connect SpectraView Profiler 5 and the measurement device with each other. When the instrument was connected with SpectraView Profiler 5 and the calibration was done you can leave the dialog by a click on the -button.

  • Page 34: Monitortyp

    SpectraView Profiler 5 offers three different calibration methods. At first launch it will automatically select the highest level method available for your monitor/video card combination. When you quit the application, the calibration method you may have selected manually, will be stored and recalled next time you use SpectraView Profiler 5.

  • Page 35: Calibration Method

    This could be a DDC/CI video cable or a combined hard/software calibrated monitor separate USB or serial cable. SpectraView Profiler 5 uses this connec- Result: Allmost all tions to directly control the monitor and to calibrate it automatically,...
  • Page 36 Besides the white point (color temperature) and luminance, some hardware calibrateable monitors allow for controlling gradation curves so that no correction needs to be done in 8 bits on the video card (e.g. the NEC SpectraView series).

  • Page 37: Combined Hard- And Software Calibration

    LUT (Look up table).SpectraView Profiler 5 is able to address this parameters of the display directly in the hardware for some types of monitors (see...
  • Page 38 LCD monitors with an analog connector only will yield inferior calibration 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.
  • Page 39 Profiler User Manual CRT - monitors In CRTs the intensity of the 3 phosphors is controlled by an analog signal that can be modulated nearly infinitely variable. Since the inten- sity of each channel can be controlled individually (gain), the color temperature can be set very exactly.

  • Page 40: No Calibration

    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 5 supports you with measurement values in setting these parameters. Should the graphic card contain a LUT when launching SpectraView Profiler 5 it will be taken over and saved in the ICC- profile.

  • Page 41: Calibration Preset

    When selecting a calibration preset, all the necessary settings will be done automati- cally by SpectraView Profiler 5. You don’t have to select all the calibra- tion options like “Color temperature”, “Tonal response curve” etc.
  • Page 42 Profiler User Manual Webdesign - This preset will set up your monitor for a webdesign worklfow. Prepress - This preset contains the correct settings to calibrate a display to the needs of the Prepress- Workflow. Besides this preset is can be recommended to photog- raphers who wants to retouch their images for the output of an photo-lab, Fine-Art-Printers, Inkjets or other printing devices.
  • Page 43 User Manual Some of those presets are already represented by a workflow-icon in the main window of SpectraView Profiler 5. An exception is the last workflow-icon of the main window of Spectra- View Profiler 5. The default setting for it is “custom”. But this workflow- icon is a placeholder for a whole list of calibration presets.
  • Page 44 The calibration settings which are represented by workflow-icon can be seen in the middle of the main window of SpectraView Profiler 5. If the custom workflow-icon will be used to create a calibration and...

  • Page 45: Creating Custom Calibration Presets

    As mentioned in the previous section a single change on a parameter will rename the calibration preset form it’s original name to the name “custom...”. At this point SpectraView Profiler 5 gives the user the opportunity to save these new calibration settings as a custom calibration set with it’s own name.
  • Page 46 The new calbration set can be chosen from the list of calibration presets like any other predefined calibration preset. It’s possible to activate the new created calibration preset via the custom workflow-icon in the main window of SpectraView Profiler 5.

  • Page 47: Color Temperature

    D-series (D = Daylight). SpectraView Profiler 5 offers quite a lot of different possibilities to make „D50“ spectral distribution curve of a CRT monitor...
  • Page 48 Profiler User Manual For the graphic arts industry, D50 is the standard for viewing and comparing color. Also the color systems L*a*b* and XYZ as we use them in graphic arts, are based on this illuminant. These are the reasons why a computer monitor in an ICC- compliant working environment needs to be calibrated to D50.
  • Page 49 Profiler User Manual Blackbody temperature As described earlier, an illuminant can be characterized with its corre- lated color temperature. D50 for example has an approximate color temperature of 5000K, but the blackbody radiator has a different spectral distribution at 5000K. Monitors show a different, characteristic spectral distribution, their white point can only be approximated.

  • Page 50: Tonal Response Curve

    Profiler User Manual 4.7 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 differ- ent in their native characteristics. In order to normalize the response character monitor calibration corrects the tonal response curves to a defined function.
  • Page 51 Profiler User Manual Since ICC profiles are based on L*a*b* as well, the conversion losses are minimized when converting color to the monitor gamut. If you calibrate your monitor to L*, your RGB working space should have an L* tonal response curve also. You can download such a working space (ECI-RGB v2) from www.eci.org.
  • Page 52 Profiler User Manual The only use of a gamma calibration is a workflow with data which need to be displayed with a certain gamma or other tonal response curve (e.g. video or web design = sRGB) out- side a color managed environ- ment.
  • Page 53 (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 ambient light of the room: 0 - 32 Lux: CIECAM02 - dark 32 - 64 Lux: CIECAM02 - dimmed >= 64 Lux: CIECAM02 - bright...

  • Page 54: Luminance / Contrast Ratio

    Profiler User Manual 4.8 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.
  • Page 55 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 5 allows you to calibrate monitors to a defined black luminance. Here the highest black luminance is the refer- ence for harmonizing multiple monitors.

  • Page 56: Profile

    Profiler User Manual 4.9 Profile ICC-profiles can use a different internal structure for some param- eters. Two important parameters are the profile type and the chromatic adaptation. 4.9.1 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.
  • Page 57 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.

  • Page 58: Chromatic Adaption

    Profiler User Manual 4.9.2 Chromatic Adaption Chromatic adaptation is the ability of the human visual system to discount the color of the illumination and to preserve the appearance of an object. Chromatic adaptation can be observed by examining a white object under different types of illumination, such as daylight (blueish) and incandescent (yellowish).
  • Page 59 Changes appear less intensive than in the „von Kries“ method. CAT02 (von CIECAM02) This is the latest development in CATs, it’s effect is close to that in the „linear Bradford“ method. SpectraView Profiler 5 uses CAT02 as a default.

  • Page 60: V4 Profile

    Profiler User Manual 4.9.3 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).

  • Page 61: Review

    4.10.1 Monitor This tool allows you to check the quality of any profile and calibration, not only those created with SpectraView Profiler 5. 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.

  • Page 62: Ambient Light

    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 5 offers reference Mounting the ambient light head on a data for three different situations. Check the radio button that represents basICColor SQUID2 the desired situation.

  • Page 63: Check Viewing Booth

    Profiler User Manual 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. 10.4.4 Check viewing booth For a comparison of a proof and a soft proof, the viewing booth should have an illuminance value of 500 ±...
  • Page 64 Only then it will be possible to compare a photographic print, proof or any other artwork with the display on the monitor. SpectraView Profiler 5 communicates with the lightbooth and will automatically adjust its brightness to the monitors brightness. Please take notice that the monitors brightness should be set to a standardized value.

  • Page 65: Edit Calibration

    4.10.4 Edit calibration In principle there should be no need to edit the calibration performed by SpectraView Profiler 5. There are rare occasions when the monitor White point edit: On the left, the white point was raised. You can see how many colors turn to white.
  • Page 66 Profiler User Manual 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.

  • Page 67: Color Space Emulation

    Profiler User Manual 4.10.5 Color Space Emulation Some high-end monitor have an internal 3d Look-Up-Table (3D LUT) which allows it to manipulate the color charakeristics of the display. This makes it possible to emulate the shape and size of a different color space instead of using the native color gamut of the display.
  • Page 68 Chapter 5 Preferences...

  • Page 69: Preferences

    Please mention that some of the settings become active after a restart of SpectraView Profiler 5. 5.1 General In this tab the general settings for SpectraView Profiler 5 can be set 5.1.1 Language Select the language SpectraView Profiler 5 should use from this menu.

  • Page 70: Path To The Analysis Software (Catch)

    User Manual 5.1.4 Path to the analysis software (catch) SpectraView Profiler 5 can send the measured values to an external quality control software (basICColor catch) for a more detailed review. Please enter the path to the basICColor catch folder into this field.

  • Page 71: Security

    Profiler User Manual 5.3 Security In this section you can define a station ID, if more than one softproof- stations have to be administrated. If you leave the field blank, the machine ID will be inserted. Additionally you can specify name and path to the protocol files, i.e. to create copies of protocol files on a network storage.

  • Page 72: Display Settings

    (e.g. NEC SpectraView Displays). SpectraView Profiler 5 can control and change this additional settings. So it’s possible to lock the OSD (On-Screen-Display) of NEC displays by activating the check box in this tab. Additionally some displays like the NEC SpectraView series allow it to...

  • Page 73: Online-Services

    Profiler User Manual 5.5 Online-Services This feature is supported in a future version of SpectraView Profiler.

  • Page 74: Settings In The Main Menu

    Profiler User Manual 5.6 Settings in the main menu SpectraView Profiler 5 additional function can be activated directly through the main menu of the SpectraView Profiler 5. 5.6.1 Select system profile... At startup time your computer system loads the active system profile.

  • Page 75: Chromaticity And Gamut / Spectral Distribution

    Profiler User Manual 5.6.2 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*.

  • Page 76: Validation Results

    Profiler User Manual 5.6.3 Validation results The last validation result can be opened by holding ⌘i or by selecting “Window -> Validation results...” from the main menu.

  • Page 77: Product Information And Contact Data

    Chapter 6 Product information and Contact Data...

  • Page 78: Product Information Spectraview Profiler

    Profiler User Manual 6.1 Product information SpectraView Profiler 5 Copyright Information Software - Copyright © 2001-2012 basICColor GmbH. All rights reserved. Manual - Copyright © 2011-2012 basICColor GmbH. All rights reserved. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only and is subject to change without notice and shall not be construed as a commitment by basICColor GmbH.

  • Page 79: Contact Data

    6.2 Contact Data Please notice that the technical support for hard- and software have different contact adresses. Information about the SpectraView monitors (hardware) you can get under: E-Mail: [email protected] Web: www.spectraview.nec-display-solutions.com www.nec-display-solutions.com If you have technical support questions regarding the SpectraView Profiler software please contact: E-Mail: [email protected]...

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