Reports. Eye-One. Evaluation of Gretag Macbeth. Brent Cavanaugh - Updated by Paul Huhtala Updated NOVEMBER 2005

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1 Brent Cavanaugh - Updated by Paul Huhtala Updated NOVEMBER 2005 Evaluation of Gretag Macbeth Eye-One

2 In 2002, I first reviewed the Gretag Macbeth (GMB) Eye-One Pro with Eye-One Match. Since then, the Eye-One Match software has advanced to version 3.3. This revision has improved features and functionality compared to the earlier release. In the release notes GMB gives the following minimum system requirements: Windows Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP Processor: Pentium II, 266 MHz or better 128 MB of available RAM 48 MB of available hard-disk space Monitor resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels or higher USB support Macintosh Mac OS X (10.1 or higher) 128 MB of available RAM 48 MB of available hard-disk space Monitor resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels or higher USB support They also note that version 3 will only run on Mac OSX, but an unsupported version of 3.1 is available by request for OS 9.2. The Eye-one acts as the dongle or license key for the software packages you have purchased. Licenses for other software can be added using the Eye-One Diagnostics software. New Eye-One Packages In early 2005 GMB has tailored new packages of the Eye-One spectrophotometer and software to meet the needs of specific user groups. The Eye-One Pro continues as an offered product. These packages include: Eye-One Display 2 the oddball of the group. This instrument is actually a completely different model from the standard Eye-One Pro but a fraction of the cost and is designed only for display calibration. Eye-One Design a monitor and print calibration software for quick profiling using the new small target system. Eye-One Photo designed for photographers, this includes monitor, printer, scanner, digital projector and digital camera calibration capabilities. Eye-One Proof - Specifically designed for the CMYK print environment that involves using a RIP for accurate color reproduction from the monitor to the print. Much like the Eye-one Pro package. Eye-One XT Includes all the software and capabilities listed above in one package. Gretag Macbeth also announced the io earlier in the year, an automatic XY arm that measures your targets for you (similar to the Spectralino). According to a sales representative at the Gretag Macbeth booth at the Print 05 tradeshow in Chicago, the io is capable of measuring an IT8 color target in just over 3 minutes. The io is not a measurement device, rather an attachment for the Eye-One. To date, the io is still not shipping but is supposed to be out sometime this fall.

3 FLAAR is constantly establishing new relationships with manufacturers and resellers of equipment so we can evaluate and distribute information to the industry. We are seeking out new leads of the newest and best products. More product reviews can be issued as we obtain access to these new products. New to Eye-One Match Version 3.1 Eye-One Match includes support of a new profile building system based on two new test charts for printers. In combination with the software, profiles can be quickly built for a printer and media combination using a limited number of patches. Later in the report I will compare profiles built using different targets and numbers of patches. Also new is the capability of calibrating projection displays specifically for Microsoft PowerPoint. Eye-One Beamer utilizes the Eye-One spectrophotometer along with a special holder to stabilize the device to allow you to calibrate Eye-One Share screenshot a digital projector. Independently from the CMM, the software inserts corrections to the display from PowerPoint. For older devices like ours a license update is required and additional hardware (special holder) is needed. Eye-One Share An updated version of Eye-One Share version 1.4 is also available. This program lets you measure samples and create custom palettes for Photoshop and Illustrator. It also allows you to measure delta E differences between samples. One of the best tools in the Eye-One Share software allows you to determine what CMYK or RGB value is needed to reproduce a measured color swatch when printing to a specific media and printer ICC profile. This reduces the guesswork when trying to match certain colors that are on the fringe of the gamut of the printer and media. You can measure a swatch and choose the profile for the printer and media you are using. The program will give you the closest RGB or CMYK value that will match the target value. Eye-One Diagnostics v. 2.0 Eye-One Diagnostics is a tool to check the functionality of your Eye-One. It runs through checks for reflective and monitor calibration. The tool can also be used to modify your licenses that reside in the Eye-One. It will ensure you have the latest firmware. Review of Eye-One Match You may be a bit shocked to find the printed documentation supplied with the Eye-One Pro to be so brief. In fact, there is no written manual on how to build profiles or calibrate your monitor. Gretag Macbeth has built all the instructional information into the software to guide the user through its operation. The intention is to make it easier for the graphic professional to perform these calibration functions without having to take a course on color management. Additional general information is also provided on their web site. It takes a little getting used to this since I like to study the manual for some time before jumping into the software.

4 Updating our version of the software was simple, involving a registration process on the web site and downloading each the component programs to the PC used in the evaluation. The installation process was also quick and trouble free. The Match was installed into a separate folder so the original program was not overwritten. The Diagnostics and Share were installed after uninstalling the previous versions. The opening screen of the program gives you a Main menu screen of Eye-One Match graphical accounting of the functions. To choose an option you simply click on the image of the monitor for monitor profiling, the digital projector display (if licensed) for calibration of Powerpoint presentations, the flatbed scanner for scanner profiling, and the inkjet printer for printer calibration. The right side of the screen has help information on each of the calibrations. Monitor Calibration The monitor profiling gives you the option of easy or advanced. Both provide the capability of profiling a CRT, an LCD screen, or a laptop screen. The advanced option provides more options in the settings including White point, gamma, and luminance. The help information provides definitions and recommendations for the different devices. I would recommend using the advanced version so you can select the color temperature in degrees Kelvin you prefer for your display. The next step calibration of the Eye-One device is performed on the white reference tile. After the calibration the software instructs you to attach or place the Eye-One on the display as instructed on the screen. Each type has a different mounting technique which is well illustrated in the software. The LCD and laptop display requires a padded base to keep from damaging the display. A suction cup device Screenshot of display calibration process Allison Chmelik, Laboratory Assistant, calibrates a monitor using the Gretag Macbeth Eye-One

5 Finishing with the profile creation wizard (left) and the resulting color gamut from the created profile (right) is used for the CRT monitor. When you begin the calibration the software first determines the position the process of calibrating the brightness and white point, then measuring screen values to build the profile. Once complete you save the profile to the windows\winnt\system32\spool\drivers\color folder, the standard location for ICC profiles in Windows XP. After saving the profile you must then install the profile in the Windows display properties. On reboot you will see the effect of the profile. In the example photos you can see the relative difference on the screen between before the profile and after it is applied to the Monitor. Printer Profiling Our primary use of the Eye-One is for printer output profiling. This process is performed by printing the correct target for the printer you are using, measuring the color patches, and saving the profile. The software looks to see what printers you have installed on your system and lists them for you to choose if you want. In the case of using a RIP or a RIP server to print your files you can choose Other for either CMYK or RGB. In general, for inkjet with a RIP you would want to choose CMYK. For this software, the term RGB is not literal. RGB is used here for an inkjet printer using an RGB driver. CMYK are still being used to print, but RGB information is what is being sent to the driver. Editor s Note: It is important to realize that an RGB color gamut containes more possible colors then a CMYK color gamut. When printing photographs or gicleé, always stick with an RGB workflow. This is because converting from RGB to CMYK will clip the color gamut drastically, meaning all colors outside the color gamut will be moved inward to a color that may or may not be desired. A printer driver or RIP will do this anyway, but will calculate better then a profile conversion in photoshop. Calibrating the Eye-One before profiling After selecting the printer you need to select the target to print. With the other CMYK option three charts are available, each with a different number of patches to read. New to version 3 is the choice of targets to use for the profiling. I started with the new i1 Easy CMYK

6 1.2 target for profiling. Since I m using Wasatch SoftRIP for driving our HP Designjet 5000 I chose other CMYK printer for the printer and the i1 Easy CMYK chart for the first profile. The media for the testing was Sihl Superabsorb 220 satin paper. I printed the supplied chart using Wasatch after performing the required ink limit and linearization through Wasatch to get the printer calibrated to a good starting point for profiling. I then printed the target file with no profile applied. After giving the print sufficient time to dry thoroughly, I proceeded to measure the printed patches. The Eye-One was first calibrated on its white target. The patches were then measured. You can read the patches individually (very time consuming) or use the strip reading tool. The older style ruler tool takes a bit of practice to get the positioning and speed right to capture the measurement, but with use it can be very quick. The current models ship with a newly designed tool which make the measurement process much easier and does not rub the device against the media. The program illustrates how to position and read the strips. It will also show you the measurements you have captured so you can see if you have missed any of the patches. The most common error I have is trying to start moving the Eye-One too quickly after pressing the button. The program will not capture the first 2 or 3 patches and will require you to try again. At the conclusion of reading all the patches you then will save your data file. Brent Cavanaugh, FLAAR lab manager, evaluates the performance of the Eye-One

7 Eye-One Match will proceed to building the profile in the next screen and will ask you to save the profile. Be sure to make the name as descriptive as you can. It will default to saving it to the normal system folder for ICC profiles. My profile was 787 Kb, and when viewed in 3D, the effects of using a small number of patches is evident by the very linear faces of the profile surfaces. I moved on to the i1 ECI 2002 CMYK profile target which has 4 pages of patches to read. New options appear with this selection. You can now choose from all types of printers. For the HP Designjet 5000 I chose the Liquid Inkjet 400 option. The Eye-One was recalibrated, and the patches were read using the ruler and Eye-One. It took approximately 15 minutes to read the patches. I was required to retry reading 3 rows because of inconsistencies in how I moved the Eye- One. Causes for the errors included: Moving the Eye-One too quickly after pushing the button. A delay of ½ to 1 second is needed before beginning to make the pass. Moving the Eye-One too fast to read the patches. The feet of the Eye-One catch on the edge of the paper, changing the speed of the pass.

8 The two profiles differed quite a bit in the gamut area of the profiles. The i1 Easy profile showed a significantly larger gamut in all mid-tone colors. The profile was referenced in Wasatch and some example images were printed. The profile printed a good gamut with little banding using out Designjet 5000 with UV inks on the Sihl paper. UPDATE DECEMBER 2005: I also wanted to get a feel for how i1 Match performed with an RGB printer driver. For this test we used an HP Design- Jet 130nr. I wanted to see how the wizard performed using an RGB driver. I followed the instructions and printed my target directly to the printer from within the i1 Match software. The target I chose to print and measure was the TC9.18 standard RGB target. The other targets appeared to be more for quick and painless profiling and since the TC9.18 target has the most patches, as well as the RGB standard, I figured it would be the most relevant target to use. Paul Huhtala measures color data for an RGB printer driver I chose to follow the wizard and have it print my targets for me, although I had the option of loading already measured data. This proved to be a problem with media wastage. The TC9.18 is a 918 patch target and is set up on two 8.5x11 sheets of paper. A problem arose because I was using 24 roll media and it was treating each page of the target as a separate 24-inch wide page. I was disappointed that i1 Match did not place both pages of the target on one page. Despite my trouble with wasting $75.00-per-roll 24 x 50 media, I managed to measure my printed target. As mentioned previously, it can be difficult to operate the Eye-One without smooth, slow movements along the track. Once I finished measuring the TC9.18 target, I used the wizard to calculate my profile. The result was more-or-less what I had expected to see. The ideal LAB three-dimensional gamut model would consist of smooth curves without any rough spots. However, I knew that the result would be choppy at the dark end of the spectrum. There are many reasons this could have happened. When using an RGB printer driver, it can be extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible, to turn off all color management. If custom profiles cannot be created, users are forced to stick with manufacturers media. The manufacturers know this and they intentionally bury color management into the driver, making it very difficult for the user to obtain control over the printer. Another reason why the gamut came out rugged may have been the fact that this was a quick test and the media was blow-dried for a couple of minutes before measuring,

9 Loading the measured data in Gretag MacBeth Software Wait as the profile is calculated as opposed to the recommend 24 hours. Otherwise, it could have been bad calculations of the spectral data in mapping the gamut. Spectral data is raw data that maps color on the color spectrum. It would take a prohibitively long time to measure every possible color, so the device measures a set of colors and through a color management module, or CMM, calculates The color gamut appears a bit rough at the shadow end of the spectrum the rest of the colors. Since these are calculations, they are usually very accurate, but sometimes fall a bit short. Since the Eye One has generated some beautiful profiles in previous testing, I suspect the problem was in the inability to fully turn off color management through the driver. Using the DesignJet 130nr along with a RIP such as Wasatch would have fixed that problem. Conclusion Gretag Macbeth has learned well from its customers and has made solid improvements in its currently released Eye-One. From my experience and from my conversations with others speak to the good repeatability in the measurements. The variations in the different packages give the user the flexibility to purchase the one that suits their need. The capability for spot color measurements and the speed of strip reading make the Eye-One a popular tool for all levels of graphics professional.