Stan Lee needed G7

As the passing of comic book creator Stan Lee has been in the news lately, we are reminded of the necessity of proper color management.

The original design of The Incredible Hulk had his skin be gray, but a problem with the printing press / ink on the original runs of the comic book caused the gray to look green instead.  If they had used the G7 methodology back in 1962, the Incredible Hulk might be gray today!

Now you can apply your color knowledge to this quiz:

https://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/the-incredible-hulk-was-originally-what-color/

Weevil not be ignored!

"The ultimate aim of research in this field is to figure out how the weevil self-assembles these structures, because with our current technology we are unable to do so," Dr. Saranathan said. "The ability to produce these structures, which are able to provide a high colour fidelity regardless of the angle you view it from, will have applications in any industry which deals with colour production. We can use these structures in cosmetics and other pigmentations to ensure high-fidelity hues, or in digital displays in your phone or tablet which will allow you to view it from any angle and see the same true image without any colour distortion. We can even use them to make reflective cladding for optical fibres to minimise signal loss during transmission."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-colour-generation-mechanism-rainbow-weevil.html#jCp

Photo Credit: Dr. Bodo D. Wilts

Here's a true color geek Halloween costume: the Philippine Snout Weevil.
 
Scientists from Singapore and Switzerland are studying the colors on the Philippine Snout Weevil.  This colorful little guy reproduces all the colors of the rainbow in concentric circles on its body, and does so by varying the size and volume of the scales on its exoskeleton.  No pigments involved!  It is said that human technology has no current means of reproducing this phenomena.  Of particular interest is the way these colors do not change hue when viewed at different angles.

https://www.asianscientist.com/2018/09/in-the-lab/rainbow-weevil-beetle-optics/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smll.201802328

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/explore/weevil-weevil-rock-you/article25067049.ece

"The ultimate aim of research in this field is to figure out how the weevil self-assembles these structures, because with our current technology we are unable to do so," Dr. Saranathan said. "The ability to produce these structures, which are able to provide a high colour fidelity regardless of the angle you view it from, will have applications in any industry which deals with colour production. We can use these structures in cosmetics and other pigmentations to ensure high-fidelity hues, or in digital displays in your phone or tablet which will allow you to view it from any angle and see the same true image without any colour distortion. We can even use them to make reflective cladding for optical fibres to minimise signal loss during transmission."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-colour-generation-mechanism-rainbow-weevil.html#jCp

"The ultimate aim of research in this field is to figure out how the weevil self-assembles these structures, because with our current technology we are unable to do so," Dr. Saranathan said. "The ability to produce these structures, which are able to provide a high colour fidelity regardless of the angle you view it from, will have applications in any industry which deals with colour production. We can use these structures in cosmetics and other pigmentations to ensure high-fidelity hues, or in digital displays in your phone or tablet which will allow you to view it from any angle and see the same true image without any colour distortion."

ColorThink Pro update

There is a new update to ColorThink Pro available on our download page:

https://www.chromix.com/colorthink/download

This is not a major update but brings a number of fixes & tunings that many of you have been asking about.  (Thanks for your feedback, and keep it coming!)

While we're at it, you should know that ColorThink Pro is a 32bit app on both Mac and Windows. We're working on a major (paid) upgrade that will be 64bit. In the meantime, macOS High Sierra appears to be warning users that the app is not "optimized" for their machine. Not to worry, it runs fine.

Our initial testing with Mojave (10.14) beta indicates that ColorThink Pro will run fine there as well.  See the release notes in the download to get the skinny on all that this update touches.

Award-Winning Curve4

 We have just learned that Curve4 has won a software design award!  The Xojo design awards for 2018 have just been announced at the Xojo Developer's Conference in Denver.  The report is that judging the winners was not easy because of a large number of great entries.

Curve4 received the award for Best Specialty App for 2018!

All of you who marvel at the complex calculations and the powerful new features in Curve4, even while the user interface is easy and intuitive - well... you're not the only ones to be impressed.

Better transmissive profiles

A few years ago I posted here about the popularity of our transmissive profiles.
http://blog.chromix.com/2010/07/transmissive-profiles.html
Now, these profiles are faster, better and less expensive.  Since that post in 2010 we have invested in a state-of-the-art Barbieri LFP spectrophotometer, which makes it possible to take transmissive measurements using our standard target. 

The word "transmissive" means we are capturing the measurements of the color as it passes through the clear or semi-opaque material.  The effect of a light source transmitting through the semi-clear media and through the ink can best be captured using a spectrophotometer that is specially made for this purpose.  You might use transmissive profiles if you are producing images intended to be back-lit in light boxes or other such displays.

Before, we would have to charge $150 per profile for RGB Transmissive profiles because of the great deal of handling involved in making these measurements using the DTP-41T.  Now, we use the same target we use for the ColorValet Pro service.  This means that ColorValet Pro customers can now get transmissive profiles for only $49 more per profile.  And for our regular ColorValet customers, we have been able to lower our price for standalone RGB transmissive profiles to $99.00.    (CMYK transmissive profiles are still $150.)

https://www.chromix.com/colorgear/shop/productdetail.cxsa?toolid=50191