X-Rite discontinues devices

End of these devices

X-Rite discontinues instruments

Now that the eXact has been released, X-Rite has stopped selling many of their handheld measurement instruments.  In an effort to streamline their products, they are discontinuing many older measurement devices. The new eXact is replacing some of these and some legacy devices will have trade-in value for upgrades.

Already discontinued as of March 30, 2013:
518, 528, DensiEye 700 (most models), SpectroEye LT.

Discontinued June 30, 2013 will be:  530, 530+IntelliTrax bundles, 939, 939M, SpectroEye, SpectroEye+IntelliTrax bundles. X-Rite will continue to provide support and service for 7 years after the discontinuation date.  Here is the link to X-Rite's partial list of discontinued products:

http://www.xrite.com/top_support.aspx?action=discontinued

80,000,000

For some reason, Maxwell does not get mentioned much in our blog. Perhaps it's because Maxwell is the behind-the-scenes color repository that powers many of the other service we provide such as ColorValet, Digital PressWatch, ProofWatch, DisplayWatch. Well, despite a lack of renown, Maxwell has quietly been accumulating more and more measurements as time passes. And the increase in measurements go up as more Maxwell users come on board. As of this month, Maxwell topped eighty million measurements -
80,000,000.

No HCT in i1Profiler

The latest version of i1Profiler (v 1.4.2) has added the ability to make a scanner profile. The workflow supplied by X-Rite requires the user to select from a short list of supported scanner targets. There does not appear to be any way to choose a target that is not in this list, and the HCT scanner targets made by Hutchcolor are not included.

These are very good quality scanning targets, and should be a perfect match for X-Rite's latest software update.  Several people have been asking why the HCT targets are not included and if they will be included in a future release of the software.

According to Don Hutcheson, X-Rite will have to modify the software in order to make it HCT-compatible. Discussions on that subject are under way but there is no official confirmation from X-Rite about when, or if, i1Profiler will make HCT profiles. Those with HCT targets are recommended to use MonacoProfiler or basICColor scan+ to make good quality scanner profiles.

Customers of both of these products should feel free to contact X-Rite about this, and let their needs be known.

Curve2 Tips

In our ColorForums, I have posted a couple of responses to some frequently asked questions about our Curve2 software.

The first post discuses how the spider graph in the software relates to the control points.
http://www.colorforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1780

Today's post describes what to do with the Run-to-run tab that shows up when you have more than one run.
http://www.colorforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=5333#5333

i1 sale ends soon

CHROMiX is having a sale on ALL i1 products from X-Rite, for a very (very) limited time. Any product that has an "i1" on it will cost you 10% less up until midnight of Wednesday, November 21st.

https://www2.chromix.com/ColorGear

Purchase any 'i1' product before Thanksgiving and we'll take an additional 10% off the CHROMiX price for all i1 items on your order. All i1 product is included in this sale.

Announcing Curve3

Seattle, WA - Oct 2, 2012 - CHROMiX and HutchColor announce the newly updated Curve3™ G7® calibration software at Graph Expo 2012 in Chicago.

Curve 3 is the successor to the industry-leading Curve2™ G7 calibration tool.  Curve2 evolved from the original IDEALink Curve calibration tool that helped launch G7 and establish it as an industry-changing technology.

Curve3 builds upon Curve2's core capabilities with a strong list of additional features requested by the industry:

-         Innovative multi-dimensional data smoothing

-         Special (CMYK+) ink calibration for packaging

-         Spectral VPR (applies curves to full-spectral data)

-         New black-point options for ink-jet and digital

-         Enhanced TVI calibration for European users

-         Intelligent error-reporting and resolution

-         User-specified starting calibration

-         User-defined control point lists

-         Expanded graphs & reports

        … and more

In addition, Curve3 supports OneRun targets and Esko's PressSync® calibration scheme. OneRun targets combine the P2P and profiling targets into one, saving press sheet room and aiding G7 calibration of smaller presses. An upgraded Curve3 Virtual Press Run (VPR) module will be released at the same time. VPR simulates press runs, generating curved color measurements for ICC profiling and saving thousands of dollars. Pricing of Curve3 and VPR will be similar to previous Curve2 pricing. Upgrades for past customers will be available at 50% of MSRP.

Curve3 will be shown at GraphExpo Chicago, McCormick Place South in the Konica Minolta booth #421. CHROMiX and HutchColor will demo Curve2, Curve3 and also CurveCore, an SDK for developers or manufacturers who want to embed G7 calibration into their products. Konica Minolta designates CHROMiX and HutchColor as 'Technology Partners'. Konica Minolta's new Color Care v2.2 software utilizes the CurveCore SDK to offer G7 calibration to Konica Minolta customers.

Calibration on Mars

Here is some interesting reading for the geeks among us who might be curious how one goes about calibrating a camera on Mars: 

• http://www.wired.com/curiosity-mars-rover-cameras/

And here are some details about the calibration target used on the Curiosity:

• http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/?ImageID=3804

Quiz your fellows over the water cooler: How much US currency is on Mars?

Actual pictures from Mars coming to us over the next few weeks & months promise to be high quality, clear and sharp.  Not the sorts of images we're used to seeing from other planets!