CHROMiX on NEC Google+ hangout

Hey everyone… I just spent an hour discussing color management on the NEC Google+ hangout panel. It was a live discussion and a YouTube video recording is available at NEC Google+ hangout discussion. Check it out!

Black and white display

Maybe this seems rather regressive, but in a day and age when people are using their phones to send text messages, this could be the next Big Thing.

Did you know you can calibrate an Eizo to produce a perfectly black and white display? I didn't. A recent post in ColorForums got me doing some research in this vein.  There are a couple of ways to do this.  One is to create an RGB profile in Photoshop but define the primary colors using very low-chroma primary colors.  Eizo's ColorNavigator software can be called in to emulate that profile on their display and you end up with a mostly black and white display.  An even better way to get a more completely neutral result is to go into the ColorNavigator advanced feature that allows you to independently adjust contrast, saturation and such on 6 colors.   I removed all saturation, re-calibrated, and now have a perfectly calibrated black and white display.   (I wonder if I can get 'I love Lucy' on this...?)

Dye Sub printer profiling

I recently got back from two days of training on the new Epson F-series dye sub printers.  It's amazing how many ways there are to get the color wrong in this process.  When it comes to making profiles for a process that transfers color to fabric like T-shirts, you have to get right:

- the settings in the RIP

- the printing to transfer paper

- the procedure of using the heat press to transfer the image onto the fabric.

Don't get me wrong - these new Epson printers are amazing and I've never seen such brilliant images from a dye sub process.   The amount of color you can transfer onto a piece of fabric these days is just stunning.  It's almost like looking at a fine art print.

This training was in partnership with JVH Technical here in the Northwest.  This is a great Epson dealership, well known for outstanding customer service.

NEC PA2 Displays

We have posted new reviews of the latest generation of NEC displays for high end color work.  The PA242W, PA272W, and PA302W make use of LED's in their backlighting.  

The use of LED's makes for some notable improvements, such as an even larger color gamut than before, more consistency between monitors, better white point rendering, lower power consumption.  Check them out:

•  PA242W Review  24 inch
•  PA272W Review  27 inch
•  PA302W Review  30 inch

 

100 million measurements!

This past November, Maxwell reached a milestone of having received 100 million measurements!

To celebrate this, CHROMiX provided fancy cake for attendees at the 2013 PIA Color Management Conference (in Phoenix, AZ on December 8th). This is the same trade show where we originally announced Maxwell seven years ago.   It was a perfect place and time to mark this great milestone.  It was also some excellent cake.  Lots of people came by, had some cake and took a look at Maxwell.    

As of today, Maxwell is at 114 million measurements and climbing!

Seattle's 12th man

Seattle fans are quite proud of being the "12th" man on their Seattle Seahawks football team.  As American football goes into its playoff season, the team has home-field advantage for all of its playoff games - and this is quite an advantage as our football stadium is famous for being the loudest in the country.  We are seeing the number 12 with blue and green all over the city - including on our downtown office buildings at night.   This is the Russell Investments Center building in downtown Seattle photographed by David Rosen of SlickPix Photography.

Upgrading to Mavericks?

With the announcement by Apple of their new operating system Mavericks (OS 10.9) - and especially because it's free - and available for upgrade from many older OS's.... it's time to issue our customary warning about upgrading.

We always recommend that people hold off for at least a few days or weeks before upgrading to any new OS release. That just gives some time for the app developers to see what's happening in the final OS release and then come out with an update of their app.

It is tempting to think that since app developers would have access to beta versions of the OS, they should be able to update their software as soon as the OS update comes out. In practice we find that this does not happen in this color management industry. I know of some companies who make a policy of never updating their software until the final release of any new OS update - specifically because they have been burned in the past by (unannounced) last minute changes by Apple.

Concerning CHROMiX software products on Mavericks, we have found no problems.

But for other software, be cautious before you leap, listen to the scuttlebutt around the forums, find out how others are making out on the new OS, see if your favorite apps have updates to handle the new OS, and then make the jump when the water's safe.

Update: X-Rite has found that their XRD software requires an update for compatibility with Mavericks.

You can find out more from this page.