ColorAnt | Report

Report

Create custom reports for measurement data

Create Report

Overview

If there are questions about the quality of the measurement data for further processing (e.g. for creating profiles) or if measurement data needs to be corrected, you can create a Report. This report is used to verify and graphically display the data and to provide recommendations for corrections. The Report is a very powerful feature to indicate the necessary corrections to the measurement data and provides useful comparisons.

Note: The Report tool is available, when a single data set or multiple data sets of the same color space are selected.
Multiple reports can be generated at once for several selected measurement data. In this case, individual reports for each of the selected data sets will be generated.
Under Preferences, the Default save path for the reports and the Default report format can be selected. If XML is selected as the format, the corresponding XSD files will be created automatically as well.

Specifics of the PDF Report

The different reports provide an insight into measurement or printing errors and the smoothness of the measurement file. Text assessments in the individual sections give tips on the correction tools to be used in ColorAnt. Get information about optical brighteners in the paper, which available ICC profiles best fit the measurement data, or how exactly the measurement data depicts a pre-defined reference profile.

The Brightener section gives some useful information about the detected OBA in the file, for example the Estimated Brightener and how a brightener correction would affect the paper white. This is based on a predictive model that focuses exclusively on the change of the b* value, which is used as an indicator for the brightener share in the paper.
However, the actual correction could affect all L*, a*, b* values and result in a slightly different value (dE) than the predictive brightener indicator shows.

Delta b*: OBA share in paper

Delta b* < 1 = faint OBA
Delta b* < 4 = little OBA
Delta b* < 8 = low OBA
Delta b* < 14 = moderate OBA
Delta b* > 14 = high OBA

Display the required tone curves by switching on/off the different layers in the PDF file. Switch on/off the color patches highlighted with a red frame and also view color patches before and after correction and smoothing.

Check measurement data quality: Examines the measurement data and lists the results in the report, e.g. whether redundancies exist. The report also shows how much the application of data optimizing tools, such as correction and smoothing, would affect the data.

Compare with print standard (profile): Compares the measurement data with the selected reference profile and indicates the accuracy of color matches. Activate this checkbox to select a comparison profile. ICC profiles in the drop-down menu are shown with the matching percentage in front of the profile name and are sorted by percentages with the highest match on top. The best matching profile of the list will automatically be selected if the Find Best Matching Profile button is clicked.

Find Best Matching Profile: Automatically selects the best matching profile for comparison with the measurement data. Enabled for a single data set, disabled for multiple data sets.

Include TVI curves: Includes the tone value increase curves in the report.

Include linearity curves: Shows the linearity curves in the report.

Include G7 curves: If activated, the selected CMYK or CMYK + data is checked for G7® compliance. The Report shows three graphs. The first graph indicates the Tonality / Gray balance according to G7 curves in relation to the G7® aim. Flat curves indicate a perfect G7® gray balance. The two other graphs show the Neutral Print Density Curves (NPDC) for CMY and K. In these graphs Reference (green curve) represents the desired target curve for G7® conformity and Measurements (black curve) represents the curve of the measured values. A perfect G7® match shows identical curves for the measurement data and the reference.
Note: G7® is defined for CMYK only. For Multicolor data only the CMYK parts are analyzed.

When Include G7 curves is activated, the report shows the various NPDC curves before and after the calculation and the G7® evaluation based on the measurement and calculation data.

The Weighted avg/max before (Measurements) and after (After applying a tone value correction with the ‘G7® Gray Balance’ method) are shown in tables for CMY and K respectively. This makes it easy to check whether a limit has been exceeded (red values) or not (green values).

Match Process Color: Activate this checkbox to determine whether a close match between the measured solid process colors and the reference solid process colors (defined by the selected profile) can be achieved by adjusting the density or percentage values. Only the solid process colors of the loaded data set are used and compared to the selected profile. Therefore, this feature is only enabled if a comparison profile (Compare with print standard) has been selected.


Functional principle

  • Finds closest possible match to the reference based on recommended densitometric and percentage adjustments
  • Gives adjustment recommendations to increase or decrease density
  • Recommends Process Color % values to be entered into a RIP curve to match the reference primaries
  • Shows original DeltaE values and expected DeltaE values after the recommended optimization
  • Provides a quick and easy interpretation for printers and press personal if a match is possible and how to achieve it

The calculations minimize Lightness and Chroma differences between the sample and the reference for CMYK and Multicolor primaries. The density recommendations are an estimation based on colorimetric densities. The DeltaE values provided are either dE76 or dE00 depending on the setting under Preferences. Note that the expected DeltaEs may be higher than the initial values. This indicates that a perfect match is not possible.

Save: Reports are saved automatically in the folder defined under Preferences/Report Options/Default save path. Make sure that you have specified the preferred report format, the DeltaE method to be used and whether the created report(s) should automatically open in the default PDF viewer (under Preferences/Report Options). The report file automatically receives the file name of the selected data set including the creation time.

ColorAnt | Main Window

Main Window

Access all features of ColorAnt

Main Window: Sidebar – Data Sets – History

Overview

ColorAnt’s main window is divided into 3 sections: The Sidebar, Data Sets and History.

All tools are located and grouped by function on the left side in the Sidebar, measurement data is shown in the Data Sets section on the right-hand side upper window.

Tools applied to the measurement data show are shown in the lower right hand side History window.

Note: If no dataset is selected, the tools are applied to all opened datasets!

All ICC profile drop-down menus function as search fields. Simply type in some letters of the desired profile name and only those profiles containing these letters will be shown in the drop-down menu.

Working With ColorAnt

Data Sets

The Data Sets section displays relevant information about the measurement data: Number of Patches, DCS (color model: CMYK, RGB, Multicolor) and measurement type CIE (colorimetric = Lab, spectral = Remission).

Open or import data

Measurement data can either be opened (File > Open) or dragged and dropped into the Data Sets window.

Note: If measurement data has been saved in an ICC profile (e.g., in profiles created by ColorLogic’s CoPrA), it can simply be dragged and dropped onto the Data Sets window. The measured values are then displayed. If the profile does not contain any measured values, an error message appears (Missing ICC Tag: Could not read color data from file).

Extraction of original measurement data from an ICC profile: This functionality imports the original measurement data from ICC profiles. If you created or updated a profile with CoPrA using the Measurement Processing options Brightener Compensation and/or Measurement Correction, CoPrA stores two data sets inside the profile. The original measurement data (raw data) as well as the corrected data used for profiling (profiling data). ColorAnt extracts both data sets naming them accordingly when opened or when an ICC profile is dragged to the ColorAnt window.

Predefined data and recently opened files are also available from the File menu.

Measurement data can also be captured using the Measure Tool and transferred to ColorAnt. Measurement files created by Measure Tool are saved in the folder Username/Documents/ColorAnt/MeasurementData.

The ICC specification allows ICC profiles with up to 15 channels. Consequently, ColorAnt allows loading and saving test chart measurement data with up to 15 channels. If data with more than 15 channels is to be loaded, a warning is displayed as such data cannot be processed.

Note: This does not affect spot color data. It is still possible to load spot color measurement data containing thousands of colors.

Workaround for profiles without measurement data

If the measurement data of a profile is missing, you can use the ICC Transformation tool to create virtual measurement data:

  1. Open a reference file in ColorAnt with the color space of the profile
  2. Open the ICC Transformation tool
  3. Select the profile with the missing measurement data, the Checkbox Convert to Lab is enabled automatically
  4. Select Absolute colorimetric
  5. Click Start to convert the profile to Lab
  6. The profile data is opened under Data Sets in ColorAnt

The quality of the generated measurement data depends on the accuracy of the profile.

Opening combined CxF files

A single CxF file can contain several data sets, e.g., Lab data, remission data, CMYK data or DCS values.

When opening a CxF file that contains multiple measurement conditions, a prompt automatically appears inquiring which of the contained data sets is to be opened.

Either select the desired data set or open All available data sets.

Supported file formats

The following file formats can be opened:
CGATS text file (TXT) (including multiple tables)
CGATS XML file (XML) (including multiple tables)
Named ICC Profile (ICC)
Color Exchange Format (CxF)
Photoshop Palette (ACO)
Adobe Swatch Exchange (ASE)
GMG CSC file (CSC)
Ink Master file format (MIF)

The following file formats can be saved:
CGATS text file (TXT)
CGATS XML file (XML)
Named ICC Profile (ICC)
Color Exchange Format (CxF)
Photoshop Palette (ACO)
Adobe Swatch Exchange (ASE)
GMG CSC file (CSC)

History

History: Shows the tools and corrections applied to the measurement data of each editing step and allows to switch between different editing states of a file. By clicking on an entry in the History window (either above or below the current status) an individual processing step can be accessed and checked, for example in the View window.

Double-clicking on an entry in the History opens a window that displays the settings that were applied to the data in exactly this step. This information can be saved as a PDF document using Save Log.

This has an additional advantage when averaging files using the Averaging tool. The averaging log contains a detailed report with sample colors that compares the averaged data with all files and provides useful statistics for process control, such as standard deviations (sigma, 2 sigma, 3 sigma) for Density, dE and dH/dL. This makes it easy to identify colors with large deviations.

Save History Log: Saves all changes applied to all files to a PDF document.

View, Compare and Evaluate

Advanced viewing options for ColorAnt’s tools located at the bottom of the main window that can be enabled for both viewing measurement data (View) and pre and post comparison of measurement data (Compare).

Evaluate can be used to check whether the proof measurement data from a media wedge fulfills the requirements for a contract proof according to ISO 12647-7 or a validation print according to ISO 12647-8.
In addition, a PSD evaluation can be performed using two different evaluation methods: “Side-by-Side” or “Media Relative”. Finally, a fully detailed report can be created with a pass/fail indicator.

Note: The Evaluate tool is available from ColorAnt L.

At the bottom of the sidebar, you can access the Registration page, where you can load and manage your licenses. Absolute or Relative Density can be set in ColorAnt’s Preferences.

Context Menu

The context menu can be opened with a right-click on a selected measurement file or the Gear icon and thus enables quick access to all tools of the Sidebar and the functions from the File menu of the menu bar.

Note: Depending on the selected file(s) only the relevant options are available via the context menu. Options that are not available are grayed out. A file has to be selected for the context menu to appear unless there is no file loaded, then the context menu appears when right-clicking in the empty Data Sets section, for example, to open files. 

Workflow
The Workflow feature enables automatic processing and optimization of measurement data. The application of various tools for data processing can be defined and adapted to the requirements of specific jobs, which means that measurement data can be automatically processed in a precisely specified manner.
Detailed information can be found on the Workflow page.

Open Recent: Opens a list of all recently opened files. Frequently used files (favorite files) can be added to this list as well, and can then conveniently be opened via the context menu.

To make them accessible in the context menu, store them in the FavoriteFiles folder which can be opened via the ColorAnt File menu.

All supported files of this folder are displayed at the top of the list of recent files, separated by a dashed line. As this list is shared by all ColorLogic applications, the files contained there are also available in CoPrA and ZePrA.

Layout

The Layout submenu contains options to rotate and mirror test charts and to change the overall layout.

Layout: Allows you to change the width and height of the color patches. For example, the number of rows in a chart can be defined by Height and the number of columns by Width.

Filter Colors

Filter Primaries: Extracts the primary colors from a measurement file.

Filter Full Tones: Extracts the full tones from a measurement file.

Filter Corners: Extracts the corner points from a measurement file.

Filter CxF/X-4 Data: Extracts all values corresponding to the CxF/X-4 specification (e.g., the gradients of the primaries on white and black) from a measurement file.

Filter CxF/X-4 Data With Black Gradient: Extracts all values useful for CxF/X-4 including a black gradient from a measurement file.

Data Import/Export

Patches from Image: Creates an image-related test chart based on a loaded image by extracting the most common/important colors from that image. It can be accessed via the context menu or by dragging and dropping TIFF or JPEG files into ColorAnt’s main window. In the Patches from Image settings screen, select the number of desired patches for the test chart and whether the corner points should be added as well.

Note: This function determines the best color set to accurately render an image (if these colors are accurately rendered, the entire image will be accurately rendered). This requires a compromise in color frequency, avoiding neighboring colors, avoiding large gaps and covering the gamut of the image.

Separate Esko Test Charts: Extracts data out of a 7C data set to generate a 4×4 Equinox test chart (Equinox is a Multicolor profiling application from Esko that has special requirements for creating test charts for Multicolor profiling).

Example: For a CMYKOGV data set, this function creates the following four data sets: 

  1. CMYK.txt, which contains the CMYK components
  2. OMYK.txt, which contains the OMYK components, but the first channel (Orange) must be named Cyan
  3. CGYK.txt, which contains the CGYK components, but the second channel (Green) must be named Magenta
  4. CMVK.txt, which contains the CMVK components, but the third channel (Violet) must be named Yellow

Export Lab/XYZ/Density/CxF/X-4: Data can be exported in the following formats:
Lab, XYZ, density in formats such as CGATS text files (txt) or Color Exchange Format (CxF3).
For more information on this format, see the help on Export CxF/X-4.

Delete: Removes the selected files from the Data Sets window. However, the files are not deleted from the hard disk.

Save as combined CxF
Combined CxF files may contain several measurement sets (e.g., spectral and Lab datasets) and can be generated directly in ColorAnt.
This function is only available when several files are loaded in the Data Sets area. Select all files which are to be combined in a single CxF file, then select Data Import/Export > Save as combined CxF and then the CxF format.

Note: A single dataset can be saved as a CxF file by using Save as.

Editing

Intersection: Compare measurement data containing a differing number of color patches and/or color channels. To use this function, choose the two measurement data sets in the main window and select Intersection from the context menu. Alternatively, click the button with the gear symbol to the right below the measurement data list.

ColorAnt then scans both files for color patches with identical device values and removes all other values. This creates two new files containing identical device values which can be compared in the Compare window.

Enumerate patches: Sometimes IDs of patches get mixed up, for example, when merging several files, resulting in different types of IDs.

The Enumerate patches function creates new, consistent IDs for all patches.

Merging and Conversion

Unlink PCS and DCS: Separates the measurement data from reference data. (Splits files with reference and measurement data into two individual files).

Clear History: Removes all entries in the History window.

Sidebar

Automatic Correction

Auto 

Correct measurement data automatically

Workflow

Customized automatic processing and optimization of measurement data

Data Import/Export

Custom Chart 

Create custom reference files for test chart creation

Export Chart

Create printable test charts from custom reference files

Measure

Measuring printed test charts with the Measure Tool

Report

Detailed analysis of measurement data as PDF or XML file

Embed CxF/X-4

Embed spectral color information in PDF files

Editing

Redundancies

Remove redundant color patches

Correction

Correct erroneous and inconsistent measurement data

Smoothing

Smooth and correct measurement data

White/Black Correction 

Adjust the black and white of measurement files

Brightener

Remove optical brightener from measurement data

Tone Value

Adjust dot gain curves

Rescale

Scale measurement files to create required test chart layouts

Edit Primaries 

Add, remove or exchange primaries and paper white in existing measurement data

Color Editor

Optimize color patches and (spot) colors

Merging and Conversion

Averaging

Average measured values from multiple similar test chart prints

Link

Combine measurements from several test charts into a new measurement file

ICC Transformation 

Comparisons and profile tests with printer and DeviceLink profiles

CIE Conversion

Change the observer and illumination

Menu Bar

ColorAnt

 About: Calls the Registration. Contains information about the version and build number.
Preferences: Adapt ColorAnt to your requirements. Define the display of density, the tone value calculation, report settings and general settings.

File

Under File you can open, save or export data in various formats.

Save As: Saves files in the following formats:

  • CGATS text file (txt)
  • CGATS XML file (xml)
  • Named ICC profiles (icc)
  • Color Exchange Format (CxF)
  • Photoshop Palette (aco)
  • Adobe Swatch Exchange (ase)
  • GMG CSC file (csc)

Special features of the formats:
Named Color Profiles are special ICC profiles that are intended for spot color tables. They contain the CIE and DCS values in addition to the color name.
ACO and ASE files can contain either CIE or DCS values. Therefore, when saving in one of the two formats, a message appears to select which data should be saved.
CGATS files can contain different specifications in one file, e.g., measurements from different test charts or different color spaces. ColorAnt supports multiple tables in CGATS files. A typical use case would be the export of various Lab values of converted spot colors from the Spot Color Report feature in ZePrA and their import to ColorAnt for further inspection.

Duplicate: Creates a copy of the selected file.

Export Lab/XYZ/Density/CxF/X-4: Data can be exported in the following formats:

As Lab, XYZ, density in formats such as CGATS text files (txt) or Color Exchange Format (CxF3).

For more information on this format, see the help on Export CxF/X-4.

Help

Online Help
ColorAnt’s Online Help Guide

Quick Start Guide
Access ColorAnt’s online Quick Start Guide

Tutorials/Sample Data
Link to the Tutorials website which contains a download link for Sample Data. With this data you can test or demonstrate the different tools of ColorAnt. You can download the sample data as an archive file (SampleData.zip).
The package also includes a PDF document that explains all the examples and how to use the sample data.

What’s new?
View what’s new, includes new features and bug fixes in ColorAnt.

Readme.txt
Version notes for the current release

ColorAnt CLI Documentation: ColorAnt provides a command line interface for integration into other workflows. The document ColorAntCLI.pdf provides an overview of the available commands and can be opened by clicking on ColorAnt CLI Documentation in the Help menu. It is intended for developers, scripters and experts and describes the usage of the command line interface of ColorAnt.
Note: The CLI functionality is part of the ColorAnt XL package.

Register
Access the Registration information window

Check for update
The automatic update in ColorAnt checks for updates via an internet connection. Enable Automatic Update Checks may be disabled at any time which is recommended if an internet connection is not available. When disabled, it is still possible to manually update and download it directly from the dialog.

Save Support Data
If support issues arise, use the Save Support Data menu entry under Help to save support data and send it to a ColorLogic representative for assistance. This feature will gather the required information such as the operating system used, ColorAnt’s log file and the functions enabled when the issue occurred.

ColorAnt | View

View

View measurement data with 2D, 3D, spider web and curves

Viewing and Analyzing Measurement Data

To view measurement data, select the data in the Data Sets area and open the View window. Five different options allow for a quick overview of all color patches in the measurement file: the 2D view shows the reference and the corresponding Lab values for each patch, a 3D rotating view of the color space, TVI displays the curves for each channel, Spider Web and various Curves of gradations.

View Options

The View window provides plenty of features that facilitate the evaluation of measurement data. Filters allow combining individual channels. Combinations of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 channels, as well as one and two channels in combination with black, can be faded in and out. In addition, these filters are available in 2D and 3D view.

The number of displayed color patches is shown on the left, i.e. if one or more filters are selected, the number of affected color patches and the total number of patches are shown on the left.

Color filters: Using the checkboxes, colors can be selectively displayed in 2D and 3D view. All other color patches are then hidden. This allows you to immediately find selected colors in the test chart layout.

In 3D view, the color gamut defined by the color filters is displayed. This way, the Full Primaries, Limits, Primaries, Secondaries, White or Black can be viewed separately. With Multicolor data, it is easy to recognize in which areas the additional colors extend the color gamut compared to CMY or CMYK.

There are some dependencies between the color filters, so selecting a certain color filter may automatically activate another color filter (or even several others). For example, if the Secondaries checkbox is activated, the Primaries and White color filters are also automatically activated. They can be deactivated if only two color combinations (Secondaries) are to be highlighted.

Color channels: By selecting color channels, either all color patches or only the color patches of the selected color channels can be displayed. Color channels can be combined with color filters so that, for example, only the Multicolor Primaries or Secondaries can be displayed. Duplex and triplex colors can be displayed by individual selection of suitable color channels (for example, Cyan + Black shows duplex colors and Cyan + Magenta + Black shows triplex colors).

Zoom: The Zoom function allows a closer look at the color patches of the measurement file. Use the shortcuts CMD + and CMD – to zoom in and out (STRG on Windows).

Find: The Find function allows searching for IDs, names, CIE data and DCS data. It can be accessed with a right mouse click via the context menu (or the STRG+F shortcut).
When searching for color values all exact matches are marked. If there is no exact match, the closest patch or all closest patches of the same distance are marked.

To search for data in a specific color space (e.g., XYZ, Lab, CMYK) simply append the name to the data, e.g., ’50 0 0 Lab’ or ’10 20 30 40 CMYK’. For spectral data, 3 digits are interpreted as Lab data. If the number of digits matches, the appropriate color space is automatically assigned, so for the Lab color space, only the three digits need to be entered.

2D View

Show redundancies: Marks all redundant patches in the selected document providing information about the colors and their location. These patches will be adapted when applying the Redundancies tool.

Viewing Remission Data: Roll over a color patch to see the Lab measurement value and reference value of the patch. Spectral data will also be marked as Remission. When spectral data is present, switching to Show Density displays the density of a color patch.

The patch location is shown (if available) in the patch information, when moving the mouse pointer over a patch.
For example, the patch in the screenshot is located in F01, i.e., column F row 01.

Comparing patch data

Clicking on a color patch defines it as a reference and the DeltaE index will be reset to zero. Move to another color patch without clicking and the color difference between the two patches will be visualized.

Clicking on the same patch will deselect it as a reference. If the reference was selected in the same dataset, the name of the patch, the patch ID or the patch number is displayed in addition to the dE. If the reference was selected in a different dataset, no name is displayed.

Editing patch data

Double-clicking on a color patch in the 2D tab will open a separate dialog called Color values, where the Lab value is displayed. You may change that value and apply the changes by clicking OK.

Note: Even for the manual editing of Lab values we use the spectral data and the spectral characteristic of this data will remain.

In the 2D view, individual color patches can be edited or deleted by selecting the patch and right-clicking to open a context menu.

Using the context menu of the selected spectral color, you can Edit, Add, Delete, Copy, Cut, Paste color patches and open the Spectrum dialog with the reflectance curve of this color.

Note: Whenever the Spectrum dialog is opened and scroll over patches in 2D view, the spectral curves of the related color will be displayed.

Support and display of densities

Density values can be calculated and displayed in the 2D view if spectral measurement data are available. Activate the checkbox Show Density and navigate the mouse pointer over the color patches to display their CMYK density values.

The density calculation method is set under Preferences. Select whether the Relative or the Absolute density is to be displayed and which of the four methods is to be used for the calculation:

  • Status-E: The default setting for CMYK data, mainly used in Europe.
  • Status-T: Mainly used in America for CMYK data, with slightly lower yellow density values.
  • Status-A: Used in the photographic industry. Use it with RGB printing systems.
  • Maximum: For Multicolor/spot color measurement data. Automatically uses the maximum absorption of the spectral values to calculate the density instead of the specified CMY filters.

Note: The density values of the solid tones are also displayed in the PDF Report.

You can save the pure density values of your measurements as a separate file by selecting Export Density from the File menu.

3D View

Turn the color patches into the desired direction in 3D view by clicking and dragging.

By dragging the gamut, the color space is rotated in that direction. A single click will stop the auto rotation or it will stop automatically without user intervention after one minute of rotation.

Note: The default 3D gamut view of ColorAnt 9 and higher is based on an axis ratio of 1:1:1. It is still possible to use the 2:1:1axes ratio (used in ColorAnt 8 and older) by selecting the 2:1:1 option in the Preferences under General Settings > 3D Gamut Axis Ratio (L:a:b).

Context menu
Right-clicking on the gamut view opens a context menu with several additional view options. Here, Grid, Axes and Axes Labels can be switched on and off.

The color information of a patch/color point (i.e., color name, device value, Lab value) is displayed when moving the mouse over that color point and the affected point is highlighted.

Increase or decrease the view by using the right side Zoom slider or use the shortcuts CMD + and CMD – (macOS) or STRG + and STRG + (Windows). This allows a closer look at the color patches of the measurement file. Enlarge or minimize the color patches by using the Point Size slider.

Compare with ICC profile: Enable the checkbox to select an ICC profile from the drop-down list. The gamut of the selected profile will be shown as transparent light gray allowing you to compare it with the measurement data.

TVI - Tone Value Increase

Analyze Tone Value Increase curves (TVI). Whenever the TVI tab is opened during editing of curves or any other correction which will affect the TVI, the result is displayed.

View Options: The checkboxes depend on the primaries of the loaded measurement data. The checkboxes for CMYK and Multicolor files show or fade out single curves.

By activating the checkbox Keep scaling of Y-axis the TVI curves will be visualized in the diagram in the best possible way. The scale factor of the Y axis depends on the measurement data and ensures the most precise and largest view of the curves.

Deactivating the checkbox prevents the automatic adjustment of the Y axis with each new data. Sometimes this eases the comparison of different adjustments.

Use the radio buttons to switch between the typical density-based tone value increase curves according to Murray Davies, the modern colorimetric tone value increase curves according to ISO 20654 (SCTV), or the dot gain curves forming a neutral gray according to G7®. Linear tonal growth curves according to ISO 20654 show a straight horizontal line in this diagram.

Deviations from the G7® gray balance are given as percentages of the tone value differences. A perfect G7® gray balance is shown as a straight line in this diagram. This allows an operator to adjust the CMYK curves, for example in a RIP, accordingly.
Note: The G7® gray balance is defined to apply only to the CMYK channels. Additional channels such as in Multicolor data are therefore displayed as straight lines, which are irrelevant for the G7® gray balance. The actual curves of additional channels are shown in the other two viewing options for Murray David or ISO 20654 (SCTV) .

Measurement data which contains only CMY (no black) or RGB, can be optimized with ColorAnt, too.

TVI curves will always be shown with internal redundancy corrections in the View dialog. This avoids any strange visualization in case the similar color values strongly differ, especially for paper white.

ColorAnt uses a correction factor for the Cyan curve display of colorimetrically calculated TVIs that improves the match between colorimetric and density-based TVI displays.

Compare with ICC profile: Select an ICC profile from the drop-down list. The curves of the selected ICC Reference Profile will be shown in a lighter color in addition to those from the measurement data. The curves of the reference profile can be shown or hidden by activating or deactivating the respective checkboxes.

Tone Value Calculation: The visualization of TVIs can be modified with the options in Preferences. Curves may be calculated and visualized by using XYZ or spectral data.

Note: The standard setting in ColorAnt is to calculate the curves based on the XYZ values. This allows a consistent view of curves either based on measurement data or by the ones based on the resulting ICC profile. By disabling the checkbox Always use XYZ based tone value (TVI) calculations in Preferences, curves will be calculated by the density method if spectral data is available. This method is more common to the one used in print process control. Keep in mind that both the XYZ and the density method are not good indicators for how the curves for spot colors will actually look. Both methods do not work well for non-CMYK colors. Refer to the Curves dialog instead.

The screenshot shows the different TVI curves for a 7 color printer, using CMYK+Orange+Green+Violet. On the left side the curves based on XYZ, where the sophisticated ColorAnt already used the correct filters for the different channels. On the right side you see the curves based on the density method with Status-E leading to different shapes of the curves.

Spider Web

This is a top view on the color space in an a*-b* diagram. The measured or optimized color patches are arranged in a spider web. Compatible to the other views, you may check changes in the View dialog by selecting one of the adjustments in the History.

In the spider web all primary and secondary gradations are highlighted in corresponding colors (see also the screenshot of the CMYK data).

Spider Web: Displays the measurement points of the CMYK data and the full tones of the additional primaries. There are straight colorized lines from those primaries to the next two closest.

The spider web diagram of a Multicolor dataset is shown in the next screenshot. It shows the measuring points of the CMYK color set of the data and the solids of the other primary colors. From these solids, straight colored lines are drawn to the closest two other primary colors. These lines represent a rather rough view of the color space, but they clearly show in which color ranges the additional colors extend the color space.

Note: CoPrA supports three main chromatic primary colors when creating multicolor profiles which should span a suitably large gamut encompassing the gray balance. Typically this is CMY but it can be any other appropriate chromatic color combination.

Black can be added optionally as a 4th channel. If black is used it must be the fourth channel.

Up to two gamut extending colors can be used in between each section of the main primary colors.

Following this approach, printer profiles of up to 10 channels can theoretically be created by CoPrA 5 and higher. However, it is not recommendable to use printer profiles with more than 8 channels in production as every additional channel increases the profile size exponentially so that either a very low grid size or an exorbitantly large profile had to be used.

Compare with ICC profile: Select an ICC profile for comparison in the drop-down menu. The color space of the selected ICC profile will be visualized in green in addition to the measurement data. This feature is helpful to compare different color spaces and compare standards such as a house standard vs a print standard.

Compare with measurement data: Activate the checkbox and select the measurement data you would like to compare with the currently loaded data from the drop-down menu. The color space of the selected measurement data will be in red.

Curves

The Curves tab displays the linearity curves from white to 100% of all primary colors including Multicolor. For CMYK data, linearity curves are displayed from white to 100% of all primary and secondary colors. The smoothness of gradation curves can also be displayed using three different methodologies. Three different methods can be selected with the ColorLogic Default being the default option.

ColorLogic Default: Views the curves in colorimetric linearity based on Lab /dE-76 and means that a 50% value of a given primary has the same distance to the left value (white) and the right value (full tone) if it sits at the midpoint of the graphic. Nowadays modern RIPs linearize primaries based on colorimetry methods. A fully linear curve (45 degrees) points to a perfect colorimetric linearity.

ISO 20654: Can be used to display how the gradation curves of primaries would look if regarded under the aspect of colorimetric linearity. A fully linear curve (45 degrees) points to a perfect colorimetric linearity according to ISO 20654.

Note: Density-based methods like Murray Davies do not work well for non CMYK colors. The IS0 20654 also known as the SCTV method (Spot Color Tone Value) is an alternative method to display tone values of spot colors.

The curves shown with ColorLogic Default and ISO 20654 are similar methodologies. ColorLogic Default takes the hue of the primary into account, which is not the case with ISO 20654.

Tone Value (Density): Is the tone value curve based on density. It’s a different view of TVI diagrams. This view has been added for a better comparison of colorimetric methods.

Compare with ICC profile: Select a profile for comparison of the curves in the drop-down menu. The curves of the comparison profile will be shown in lighter colors.

Text

​The Text tab provides a text editor allowing the measurement data of the selected file to be displayed and directly edited. Editing of the file content can be useful, e.g., to change the color names of test charts, etc.

Revert: Undoes all changes.

Commit: Any changes are applied to the file.

Warning! Even though changes can be undone at any time via the History, be aware that changes made directly to the file can cause damage if you don’t know what you’re doing – it’s very easy to create a corrupted file!

The text view allows viewing and editing the data in CGATS format. However, there are some limitations:

  • The order of entries in the header may change or data may be formatted differently.
  • Non-conformant CGATS formats may result in various errors.
  • Some meta information for the chart and patches may not be visible in text view.
  • Some meta information is preserved, i.e., the entries cannot be removed because they are restored from the internal data. However, they can be edited.

Search function: The search is not case sensitive. To find information, entering part of the search term will suffice, for example to find the term “Magenta” entering the initials “mag” is sufficient.

All search results are highlighted. Using the arrow keys next to the search mask, it is possible to move back and forth between all search results.

Info

The Info tab shows a number of general useful information about the selected file, including the Color Mode, Estimated Brightener, etc.

ColorAnt | Automatic Correction

Auto Correction

Auto correct measurement data

Automatic Correction

Measurement data can be optimized by applying appropriate corrections, thus increasing the quality of the resulting profiles. The characteristics of the print are retained as accurately as possible.

When optimizing measurement data, a certain sequence of corrections is recommended. First, redundant color patches must be resolved, then incorrect measured values must be corrected and finally the measurement data must be smoothed.

The Auto Correction tool automatically performs these optimizations in the recommended order, applying the Redundancies, Correction and Smoothing tools sequentially.
Note: Measurement data from flexographic printing should be optimized manually, as the Auto Correction tool smoothes the highlights.

The screenshots show the settings that are used by the Auto Correction tool:

1. Redundancies: Resolves redundant color patches

2. Correction: Corrects faulty measurement values without optimizing the overprint properties

3. Smoothing: Smoothes the measurement data with a Smoothing factor of 50 % without protecting the highlights​

All applied tools are listed in the History section. It is advisable to create a report with detailed results and relevant recommendations on the measurement data.

Procedure

  1. Open the measurement data to be optimized
  2. Click on Auto Correction and then Start. The corrections applied to the data are displayed under History.
  3. Save the optimized measurement data as a new file via File > Save as.

Automatic correction of multiple datasets

The Auto Correction recognizes the corrections to be made based on the measurement data. If multiple datasets have been selected, it checks whether the number of color patches matches and averages the data while optimizing the measurement data for individual files or multiple files with different numbers of color patches.

ColorAnt | Export Chart

Export Chart

Export custom charts for printing

Export Chart

Overview

​

The preview area on the right side shows the Patch distribution on all generated pages. Changes of the Chart Dimension, Patch Sizes and Options can thus be evaluated directly.

On the bottom of the window are buttons to Cancel or create (Start) the test charts.

The Measure Tool is optimized to work with most instruments:

  • Barbieri Spectro LFP
  • Barbieri Spectro LFP qb
  • Barbieri Spectropad
  • Konica-Minolta FD-5
  • Konica-Minolta FD-7
  • Konica-Minolta FD-9
  • MYIRO-1
  • MYIRO-9
  • Techkon SpectroDens (Windows only)
  • Techkon SpectroJet (Windows only)
  • X-Rite eXact
  • X-Rite eXact2
  • X-Rite i1Pro 1
  • X-Rite i1Pro 2
  • X-Rite i1Pro 3
  • X-Rite i1iO
  • X-Rite iO3
  • X-Rite i1iSis 2/XL

Note: Non-supported instruments may require software from the specific vendor for generating a test chart from our reference data. Read this article about using ColorLogic reference data in other programs such as X-Rite i1Profiler to generate test charts for the X-Rite iSis.

 Procedure

  1. Select the reference file with the required device color values and load this information into Measurement Data. Available reference data for different color spaces are stored under Data/ Predefined data or create your own reference data with the Custom Chart tool.
  2. Open the tool Export Chart to define the proper settings for creating a test chart for the applicable measurement device.
  3. It is recommended to select a Predefined Preset in the drop-down menu that fits your instrument type and size requirements.

    The Broom icon can be used to delete edited presets if they haven’t been saved yet.

  4. For a custom chart or patch size edit one of the predefined presets. The edited version will be marked as (edited). For the custom settings to be saved click the save icon and give the preset a name. Saved presets will be listed under the SAVED divider line in the drop-down menu.
  5. After defining the settings (more details in the next chapter Settings and Options) ColorAnt will display how many pages the test chart will require. A larger Chart height allows more patches per page and reduces the number of pages required.
  6. Click on the Start button and the test chart will be exported. In the Save dialog define file name and Format (TIFF, PSD or PDF).
  7. ColorAnt generates the required test charts and the corresponding reference data that match the specified layout.  Please use this newly generated reference data and not the one loaded under point 1 for measuring the patches and profile creation.
    Note: ColorAnt can create reference files from PDFs that contain spot colors. This implies that files containing NoSpace/Lab information can also be exported (see below for more information).

Settings and Options

Measuring instruments may have specific needs regarding patch sizes, the gap between different patches and the size of the overall chart. In addition, you may respect the requirements of your print process and eventually reduce the Ink Limit (TAC).

Chart Dimension

Define the image size of each individual test chart. Enter the desired Chart width and height to limit the space that might be used for the color patches (minus the space required for labeling the patches). This is the image size, not the paper size. The exported test charts can be positioned on the required paper size afterward and then be printed.

Patch Sizes

Allows you to define the Patch width and Patch height of each color patch. Select the Gap size from the drop-down menu. Use Auto as a default or None if no gaps between patches are needed. Some instruments can work with a very small gap of 0.5 mm some require 1 mm. For rough surface substrates and low resolution printers a 2 mm gap may be helpful. For further information consult the instrument documentation.

Prevent vertical gaps: Removes the gaps between rows (gaps between columns remain). Depending on the chart size, several additional rows may fit on one page.

Patch distribution: Defines the distribution of patches on the test chart.
Randomize: Color patches are distributed randomly.
Normal: Color patches are distributed as specified in the reference file.
Sorted: Color patches are sorted from light to dark. This might be helpful to modify a random chart into a well sorted layout or if you export a color wedge of one single color.

Note: Randomize is applied every time you save the file. So it is not possible to save the same reference file with the same random patch order twice. If it is however wanted, we recommend the following workaround: Save your chart with Randomize and open the generated reference to save it again using a Normal patch distribution.

Chart defining data such as chart size, Rows per page and Gap Size are stored in the reference file. When measuring the test chart using the Measure Tool, all supported measuring devices that have Setup Wizards (for example the i1iO, Konica-Minolta FD-9 and the Barbieri devices) read out this data and automatically import it.

Margin Sizes

This section enables user-defined margins for test charts. This is important for measurement devices that require an additional “white-space” before and after lines to be measured.

Options

Ink limit: Allows limitation of the TAC for exported test charts. The upper ink limit is 100% per channel, so the TAC depends on the number of channels in the data, e.g. 7 channels result in a TAC limit of 700%. By default, the value is set to 400%, but higher values can be enabled after clicking the Lock icon. In general, the limit can be set as high as the channels allow or as low as 100%. ColorAnt uses a sophisticated ink limiting algorithm that does not just clip values.

Note: Use the exported reference file for measuring and profiling so that reference values and test charts fit each other. Please note that the reference file will be ink limited, otherwise profiling would be leading to incorrect ICC profiles. Note that other profiling solutions may not be able to cope with a reference file that is reduced in the TAC. In addition, when building the ICC profile either use the same or a lower ink limit (called Max.Ink in ColorLogic CoPrA) than defined in the test chart. In most cases a decrease in the ink limit is not necessary for test chart creation.

Always use full chart width: When creating one-page test charts, ColorAnt tries to preserve the layout of the rows and columns during export, which can lead to an under-utilization of the chart width. To prevent this, activate the checkbox Always use full chart width.

Note: Please consider the documentation of your measurement device. Some measurement devices allow measurement rows of patches by swiping over the rows. Those types of devices use rulers that can measure up to a certain width which needs to be taken into consideration when the Chart width is defined. The instrument documentation will tell you if a patch delimiter is required and will inform you about the minimum patch size.

Add patch numbers:  Enabled by default. Disabling the option removes the numbers from patches.

Add Auto-Positioning Markers: To use the Barbieri or X-Rite auto positioning feature (Barbieri Spectro LFP and Spectro LFP qb, or X-Rite iSis), the chart needs the corresponding margins and markings. Select your device from the drop-down menu to add the required black auto positioning lines to every page of the test chart.

Add control patches for each page: Adds control patches to check for stability if the test chart contains multiple pages. The patches are added to the top left on every page of the chart. Patches for 100%/70%/40% are added for each channel followed by a single white patch.  This allows you to check for redundancies and production consistencies over different pages.

Create Lab PDF: If the checkbox is activated, the spot color library chart is exported as Lab PDF, whereby all spot colors are converted to Lab. In this case you can choose between PSD and PDF.

If the checkbox is not activated, the spot color library chart is exported as PDF, whereby all of the spot colors and their names are retained. In this case, a PDF file is created.

Important: By default, the checkbox is not enabled in order to retain the spot color names and channels.

Note: The option is only available for spot color libraries that are defined as SPOT (DCS) or as NoSpace (DCS) in combination with Lab (CIE).

If a spot color library is not recognized as such, e.g., it is defined as CMYK, the datasets must first be unlinked using the Unlink DCS and PCS tool from the context menu (see screenshot).

Unlink the data of the selected spot color library

This creates a file with NoSpace (DCS)/Lab (CIE). As a result, the Create Lab PDF checkbox becomes available in the Export Chart tool, and the spot color library chart can be exported as PDF or Lab PDF.

The resulting PCS.txt file is defined as NoSpace/Lab and can be exported as PDF