Spectrosync Quick Guide

Transcript

Quick Guide Overview SpectroSync™ profiling software improves inter-instrument agreement throughout a manufacturers supply chain. As more and more businesses around the globe implement color-management programs, they rely less on physical samples for color approval. SpectroSync lets companies exchange comparative color data anywhere in the world with business partners who may have various types of color-measurement instruments. SpectroSync Usage Recommendations NOTE: To ensure SpectroSync performance, make sure that all of your instruments are kept clean and in good working order. Daily calibration is still needed, whether you are using a SpectroSync profile or not. Keep in mind that SpectroSync is a tool to improve interinstrument agreement; it is not intended to improve repeatability. This is why it is still necessary to send your instruments in for their recommended recertification. 1. Set up users in X-Admin (even if this is an upgrade) and apply appropriate permissions. Keep in mind that the purpose of SpectroSync is to draw instruments closer together. If a user is allowed to circumvent the system, data integrity could be compromised. For an upgrade, all existing users will have the SpectroSync permissions turned off. 2. You will probably only want to give one or two people permission to create/edit Master Color Sets. The Master Color Set File is what gets distributed (along with the corresponding color standards) to each location wanting to profile their instrument to your master instrument. Once a Master Color Set (MCS file and color standards) has been distributed, no changes should be made to that file. A separate MCS file and set of color standards should be distributed to each location. The MCS file is an XML file that gets created in “C:\Program Files\X-RiteColor Master\SpectroSync\Color Sets\” and is named by the master instrument’s model and serial number, and the color set name. The MCS file needs to be placed in the same location for remote location PCs (not necessary for Web Edition systems). 3. A Master Color Set needs to contain at least ten colors (two of which are black and white), but performance will be limited. As with any type of profiling, the larger the gamut of the profile, the better the results. In addition, the closer your Master Color Set is in regards to texture and gloss to what you will be measuring, the better the results will be. Our default Color Sets provide good results, but you may want to add a 2 few of your most common colors to them to further enhance the performance of the profile. In any case, the Color Sets should be kept as clean as possible (avoid marring the surface) and be stored in a dry, dark place. 4. It is recommended that you profile your master instrument to itself before creating any additional Master Color Sets. In the case of a Virtual Master, choose one of the instruments used to be your working standard and profile that instrument to the virtual one. This is so that you can maintain your master instrument as close as possible to its original performance. In addition, if your master instrument should fail, you can profile a replacement instrument to your master until it is repaired. Upon receipt of the repaired master instrument, you can reprofile to ensure you are back to your original state. 5. Whenever you are creating a Master Color Set or profiling a secondary instrument, it is recommended that you use some type of fixture to eliminate any errors in positioning of the sample. In lieu of a fixture, it is suggested that you average several measurements together. Make sure that your color standards are handled with care, as any changes to its surface can affect your profile quality. It is also important to maintain your ambient temperature so that the profile will be accurate as possible. Because certain colors are thermo chromatic, it is important that you control the ambient temperature (and humidity) as much as possible. 6. Your best results will be obtained when the apertures between the master instrument and the profiled instruments are the same. In addition, the larger the aperture size, the better the performance. 7. X-Rite recommends profiling a minimum of once a month for best performance. The ambient temperature during profiling should be ±4°F (±2°C) of the temperature recorded during the color set creation. Creating a Color Set X-Rite offers a complete X-Rite ColorSet™ consisting of 25 ceramic tiles that were chosen from a wide gamut of color space to optimize the performance of SpectroSync. However, there are ways to improve the performance of SpectroSync by creating your own color set based on the materials used in your process, or by augmenting the X-Rite ColorSet with your colors developed from your materials. If you choose to create your own color set, the following guidelines are provided to help you create the most efficient SpectroSync color set. 3 Selecting Colors • When selecting colors for your color set, make sure that you have as wide of a color gamut as possible. A minimum of 10 colors is required to create a color set, however the more colors you use , the better SpectroSync will perform. The following 25 L*a*b* values are provided as a starting point for creating your color set. SPIN data under D65/10° Illum/Obs L* 25.99 93.37 62.21 74.62 37.31 56.45 61.44 33.31 69.6 34.28 75.38 37.09 85.53 37.06 64.75 38.29 51.08 50.71 82.81 43.55 29.57 41.83 25.5 81.26 60.61 • a* 0.12 -0.27 -2.24 -10.34 -12.03 -5.14 -1.6 9.6 15.04 2.93 -4.04 19.47 1.96 -11.41 4.01 3.12 6.92 -15.69 1.37 -8.39 -0.04 49.85 9.26 16.48 56.02 b* -0.13 2.07 -15.06 32.15 -2.61 14.09 -1.47 -4.59 51.38 -19.71 6.61 6.1 61.96 4.72 7.34 10.51 -7.78 -0.48 8.34 3.95 -5.87 24.54 -17.26 89.52 56.5 Do not use fluorescent colors in your color sets, as these are unstable and will react significantly different between instruments. NOTE: A fluorescent color is one that has a reflectance value over 100%. If you are measuring optically brightened papers, try adding one of these into your color set. • If you are measuring optically brightened papers, try adding one of these into your color set. • If your main concern is controlling your corporate colors, it is a good idea to add those to your color set as well. For instance, if you are a furniture manufacturer, make sure you have a few blacks, browns, tans, and whites to add to the default colors. • Color sets developed from materials similar to those used in normal production will typically further improve the performance of SpectroSync. 4 • If you do not have the resources to establish a complete color set on your own, please consider adding a few of your colors to our default X-Rite ColorSet ceramic tile set. Maintaining Your Colors If you decide to create your own color sets, keep in mind that: • All samples deteriorate over time. Make sure that you are entering the appropriate expiration time for your color sets when creating the files with SpectroSync. • Pigment stability and substrate/material aging should be taken into account. • You will also need to consider handling of the color sets and how often users are going to use them to profile with. All of this will affect the overall stability of the color sets and ultimately the overall performance of SpectroSync. No matter what approach you decide to take, keep in mind that you should have a distribution of colors across as much of color space as you can in order to optimize SpectroSync performance. Setting SpectroSync Permissions SpectroSync permissions are set through the Database Administration (X-Admin) program. You will first be prompted to enter the administrator's password. (If you do not know the password, you cannot perform administration functions. See your System Administrator for assistance.) After entering the correct password, you can then set up the SpectroSync permissions. To Set SpectroSync Permissions: 1. From the Options menu, choose Administrative… to open the Administrator Login dialog. 2. Enter your password and click OK. 5 3. The X-Admin Database Administrator dialog appears. Click the SpectroSync Permissions tab. 4. From the Users list, select the user for whom you want to set up user permissions. 5. Under Permissions, select which functions the user can perform. • Check All can be used to check all boxes and Clear All can be used to clear all boxes. 6. Select the appropriate check boxes to give the user permission to use those functions; de-select a check box to remove the permissions. 7. When you have made all of your selections, click Apply to set the user permissions. Creating a Master Color Set The Create Master Color Set function is used to create color sets that will be distributed to users wanting to use SpectroSync to profile their instruments. 6 To Create a Master Color Set: 1. From the SpectroSync menu, choose Create Master Color Set. The Master Color Set dialog box. 2. In the Color Set ID box, enter a name for the Master Color Set, or click Select at the end of the text box to choose an existing color set to edit. 3. In the Color Set Expiration Date box, enter the date that you want to set as the expiration date for that specific color set. 4. In the Warn _ days before expiration date box, enter the number of days to be warned before the expiration date of the color set. 5. In the Reprofile every_days box, enter in the interval you want for profiling the target instrument. 6. In the Warn _ days before reprofiling box, enter the number of days to be warned before the expiration date of the Profile. 7 7. In the Ambient Temperature box, enter the current ambient temperature. 8. Choose the Color Set you wish to use from the “Choose a Color Set” drop list. You can either select the default X-Rite Color Set, or choose “Create your own…” to enter in a custom Color Set. 9. If you would like to group together instruments to create an averaged virtual data set, check Virtual Master Instrument and enter or select the number of instruments. 10. Enter the number of colors in your Color Set. • If you are using the default X-Rite Color Set, this value will be automatically set for you. In addition, you will not be required to enter in color names for this set. 11. Click Start to open the measure window. 12. You will be prompted to initiate instrument calibration. After calibration is completed, “Black” appears in the “Measure Color” box. If you would like to average more than one measurement for the color, check Average and enter or select the number of measurements. Averaging is set per color. 13. Measure the black color by lowering the instrument (hand-held units) or clicking Measure (benchtop units). Continue to measure the black color if averaging is used. • After you finish measuring the color, the program updates the color display area with the new color information. You can change the display options to more accurately analyze the color data. 14. White appears in the “Measure Color” box. Select the averaging option if desired. 15. Measure the white color. 16. After the white color measurement is finished, a blank text box appears. Enter a name for the next color into the box and click Next. Measure the color. 17. Continue with additional colors. A minimum of 10 colors must be measure to create a color set. 18. When the last color has been measured (according to the value entered in), you will get a message telling you that you are done. Once colors are measured, the order that they appear in the Color Set list can be changed. Simply click on a color in the list and click Move Up or Move Down to move it one position. Add is used to add an additional color to the Color Set. Delete is used to remove a selected color from the list. Rename is use to rename the selected color in the Color Set list. 8 Remeasure is used remeasure the selected color in the Color Set list. 19. Click Save to save the Master Color Set. Creating a Profile of the Instrument The Create Profile function is used to profile a given instrument to a master instrument so that they measure very close to one other. To Create a Profile: 1. From the SpectroSync menu, choose Create Profile. The Create Profile dialog box appears. 2. For Master Color Set, click “…” at the end of the text box to browse to the Color Sets directory. Choose the Color Set file you want to load. 3. In the Ambient Temperature box, enter the current ambient temperature. 4. Click Start to begin measuring the colors in the Color Set file. You will be prompted to initiate instrument calibration. Once 9 calibration is completed, you will be lead through the proper measurement sequence in the “Instructions” section. 5. Measure the colors by lowering the instrument (hand-held units) or clicking Measure (benchtop units). You will be prompted to take additional measurements if averaging is used. a. 6. If you make a mistake during a measurement, click Back to move back one color so you can remeasure. Continue with additional colors until complete. After the last color is measured, pass/fail is determined for each color, as well as the entire profile. The results are then displayed. If the profile passes, it is automatically saved along with a copy of the report. If the profile fails, you will be prompted with a message informing you of the failure. The profile will not be saved, however a copy of the report is still saved automatically. Click Print if you wish to print a report. (Sample Report) 10 Loading a Profile The Load Profile function is used to load previously created Profiles. NOTE: SpectroSync must be enabled for the profile to be used. To Load a Profile: 1. From the SpectroSync menu, choose Load Profile. The SpectroSync Profile Files dialog box appears. 2. Choose the name of the Profile you want to load from the list and click OK to load the Profile. 11 Enabling SpectroSync The Enable SpectroSync function is used to enable and disable the selected profile from being used during measurements. An indicator in the toolbar displays the current status of the profile. Enabled = Disabled = (dimmed indicator) From the SpectroSync menu, choose Enable SpectroSync to enable profiling. A checkmark (√) appears next to Enable SpectroSync when it is enabled. To disable profiling, select Enable SpectroSync again to remove the checkmark. 12 X-RITE WORLD HEADQUARTERS X-RITE LATIN AMERICA Grandville, Michigan USA www.xrite.com 1-888-826-3042 FAX 1-888-826-3043 or 616-534-0067 International 1-888-826-3039 or 616-534-7663 FAX 616-534-0723 Hollywood, Florida USA 954-927-4979 FAX 954-927-4979 X-RITE ITALY S.R.L. 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