Vectors show rendering intent

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ColorThink Pro Tutorials


Question

I want to use ColorThink Pro to evaluate different input and output profiles. I have incoming images that are mostly in sRGB, and several different CMYK press companies that I'll be outputing to. I want to know how the different output profiles will mangle the color. I would like to visualize the combination of input space, rendering intent and output profile.

Answer

This is a two-step process.

  1. Create a Lab file that represents your input space, and
  2. Bring it into the grapher, and plot these points as vectors.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Destination and Lab
  1. Find an RGB reference file that contains the number of reference points you would like to see in the graph. Some possibilities include the "TC2.83 RGB.txt" and the "TC9.18 RGB.txt" files from Gretag MacBeth (available as a free download inside the ProfileMaker software from Xrite.)
  2. Open this reference file in the ColorThink Pro worksheet
  3. If you want these points to represent a colorspace other than sRGB, then assign that profile to this colorlist in the Profiles section. Otherwise, sRGB is chosen by default.
  4. Click on the filename in the worksheet, and choose "Save List As..."
  5. Choose Destination and Lab. (OK)


Step 2

Applying a destination profile to make vectors
  1. Open the new Lab file in the grapher
  2. Click on "Plot as: Vectors"
  3. Click and drag your output profile into the Destination box
  4. Use the rendering intent drop-down box to view different rendering conditions.

This will show you how the color will change from one input space to a specific output profile. This method makes it easy to visualize without crowding the screen with too much information or too little. The output profiles and rendering intents are easily changed to help decide which works best under different scenarios. Specific image files can be brought into the grapher as well. (Remember to down-size the images before bringing them into the grapher!) See warning on image sizes.


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