Color Management


Color management is the process of producing accurate, consistent color among a variety of input and output devices. In Windows, the color management system (CMS) maps colors between devices such as scanners, monitors, and printers; transforms colors from one color space to another (for example, RGB to CMYK); and adjusts tints displayed or printed for correctness. For most of us, this kind of precision isn't very important, but for graphic artists and designers, it's an essential part of preparing proofs and professional output.

Just like a printer needs a printer driver or a scanner needs a TWAIN driver, each piece of hardware needs its own color profile. A profile is a file made by the hardware manufacturer (or Microsoft) specifically for the device, and it contains information about the color characteristics of the hardware. You simply associate the profile with the device via the device's Properties sheet, and the color system does the rest. Only if a device supports color management does its Properties sheet have a Color tab on it, however.

Even though some profiles are included with Windows XP, you might need to obtain a profile for your particular hardware. Check with the manufacturer. You can use the following procedure to add a color profile to a printer:

1.

If you obtain a custom color-profile file from your manufacturer, copy it to %systemroot%\system32\spool\drivers\color where %systemroot% is your Windows folder.

2.

Open the Printers and Faxes folder by selecting Start, Control Panel, Printers and Other Hardware, Printers and Faxes.

3.

Right-click the printer that you want to associate with a color profile, click Properties, and then click the Color Management tab. Notice that the tab has two settings: Automatic and Manual. Normally, Windows uses the Automatic setting, in which case it assigns a color profile to the printer from those it has on hand. If you want to override the default, click Manual.

4.

Click Add to open the Add Profile Association dialog box.

5.

Locate the new color profile you want to associate with the printer. You can right-click a profile and choose Properties to read more about the profile. Because the filenames are cryptic, this is the only way to figure out what device a color profile is for.

6.

Click the new profile, and then click Add. Keep in mind that you can associate any number of profiles with a given piece of gear. Only one can be active at a time, however. After you open the profile list, select Manual and click the one you want to activate. For sophisticated setups, you may have reason for multiple profiles, but it's not likely that many users who are not designers or artists will bother.

You can use the same approach to add profiles for other hardware pieces, such as displays and scanners. Just bring up the Color Management tab of each item through its Properties sheet.

NOTE

For a video display, open the Settings tab, click Advanced, and then click the Color Management tab.




Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional (3rd Edition)
ISBN: 0789732807
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 450

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