[argyllcms] How to use an Eye-One with Argyll

If you have a Greytag Macbeth Eye-One (i1 / eye1) Design (or other
model of i1, of  course) and you want to use  it with Argyll, this
is the document for you.

A few notes to start. First and foremost, check to see if somebody
hasn't given better advice. While  what I describe here works--and
gives fantastic results--it's rather kludgy. There are much better
ways to go about all this,  I'm sure--even if some of them haven't
been  invented  yet. Oh--and if  you  don't  know what  ``kludge''
means, these notes probably won't  be enough for you. There's some
hand-waving ``point you  in the right direction''  sorts of things
in here that cover vital steps. It's also certainly not the /only/
way to do it; if something else works better for you, great!

But, it  /does/ work. It works fantastically! I've  only created a
single  ``real''  profile so  far,  with  646 patches,  for  plain
paper. Yet it makes  far and away the best  plain-paper print I've
ever  seen. The saturation  is  low, as  you'd  expect from  plain
paper, but  the color accuracy is  dead-on and the fine  detail is
shockingly  good  for  plain  paper. Neutral tones  are  about  as
neutral as  one normally gets  this side of sanity,  just /barely/
hinting ``warm.''

All  in all,  I'd say  that this  document is  definitely for  the
``starving  artist  with  geek tendencies''  type. If  you're  not
starving, I'm sure you can find an easy-to-use commercial solution
that's in  the same league  as Argyll (so  long as you  don't mind
spending a *lot* of money). If you're  not an artist (at least, if
you're  not making  fine art  prints or  absolutely color-critical
proofs), the  ``Easy'' chart  GMB provides with  the i1  Design is
probably ``good  enough'' (before I  saw Argyll's results,  it was
easily the best plain paper  inkjet print I had seen...Argyll blew
it away, of course). And if you're  not at least willing to put up
with the command line, this definitely isn't for you.

But, if you're  at all like me, you'll be  tickled pink. And every
other color, too.

Enough bullsh--ah, ``balderdash.'' On with the instructions.

First, of course,  you need to install  some software. You'll need
Argyll binaries for your computer from the usual place, but you'll
also need the source. In addition, you'll need x-rite's ColorPort,
which is a free download from their Web site:

    http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=719

Finally, you'll need  the source to David  Gangola's cpxchg, which
you can find by searching the list archives.

To build cpxchg, you'll first need to build (but not install - use
the  binaries for  that) Argyll  itself. Argyll uses  Jam for  its
build system,  which you'll  probably also have  to hunt  down and
install  (it's in  DarwinPorts). Then, create  a cpxchg  subfolder
with the  cpxchg source in it  and change the includes  section to
read like this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "../h/config.h"
#include "../cgats/cgats.h"

Compile it with:

gcc -c -mno-cygwin -I../h -I../xicc -I../cgats -I../numlib
-I../icc -I../gamut -I../rspl -I../spectro -I../plot -o cpxchg.o
cpxchg.c

and link it with:

gcc -mno-cygwin -o cpxchg.exe cpxchg.o -L../plot -lplot -L../xicc
-lxicc -L../spectro -linst -L../gamut -lgamut -L../cgats -lcgats
-L../rspl -lrspl -L../numlib -lnum -L../icc -licc

Leave out the  ``-mno-cygwin'' if you're not  running Cygwin under
Windows,  of course. You  can  then copy  /  rename cpxchg.exe  to
wherever you've got the rest of the Argyll binaries.

Assuming  that everything  is installed,  the basic  procedure for
creating a profile is as follows:

    1. Generate ti1  and ti2 files  as you normally  would for
       Argyll.

       targen -d 3 -f 270 ProfileName

       (270  patches  fills a  single  page  for the  standard
       ColorPort layout. Use  646 patches for 0  margins, 8 mm
       patches, and portrait orientation.)

       printtarg -v -i SS -p LetterR -r ProfileName

       (Toss the .ps file that printtarg creates; we only care
       about  the .ti2  file. ColorPort reads  the patches  in
       their non-randomized  order, so don't  create confusion
       by randomizing.)

    2. Use cpxchg to convert the ti2 file for ColorPort.

       cpxchg ProfileName.ti2

    3. Create  the  test chart  with  ColorPort  and print  it
       without color management.

       The  program is  pretty  straightforward. It creates  a
       TIFF  chart that  you can  print with  Photoshop, etc.,
       exactly as you'd expect.

    4. Measure  the   chart  with   ColorPort  and   save  the
       measurement.

       Strip scanning works fine, though only right-to-left.

    5. Use cpxchg to convert the ColorPort file to a ti3 file.

       cpxchg CGATS\ Data.txt ProfileName

    6. Create the profile with Argyll.

       profile -v -A "Manufacturer" -M "Model" -D
       "What you want to see in menus as the
       profile name" -C "Copyright (c) YYYY You" -S
       /path/to/sRGB/or/other/standard/profile.icc ProfileName

So, that should do the trick. If you make it that far, the rest is
easy.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

b&

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