[Nicholas Carchidi Participant Posts: 10]

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on: February 24, 2024 at 10:48 pm

This comes off the heels of talking with Mark Segal in a previous thread. Creating a new post here so it’s more topic-specific.

So, I took the plunge and decided to read more about what basiCColor offers, specifically with Input 6 Pro. For the sake of brevity, I’ll refer to Input 6 Pro, simply as I6P throughout this post.

Before I go into detail, I emailed both basiCColor and Chromix sales and waiting for a response, asking if they offer any discounts for university students (as I am one) given IP6 is a pretty unaffordable solution for non-business/organization-type people ($800 per 1 license.)

TLDR: I am going to try to and make the best use of the LSI Advanced Target I have, 12641-2 layout, and profile with IP6.

I want to: Create an ICC profile for my LSI target to align with the highest possible conformance standard options – FADGI, Metamoroze, or ISO criteria. In other words, if it’s only possible to align with ISO 19264 A with this target, then I profile for that. Or if it’s possible for FADGI tolerances then I profile for that, etc.

 

basiCColor offers a trial version, which I am using right now. And, after spending a few hours trying to learn how to use this, I have a few questions before I even *think* about finding a way to finance such an expensive piece of software (with or without any discounts, have no idea if they offer which is why I emailed sales – never hurts to ask.)

IP6 has Profiling and then Preset Editor. Is it practical, or even possible, to profile one of LSI’s advanced targets to conform to the tolerances for FADGI-level selection within IP6, even if I edit and/or adjust color patches that come back as being marked red?

Let’s say I profile for a ‘Custom’ output (under Quality Control selection) and ΔE 2000 (conformance standard selection) when building a profile. The Quantile Slider indicates 90% and ΔE of 4.0 as a resulting value once IP6 generates the ICC profile. Clicking the ‘report’ button generates an html file and indicates, *Custom QC failed*

To correct this, does this come down to simply adjusting the values for the color patches that are marked red until they turn green? Do I slide the Quantile slider all the way to 100% to reveal all the patches that don’t match the conformance tolerances and attempt to adjust each of their values?

After much back and fourth, LSI finally agreed to provide a .txt file that goes with my advanced target (they typically only provide .CxF)

I can successfully import this .txt reference file into IP6, but attempting to import the original CxF results in an error and it will not accept this. I have PatchTool from BabelColor, and analyzing the CxF, it appears normal without any malformation or errors. So, I am not sure why IP6 isn’t recognizing it? I can select it, but it doesn’t ‘stick’, and reverts back to the stock reference .txt provided by basiCColor for LSI’s 12641-2 layout.

See video for what I mean: https://youtu.be/r19_b-pSoa0

As an aside, I am actually quite disappointed by how buggy IP6 functions.

The dropdown menu for Reference File selection constantly closes itself and the interface is a bit slow at times (I’m on a machine running 64GBs of internal RAM; it’s not my machine. But I am on Windows 11. So, have no idea it that’s a possible reason.)

For $800.oo USD, I’d expect a seamless, smooth experience. However, the GUI and grid overlay on targets are fantastic. Aesthetically, this is what I would expect when paying for high-end software. The grid overlay is fluid in movement, and that’s very pleasing. I can zoom in very close when aligning the grid against patches which is ideal.

I admit, my knowledge for using IP6 correctly is limited and I am out of my depth here.

After doing some reading, I learned how difficult their licensing process has been for some since basiCColor permanently marks your machine using the machine’s dedicated hardware address. Talk about software limitations.

Any input and / or help would be greatly appreciated. I have ~13 days using trial mode.

-Nick

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