[Tool] ChromIQ – a macOS and Windows GUI for ArgyllCMS printer profiling (v3.8.0)

[Alan G]

Yes, the bidirectional button threw me for a loop. Once I turned it off (enable bidirectional reading) it worked fine. I just finished doing to profiles for Moab Somerset Rag (matte) and Canson Platine Fibre Rag (gloss) with version 3.6.1 of the program. I used one page for a preconditioning profile (which is actually quite good and can be used if one is only printing small size prints) and a two page final profile (normally, I use four pages here). I encountered no errors running the program and the soft proofing looks fine in Lightroom. Gamut for both profiles were the same as the profiles I did 6 years go using the command line Argyll. I also checked to see how the program handles update notifications (click on the prefernces icon in the upper right corner. It informed me that there is a new version and sent me to GitHub to download it.

 

[itsab1989]

Thanks for sharing. You should also get an automatic update notification at bottom of the first three tabs. Now that I mention it it might be worth fixing that this notification does not show in the other tabs as well.

One thing that I tried to fix yesterday was the appearance of the light mode. Active comboboxes and spinboxes should have a white fill in my opionion instead of the same color as the background. Basically the same as for fields where you can enter text. But after going back and forth with AI for over an hour it was not able to fix this and told that for some reason this would not be possible and I nearly can‘t believe this.

Sometimes it is so smart and gives you great results for complex issues and sometimes it is pretty disappointing (or maybe it is right after all).

Just another example: when a tab is selected in the app the gets this colorful background but the color was bleeding into the tab button on the right of it by 1 pixel. You would think this is a simple fix but it took several attempts until it found the right code that needed to be modified.


By the way: if anyone here also has an account on dpreview and could say a word about the app there this would be very kind. I tried posting there myself but my posts are held under moderation or completely deleted. It is frustrating that I can‘t reply there:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thr...y-testing-wanted.4836447/page-2#post-68685177

 

[pharmacist]

A small suggestion: would it possible to program the layout of the target generated for i1pro1/2/3 from this:

Into something like this (patches moved to the right and downwards):

The reason is this when you put the target on the scanning table:

It must be pressed under a paper clamp and when too high the first few rows cannot be scanned as the i1pro2 is lifted upwards by the clamp:

To overcome this I have to move down the paper, but as such the paper is no longer pressed under the clamp:

The downwards placement is necessary because of this:

When aligned towards to right side the scanning eyes stopped on a patch, NOT on a white area of the paper (important for scanning: it needs to start from paper white and ends on white paper).

An example of my modified and ergonomical target that can be clamped completely to the upper right side of the scanning jig/guider (when moving from left to right it starts on white and ends on white and does not block the scanning eye of the i1Pro2):

You can have a look at the positioning of the patches in relation to the paper surface and have a look at the agenda I have add to this ArgyllCMS target, like information about printer/date/ink set/media setting/profile name (probably this can programmed so it will be printed on the target).

 

[Alan G]

@pharmacist - What size paper are you using in those pictures? When I print a target out on letter size paper, I get an ample space to mount on the reading tray (i1 Pro). It gives me the exact same target as doing it manually (22 x 21 patches)

 

[itsab1989]

Hi, again!
In the latest version I made some adjustments for the i1Pro defaults. You mentioned before that it would need a margin of 10 instead of 6. I implemented this earlier already. Then on dpreview someone was confused why in my app one less line fit on an A4 page for the i1 pro. In your earlier screenshots I noticed that you set the patch size scale to 0,95. this compensates for this. So this evening I ran some more tests to extend the apps database and give the user multiple defaults for the i1Pro. You can set this in the settings.

When I look at your screenshots it seems that for the layout you prefer the option to suppress left clipping border is not turned on. I think in my app it is on by default to use more of the space on the paper.
What you could do: turn this option off once and figure out the values for margin and patch size scale so you still get the same amount of patches on one page of A4 and then either save this as a general default for this tab with the button on the bottom or click the little plus icon in the user preset section to give this set of settings a name and save it as a preset.

What I could do then: if you think those settings are good I could run more tests to further extend the database. So the app does not always have to do iterative tests to figure out how many patches fit one page for this settings. And if you like this section on the left where you can write down some notes I could probably copy that and automatically print that on the target when the clip border is not suppressed. Do you like this idea?

By the way one of your first suggestions was that the targen and printtarg setting should be printable on the targets. I have already inplemented this as well a few versions ago. It is in the output section where you enter the name for the target. You have one entry field for free text and a checkbox to print the settings. In guided mode the settings are always printed. Do you like this?

And is the highlighter now back again in measure tab and is the built profile now what you expect? When bi directional measurement is on there should now be two highlighter - one on the top pointing down and one at the bottom pointing up as a visual clue.

 

[pharmacist]

@pharmacist - What size paper are you using in those pictures? When I print a target out on letter size paper, I get an ample space to mount on the reading tray (i1 Pro). It gives me the exact same target as doing it manually (22 x 21 patches)

Is is A4: 210 x 297 mm

 

[pharmacist]

@itsab1989:

Maybe a cosmetic correction to be done: when I try a Colormunki-like method (50 + 50) with the i1pro2 but now using 240 initial patches > preconditioning target created > create 240 new patches on a single sheet of A4 and I check: "Stamp targen and printtarg commands on the chart" and would like a single sheet of A4 paper (landscape: preconditioning on the left half paper and the final target on the other side, I get this:

You see the text is printed on the area I want to print the secondary target, thus rendering this area useless.

Maybe the text should be printed much closer to the target like this:

 

[itsab1989]

@pharmacist:

Already working on something. But need one more tweak to move the patch set over to the right and I have to test whether the highlighter for measurement will work with this layout.

Regarding your second question: I am not sure why it puts it in this spot. It should put it on the very right side of the paper. Maybe it did not expect this much unused space or it puts it right in the middle between the border and the printtarg text. But working on your other feature request first.

 

[pharmacist]

I will give you the exact distances to maximize the patch count possible on A4 so you can have a look how the patches can be orientated in the most ergonomically best position later on. It should be possible to put about 600 to 650 patches with these constrainments in mind see my home brewed target above.

 

[itsab1989]

@pharmacist
I noticed that I don't really need those values. I found a solution that is adaptive to a degree. So you should be able to choose whatever values you prefer. Still doing some tests though.