Color Management

The Gemstone color management options help reduce color matching problems between devices, such as a computer, a monitor, and a printer. Gemstone automatically detects the color profile assigned to a monitor (if the monitor is setup correctly within the operating system). It is recommended to regularly profile a monitor with color management hardware and software.

Before changing the color management settings, make sure to have accurate color profiles for each of the devices to be used. Color profiles can be obtained from device manufacturers if the profiles were not included in the device's software, or from the professional printers.

Color management can be a complex process. If you are not familiar with color management systems, it is recommended to accept the default color management settings in Gemstone.

To Set the Color Management Options:

  1. Select Tools | Options... from the menu.
  2. In the Options dialog box, select Color Management.
  3. In the Color Management page, set or change any of the options as described below.
  4. Click OK to accept any changes.

Color Management Options

Field Set Field Description
Enable

 

Enable Color Management

Activates the color management system in Gemstone and the fields in this dialog box.

Color Management Engine

Select from the drop-down list of color management engines.
Input

 

Default Input Profile

Specifies the default color profile to use when the image is not tagged with an ICC profile.
Soft Proofing

Enable soft proofing

Choose from a selection of device profiles for monitor simulation proofing. Choose a connected printer profile to be the emulated device and then preview what the printer's output would look like on your monitor (soft proofing).

Emulated Device Profile

Choose the device to be emulated.

Rendering Intent

A strategy for handling situations where not all colors will fit in the output device's color space. Strategy options consist of:

  • Perceptual: Remaps colors outside of the target color space by compressing all colors for the entire image. Colors may become less saturated as everything condenses towards neutral and away from the saturated colors at the edges of the target color space.
  • Relative Colorimetric: Maps all out-of-gamut colors to the closest in-gamut color. Colors that fall outside the range of what the output device can render are adjusted to the closest color the device is capable of displaying.
  • Saturation: Preserves the saturation of colors, potentially at the cost of hue and lightness. This intent is most valuable for business applications, such as graphics, where images need to be vibrant and contrast distinctly from one another.
  • Absolute Colorimetric: Colors that fall outside the range of what the output device can render are adjusted to the closest color that can be rendered. However, the white point does not move, which may result in the distance of the colors to the white point changing.
  Profile Details For a detailed account of the profile list, click the Profile Details button.

There are soft proofing items available from the View | Soft Proofing menu, including "Enable", "Perceptual", "Relative Colorimetric", "Saturation", and "Absolute Colorimetric".