General

What does Color Converge do?

Color Converge is a digital color matching utility. Color matching is a process for improving color fidelity across different devices. When a photo is scanned and printed, the colors in the printed copy often look quite different from the colors in the photo. Reds fade, blues shift, grays turn blue, and flesh tones seem to spend too little or too much time in the sun. Color Converge solves this problem by adjusting the colors in scanned images to improve printed color accuracy.

How do I use Color Converge?

After installation, Color Converge must first generate a color profile which characterizes the combination of your scanner and printer. A wizard steps you through the process which requires selecting a scanner and printer, printing a single-sheet of color patches, scanning the printed color patches, and storing the resulting profile. The calibration takes a few minutes to complete but the steps are straightforward.

After calibration, each scan made through Color Converge is automatically color corrected. The scans may be saved or printed. Because Color Converge performs color matching before saving images, the color correction is always used regardless of application or system level color management settings.

How do I know Color Converge works?

Color Converge includes a demonstration mode which prints the uncorrected and color corrected images next to each other so you can easily judge the color improvement.

How is Color Converge different from other color profiling or correction tools?

Color Converge solves a specific problem: making images scanned on a particular scanner and printed on a particular printer match the original image. This is all the functionality many users need.

Most commercial color profiling tools help solve a much bigger problem: creating a color processing environment where an image acquired from any source (scanner, digital camera, etc.) and rendered on any device (monitor, inkjet printer, printing press, etc.) matches the original as closely as possible. This process requires both software and either a specially printed color reference called an IT8 target or hardware such as a spectrophotometer.

Will Color Converge make my printed image exactly match my original image?

Due to inherent device limitations, scanners and printers can only handle a limited range of colors. This range is referred to as the device's color gamut. Each scanner and each printer has a different gamut. The scanner gamut implies there are some colors that a scanner can not distinguish even though they look different to the human eye. Similarly, there are some colors which simply can not be produced with the available combinations of cyan, yellow, magenta, and black inks used in a printer. If the source image includes colors which are outside the scanner or printer gamut, some compromise is necessary.

In addition to the absolute gamut limitations, the performance of Color Converge is limited by other concerns such as using just one page of color patches, and making the calibration process simple and fairly quick.

Within these constraints, Color Converge provides good color matching for typical scanner and printer pairs.

Does Color Converge work with digital cameras?

No. Color Converge just works with scanners.

Installation

What are the system requirements?

Microsoft Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, or XP;
Pentium-class processor (300MHz or higher recommended);
32 MB of RAM;
5 MB of hard-disk space;
Full page color scanner with TWAIN driver;
Full page color printer;
VGA or higher resolution monitor.

Why are Microsoft Windows 95 and NT not supported?

Color Converge requires Microsoft Image Color Management (ICM) version 2.0. This is not available for Windows 95 or NT.

Is there a Macintosh version?

No.

Is there a Linux version?

No. Linux does not include a standard color management system.

How do I install Color Converge?

On double clicking the setup file, an installation utility will step you through the short installation process.

Can Color Converge be uninstalled?

Yes. You can uninstall using either the Uninstall icon in the Color Converge folder in the Start menu or Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.

Use

How do I run Color Converge?

After installing the program, simply click on the Color Converge application in the Color Converge folder of the Programs listing in the Windows Start menu. The first time you run the program, a wizard will appear to guide you through the calibration procedure to produce a color correction profile. After calibration, you can scan and save or print color corrected images.

Do I need to perform the calibration every time I run the program?

No. The only times you need to do a calibration is when you first run the program or when you want to use a different scanner or printer.

How long does calibration take?

Printing and scanning the target takes about 5 minutes. Depending on the speed of your computer, generating the profile takes another 5 to 15 minutes but this can run in the background while you do other tasks.

Can I have more than one calibrated scanner-printer pair at a time?

No.

Are there other reasons to perform the calibration?

The color correction profile is optimal only for the conditions that existed during the calibration. For optimum results, you may need to re-calibrate after changing the printer cartridge, switching paper types (for example, from plain to photo), or even just from time to time. When you re-calibrate depends mostly on your printer cartridge: the printed colors change slightly as a cartridge is used and may change significantly when cartridges are changed.

Re-calibration can be performed at any time by selecting the Calibrate Scanner-Printer option from the File menu. Re-calibration overwrites the existing color correction profile.

What image formats are supported by Color Converge?

JPEG, Portable Network Graphics (PNG), and Windows Bitmap (BMP).

The colors in the image displayed in the Color Converge window sometimes look a little weird. Is this normal?

Yes. The image shown in the Color Converge window is already corrected so the colors have been adjusted to look best on your printer, not your monitor. To view the image without correction, select the View Corrected and Uncorrected Images option in the View menu.

Is there a way to see the effectiveness of the color correction?

Yes. If you have not yet finished calibration, use the demonstration page of the calibration wizard to print examples. Otherwise, enable the "include uncorrected image" checkbox in the Page Setup dialog on the File menu in order to print both the color corrected image as well as the original uncorrected image.

To get a rough idea of the correction, select the View Corrected and Uncorrected Images option in the View menu. This does not fully demonstrate the improvement because the colors have been adjusted to look best on your printer, not your monitor.

I can not change the printer or the scanner after I have completed a calibration. Why not?

Since the calibration only works for a single scanner-printer pair, changing the scanner or printer are disabled to prevent using the wrong devices.

Can I edit the saved images?

Of course. In fact, using Color Converge may reduce your editing effort because you are starting with corrected colors. If the color balance of the original is acceptable, there is no need for manual color adjustments just to match the original. If you are changing the color balance, the process is still simpler because you just need to make the relative adjustment you want, not a relative adjustment on top of a manual color correction.

Can I email scans made with Color Converge?

You may certainly email the saved files. Whether this is the best way to present your pictures depends on how the recipient uses the images. If she just views the images on her monitor, the results will probably look less pleasing with color correction. If she prints the images, the results most likely will be somewhat improved with color correction but could actually be worse depending on the kind of printer she owns. Remember: Color Converge has calibrated your printer's performance, not hers.

Can I save the uncorrected image?

Yes. Select the Save Uncorrected Image option from the File menu.

Tips

How can I ensure I get the best possible color matching?

Color Converge works best when each step in the scanning and printing process is consistent with the original calibration conditions. This requires turning off options which change colors depending on image content and using the same options during calibration and image scanning and printing.

During the print grid step of calibration, select printer options that disable automatic color correction features. Each printer properties page is different so there are no simple instructions on how to do this. Generally, disable color options with words such as "enhanced" or "automatic". An exception to this rule are settings that enable Microsoft's Image Color Management (ICM) or some other profile-based color management system (CMS). These options should be enabled. Set manual brightness, contrast, and color sliders or other adjustments to have no effect. Set the document type or printing intent to the kind of original you generally use. This selection is usually between photographic (also called natural) and saturation (also called document or vivid). Set print quality to high or best and paper type to match what you use.

During the scan grid step of calibration, again select options that disable automatic color correction features. As with printing, each scanner interface is different so there are no uniform rules. Generally, disable color options with words such as "enhanced" or "automatic" and anything which sounds like some magic tool but enable ICM or any other CMS such as Canon's ColorGear. Set manual brightness, contrast, and color sliders or other adjustments to have no effect. If multiple original types such as photograph and document are available, select the type of image you generally scan but be sure to keep 24-bit (or better) color enabled.

When scanning images, use the same color-related settings (including brightness and contrast) and original type as were used during calibration. Changing resolution and filtering options such as sharpen or descreen should not effect color matching.

When printing, use the same color-related settings, document type, and print quality as were used during calibration. This includes printing a saved image from another application or a document in which you have included a color corrected image. We understand this is a tedious thing to need to remember. Unfortunately, most printer drivers do not allow saving more than one configuration for future use.

These configuration suggestions are guidelines. In some cases, better performance may be possible with another set of options. If the color matching does not meet your expectations, try tweaking color-related scanner and printer options.

Does using photo paper make a difference?

Yes but the improvement is more in image clarity than color fidelity. We have found in our tests that setting print quality to high or best (regardless of paper type) is more important than using photo paper but photo paper is required for optimal results.