SpectralVision Pro

SpectralVision Pro Operation Manual

Relinearization Tutorial

ColorBurst RIP
Epson Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition
Windows/Mac OS X

Profiling powered by

© 2004-2007 CSE, Inc.

SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

Compatible Systems Engineering, Inc. (CSE) reserves the right to change the information in
this document without prior notice. The software described in this document is furnished
under a license agreement. The software may be used or copied only in accordance with
the terms of the agreement. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or information storage and retrieval systems, for any purpose other than the purchaser’s
personal use, without the express written permission of CSE.

© and ™ 2004-2007 Compatible Systems Engineering, Inc. All rights reserved.

ColorBurst is a registered trademark of CSE, Inc.

SpectralVision is a copyright of X-Rite, Inc.

EPSON Stylus is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation (SEC), registered in the
U.S. and other countries.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

SpectralVision Pro

Table of Contents

SpectralVision Operation Manual

1 Introduction to SpectralVision Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 The SpectralVision Pro Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Relinearization Tutorial

3 Introduction to Linearization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

4 The Relinearization Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

5 Linearization Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

Chapter 1

Introduction to SpectralVision Pro

SpectralVision Pro is provided with ColorBurst to measure and save linearization targets.

A linearization file is a curve that corrects for non-linear output throughout the tonal scale. Over time
(and on every different media) a printer will drift from its original state. By relinearizing you are updating
an environment’s existing linearization and putting the printer back into its original state, reproducing
all the conditions under which the ICC Profile was made. When you relinearize, you have made the ICC
profile as accurate as the day it was made.

SpectralVision Pro Installation

SpectralVision Pro is installed as part of the ColorBurst installation. The Spectral­Vision

Pro program can be launched directly from ColorBurst through the Linearization Options
dialog. It can also be found on your hard drive in the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools & Docs\
SpectralVision folder. SpectralVision Pro is also available for download on the ColorBurst
web site, www.colorburstrip.com.

SpectralVision Pro is available for both the Windows and Mac OS X platforms. The
SpectralVision Pro interface is identical on both platforms.

Spectrophotometer Support

X-Rite DTP20 (PULSE)

DTP41/DTP41T
DTP45
DTP70
Eye-One Pro
Eye-One iO
Eye-One iSis
iCColor
SpectroScan
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

Spectrophotometer Drivers

Device drivers for X-Rite spectrophotometers are located in the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools &
Docs folder. When connecting your device for the first time, use the New Hardware Found
dialog to select the driver from the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools & Docs folder.

NOTE If you have already installed X-Rite software or drivers you will not need to use the
drivers in the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools & Docs folder.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

Chapter 2

The SpectralVision Pro Interface

The SpectralVision Pro interface consists of a single window used to select a target and device, connect
to the device, and read your patches.

SpectralVision Pro targets must first be printed through ColorBurst before they can be read by
SpectralVision Pro.

IMPORTANT All linearization targets must be formatted for SpectralVision Pro. Targets that were
formatted for older versions of SpectralVision will not work with SpectralVision Pro.

1 4

Figure 2.1. The SpectralVision interface.

SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

1. Target
Choose the linearization target that you want to measure from the Target pop-up menu.
Targets are pre-loaded for all supported spectrophotometers.

The Creation Date, type and number of Patches, Target Type, and Page Count will be listed
for the selected target. The target patches will also be shown in the Target Display window.

2. Measurement Device
The Measurement Device pop-up menu will automatically select the spectrophotometer
associated with the target you have chosen. Be sure that your Measurement Device matches
your selected Target. Targets are formatted differently for various spectrophotometers and
are not interchangeable.

Figure 2.2. The Measurement Device pop-up menu indicates the spectrophotometer brand and model, which should
match your target selection.

Serial Port
If you are connecting your device via serial port, the available serial ports will be listed here.

Connect/Disconnect
The Connect button is used to establish communication between Spectral­Vision Pro and
your device. After a successful connection, a Device Info dialog will be shown with options
specific to your spectrophotometer (calibration, patch import from memory, etc.). This
dialog can be accessed again later by clicking the Info button (“i”) next to your device.

After a successful device connection, the button changes to Disconnect. This can be useful
if you happen to be using more than one device in Spectral­Vision Pro—you will need to
disconnect from one device before establishing a connection to another. When you are
finished using SpectralVision Pro, click Disconnect to close communication with your device
or simply Quit SpectralVision Pro.

NOTE If you have used any other software applications to connect to your spectropho-
tometer, you’ll need to disconnect your device in those applications before you’ll
be able to connect successfully in SpectralVision Pro.

3. Measurement Status
This section displays how many patches have been measured against the total number of
patches in the target (e.g. “84/84” ). When selected, the Show Missing Measurements
checkbox will highlight any patch that has not been measured in green.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

Figure 2.3. The Measurement Status bar displays the number of patches that have been measured.

As patch data is measured it is visually represented on the screen in the Target Display
window. You can select specific patches by clicking on them. Clicking the Info (“i”) button
next to the progress bar will bring up a dialog displaying Patch Info and Measurement Info
for that patch.

Patch Info includes the location of the patch on the target (Page, Row, and Column) as
well as the CMYK % values of the patch in the target file (these are the values sent to the
printer - not the measured values). If the patch has been measured, a Lab value of the mea-
surement is also displayed.

Figure 2.4. The Patch Info window can be used to get data on a specific patch.

The Measurement Info dialog (which expands when the arrow next to it is clicked) displays
additional information about the actual measurement of the patch. Colorimetric data is dis-
played as Lab, LCH, and XYZ values. A spectral response curve is plotted against the visual
spectrum. Density values can be displayed as Status T, E, or A with a Minus Paper option,
which discounts the affect of the paper on the density reading.

4. Target Display window

The Target Display window shows a representation of the currently selected target. If the
patches have not been read, the patch squares are half-filled with the color of the patch.
When the patches have been read, the other half of the patch is filled with the actual
reading color.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 

Figure 2.5. The patch display before measurement, with green highlights to show missing measurements (top), and
the patch display after measurement, with a red highlight to indicate the selected patch (bottom).

The Zoom magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the Target Display window allows you to
zoom in and out on the target if you wish. Page information for the target is also displayed
(current page/total pages) with arrows to move back and forth through multiple-page
targets.

If you make a mistake in your measurements or you just want to start over, click the Clear
Data button to erase all measured data.

Figure 2.6. The Zoom button, page scroll, and Clear Data button appear at the bottom of the patch display window.

5. Save Data
The Save Data button is active when measurements have been completed. Clicking
this button will prompt you to save a Linearization file (.lin), which can then be used in
ColorBurst. This file can be saved in any location, including the desktop. However, we rec-
ommended that LIN files be saved in the same place for archival purposes (e.g. ColorBurst\
Lin folder).
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 10

Chapter 3

Introduction to Linearization

How can you guarantee that today’s prints match the ones you did last week? There are many variables
to consider. Over time, and on every different media, a printer will drift from its original state. Printers,
paper, and inksets all have slight variances in manufacturing consistency. Altitude, age of printer,
and humidity can come into play causing one printer not to match another even if they have the same
model number, inkset, and paper.

The answer is linearization. A linearization file is a curve that corrects for non-linear output throughout
the tonal scale, and is an integral part of each ColorBurst environment. Relinearizing a ColorBurst envi-
ronment allows ColorBurst to account for these differences and adjust accordingly, ensuring consistent
output from your printer over time. This puts the printer back into its original state, reproducing all the
conditions under which the ICC Profile was made. When you relinearize, you have made the ICC profile as
accurate as the day it was made.

The Relinearization Process

Relinearizing is the process of printing a target, measuring the target with a spectropho-
tometer, saving the measurements as a LIN file, and loading the LIN file in ColorBurst.
ColorBurst adjusts the new LIN file values to meet the baseline values that were originally
set in your ColorBurst environment. ColorBurst’s SpectralVision Pro software gives you com-
plete control over the entire relinearization process.

SpectralVision Pro Installation

SpectralVision Pro is installed as part of the ColorBurst installation. The Spectral­Vision

Pro program can be launched directly from ColorBurst through the Linearization Options
dialog. It can also be found on your hard drive in the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools & Docs\
SpectralVision folder. SpectralVision Pro is also available for download on the ColorBurst
web site, www.colorburstrip.com.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 11

SpectralVision Pro is available for both the Windows and Mac OS X platforms. The
SpectralVision Pro interface is identical on both platforms.

Spectrophotometer Support

The following spectrophotometers can be used for linearization:

X-Rite DTP20 (PULSE)
DTP41/DTP41T
DTP45
DTP70
Eye-One Pro
Eye-One iO
Eye-One iSis
iCColor
SpectroScan

Spectrophotometer Drivers

Device drivers for X-Rite spectrophotometers are located in the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools &
Docs folder. When connecting your device for the first time, use the New Hardware Found
dialog to select the driver from the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools & Docs folder.

NOTE If you have already installed X-Rite software or drivers you will not need to use the
drivers in the ColorBurst\Profiling Tools & Docs folder.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 12

Chapter 4

The Relinearization Process

IMPORTANT When relinearizing a ColorBurst environment you must use a UV-filtered spectropho-
tometer. Using non–UV-filtered devices will lead to undesirable results.

Always print a nozzle check test prior to printing a Linearization Target.

1. Print the Linearization target through ColorBurst.

In ColorBurst, do the following:

a. Load the environment you want to relinearize.

b. Make sure your printer settings are correct and your printer is ready to print.

c. Open the Linearization Options dialog (Options menu > Linearization Options).

d. Choose the spectrophotometer you wish to perform your measurements with. This
selection ensures that the target is properly formatted for your spectrophotometer.

Figure 4.1. Select your spectrophotmeter and click the Print target button in the Linearization Options dialog.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 13

e. Click the Print target button to send the target file to the ColorBurst Job list. If
the file comes in on hold, activate the file and make sure the RIP is on to print the
target.

NOTE When the linearization target is printed using the Print target button, ColorBurst
will turn linearization and color management automatically for the target. This al-
lows the target to print in a raw (unmanaged) state.

Figure 4.2. Print a Lin target that has been formatted for your spectrophotometer. You may need to trim the target
to fit your device.

NOTE Do not scale the linearization target. Always print it at 100% of the original size.

2. Launch SpectralVision Pro.

Open the Linearization Options dialog, go to the SpectralVision Pro tab, and click the
Launch SpectralVision Pro button. You can also open the application in the ColorBurst\
Profiling Tools & Docs\Spectral­Vision folder.

Figure 4.3. Launch SpectralVision Pro to measure the Lin target.

3. Select your target and connect to your device.

a. In SpectralVision Pro, select the Lin target for your device in the Target menu.

b. The Measurement Device field will automatically select the spectro­photometer

associated with the target you have chosen. If your device uses a serial connection,
select the correct port in the Serial Port pop-up.

c. Click the Connect button to connect to your device.

SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 14

NOTE When you click the Connect button, a Device Info dialog appears with settings
specific to your device. This dialog can also be accessed clicking the Info button (“i”)
next to the Measurement Device pop-up menu.

4. Measure the Lin target.

Use your device to measure the Lin target. (See your device’s documentation for operation
instructions.) As the values are read, the patches will be displayed in SpectralVision Pro,
and the Measurement Status bar will show the measurement progress. If you encounter an
error reading the patches, you can click the Clear Data button to start over.

5. Save your Linearization file.

After all of the patches have been read, save the measurements as a Lin file by clicking the
Save button. It is recommended to save your Lin file in the ColorBurst\Lin folder, but they
can be saved to any location.

6. Load your Lin file in ColorBurst.

In ColorBurst, do the following:

a. Go to Options menu > Linearization Options.

b. Click the Select a lin file button. Locate the Lin file you saved in step 5 and click the
Open button. This loads the measurements from the target into ColorBurst.

c. Click OK to close the Linearization Options dialog.

Figure 4.4. Use the Select a lin file button to use your new Lin file.

7. Save your ColorBurst environment.

In ColorBurst, you must save the environment at this point to lock in the new lineariza-
tion. Use Environments > Save As to save your environ­ment with a new file name in the
ColorBurst\Env folder (or a subfolder of the Env folder). You will need a new name because
you can not save over any existing ColorBurst environments. If you do not save the environ-
ment, you will lose your new settings as soon as you change to a different environment.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 15

Figure 4.5. Make sure to save a new environment with your new lin file loaded to lock in the relinearization.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 16

Chapter 5

Linearization Troubleshooting

Sometimes a printer, ink, and media combination can not be relinearized. If the differences between
the printer that made the original linearization and the printer that is being relinearized are significant,
ColorBurst will report a Linearization Error. This will happen when the measurements from one or more
inks come in lower than the Baseline values. Often this error can be overcome by simply increasing the ink
channel that failed (a failure will be reported if an ink channel is too low).

If measurements are below the baseline values established in the orginial environment but are still
within an acceptable range, a Linearization Warning dialog will appear after loading a new lin file. It is
recommended that you try to eliminate the warning.

1. Determine which inks are causing the error.

When you open a Lin file with measurements that are lower than the established Baselines,
an Error message will appear. The dialog will report any ink(s) that failed to reach the
Desired baseline number by displaying the Actual value in bold.

Figure 7.1. An Error dialog will appear when a lin file is opened if the measurements are lower than the established
baselines in the original environment. A Warning dialog indicates values are low but still within an acceptable range.
SpectralVision Pro · ColorBurst RIP · EPSON Stylus Pro ColorBurst Edition · Windows 17

2. Verify your settings.

a. Check and make sure the paper in your printer matches the environment you are
relinearizing.

b. Perform a nozzle check test (at the front panel of your printer, check your manual
for instructions) and do head cleanings if necessary until all nozzles are firing
completely. If any nozzles were clogged you will need to repeat the relinearization
process.

c. Make sure that you are using a spectrophotometer with a UV filter. All lineariza-
tions provided with ColorBurst environments were created with a UV filtered
spectrophotometer.

3. Adjust the Max. Ink values if necessary.

If you have verified all of the above and the error continues then you will need to increase
the Max. Ink percentage for any ink that is too light. Go to Options > Color Adjustments
and increase Max. Ink % values by 2 for each ink that was listed in the Error or Warning
window as too light. Click OK to close the dialog and store the new value(s). Save your
environment and repeat the relinearization process.

Figure 7.2. Increasing the Max. Ink values by 2% can sometimes help increase low measurements in a Lin file.

4. Linearization Error when Max. Ink values are at 100%:

If your Max. Ink settings are at 100% and you are still getting linearization error mes-
sages, the current printer/paper/ink combination can not be relinearized to the Baseline
values saved in the original environment. Choose a different environment or contact Epson
Technical Support for assistance. Select Epson Support under the Help menu for Epson
Support contact information.