Multicolored Faxes

A new software program brings exact color reproduction to faxes, printers, and scanners.

Dick Pountain

Does color faxing sound like a solution to an important business problem? If your answer is no, then you're probably not in the graphics, interior-design, or clothing-manufacturing business. "A calibrated color fax would save us both time and money," says Tim Voegele-Downing, a design consultant for the Gucci, Christian Dior, and Burberry fashion firms.

Faxing that offers the exact reproduction of colors regardless of the devices involved might come to market later this year, thanks to color-calibration software developed by the French company Couleur Communication Ecriture. CCE's A ffixColor system provides a way of recalibrating color peripherals with out using expensive colorimetric instruments.

The system maps the color values used by monitors, printers, scanners, and fax machines to and from the device-independent CIELab color space. CIELab, in contrast to computer and printing industry standards, such as RGB and CMYK, includes all the colors that the human eye can perceive and represents them as mixtures of the three primary colors.

AffixColor also includes a test suite that can display variations in colorimetric quality in 2-D or 3-D. It uses a color target or a CIELab reference file to analyze any color areas that might be reproduced badly.

Color Calibration

AffixColor allows you to calibrate your own color peripherals by using your scanner as a colorimeter. First you calibrate the scanner itself by scanning CCE's test target to create a scanner-calibration profile. You can have multiple profiles for different ambient conditions, such as temperature or time of day. Then you calibrate your printer by print ing a CCE-supplied target file and scan the printed result to create a printer profile. You can recalibrate as often as needed and keep different profiles for different ink cartridges or paper stocks.

It's also possible to create monitor profiles. Ideally, this requires the use of a spectrophotometer to measure the CIELab x and y values for red, green, blue, and white pixels. But you can also use the monitor manufacturer's x and y values or a visual comparison with a scanned CIELab color target.

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Where to Find

CCE
Domont, France
Phone:    +33 1 39 35 4880
Fax:      +33 1 39 35 0289

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Color Calibration Goes Modal

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AffixColor controls the deviation of color reproduction of a printer and a reference.