RE: Measuring density with Spectrolino
RE: Measuring density with Spectrolino
- Subject: RE: Measuring density with Spectrolino
- From: "Steve Lawrence" <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 11:24:33 +0100
- Thread-topic: Measuring density with Spectrolino
>
I'm sure I must be missing something but I'm trying to find a
>
way to measure the density of c,m,y,& k solids on a control
>
strip using a Spectrolino. I can't seem to find any options
>
in Measuretool that will let me measure density. Can anyone
>
point me in the right direction?
Sadly MeasureTool doesn't allow you to take density measurements at this
time, though I wish it would. As others have noted, KeyWizard and
SpectroChart from GretagMacbeth will allow you to do it.
KeyWizard allows you to take a measurement and select one or more
different ways of reporting it, such as density, spectral, lab etc. The
value(s) are inserted into the application with the current focus at
it's insertion cursor. It's therefore somewhat of a conduit to allow you
to enter measurement data into any application. Great for entering a
small set of values into Excel to do some calculations on. As it is
designed for taking single measurements, it does not control the
SpectroScan for automated measurements, it is not well suited for
reading a large set of swatches unless you have a lot of patience.
As the name suggests SpectroChart is designed for the measurement of
testcharts. As a result it can control the SpectroScan for automated
testchart reading. It comes with definitions of the standard testcharts
and the type of measurement it reports is defined in the testchart
definition. So for example the characterisation testcharts return CIE
XYZ and LAB measurements as you would expect. Off the top of my head I
can't recall whether it has definitions for standard control strips and
whether they return the density measurements you might expect.
Certainly the full version of SpectroChart allows you to define your own
charts and would allow you to define a control strip of your own design
and take density measurements for it. I've designed calibration
testcharts with it that use density measurements with good success. The
software has a database concept that allows you to record each measured
testchart as a "job". So you can build up a history of measurement
sessions.
Another feature you may find useful is that once you have defined your
own chart it can be imported into the Lite version of the software which
is free. In that way if you have several SpectroScan / SpectroLino's you
can use your own chart without having to buy several copies of the full
version of SpectroChart if cost is a problem or they will simply be
measuring charts. The caveat to that approach is that the Lite version
is a greatly simplified version of the software. You lose the database
concept and the window that shows the chart swatches closes when the
last swatch is measured. So if you wander off the only way to sanity
check the measurements is to open and examine the values in the
measurement file.
The version of SpectroChart I have is dongled. I can't recall to what
extent you can use it in a limited dongless demo mode, but it's not a
big app so you could download it and take a look. You certainly can
download the user manual for both applications from the GretagMacbeth
website to get a feel for them. BTW all of my experiences are with the
Wintel versions of the software but I believe the Mac version has the
same features.
Other alternatives spring to mind. GretagMacbeth's higher end software
for QA etc. will also let you take density measurements but you're going
up in price. Third party QA / process control software is also
available. As mentioned there is Bruce Lindbloom's excel spreadsheets
that convert from spectral measurements. Thanks to Bruce as always for
his generous gifts to the community.
Regards,
Steve
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