PatchTool versions

v4.0
- Added support for the X-Rite i1Pro 2 spectrocolorimeter:
- This instrument is used in the Display Check and PatchReader tools.
- Supported models: i1Pro 2 M0/M1/M2, i1Pro 2 M2 only.
- Supports the M0, M1, and M2 measurements mode for reflectance measurements.
- Supports X-Rite's XRGA calibration standard for reflectance measurements.
- Assign a Color Correction Matrix to the i1Pro 2.
- The i1Pro 2 can be used in PatchTool on a PowerPC Mac with the older i1Pro driver; in this configuration, the i1Pro 2 behaves as an i1Pro. The new i1Pro 2 features are available only in conjunction with the new i1Pro 2 driver, which requires an Intel Mac with OS X 10.5.8 Leopard or later.
- i1Pro and i1Pro 2:
- Both the older i1Pro and the new i1Pro 2 drivers are provided. The i1Pro and i1Pro 2 instruments can be used with either driver in Display Check and PatchReader. The i1Pro2 driver is XRGA compliant and the older driver is NOT XRGA compliant. The new driver is referred to in PatchTool as 'i1Pro / i1Pro 2 (XRGA)'; the older diver is referred to as 'i1Pro / i1Pro 2 (non-XRGA).' You can thus make measurements with your instruments with or without XRGA calibration.
- Calibration with the 'i1Pro / i1Pro 2 (XRGA)' driver always require that the instrument be positioned on its white calibration tile, even for measurement modes other than reflectance.
- You can assign a different Color Correction Matrix to each driver.
- PatchReader tool: PatchReader gives access to the i1Pro 2 features, with support for the M0/M1/M2 measurement conditions and for its zebra ruler optical reader. Even the older i1Pro benefits from the new i1Pro 2 driver, with the capability to use the 'patch correlation' mode with a PatchTool file.
- New CGATS export dialog: When saving measurements from any PatchReader mode, you are now presented with a dialog which enables you to select file options. These options include: a selection of data fields, spectrum scales, spectrum ranges, and decimal separators. If making measurements with multiple measurement conditions, the dialog also offers options to save the data in one or more files.
- Unconstrained measurements: Select any combination of M0/M1/M2 measurement conditions for each measurement., and get up to three spectrums, one per measurement condition, each time you push the i1Pro 2 button. You can thus see in one click the susceptibility of a paper to fluorescence. If you did measurements in multiple measurement conditions, you can export the measurements in a single file, in a separate file for each measurement condition, or in separate files plus a single file.
- Custom charts and PatchTool file: There are new options for strip measurements: an option to use or not the i1Pro 2 ruler, and an option to set the instrument to better recognize low resolution targets. These options' availability depends on the instrument, the selected driver, and the selected measurement conditions. In addition, when measurements are made in reference to a PatchTool file, you can now select to make measurements in a 'patch correlation' mode, without an i1Pro 2 ruler, where the file values are used to do a fast check on the validity of the measured data and to detect the direction of the scan. If you did measurements in multiple measurement conditions, you can select which data you want to keep, in a separate file for each measurement condition.
- Display Check tool: When using the 'i1Pro / i1Pro 2 (XRGA)' driver with either the i1Pro or the i1Pro 2, you can select an 'Adaptive measurement' mode for emission measurements in the Instrument Info dialog. When selected, the measurement time is longer for low luminance patches in order to provide more accurate measurements.
- Extract Target from Image tool: This tool, designed to directly extract the average of target patches in full size photographic images, now supports 8 bit and 16 bit TIFF CMYK images.
- Open CxF Version-3 files, such as the ones generated by the X-Rite i1Profiler program:
- Open generic *.cxf files as well as files with content-specific data, such as *.axf, *.mxf, *.txf, etc.
- Import a collection of device-independent data type measurements, plus RGB and CMYK, when available, into a PatchTool file. The measurements collections must have the same number of patches to be imported in the same file.
- Supported top level Resources: Object Collection, Color Specification Collection.
- Supported device-independent data types: Reflectance Spectrum, L*a*b*, L*C*h*, XYZ, xyY, AdobeRGB, sRGB.
- Supported device-dependent data types: RGB, CMYK.
- Non-supported elements: Custom Resources, Profile Collection, Tag Collection, and others.
- Compare window: Added DeltaCh (dCh), the chromaticness difference, in the list of available deltas. These deltas are used to compute individual differences between each pair of compared patches, in the Tabular data tab, and for global statistics in the Stats tab. The chromaticness, defined in DIN 55981, ISO 12646, and ISO/DIS 12747-8, is better used to evaluate color differences for near neutral colors, typically with a Chroma (C*) of less than seven. dCh is referred to with various symbols, such as dEc, dF*, or ds. The chromaticness difference is now included in a saved Compare file whenever L*a*b* data is selected for export.
- Info window:
- Added xyY as a selection in the color space menu.
- Added the 'CIELAB / a*b*Ch' menu item to the DeltaE* menu. With this selection, you can easily get the chromaticness difference (dCh) between any two patches of opened files.
- It is now possible to select, with a contextual popup menu, either a linear scale or a logarithmic scale for the reflectance axis of the spectrum graph.
- Export dialog: Added an option to round 8 bit RGB data when exporting data. This option is useful when exporting RGB data for programs which reject the fractional part of RGB values without rounding.
- Preferences dialog new settings:
- An 'Adaptive measurements' setting for Emission measurements done with the 'i1Pro / i1Pro 2 (XRGA)' driver; with this driver, adaptive measurements can be made with an i1Pro or i1Pro 2.
- An additional 'SPECTRAL_NM450' CGATS tag format to use when exporting CGATS file. This tag format is used by i1Profiler.
- System wide settings for the spectrum scale and the decimal separator. Improvements:
- Will now record separately the last folder used when opening or saving different file types (patch file, ICC profile, image, etc.).
- Better uniformity of the Open file dialogs and review of each dialog's preferred file formats. Bug fixes:
- CxF2 import: Will now correctly import the patches names and IDs from a CxF2 Palette when the number of patches is different for each data type within the Palette.
- PatchReader window: Corrected a bug where the Display Check window opened when clicking on the PatchReader 'Info' button. Other:
- Version 4.0 is the last version which supports Mac with PowerPC processors; future versions will support Mac with Intel processors only.