How do you know if your color is right???
Wednesday, September 4, 2002 by goodmorphing | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
When I look at stuff I did with my old monitor the color is all off! How do you know that you are making art that is true in color? I am kind of embarrassed now, at the work I did before. Is there a universal color test?
goodmorphing
Reply #2 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 10:56 PM
Reply #2 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 10:56 PM
Thank you Koasati.... I never even thought that something I made with one computer could look so different on another. It left me feeling very insecure!
WOM
Reply #3 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:00 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:00 PM
Gm- Did you try one of those programs? If so how did it do?
goodmorphing
Reply #4 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:30 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:30 PM
I have downloaded the free one, I haven't gotten a chance to try it. As soon as I do, I will leave a note here!
kith
Reply #6 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:36 PM
Reply #6 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:36 PM
Have you tried:
Display Properties
Settings
Advanced
Color Mangement
Add
Then setting a profile. It really helped out with my monitor.
Display Properties
Settings
Advanced
Color Mangement
Add
Then setting a profile. It really helped out with my monitor.
WasupBoy
Reply #7 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:36 PM
Reply #7 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:36 PM
Hey GM if that program doesn't work, try my solution! Try fixing your Video Card's Driver (update it or fix it if its messed up)
If you don't know leave a message, i'll look for updates...
(sometimes.. i feel kinda old when i help people with these software stuffs)
WasupBoy
If you don't know leave a message, i'll look for updates...
(sometimes.. i feel kinda old when i help people with these software stuffs)
WasupBoy
WasupBoy
Reply #8 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:39 PM
Reply #8 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:39 PM
Hey Bill_sawyer i tried your way (since u said it helps out the moniter, but i dunno wat profile to add 
!) but i dunno which one cuz i dont' have a default one lol
!) but i dunno which one cuz i dont' have a default one lol
Koasati
Reply #9 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:43 PM
Reply #9 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:43 PM
I've tried them both now...........the free one is just a good as the shareware.
kith
Reply #10 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:44 PM
Reply #10 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:44 PM
There should be some defaults already in your Color folder. Do any match your monitor?
WasupBoy
Reply #11 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:44 PM
Reply #11 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:44 PM
lol i dunno i'll try again i just don't seem to find one lol
WasupBoy
Reply #13 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:52 PM
Reply #13 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 11:52 PM
Hey Bill should i add everthing that works to the profile?
goodmorphing
Reply #14 Thursday, September 5, 2002 1:28 AM
Reply #14 Thursday, September 5, 2002 1:28 AM
I like the free one! It will take some time to learn it. Bill Sawyer... I am going to try your suggestions next. Thanks!
PS.... the free one that Koasati linked helped take out those wrinkles... it was in the moire adjustment. I just have to read up about that and understand it.
And that degausse was interesting. Also the ones that helped with geometric alignment.... those were REALLY helpful!
Thanks so much
PS.... the free one that Koasati linked helped take out those wrinkles... it was in the moire adjustment. I just have to read up about that and understand it.
And that degausse was interesting. Also the ones that helped with geometric alignment.... those were REALLY helpful!
Thanks so much
bakerstreet
Reply #16 Thursday, September 5, 2002 8:58 AM
Reply #16 Thursday, September 5, 2002 8:58 AM
A note on calibration apps. If your monitor is a reasonably new one, you will be in the small minority of those that calibrate, and so you might make what you see less-accurate as compared to what most people see. I know that what I see after using Adobe Gamma is very different from what I see when I go to the library or a friends house to double check the same peice. When I leave my monitor stock, the color-shifting is so small and uniform (on reasonably new monitors) that everything still looks good, even though it is a bit different. Colors can even vary on a new monitor for the first few minutes after you boot up, so I let mine get good and warm for about 15 minutes before I start.
The only place I have really had trouble with color is using drop-shadowed JPEGs combined with numeric background colors for the web. The colors shift a teeeny bit when you compress the images. You'll tweek the UI to perfection on your own monitor and then you'll go to a friend's house and it won't even be close to blending with the background. Anytime I need to do this I use a small, equally-compressed (same app) JPEG swatch as the background.
I have had this trouble in skins a bit as well. If you use different programs to make the JPEGS, the compression will be different, and it will look like patchwork to some people. Sometimes the font color won't match the skin, either. A good test is to drop your own screen color-depth to 256 and see if your colors are still all seemless and uniform. If not, the varied compression will show on some older monitors. I dunno if PNG has the same problem.
if you are really, really paranoid that what you see might not be seeing the real thing, there are fancy thingamajiggers for sale that attach to the screen to self-calibrate the monitor optically. (I played with one, and found it to be economically equivalent to throwing money in the twa-let.) The people I talk to that do design for magazines pretty much say they have to take what they see on the screen with a grain of salt, and go by industry-standard numeric color values.
Anyway, i'm rambling... If your monitor is old, calibrate it, but if it is new, I'd leave it alone.
The only place I have really had trouble with color is using drop-shadowed JPEGs combined with numeric background colors for the web. The colors shift a teeeny bit when you compress the images. You'll tweek the UI to perfection on your own monitor and then you'll go to a friend's house and it won't even be close to blending with the background. Anytime I need to do this I use a small, equally-compressed (same app) JPEG swatch as the background.
I have had this trouble in skins a bit as well. If you use different programs to make the JPEGS, the compression will be different, and it will look like patchwork to some people. Sometimes the font color won't match the skin, either. A good test is to drop your own screen color-depth to 256 and see if your colors are still all seemless and uniform. If not, the varied compression will show on some older monitors. I dunno if PNG has the same problem.
if you are really, really paranoid that what you see might not be seeing the real thing, there are fancy thingamajiggers for sale that attach to the screen to self-calibrate the monitor optically. (I played with one, and found it to be economically equivalent to throwing money in the twa-let.) The people I talk to that do design for magazines pretty much say they have to take what they see on the screen with a grain of salt, and go by industry-standard numeric color values.
Anyway, i'm rambling... If your monitor is old, calibrate it, but if it is new, I'd leave it alone.
goodmorphing
Reply #17 Thursday, September 5, 2002 1:06 PM
Reply #17 Thursday, September 5, 2002 1:06 PM
Thanks, bakerstreet. This is a brand new monitor. Dropping the color depth for a doublecheck seems like a good, simple idea.
The piece that looked so bad was a small gif on a black background, only with my new monitor I could see the blackground was some shade of black. It looked very amature. In fact, with the new monitor, I am seeing a lot of detail that I never saw before.
The piece that looked so bad was a small gif on a black background, only with my new monitor I could see the blackground was some shade of black. It looked very amature. In fact, with the new monitor, I am seeing a lot of detail that I never saw before.
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Reply #1 Wednesday, September 4, 2002 3:33 AM
http://www.passmark.com/products/monitortest.htm
I haven't tried this one yet.....freeware
http://www.construnet.hu/nokia/Monitors/TEST/monitor_test.html