[CREATE] ink/paper simulation

[Kai-Uwe Behrmann]

Am 11.07.09, 02:09 +0200 schrieb Christoph Schäfer:
> Let me first describe the status of emulating background colours in Scribus.
> It's rather primitive, as it only permits to define an emulation of the
> printing material based on a Qt colour dialog (RGB/HSV values).
>
> What we need instead is a database of colour values of real-world colours of
> printing materials, and these must not be restricted to paper, even though
> paper would be a good start.
>
> It hasn't been exactly a secret, but I didn't publish my efforts so far, so
> here's a short description of what I've been doing wrt Free
> software/standards recently: I have sent emails to about 300 colour vendors
> all over the world (the exception being Pantone, as we all know their
> stance). In addition, I also spent countless hours on the phone with
> negotiations.

So you are collecting just D50/D65 Lab's of paint? ... which is great in 
itself.

> I hope you keep this message low-profile for the time being, but the real
> message is: Please send me links to every paper manufacturer you know of, so
> that I can ask for colour values (ideally at least D50 and D65). In my
> experience, most paper vendors don't have such values available, and in this
> case, we need someone who can actually measure the colours and provide the
> Create projects as well the respective vendors with the results (remember the
> principle of "do ut des").
>
> Paper would only be a first start, of course, as there are other materials
> (e.g. FOREX, textiles, different kinds of packaging material) that serve as a
> printing background.

... and want to extend the D50/D65 collection to media?

What about defining a way for vendors to take a picture of their 
media under certain conditions to obtain a comparable impression?
Something about D50/D65 fuzzy light, flash with non moved camera/media 
under 3 different angles and a certain useful distance, with a calibrated 
system no cheap in camera jpeg.

I had talked with vendors as well but not to the extent as you outline. 
The name Scribus is probably a well known term for print and prepress 
people to open their doors. It is completely understandable that you stick 
to your promises and increase this way the trust of vendors. They will be 
more likely open ears for future talks.

On the Create wiki was a long discussion around a colour format:
http://create.freedesktop.org/wiki/Swatches_-_colour_file_format
What is missed there is some way to define spectral data, which could be 
of great use for simulations.


kind regards
Kai-Uwe Behrmann
-- 
developing for colour management 
www.behrmann.name + www.oyranos.org