Companion color calibration woes
right now im away from home with only my cintiq companion and an ipad to paint on. Ive always had lots of trouble with the colours on the companion and where i usually have great results running a spyder calibration on my desktop its given me wierd profiles on the companion. Ive run a calibration today and while the screen looked fine at first after a night of painting i compare the result on ipad and it looks radically different: on the ipad it has a lot less contrast and a lot more saturation. Now with some anal tweaking i can get the companion looking a lot closer to the ipad but now im wondering: how representative is an ipad screen? Looking at some of my favourite art on both i feel it looks better on the spyder calibrated companion screen...
So what to trust? Ipad or Spyder?
I know the obvious choice would be the spyder calibrated screen but as said it has given me odd results on the companion in the past, most notably with overdark values and crazy blue tints...
So what to trust? Ipad or Spyder?
I know the obvious choice would be the spyder calibrated screen but as said it has given me odd results on the companion in the past, most notably with overdark values and crazy blue tints...
Replies
Colorimeter sensors have an aging tendency and getting inaccurate with time. I read about it but can't say what a reliable time frame for a Spyder.
Also not sure if you know it or not but colorimeter fixes colors inside Photoshop and such and not inside Max. Maya or Zbrush automatically. For having right colors there you have to properly adjust monitor settings itself rather than profile rgb curves
are you sure about that? usually the spyder-thing adjusts the monitor color settings.
but actually i would say you cant trust either, because you might have calibrated your one screen, that doesn't mean that it doesn't look completely different on any other screen, like the ipad.
i don't realy see the point of calibrating a single screen with spyder, i thought that was only used in offices to ensure all employee-screens have the same colors.
maby im just dumb and don't know how this stuff works X)
And then, as a second step, the calibration soft creates the profile by slightly fine tunes rgb curves over what you have adjusted by hand initially.
For Max, Maya, game engines only initial step is important since they don't adjust on screen colors based on monitor profile .
Photoshop does have its own color engine that before open a file compares file color space profile/info with monitor profile and recalculate on screen colors accordingly. So it designed to show colors and contrast 100% correct if you have a properly calibrated/profiled monitor . And as such 100% similar on any computer.
ps. BTW I bought iPad probably with the same purpose. To have something commonly known as having more or less nice out of box colors to keep track of my colorimeter/main monitor performance. So if the difference is getting too big I would try to borrow a new calibrator at first.
Also try to find a kind of profile checker. It checks what monitor profile is curently set as default. There was one on X-rite site somewhere. Sometimes games drops default monitor profile somehow once go from full screen to windowed.
Sums up fairly nicely why you would calibrate a screen to be as accurate as possible.
I actually think ill drive to a friends house tonight to compare screens, im really trying to get good at painting warm light and stuff and the uncertainty of whether the screen is lying is starting to really bug me..
ps. to be honest i didn't use it for ages
Maybe this : http://www.xrite.com/i1display-2/support/d546
But probably it's actually redundant thing for modern Windows
Gonna see how it deals with my desktop setup at home to check if its the spyder itself or if the problem is the spyder + companion combo. I actually suspect the latter, that companion is an odd duck...
As of profiles I noticed that more expensive monitors tends to show less difference after the calibration than the cheap ones. But I never saw it's getting worse after the calibration.
One thing to keep in mind is that manual ( by the monitor harware buttons) part of calibration is important. Some colorimeters offer a simple "easy" way of doing all by a profile rgb curves whatever weird thing you set initially with monitor buttons. It's not a right way imo.
You just explained every interaction I've ever had with a color calibration tool.
That being said, I wanted to mention,
This sort of defeats the purpose of monitor calibration. The calibration process generally automatically adjusts (or has you manually adjust) your monitor's brightness, contrast, and color settings - and uses those settings in combination with giving your system a custom video LUT (look up table) to ensure accurate (or as close to accurate as possible) color display. Your video LUT is loaded with your operating system (on Windows, I think macs can switch LUTs once they're loaded if you want), so assuming you don't mess with your monitor settings, you have a calibrated screen. It's true that not all software (including some web browsers!) supports or accurately implements color profile usage, but I still wouldn't recommend trying to eyeball adjust your settings after calibration. You would probably be better off finding ways to ensure the software you're using respects color profiles when relevant (it might not always be relevant).
Also, just because someone uses a screen professionally shouldn't mean much to you unless you know the circumstances of how they're using it and their setup. An uncalibrated screen is an uncalibrated screen - that same screen might wind up losing a hefty percentage of its brightness capabilities over the span of a year or two without the user knowing unless they're calibrating it regularly, etc. I also find that depending on the profession, some folks intentionally calibrate their monitors not for accurate color representation - but to match something like a specific printer's output as closely as possible. It has happened to me on numerous occasions going to a print shop and loading up my work on their designer's "calibrated" screens, only to find I'm missing out on a variety of values.
tl;dr - A properly calibrated screen should produce work that looks good on most monitors, laptop screens, and mobile devices. There will always be differences - you're not looking for total unification, that is impossible. You're looking to make sure you're working from the most accurate, and widest possible color/value range. If your colorimeter doesn't seem to be doing that for you, then it might be time to invest in a new one you know is compatible with your type of display.
I meant to adjust before automatic calibration,not after. Maybe it depends on calibration software but I have never been able to get nice result without initial proper adjusting. If I didn't do so it have always been a subtle color difference in between game engine and Photoshop.
From what I know 3d soft don't do profile based on screen color correction. I use pretty old Max so may be wrong regarding the current one. As of video LUT I am not sure if OP cintiq with HD4000 have/uses video LUT at all.
so does a measuring tape measure distance differently everyday?
It will correctly measure something which changes sizes over time, yes. I've done all the monitor calibration stuff at the studio here and ... well yeah, it works really well. Couldn't recommend it enough
don't get me wrong, i completely see how it makes sense in a studio environment, or any environment involving multiple screens.
But absolutely must if you work from home or in a small group. Especially if you work in realistic style where subtle nuances are extremely important.
I do believe my i1 have always helped me to provide that tiny competitive advantage that could grant a job
I normally swear by my spyder but again the companion seems to just not wanna play nice with it.
Two Listen: hmm yeah good point about the other guys screen, he's a photographer so he might just be focusing on print output, not sure. For now i'll just stick with everything on default but as said will do some testing when i get home and maybe have another serious talk with the good folks at wacom.