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Author Topic: Microsoft Paint as an alternative to ACPU?  (Read 1694 times)

nirpat89

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Microsoft Paint as an alternative to ACPU?
« on: September 21, 2017, 09:37:18 am »

I had used Microsoft Paint (free accessory that comes with Windows) as a print utility before but not specifically to print “non-color managed” files.  After only recently understood some of the concepts related to the issue on several threads here, I wondered why one couldn't use Paint as an alternative to ACPU.  It seems to me that it has no color management facility.  It prints whatever file you open as is, taking in jpegs as well as tiffs.  The advantage over ACPU is that it has a good (enough) page layout capability so the image can be placed properly on the page.  What I do not know is whether it inadvertently does anything to the size of the image in the print like what happens in ACPU.  If it does not, then that would be an added bonus.  I have printed same files on both ACPU and Paint with no discernible, color-wise, difference (by my untrained eye though) between the two. 

So the question is:  Am I correct in this proposition or am I overlooking a pitfall or two?
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digitaldog

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Re: Microsoft Paint as an alternative to ACPU?
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2017, 10:43:32 am »

You'd have to output the targets in that product, and ACPU, them measure both and come up with a dE report. You could just view them side by side but I'd not put huge faith in that approach.
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Doug Gray

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Re: Microsoft Paint as an alternative to ACPU?
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2017, 01:39:49 pm »

You'd have to output the targets in that product, and ACPU, them measure both and come up with a dE report. You could just view them side by side but I'd not put huge faith in that approach.

I just did that as a backup in case I1Profiler stops printing and I need a crosscheck to the null transform I use in Photoshop in the event Adobe alters it.

Works great. Matches to an ave dE2k of .19 on Isis 2 with I1Profiler.  One caveat. Paint options have to be carefully selected in both the page setup and printer options to 100% scale and no resizing. Otherwise the thing will resize like ACPU.  I'd recommend using a metric scale and measuring the row size. s/b exactly  6 mm * #of patches. It took a few tries to get the print options w/o compression.
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nirpat89

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Re: Microsoft Paint as an alternative to ACPU?
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2017, 03:09:46 pm »

I just did that as a backup in case I1Profiler stops printing and I need a crosscheck to the null transform I use in Photoshop in the event Adobe alters it.

Works great. Matches to an ave dE2k of .19 on Isis 2 with I1Profiler.  One caveat. Paint options have to be carefully selected in both the page setup and printer options to 100% scale and no resizing. Otherwise the thing will resize like ACPU.  I'd recommend using a metric scale and measuring the row size. s/b exactly  6 mm * #of patches. It took a few tries to get the print options w/o compression.

Doug, thanks for that validation.  I knew you would be a customer!  Nice to have this as a backup.  Only for Windows though.

:Niranjan.
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