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Author Topic: Serious ColorMunki Problem – X–Rite's Deafening Silence  (Read 1565 times)

Simon J.A. Simpson

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There has been some discussion online about the ColorMunki and the inability of its software to be able to send accurate targets for printing on the Mac.  See this LULA post  Apple and Colour Management – Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Out .

This problem does not appear to be present on the Windows platform, but is a serious issue on Apple Macs with the latest versions of Mac OSX (from at least Snow Leopard 10.6.X onward).

There is a workaround but it is lengthy.

The workaround involves exporting the targets as PDFs, importing them into Photoshop (without colour management), doing a little bit of formatting, saving them as an untagged TIFF, opening them in Adobe Color Printer Utility to print them, allowing them to dry, and finally measuring the prints with the ColorMunki.  Very tedious, especially as ColorMunki does not work from a standard set of targets (except for the very first) but produces iterations of the files depending on measurements from the previously printed and scanned files.

X–Rite’s recommended solution was to use the ‘null transform’ method devised by Eric Chan, but we have been able to establish that this no longer produces accurate target prints in the later iterations of Photoshop and Mac OSX.

The last time X–Rite updated its ColorMunki software was in 2009, five years ago.

I decided to write to X–Rite, once in a letter to Thomas Vacchiano – President and CEO; and more recently by email to their Corporate HQ in the US.

After three months; a deafening silence.  I'm not sure what to make of this.

The current situation clearly not acceptable as, on the Mac, the ColorMunki software is not working as advertised, nor as promised.  X–Rite’s website promises that ColorMunki will work “without frustration” and that “ColorMunki’s superfast scanning can rapidly measure test charts in less than one minute!”.  Regrettably, not true on a Mac – if you want accurate printer profiles.

It is obvious that the procedure required to produce accurate printer profiles is unreasonably lengthy and complicated, where this is something the ColorMunki software should allow users to accomplish “without frustration … in less than one minute”.

Why will X–Rite not fix their software ?  Or perhaps they cannot ?

Would anyone from X–Rite like to say when you will fix this problem ?
Actually, it would be nice if someone from X–Rite had the courtesy to reply to my communications.
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digitaldog

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Re: Serious ColorMunki Problem – X–Rite's Deafening Silence
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2014, 11:01:56 am »

Why will X–Rite not fix their software ?  Or perhaps they cannot ?
Over the past few years, software development at X-rite has been pretty dysfunctional. I suspect they could and they of couse should fix this but they are so busy chasing their tails, coming up with new and often half baked software "soluitons" (ColorTure, and no, it is not). Best we can do is let them know how disappointed we are and hope the power's to be will return to the old X-rite GretagMacbeth days when the company had competition, a real sense of producing quality software for their otherwise very good hardware. Better than us giving up the fight.
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Jeff Magidson

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Re: Serious ColorMunki Problem – X–Rite's Deafening Silence
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2014, 07:22:45 pm »

There is a workaround but it is lengthy.

The workaround involves exporting the targets as PDFs, importing them into Photoshop (without colour management), doing a little bit of formatting, saving them as an untagged TIFF, opening them in Adobe Color Printer Utility to print them, allowing them to dry, and finally measuring the prints with the ColorMunki. 

Is this work-around documented anywhere in detail? I have not been able to get a good profile using the Colormunki and my Canon printer. I tried winging it with the print to PDF routine but did not get proper results. I was able to get good profiles with my Epson printer using the standard ColorMunki software.
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Simon J.A. Simpson

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Re: Serious ColorMunki Problem – X–Rite's Deafening Silence
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2014, 04:01:12 am »

Is this work-around documented anywhere in detail? I have not been able to get a good profile using the Colormunki and my Canon printer. I tried winging it with the print to PDF routine but did not get proper results. I was able to get good profiles with my Epson printer using the standard ColorMunki software.


Jeff.  I'll post some instructions in this forum; hopefully within the next few days.

Even better would be if you add your voice to mine and complain direct to X–Rite.  The more people who do, the more likely they will get their act together and do something about this parlous state of affairs.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 04:03:42 am by Simon J.A. Simpson »
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Simon J.A. Simpson

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Re: Serious ColorMunki Problem – X–Rite's Deafening Silence
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2014, 05:38:22 am »

Jeff.

Now posted in this forum.
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