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Author Topic: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?  (Read 7861 times)

Royce Howland

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X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« on: March 20, 2016, 06:18:16 pm »

Is anybody out there successfully using a current gen X-Rite i1io (mine is Rev 3) with an i1 Pro 2 spectro, to do dual illuminant scans? My understanding from the skimpy X-Rite documentation is that this is supported if running current drivers and firmware. But so far I'm having zero luck getting dual scan mode to work in i1Profiler. I can't yet tell if it's just the usual flaky X-Rite software behavior, or if in fact dual scan is not supported despite some info saying it is. (Including the release notes for i1io firmware version 1.0.7; I'm running 1.0.8.)

As a side note, the usual flaky X-Rite software seems more than usually flaky with the i1io. I've so far installed it on 3 different machines trying to get it to work. Complete failure on a Windows 7 laptop (my primary traveling computer for colour work), pretty much complete failure on a Mac Pro (the primary machine at the large format print shop where I work), and so far success only in single scan M0 mode on my main personal Windows 7 workstation. Latest drivers, apps, firmware, etc. on all machines, all of them are otherwise working fine in all respects that I can tell.

I have a support ticket opened with X-Rite on the challenges I'm hitting so far, in particular with dual scan mode not working anywhere. But I'd appreciate any feedback from any other i1io users, whether you're having success or problems like I am...

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2016, 06:35:05 pm »

I'm running an io with 1.07 firmware. This is an old one that was upgraded to support the Pro 2 a while back. I'm running 1.6.3 of i1P on an iMac. I just tried Dual Scan and it works. I get three output TXT files when I save a CGATS file.
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Royce Howland

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2016, 09:45:23 pm »

Thanks Jeff. So at least there's an indicator it should be working. I wonder if i1io firmware 1.0.8 broke something.

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2016, 09:51:49 pm »

Have you run the i1 diagnostics. not that they tell you a lot but it may be worth a try. I think that you can back out the firmware,  from memory, by loading the older version. I did notice that 1.07 is the first release to support dual scan.

Sending stuff to X-Rite is always horrendously expensive so I'd be trying all avenues before doing that.
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Royce Howland

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2016, 09:58:47 pm »

Yeah, I ran every update and cross-check I knew how to run. After 30 years of my first career in IT I know better than to contact a vendor for support until I've exhausted every other avenue. :)

Diagnostics come back with a clean check, and as indicated it will do a single scan M0 run no problem on 1 of the 3 machines I installed it on. So I think it's not the i1io hardware, it's something in the software. Just trying to sort out a combination of versions that's working for somebody else so I can see if I can replicate a similar-enough config here. I definitely don't want to send the unit back to X-Rite, especially if it's really just their flaky software at issue.

I'll see if I can back the i1io firmware from 1.0.8 down to 1.0.7 without bricking it.

Out of curiosity, what version of XRD services are you running? (Reported in the i1Profiler main window next to the application version number.)

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2016, 12:46:41 am »

As a person who spent many years in IT support, I applaud your thoroughness. I'm on 2.3.9.8 of XRD.
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Royce Howland

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2016, 10:56:28 pm »

Just as a status update on this: still no joy. I've installed the i1io on 3 different machines -- two of them running Windows 7 Pro, one of them Mac OS X. Dual scan mode fails on all 3 installs in the same way. I was able to get a single scan M0 reading of a 4-page, 2160-patch test chart working on the second Windows 7 Pro workstation, but so far not really any luck with anything on the other two machines. Single scan M0 doesn't really have much use to me, since it's primarily M2 readings I'm after.

I opened a support ticket with X-Rite awhile back. Other than asking for a bunch of info (diagnostic logs and the like), there has been no further interaction from them. I hope they're able to produce some kind of useful debugging info otherwise the unit will have to go back. No need for a $4K paperweight...

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2016, 11:07:30 pm »

That's a bummer. A couple of things spring to mind. You may have more luck at Chromix than here. Secondly, where did you get the patch file that you are using? Third, is dusl mode selectable? I'm away at the moment so can't try anything for you.
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Royce Howland

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2016, 11:52:42 pm »

Thanks Jeff. I hadn't thought of posting at Chromix, but might do just that.

As for dual scan mode, it's selectable in i1Profiler and even starts up normally. The i1io calibrates the spectro over the white tile, which succeeds, and updates the application status window with "device ready". The app then prompts me to locate the 3 corner patches on the chart, which also succeeds. As soon as I click "read the chart", the arm immediately goes to the home position over the white tile without even attempting to read the first scan row. The app then sits there saying that it's reading row 1, but the arm never moves and nothing else ever happens.

In single scan mode it does stuff that seems normal on the one Windows 7 machine where I was able to get single scan working. I've produced a profile from a 4-page, 2160-patch chart that looks good when I evaluate it with various tools. So it feels to me like a software problem rather than the hardware. The charts are being generated within i1Profiler itself; I'm not attempting to compound debugging issues by importing patch info from somewhere else. :)

In my thinking, I can't yet discount that firmware 1.0.8 may have broken things somehow. The people I hear from with working i1io's seem to be running 1.0.7. X-Rite support said they recommend against trying to downgrade to firmware 1.0.7. But who knows, if they come up with nothing else I might try it since the machine is functionally useless to me as it is...

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #9 on: March 30, 2016, 12:10:35 am »

I've just been digging around in my old emails to X-Rite. There have been a few issues in the past with OS X needing a certain version driver. I assume that you have already checked that. Another question, can you hand scan the target?
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Royce Howland

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2016, 06:45:27 pm »

Yeah, manual scanning in single or dual scan mode works fine. I've been running an i1Pro 2 with i1Profiler for years on these same (or similar) machines. There's some usual flakiness with i1Profiler, which isn't exactly a bug-free product. But this is the first time I'm pretty much 100% stymied like this. I normally run on Windows but I'm pretty conversant with Mac OS X, which is what we use at the print shop. The XRD service seems to have caused a lot of issues in the past but from what I can tell it seems stable of late. Near as I can tell, the current combo of drivers, services, app and firmware are supposed to work. :)

Thanks for following up on this, Jeff. I'll keep banging away at it for a little while here. I think I'm going to try downgrading to firmware 1.0.7 unless the support guy definitively tells me it'll brick the device. But even then, it's not necessarily a loss since for my purposes it's non-functional now anyway...

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2016, 07:37:04 pm »

It's looking like the firmware. Good luck with it. I'd love to hear how it goes. Feel free to PM me if you need anything.
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Royce Howland

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #12 on: April 08, 2016, 02:20:47 pm »

Finally getting some traction on this issue with X-Rite support, today. They have duplicated the problem I'm having. It looks like i1io firmware 1.0.8 is the problem. We're still trying to figure out my best path forward, whether there's a work-around for using 1.0.8, or if I should try downgrading to 1.0.7, or will have to wait for a 1.0.9 that fixes the new issue.

For anyone still running i1io firmware 1.0.7 (or less), I'd say don't upgrade to 1.0.8. :)

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #13 on: April 08, 2016, 07:31:36 pm »

At least they have acknowledged the problem. Getting the fix may take a while. Hopefully, the fallback is an option.
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digitaldog

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2016, 07:55:57 pm »

It looks like i1io firmware 1.0.8 is the problem.
And their Q&E (testing) folks. Should never have been released IF that's the issue.
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Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #15 on: April 08, 2016, 08:39:53 pm »

You're surprised, Andrew?
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digitaldog

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #16 on: April 08, 2016, 09:12:50 pm »

You're surprised, Andrew?
Disappointed.
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Royce Howland

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #17 on: April 20, 2016, 11:36:55 pm »

Here's an update on this. After weeks of little traction with X-Rite support, thanks to the guy handling my case I finally have work-arounds for two separate diagnosed problems. Well, I call them work-arounds. X-Rite calls it "methodology". :) I expect my support case will be closed, and will await some future software update that may make things work a little better. But at least right now I have a way to get work done with my i1io.

Diagnosed issue #1 is one I believe is caused by i1io firmware 1.0.8. It hasn't been confirmed, and in fact even suggested that the firmware is not the issue despite a description of changes made from 1.0.7 -> 1.0.8 that point a smoking gun to this user, having a 30-year IT background as I do. I presume normally when using a target on for example US letter sheet, one aligns it on the i1io scanning table in a horizontal layout, with the sheet fully within the black lines on the electrostatic mat delineating the scanning area. If you do that with firmware 1.0.8, the hardware will fail to even attempt to scan the target sheet in dual scan mode.

The work-around suggested by X-Rite support, which I've found works, is to instead orient the target sheet vertically on the table. (I may have tried this eventually, but hadn't thought of it yet. No longer used to the mental mechanics needed to fully deal with technology diagnostics & work-arounds, I guess.) The top & bottom of the dashed line around the patch region most likely will fall outside the black lines on the electrostatic mat. However as long as the patches themselves fall reasonably within the mat's lines, the i1io will now read everything fine. Since one of the changes made in firmware 1.0.8 was to tighten up arm movement limitations to prevent some situations where it could swing out of its intended range and be damaged, I infer a bug in the logic that screws up normal layout reading in dual scan mode. But who knows. Vertically oriented sheets on a horizontal delineated scanning area is now the approved "methodology".

Diagnosed issue #2 was getting compounded into the first one, until I starting separating out variables & trying to isolate things. This one is a combined X-Rite and Adobe issue, and relates to the long known thing where the Adobe Color Printing Utility (ACPU) slightly downscales target sheets printed on the Windows platform. In my case, the patches come out about 4% narrower and shorter than they should.

The i1io will begin to read a multi-page set of ACPU printed target sheets, and often gets through several of them successfully. But eventually it fails in a scenario where the scanning arm moves over the entire page, line by line, as if everything is proceeding normally. But i1Profiler has become completely disconnected from the hardware, and stops reading measurements, or giving any kind of response to anything. The application sits there doing nothing until the arm finishes covering the page and resets back to the home position. Wait however long, but the application never moves forward and at this point the workflow is dead in the water. I never got a successful full reading of ACPU-printed, downscaled target sheets, even though many of the sheets appeared to read fine at the start of various test runs.

A work-around here is to upscale the target TIFF files prior to printing them via ACPU. Then the i1io reads the entire set just fine, as long as work-around #1 is followed. It's possible that using a larger patch size might succeed with ACPU targets, without having to upscale the TIFF's. I have yet to test that specific point with ACPU printed targets. I kind of suspect a firmware 1.0.8 problem on this one too, related to target sheet layout logic problems. Again, who knows.

Hopefully this may help somebody else avoid a month of downtime. Simple work-arounds in the end, and in my own defense I might have eventually figured them out without waiting for X-Rite support. But it certainly is annoying to have ridiculous issues like this with supposedly mature, reasonably high-end products.

And of course, these are just the issues that were totally preventing the i1io from working at all. Other more "normal" i1Profiler issues remain, like the application losing communications with the i1Pro partway through a scan run. Or the application crashing at various points for no obvious reason. These things happened before with manual target sheet scans. I've learned to live with them, now at least the i1io will make re-running the targets faster...

Jeff-Grant

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2016, 11:45:24 pm »

I guess that the good news is that you have a workaround, but it's a drama that you should not have had. One question though, why use ACPU? I have used i1P to print targets without any issues. Haven't used it for quite a while as I've been mainly doing B&W of late.
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digitaldog

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Re: X-Rite i1io support for dual scan mode?
« Reply #19 on: April 24, 2016, 09:51:44 am »

One question though, why use ACPU? I have used i1P to print targets without any issues.
That's the preferable way to print the targets. No scaling.
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