PSPx4 SP1 & Color Working Space

[B4b5]

Probably a typical newbie question - but:

1. I don't know if I have SP1 installed (see my "About" window).
SP1 doesn't install, it just informs me that an update is not required at this time.

2. I thought SP1 included additional "Color space" selections (see my Color Working Space window)
no other option exist in the drop-down lists.

3. Is there a folder in the file system where I can just drop an ICC profile so it appears in the drop-down list?

Any insight would be appreciated...

[LeviFiction]

Sp1 includes new color themes for the workspace. Not new ICC profiles for the working space. If you go to the view menu you can choose between dark, medium grey, light grey or blue.

That is what was meant, but it looks like you have SP1.

Otherwise I am not familiar with adding more profiles. I have a large list already so....no idea.

[B4b5]

Sp1 includes new color themes for the workspace. Not new ICC profiles for the working space. If you go to the view menu you can choose between dark, medium grey, light grey or blue.

That is what was meant, but it looks like you have SP1.

Otherwise I am not familiar with adding more profiles. I have a large list already so....no idea.

Thank you for the reply...

I can choose between background colors; I thought SP1 must be installed; but I did read somewhere that SP1 also added the ability to choose between
"Color Working Spaces", and the Documentation for PSPx4 states that a Color Working Space can be selected from the drop-down list,
but - sRGB is the only one accessible in my list.

I also use ASP which comes with several selectable ICC Profiles and since I know where the reside,
just wondered if one of them could be copied into some PSP folder?

[teknisyan]

Actually LeviFiction is correct. Just incase, you can refer to the SP1 Note at http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index. ... id=3000009

For your reference, I've pasted the info below.

Notes:

Service Pack 1 is now available for Corel PaintShop Pro X4. This update includes new color workspace options, improvements to the HDR workflow, enhanced RAW support, and a range of fixes and changes that address feedback from our users.

Important notes

Workspace warning: The enhancements to the workspace are significant. If you created a custom workspace in PaintShop Pro X4, it will not be compatible after you apply this service pack.
Icons: Many users expressed an interest in color icons and the option to change the size of the icons. Here’s how you can activate the new icon options: In the Edit workspace, right-click a toolbar, and choose Customize. Click the Options tab and choose the icon settings that you want
Workspace color: You can now choose a workspace color. Here’s how: In the Edit workspace, click View > Workspace Color, and choose the option that you want.

IMPORTANT: To install this update, the original CD may be required. Please note: each application has a version number. If you want to know the full version number of your installation, click Help, About in any Corel application, or check the volinfo.txt file at the root of Programs CD.

[LeviFiction]

As for color profiles. I've been having a look around.

In your Paint SHop Pro documents folders (My Documents/Corel Paint SHop Pro/14/) you'll find two folders. One for CMYK profiles and one for monitor profiles. These are folders you drag and drop profiles into for monitor and CMYK options.

But for Color Working Spaces it would seem that it works off of installed color spaces. For example if I download an ICC bundle from Adobe and right-click on one of the color spaces it'll give me the option to "install workspace" into Windows itself. I believe this is what PSP uses, so if you install the profile into Windows PSP should be able to read it.

[B4b5]

In your Paint SHop Pro documents folders (My Documents/Corel Paint SHop Pro/14/) you'll find two folders. One for CMYK profiles and one for monitor profiles. These are folders you drag and drop profiles into for monitor and CMYK options.

Thanks LeviFiction that's the exact thing I'm trying to accomplish... Thank you too Abiel, but I get that point...

On first inspection the two folders that you mention are empty - So I copied "ProPhotoRGB.icm" to "C:\Users\B4b5\Documents\Corel PaintShop Pro\14.0\Monitor Profiles"
and restarted PSP; but sRGB remains the only profile visible from within the (PSP) program...

Do you have profiles in your "Documents\Corel PaintShop Pro\14.0\Monitor Profiles" folder?

I also checked the windows folder (Windows > System32 > Spool > Drivers > Color) which has several profiles but they seem to be for printers and do not show up in PSP...

I must be missing something!

[LeviFiction]

There are three kinds of profiles that I am aware of (and I know next to nothing about these things): Monitor profiles, Printer Profiles, and Color Space profiles.

If you already know this, or know that I'm going wrong on a few details forgive me but I need to work out how I understand the situation.

The Monitor Profiles and Printer profiles deal specifically with how color is interpreted and sent to the monitor and printer. By using the correct profiles you can make sure that what you see on the screen is exactly what comes out on the Printer (or almost exactly).

The color space is what colors the computer is trying to interpret. SRGB(239,43,73) is not necessarily the same as AdobeRGB(1998) (239,43,73). They use the same numbers but the resulting color might be ever so slightly different.

So all three work together to try and match things up nicely as you pass files between computers with different monitors and different printers to make sure they all come out the same.

The folders inside of PaintShop Pro folder are for the Monitor and Printer profiles specifically. These go to a completely different dialog than the one you're looking at. Those fall under the "Color Management" dialog.

Color Working Space looks for installed Color Space profiles. To install a colorspace profile you need to download the profile, right-click on it and select "Install Profile" and it should install inside of Windows and you'll have lots of options.

To test this out download these color space profiles from Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/ ... rm=windows

[B4b5]

Color Working Space looks for installed Color Space profiles.

Thanks again LeviFiction, that really helped me understanding how PSP picks up Color Working Space options.

It's way different from AfterShot Pro which maintains its own color profiles - not necessarily installed in Windows.

For PSP they do need to be installed; but the best way to install them is with (Win-7) control panel applet "Color Management" (XP has some small .exe for this job)...
In the applet just "Add..." & browse to the Profile you want installed. Like magic it shows up in PSP. The only small glitch is that with the "Pro Photo RGB"
profile that I borrowed from ASP - PSP wants to convert Embedded "Kodak ProPhoto RGB" tiff, to "ProPhoto RGB" even though they are both the same thing...
You can see in the snip below that ASP named the "ProPhoto RGB" file differently from what the computer knows it to be...

You might think its a simple matter of changing a file name but it isn't; that just complicates things. Since I only relate the use of ASP - PSP one way,
I have just surpressed the coversion warning.

It took a while to figure it out but now I have ASP & PSP operating on the same Color Working Space

I don't know if everyone else already knows all of this, but I haven't seen it discussed elsewhere so maybe it can help some others.

[JRosenfeld]

A useful little tool to compare color profiles (in XP with .net framework 1.1, not sur whether it would work in Win 7) is the MS Color management powertoy. You can also use it to install the profiles and/or associate them with appropriate devices.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/de ... n&id=12714

[B4b5]

A useful little tool to compare color profiles

I saw that XP utility, but didn't play with it... Microsoft doesn't list Win-7 as being compatible.
As near as I can determine - the utility - WinColorSetup.exe gives XP the same facility as the built-in (Win-7) control panel applet called "Color Management".

[JRosenfeld]

right. I'm still on XP so did not know about Win7 inbuilt color management.

[df]

If you set the Colorspace in PSP to ProPhoto then what does the output look like on a non-colorspace friendly application? As far as I know, most browsers don't support it, which is why I'm leery of even using Adobe RGB or the like over sRGB. If you send the file to another computer which doesn't have ProPhoto RGB profiles, will it know what to do with the colors?

[B4b5]

If you send the file to another computer which doesn't have ProPhoto RGB profiles, will it know what to do with the colors?

I believe, as a rule if the next computer doesn't know about ProPhoto RGB it will simply treat the image with its own default color space. Probably sRGB.

After all that fooling around with "ProPhoto" it appears that ProPhoto RGB will only do you some good if you are working with ultra high
quality (Lab Quality) hardware - Monitors, Printers, Paper & Ink...

For mere mortals (like me) who make images almost exclusively for use on the www, it doesn't get much better than good old fashioned sRGB...

I'm getting my best results Keeping both ASP-Output-Images & PSP-Color-Working-Space set to sRGB.

If it's on the web and you're seeing it on your (mere mortal) monitor it's probably sRGB.