Hi Debora,

ICC Spec is not little complex... is VERY complex!

I have spent 5 years in developing lcms at its current state, and
still there are some arcane aspects of the ICC spec that are not
fully implemented.

The goal of lcms library is to hide such complexities and provide a
higher-level point of view to those of us dealing with ICC profiles
in real world.

Of course, a bit of understanding of ICC spec does help, but most
times you don't need that. So... if you are using lcms, you need not to
worry about if a given profile is implemented by using matrix-shaper
and curves, or LUT, or whatever. lcms handles profiles as "black
boxes". You only need to create color transforms between profiles
and apply these transforms to your raster data.

Now for your specific questions:

> what the black point is used for?

The black point is the darkest neutral color a  given device can render.
You need not to worry on that, this is an info contained in the profile.
The CMM (lcms) can use the black point to do what is know as
"Black point compensation", which is nothing but a dynamic contrast
adjustment. You surely would find a lot of info just searching the
words "black point compensation".

>What is the shaper matrix and the RGB curves I found in some tag in the profile?

Again, you need not to worry on that. This profile is implemented
by using a matrix plus a set of curves but a profile can be implemented
in a lot of different ways. lcms handles all this stuff for you.

>Which is the best intent for my purpose(I need to compare printing, and notice if 
>there are changes in color)?

If you are comparing printed media, use relative colorimetric.  If you want
nice printouts, use perceptual.  Relative colorimetric is for precision,
perceptual is for eye candy, Saturation is almost never used and
absolute colorimetric is for very specific scenarios.
Don't use absolute colorimetric until you fully understand
the chromatic adaptation effect. Else you will end in huge yellow or
blue casts.

Hope this helps
Marti Maria
The little cms project
http://www.littlecms.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Debora Vanni
To: lcms-list
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 4:35 PM
Subject: [Lcms-user] Help on ICCprofile


I have some problem with ICC profile.
I've just begun to use ICC profile and I read ICC specifications(www.color.org) but 
they are a little complex. I search around in
the web, but could anybody suggest me a site or book with all the information I need? 
I mean, somenthing with a beginning and an
end!
I still don't know a lot of thing: what the black point is used for?What is the shaper 
matrix and the RGB curves I found in some tag
in the profile?Which is the best intent for my purpose(I need to compare printing, and 
notice if there are changes in color)?
I used Lcms library successfully, but I don't know exactly how to use it.
Thanks
Debora



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