Color Mania - OS or what? [Was: Re: Automated BG Color change?]

Well said.

Another point to keep in mind is that the rendering is also highly
dependant on the video card itself. Everything being the same, if you
just change your video card, you might come across some rather
apparent differences in colours. And yes, sometimes even in the same
brand/model! This is something that I have tested on:
 - S3 cards (both PCI & AGP ... with 2 & 4 Mb of VRAM)
 - SiS cards (AGP ... 4 Mb of VRAM)
 - ASUS Riva TNT2 cards (AGP ... 16 & 32 Mb of VRAM)
I don't think you guys want me to give chipsets for the above?

Another factor that will greatly affect the display is the ambient
lighting! Sounds strange? Just try this if you want to test it out
yourself... Use one full screen image...
1. See it with no other lights on... completely dark room.
2. See it in only natural lighting - windows only (the one in walls!)
3. With only fluroscent lights on
4. With tungsten light source in the room.
5. Try mixing these light sources.
6. Try moving the light source to
   . behind you
   . behind the monitor
   . overhead
Learn something from doing it? ;)

Digressing a little, let me recound a little incident:
I actually went to the extent of taking a photo, scanning it HIGH
resolution and used the tweak utility of my video card to change the
RGB/gamma of display to match it .... till i realised that the scanner
has it's own problems in "recognising" colours *that* accurately.
Different scanners will give you different output of the same
photograph even if they are the same model! There you go... I tested
this using a few units of HP Scanmaker 3200 and two of 5200 series.
Bingo! The brightness/contrast differences (which eventually end up
affecting everything!) were apparent. And of course, using Photoshop
(without changing my RGB/gamma) I was able to bring the onscreen
display of the image to match with the photograph pretty close. And
*then* I realised that in trying to scan the image at high res and
then shrinking it down to fit my 72 dpi display unit, I was *again*
affecting the image quality! doh! :-�

I think I read it on some HWGian list:
"... nothing is predictable in this black art ..."
(if i remember it correctly)

[abhay]

PS: And I have a few stories about print media too!
    Anybody interested? ;)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ted Temer" <temer(at)c-zone.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2000 1:02 AM

...
> You should be aware that the subject of color is far more
> involved than whether a Mac or PC is used. In the first
> place this lighter or darker business refers to common
> defaults found on some brands of monitors, regardless of
> platform.
>
> The print world has struggled with this for years. There
> are several "color matching" systems around now but even
> it is not all that reliable. Even the Kelvin Temp. of the
> light source near the monitor screen will affect the observed
> "color". And of course, you don't have a chance at anything
> near correct color unless you have a "super" video card and
> are running the full 16 million colors.
>
> And Printing on a piece of paper ??? Just what IS white
> anyway?? Believe me, the subtle differences in the "whiteness"
> of the medium the job is printed on will make a real
> difference in the color the eye sees from the light reflected
> off that piece of paper. And once past that, you are at the
> mercy of the printer. You should see the difference between
> an Ink Jet and a Color Laser. Then if it is printed by a
> commercial printer, how close do they mix the inks and to
> what standard?? And will the job be printed on the same
> whiteness of paper??
...
> Just as the web page is at the mercy of the surfer's browser
> settings, so too is our color at the mercy of six and a half
> jillion different monitors. If your pics are always too light
> or dark for the "other" platform, there is always the
> brightness adjustment on your monitor.
...

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