ImagXpress 13 for ActiveX - User Guide > Concepts > Color Management Overview |
Different devices (scanners, monitors and printers) have different interpretations of the digital values for colors. Not only are the interpretations different from device to device, but so is the "gamut", the range of realizable colors. In other words, some devices can display/output/print colors that others can not. Without managing this problem, the colors in a scanned source image will differ from the colors in the image displayed on a monitor and from the colors in the image when printed.
ICM provides a solution to this color accuracy problem. ICM processes all "white" images via a standardized intermediate scheme; the Profile Connection Space (PCS). When an image is scanned, the image from the scanner is adjusted for that particular scanner's profile (data file) to convert it into the PCS. Prior to displaying or printing the image, the image is converted from the PCS to the monitor or printer's color space using the monitor's or printer's profile.
Each device (scanner, monitor, printer) has an associated color profile, which indicates how to convert between the device-specific color space and the PCS. Images have an associated color profile, which indicates how color data is currently represented in that image. This provides flexibility in where image color management is performed.
For example, a source image which loads into ImagXpress, then printed, can be converted to the printer's color space: by the application prior to loading into ImagXpress; by ImagXpress during processing; by the PrintPRO component; by the printer driver; or by the printing device. Therefore, the application must specify whether Image Color Management should be performed by the ImagXpress control or not.