Windows XP: changing color profiles on the fly

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:56 pm

Question: How can I change the monitor profile on the fly, using Photoshop CS2 under Windows XP Pro / SP2?

Following is some more background and detail on what I'd like to do.

Using Monaco EZcolor, I have created a standard color profile (ICC/ICM file) for my desktop printer. I'm pretty sure that profile is correct, because it makes my desktop printer act just like the Lightjet 5000 printer at Calypso Imaging using the ICC/ICM files provided by them.

Using visual profiling tools (EZcolor & Adobe Gamma), I have also created two different color profiles for my monitor. One profile makes the monitor display with gamma = 2.2, great for surfing the web and editing images to be posted out. The other profile makes it match the printer(s), great for editing files to be printed. (That one turns out to be gamma = 2.6.)

What I want to do is switch quickly and easily between those two monitor profiles -- no reboot or login/logout allowed.

Both profiles are listed under Control Panel | Display | Settings | Advanced | Color Management | "Color profiles associated with this device". If I select the desired profile and click Set As Default | Apply | OK | OK, then that profile becomes active, but only after I reboot XP. Until I reboot, I don't see any effects from the change, even if I manually run MonacoGamma or Adobe Gamma Loader, and even if I exit/relaunch Photoshop.

So I think I must be missing a trick here (maybe several).

Can somebody tell me what I'm missing?

Thanks!
--Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:20 pm

Good grief -- this turns out to be yet another illustration that "A good question is a precious thing!"

After thrashing around for a long time getting clear on what I really want to do and what the difficulties are, I posted the above question to you all.

Then another thought occurred to me, and I posted a Google query for windows xp monitor profile icc icm.

Lo and behold, up popped a hit titled "Better color management for Windows XP / New Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP helps you manage Windows color settings in one place" (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/usin ... ntrol.mspx).

That seemed relevant, so I downloaded and installed the beast.

Midway through the readme file, it says

Applying color profile adjustments to your display dynamically

Some color profiles generated by display calibration software may contain color gamut information (in the form of an ICC 'VCGT' tag) that can be used to dynamically update the color gamut of your display. These color profiles are displayed with an ' * ' in the Color Control Panel Applet. When you choose one of these profiles as the default profile for your display and click Apply, Windows applies the color gamut adjustments to the display dynamically. (Note that this is not supported using the built-in Windows Display Properties user interface; you must use the Color Control Panel Applet to update the default profile to see this adjustment.) A professional photographer might use this feature, for example, to change the display profile on the fly when giving a presentation using an external projector and a notebook computer. The display profile can be quickly reverted to that for the built-in display when the presentation is finished.

Works like a charm.

Thanks for the helpful ears! (And take a look at the timestamps on the postings...

)

--Rik

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:11 am

How did we ever get anything done before Google?!

On the negative side, I have caught myself a couple of times failing to find some bit of information on Google, and giving up! We've got to remember that all those other ways of finding stuff out are still here. Anyone ever use a reference book? :-)

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:48 am

Mike B in OKlahoma wrote:Anyone ever use a reference book? :-)

For me, at least five in the past month: Jahn on protozoa, Thompson on pond life, Pyle on "Butterflies of Cascadia", Kodak Color Dataguide (for its gray card), and the Oxford English Dictionary.

Paper is great for flipping pages (seeing lots of images in rapid succession), and when the information is just not available online.

Otherwise the Web wins.

The most successful kids of the future will be the ones who really understand basic concepts, and who know how to quickly find and apply specific facts. IMHO...

--Rik

Bill D · Post by **Bill D** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:24 am

Rik- I have a book that I have read: The Art Of Raw Conversion by Steinmueller & Gulbins. It has a big chapter on Color Management, and a section on color profiles. If I remember correctly, They talk about setting up color profiles for your devices. I think they meant you would find, or create, a color profile for your monitor, and use it until you change to a different monitor. The book does not address switching profiles while you work. I would have to go back and read the chapter again. In your search on the web, you could try find information in relation to processing RAW files.

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:46 am

I think printed manuals are great! If you can't get the computer to boot up how do you get to the Help Files, or search the Internet for the answer? I think there should be legislation enacted by governments that all computers must come with a comprehensive printed manual plus CD's of the Operating System and every program installed when you buy it, just in case they all have to be reloaded after a crash. After all CD's just cost pennies to produce these days and you have already paid for use of the installed software.

DaveW

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:50 pm

Bill D wrote:I think they meant you would find, or create, a color profile for your monitor, and use it until you change to a different monitor. The book does not address switching profiles while you work.

Yep, I've read that stuff.

What you describe is the usual approach -- lock down everything including the room lighting, and calibrate once for that combination.

The underlying thought seems to be that it's hard to get everything matched once, surely you wouldn't want to do it twice!

But I'm stubborn sometimes, and I really want to use the same physical monitor for two distinctly different tasks: matching standardized printers on the one hand, and matching "web average" monitors on the other.

It's no problem doing both of those tasks with the same technology & techniques -- I just end up with different .icm files for each task.

The only problem -- a tiny one in concept, a big one in practice -- was how to quickly switch between the .icm's.

The new Color Control Panel Applet solves this very nicely.

Now it's a matter of three mouseclicks to switch tasks. Select profile, Set Default, Apply -- and see images on screen instantly change to match. Very cool!

--Rik