posted October 18, 2007 04:18 PM
I have been looking for an inexpensive way to calibrate all my equipment here. I have come across the "Pantone Huey". Anybody have any experience with this product? I need to figure out whether I should buy the Huey or the Huey Pro. www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=79&ca=2
And I realize it is just a monitor calibrator but I need at least my 2 computers to match, inexpensively. Comments please.
-------------------- Deri Russell Wildwood Signs Hanover, Ontario
You're just jealous 'cause the little voices only talk to me. Posts: 1904 | From: Hanover, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 1998
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Knowing the RGB or CMYK from this booklet 'VISIBONE' give you the best colour match to Pantone Even the program you are "designing with" will come up with a good pantone scale? Corel,Photo,AI..
-------------------- Stephen Deveau RavenGraphics Insinx Digital Displays
Letting Your Imagination Run Wild! Posts: 4327 | From: Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000
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That would be a quick way to calibrate your monitors.
But the key is a color managed system. You can start on the managing part without spending money (with lots of reading) and most likely get further ahead. Calibrating a monitor implies that you have control of how it's going to look when printed. Most times it is not. Try a couple of the digital printing websites to get an idea of the overall process.
-------------------- Ron Helliar Marysville Sign 11807 51st Ave. NE Marysville, WA 98271 (360) 659-4856 Posts: 263 | From: Marysville, WA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted October 22, 2007 02:03 PM
But Stephen just because you put in a PMS colour in Corel does not mean the colour matches the PMS chart. In fact they generally don't. If you have a PMS chart and you print out a PMS chart they don't match, unless your computer and your printer are calibrated. It would be lovely if it was that easy. I hope you haven't been getting the PMS #s from your client and clicking the colour in your software and assuming that it will be correct. If you have you have either been extremely lucky or your customer doesn't recognise what their PMS colours are suppose to look like. And why would I buy yet another colour chart "Visibone"? I have a Pantone chart. It works great. Visibone has absolutely nothing to do with Pantone colours and having one does not do anything to calibrate my colours.
Hello Ron, yes I realize that the Huey only calibrates the monitor. But I want to start somewhere and I was thinking that getting my 2 monitors to match might be a good start. I have read, I have bought books, I have found that expensive software is the only way to get the entire system calibrated. So I thought well, maybe if I get the monitors on the same track it might be a start. But I need to know if this "Huey" will do that for me. That was why I was wondering if anybody had one. Because maybe it won't match the colours on the 2 monitors, perhaps I would be wasting my money.
[ October 22, 2007, 02:29 PM: Message edited by: Deri Russell ]
-------------------- Deri Russell Wildwood Signs Hanover, Ontario
You're just jealous 'cause the little voices only talk to me. Posts: 1904 | From: Hanover, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted October 22, 2007 04:07 PM
Hello Deri, Sounds like you've done some homework. I'd prefer the Eye one pro myself and it does double duty for profiling media but costs some coin. The Huey should be able to do what you are asking, all of them basically bring the monitor to ICC standards (if possible). btw, why the need for two monitors to match? And if you don't have one, the Pantone Bridge is a great tool to view PMS to process. It may sound strange but I do not calibrate my RIP monitor as I want the color managed and not manipulated at that point. But we do more production work and repeatability is our key.
-------------------- Ron Helliar Marysville Sign 11807 51st Ave. NE Marysville, WA 98271 (360) 659-4856 Posts: 263 | From: Marysville, WA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Yes, you will be able to get your two monitors to match in color. It won't neccessarily help with calibrating your prints, unless you already have downloaded printer profiles that give you accurate color or if you use other printing bureaus that are already calibrated.
The difference between Huey and Huey Pro is in the software, and if you buy a Huey and want to upgrade, you can do so through Pantone's website at any time. It appears the main difference is the Pro version provides support for multiple monitors on a single computer system.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted October 23, 2007 10:53 PM
I have Huey (standard version) because at different times of the day sunlight has a degrading effect on my monitors. The more sunlight that is bouncing around the studio, the lighter the colors appear.
You are able to preset monitor settings and Huey automatically adjusts for these shifts at intervals that you pre-set.
I do not consider it a color calibration tool, but it does keep the monitors looking true. Especially useful in Photoshop.
-------------------- Curt Stenz Graphics 700 Squirrel Lane Marathon, WI 54448 Posts: 591 | From: Marathon, WI 54448 | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted October 24, 2007 08:37 AM
Just curious as to why you feel the need to calibrate your monitors and not your printers...
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted October 24, 2007 08:53 AM
Thanks guys that was the info I was after. I will buy one today. The reason I want the monitors calibrated is this, and perhaps its an odd one, (but I'm odd): My older system (desktop) is a great system. It was bought in 2004 has 160 gig and still works fine. It is the one that runs my VersaCamm, my Graphtec cutter and a little inkjet. It also is a 2 monitor system, and although both monitors were bought at the same time and are of the same manufacturer and type they don't even match. In July I bought a laptop. It is currently running only a laser printer. As my older system is working, working, chugging, chugging, processing things I want to be able to design on the laptop. If I design at the same time on the desktop the process just slows to a crawl. I found myself spending WAY too much time twiddling my thumbs waiting for things to process. My other reason: My parents are in their 70's and live 1 1/2 hours away and my father, although in good health now has had his times. Knock wood anything should happen to them but I want to be prepared to be able to work other places than my shop. I also wanted to be able to take my laptop with me to clients. As I learned this entire business on the computer, I sketch on it. I have never done pencil thumbnails. I do Corel drawings. Albeit rough sketches, I can draw them up faster in Corel than I can do them with a pencil. When I draw the designs on the laptop and share the files with the desktop, which is my printer computer, all my colours are all wonky. And then when sent to the Roland its a real mess. I have printed out a PMS chart from the VersaCamm and have been getting reasonable success from visibly matching my colours to the PMS swatches and then changing them to the PMS colours in Corel on the desktop accordingly. But adding that 3rd element of the laptop is really sending my colours for a loop. I suppose I could do a colour chart from the laptop.......hmmmmmmm. I think for the price of a Huey I would prefer to get the calibration between the 3 monitors. Anyway thanks for the advise. I will take it. If all my three monitors have the same colours I think things will be much easier.
-------------------- Deri Russell Wildwood Signs Hanover, Ontario
You're just jealous 'cause the little voices only talk to me. Posts: 1904 | From: Hanover, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted October 24, 2007 09:04 AM
To answer your question Ricky, the Roland SHOULD calibrate itself from what I understand with the updates they send out. But I haven't been able to update it for months. The files they want you to download start at about 90 MG and some are even larger. My server cuts out at about 30 as does most servers. (Why Roland hasn't sent zip files or something else I have absolutely no idea.) I bought the VersaCamm a year ago April, or maybe 2 years ago April, and at first colours seemed to be pretty close. But as time marches on it seems to be getting worse and worse. Or maybe I am just getting more anal in my old age. Software to calibrate seems a large chunk of change. I can't afford at this time to buy it. This Huey is well under $100. Now that's within budget.
-------------------- Deri Russell Wildwood Signs Hanover, Ontario
You're just jealous 'cause the little voices only talk to me. Posts: 1904 | From: Hanover, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted October 24, 2007 10:53 AM
Wow... Haven't had any trouble getting Roland updates to d/l. They are large at times.
For spot color accuracy we simply printed out the entire pantone palette and refer/compare to that with a genuine pantone swash book... yes there are differences. This is an accurate and simple workaround. Corel has scripts included for printing out palettes.
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
posted October 25, 2007 09:44 AM
You never do pencil sketches? I hope you don't mean you never sketch at all, that would be a huge waste of the talent I was so jealous of in high school art class!
-------------------- Pete Payne Willowlake Design/Canadian Signcrafters Bayfield, ON
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