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ChromIQ v4.3.23
For everyone updating from 4.3.22: when you import an i1Profiler measurement, ChromIQ now asks which measurement condition (M0, M1 or M2) to use, keeps its spectra and records the condition, and brightener (FWA) compensation is only offered where it can work. Opening a project or picking another run no longer changes the stored settings of a run. Your charts, measurements and profiles do not change.
New
- When an i1Profiler measurement (.mxf or .cxf) holds more than one measurement condition, ChromIQ now asks which one to import. i1Profiler can save every patch three times: M0 (the light of the instrument's own lamp), M1 (light with a defined amount of ultraviolet, like D50 daylight, the ISO 13655 standard for papers with optical brighteners viewed in daylight) and M2 (ultraviolet cut, as if the paper had no brighteners). On a paper with brighteners they can differ by several ΔE. Until now ChromIQ took the M2 readings without asking and without saying so. A window now explains the three in plain words, says which condition i1Profiler's own setting names when the file says so clearly, and preselects M1 otherwise. It appears wherever ChromIQ converts such a file: the Measure tab's IMPORT, Build Profile, Tools ▸ Convert i1Profiler ▸ TI3, the calibration measurement, the Measurement Report and the scanner target. A file with only one condition is imported under it, and the log says which. The choice is written into the measurement, and the Measurement info window shows it. Thanks to jctay on printerknowledge, whose careful comparison of ChromIQ's import with his own converter found this.
Fixed
- FWA compensation is now greyed, with the reason, for measurements it cannot work with, instead of the profile build failing afterwards. Brightener (FWA) compensation in Build Profile and Check & Refine needs three things: the spectrum of every patch, an instrument whose lamp ArgyllCMS knows, and readings taken under that lamp (M0). Until now ChromIQ offered it for every measurement, and a measurement without spectra (for example from a CR30), from an instrument ArgyllCMS has no FWA data for (such as the ColorMunki, whose LED gives off no ultraviolet, or the i1iSis), or measured under M1 or M2 only failed once colprof ran, with an error window. Now the option is greyed for those measurements, and its tooltip explains why and what you can do instead. Your setting is kept: the tick stays, so it comes back as soon as you load a measurement it works with, and nothing changes for measurements where FWA compensation already worked. Which instruments ArgyllCMS accepts was checked against ArgyllCMS itself: the i1Pro family, the SpectroScan, the Spectrolino and the DTP20, DTP22, DTP41 and DTP51.
- Three small follow-ups to the FD-9 change in 4.3.22. A verification of a profile built from an FD-9 measurement no longer says the profile was built with FWA compensation when the greyed box was still ticked, so it compares against the profile's own prediction again. The command box in Build Profile now judges FWA by the new measurement rather than by an older merged one, so it always shows what the build will run. And the FD-9 tooltip now says that M1 matches FWA compensation set to D50, and that the Measure tab measures with the FD-9 only with FD-9 support turned on in Preferences → Beta.
- An i1Profiler measurement keeps its spectra when ChromIQ imports it. ChromIQ worked out each patch's colour from the spectrum and then left the spectrum out, so the illuminant, observer and brightener options could not be used on it, and it could not be combined with a measurement made in ChromIQ. The spectra are now kept, with the wavelengths the file gives.
- Brightener compensation (FWA) works with an imported i1Profiler measurement, and is switched off where it does not fit. ChromIQ wrote i1Profiler's name for the instrument (for example "i1Pro 3"), which ArgyllCMS does not recognise, so FWA compensation stopped with "Unrecognised target instrument". The measurement now names the instrument the way ArgyllCMS does ("X-Rite i1 Pro 3"), and i1Profiler's own name is kept beside it. FWA compensation works out the brighteners' glow from the instrument's own lamp, so it only fits M0 readings: for M1 or M2 readings the option is now greyed in Build Profile and Check & Refine, with a tooltip that says why, and it is left out of the build or check (with a note in the log) even when a preset or a saved setting asks for it. Measurements imported with an earlier version keep working as before.
- The Measurement info window shows when an imported i1Profiler measurement was measured. The "Measured on" line was missing for these files.
- The Measure tab's "Spectral filter type (-F)" ⓘ now says what really happens when the option is off. It said that ChromIQ uses D50 (M1) by default. While it is off (the default), ChromIQ does not pass -F at all, so the instrument measures in its normal mode, which is M0 on the i1Pro family. Nothing about how ChromIQ measures has changed, only the explanation.
- A measurement taken with "Spectral filter type (-F)" switched on now says which measurement condition it was taken under, and measurements of different conditions are no longer merged. When you switch that option on in the Measure tab, ChromIQ now writes the condition into the measurement file once the measurement ends: None is M0, D50 is M1, UV Cut is M2 and Polarizing is M3 (D65 is not one of these conditions and is not written). Only the file's header gains a line; the readings themselves are not touched. With the option off, which is the default, nothing is written and nothing changes. Brightener compensation (FWA) then treats such an M1 or M2 measurement like an imported one: greyed, with the reason in its tooltip. ChromIQ-style refinement and Tools ▸ Merge measurements now refuse to combine two measurements that were taken under two different conditions: on a paper with optical brighteners the conditions can differ by several ΔE, so a profile built from both would fit neither. A window explains which condition each measurement has and what to do: measure again with the same condition, or import the i1Profiler .mxf again and choose the condition that matches. When one of the two does not say which condition it was taken under (for example because it was measured with ChromIQ 4.3.22 or older, which never wrote it down) and the other was taken under M1, M2 or M3, ChromIQ asks instead of refusing: merging is right only if both were measured with the same setting, so you choose "Merge them" or "Don't merge". "Don't merge" builds the profile from the new measurement only. Two measurements that name no condition, or one that names none and one taken under M0, are merged as before. Averaging follows the same rule, both after measuring a chart several times and in Tools ▸ Average measurements: reads of two different conditions are not averaged, and a read that does not say is asked about. The merged or averaged measurement keeps the condition all its measurements share. After "Merge them" or "Average them" it names the condition the other measurement names, because your answer says both were measured the same way, so FWA compensation stays greyed for M1 or M2 readings, whichever file comes first. And "Refine / resume" no longer mixes conditions: when the measurement you continue was taken under one condition and the Measure tab is now set to another (or the option is off), ChromIQ says so before anything starts, and tells you which setting brings it back. Continuing a measurement that does not say which condition it was taken under still works; the finished measurement then names none, and the log says why. The tooltip on the greyed FWA option of such a measurement now tells you to measure again with "Spectral filter type (-F)" set to None (M0), or switched off.
- An i1Profiler .txt measurement says which condition it was exported under, when i1Profiler wrote it into the file. i1Profiler's text export names the condition in its header (for example "Filter=UVcut" for M2), and ChromIQ now copies it into the imported measurement. When the file does not say, brightener compensation (FWA) is greyed for it, with a tooltip that explains why, because i1Profiler exports M1 and M2 readings as readily as M0. A measurement imported from i1Profiler by ChromIQ 4.3.22 or older now gets a tooltip that tells you to import the .mxf again, which also brings back the spectra and lets you choose the condition, instead of advice to measure with an i1Pro.
- The Measurement Report keeps one i1Profiler .mxf added under two conditions as two measurements. Adding the same .mxf again and choosing another condition was dropped without a word; both are now listed, each with its condition beside its name. And a chartread measurement with an i1Pro is no longer reported as taken with a different instrument from an i1Pro 3 import of the same chart, while an i1Pro 2 and an i1Pro 3 are still reported as two instruments.
- Opening a project no longer changes the settings of the run you were on. If you changed the layout in Create Chart (Manual), for example the paper, the margins or "Prioritise chart area", and had not pressed Generate Chart yet, and you then used Open Project, ChromIQ could store the layout of the chart it was opening as your own settings somewhere else. Opening the project you already had open on the same run did it as soon as you went to another tab, so the layout you had set up for that run was gone without a word, and the "ChromIQ layout engine" tick could change with it. Opening it while the Profile run box showed another run, or while Run type was Verification, did it at once to that run or to the run's verification settings. And opening a different project while the box showed run 1 gave run 1 of that other project the settings of its current run, even though you never selected it; importing a measurement into another project did the same, and could also take your Measure settings with it. This has been so since 4.1. Now an open first stores what you see for the run or verification you are leaving, exactly as changing the Profile run box does, and then writes nothing more there. Your own settings stay exactly where you made them. And after every open, Create Chart shows the settings of the opened run's chart, as it does when you pick a run in the Profile run box, so the settings you see belong to the chart in the preview and Generate Chart builds that chart again. Before, opening a project while nothing was open, while the box showed another run or Verification, or while another project was open, could show your stored Manual layout beside the preview of a chart made differently, without a warning; Generate Chart would then have built your stored layout, not the chart you saw. If you change something after opening, that change is stored, and only that. With Run type set to Calibration, an open shows the opened project's calibration chart and hands it to Print Chart and Measure, because Run type stays on Calibration; before, the current run's profiling chart could be shown, printed and measured while the box still read Calibration. Your charts, measurements and profiles do not change.
- Picking another run no longer stores the chart's paper as the run's own. After you changed the Profile run box (or opened a project), going to another tab and back to Create Chart, or entering Create Chart from Measure, could store the paper of the run's chart (for example A4) in place of the paper you had chosen for that run (for example Letter), although you never touched it. The Manual layout itself stayed yours; only the paper of the printtarg row changed. 4.3.22 did this too. Now the run keeps its own paper however often you move between tabs, Create Chart still shows the chart's paper with its preview, and a paper you choose yourself is stored as yours. That holds with the ChromIQ layout engine switched off too: the paper the hidden layout panel last showed no longer replaces the paper you set in the printtarg row when you come back to the run.
Installation (Linux, beta): Download the tarball for your architecture (x86_64 for most desktops/laptops, aarch64 for ARM systems like Raspberry Pi 4/5). Extract with tar xzf ChromIQ-Linux-*.tar.gz, then run ./ChromIQ/ChromIQ. Requires ArgyllCMS — install via your package manager (sudo apt install argyll) or from argyllcms.com/downloadlinux.html.
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