About monitor calibration and characterization – Adobe Illustrator CS3 User Manual
Page 148
ILLUSTRATOR CS3
User Guide
142
Managing color with profiles
A. Profiles describe the color spaces of the input device and the document. B. Using the profiles’ descriptions, the color management system
identifies the document’s actual colors.
C. The monitor’s profile tells the color management system how to translate the document’s numeric
values to the monitor’s color space.
D. Using the output device’s profile, the color management system translates the document’s numeric values
to the color values of the output device so the correct appearance of colors is printed.
See also
“Calibrate and profile your monitor” on page 143
“Letting the printer determine colors when printing” on page 139
“Obtaining custom profiles for desktop printers” on page 139
“About color working spaces” on page 146
About monitor calibration and characterization
Profiling software can both calibrate and characterize your monitor. Calibrating your monitor brings it into
compliance with a predefined standard—for example, adjusting your monitor so that it displays color using the
graphics arts standard white point color temperature of 5000
K (Kelvin). Characterizing your monitor simply creates
a profile that describes how the monitor is currently reproducing color.
Monitor calibration involves adjusting the following video settings:
Brightness and contrast
The overall level and range, respectively, of display intensity. These parameters work just as
they do on a television. A monitor calibration utility helps you set an optimum brightness and contrast range for
calibration.
Gamma
The brightness of the midtone values. The values produced by a monitor from black to white are
nonlinear—if you graph the values, they form a curve, not a straight line. Gamma defines the value of that curve
halfway between black and white.
Phosphors
The substances that CRT monitors use to emit light. Different phosphors have different color character-
istics.
White point
The color and intensity of the brightest white the monitor can reproduce.
A
B
C
D