Legacy Document
Important: The information in this document is obsolete and should not be used for new development.
Important: The information in this document is obsolete and should not be used for new development.
Chapter 3 - Introduction to the ColorSync Manager
This chapter describes the ColorSync Manager, which provides your application or color peripheral device driver with device-independent color-matching and color conversion services. The ColorSync Manager allows you to match colors accurately across different input, display, and output devices. You can also convert colors easily and exactly across color spaces belonging to the same base family. Color spaces, color matching, and color conversion are discussed throughout this chapter.
Read this chapter if your software product performs color drawing, printing, or calculation or if your peripheral device supports color. You should also read this chapter if you are creating a color management module (CMM) to use for color matching, color gamut checking, and profile management.
- Note
- See the preface for information on ColorSync Manager version numbers.
The ColorSync Manager provides your application, device driver, or CMM with color-matching capabilities that your users can employ without the need for a proprietary environment. The ColorSync Manager provides the first system-level implementation of an industry-standard color-matching system.
The ColorSync Manager is contained in a system extension. To provide its color-matching services, the ColorSync Manager uses one or more color management modules and profiles. A color management module (CMM) is a component that implements color-matching and gamut-checking services. Your application or driver can supply its own CMM, or you can use the robust default CMM that Apple supplies. A profile provides a means of defining the color characteristics of a given device in a particular state. A separate control panel, the ColorSync System Profile control panel, allows the user to specify the ColorSync system profile. The system profile defines the color characteristics for the system's display device. CMMs and profiles are discussed throughout this chapter.
The ColorSync Manager relies on the Component Manager for the basis of the framework that allows plug-and-play capability for third-party CMMs.
The next section, "Introduction to Color and Color Management Systems," provides a general introduction to color models and to approaches taken by the publishing and computer industries to manage color.
"About the ColorSync Manager" (page 3-18), provides a general introduction to Apple Computer's implementation of the ColorSync color management system.
Chapter Contents
- Introduction to Color and Color Management Systems
- Color: A Brief Overview
- Color Perception
- Hue, Saturation, and Brightness
- Additive and Subtractive Color
- Color Spaces
- Gray Spaces
- RGB-Based Color Spaces
- RGB Spaces
- HSV and HLS Color Spaces
- CMY-Based Color Spaces
- Device-Independent Color Spaces
- XYZ Space
- Yxy Space
- L*u*v* Space and L*a*b* Space
- Indexed Color Spaces
- Named Color Spaces
- Color-Component Values, Color Values, and Colors
- Color Conversion and Color Matching
- Color Management Systems
- About the ColorSync Manager
- Programming Interfaces
- About the ColorSync Manager's Memory Allocation and Use
- Profiles
- Profile Properties
- Color Management Modules
- Rendering Intents
- When Color Matching Occurs
- QuickDraw GX and the ColorSync Manager
- What Users Can Do With ColorSync-Supportive Applications
- Display Matching
- Gamut Checking
- Soft Proofing
- Device-Linked Profiles
- Calibration