SIPC
Scanner ICC Profile Creator

Introduction
SIPC is an ICC colour profiler for digital scanners. ICC colour profiles are currently the best way of ensuring that you are preserving original colours in the digital image. If you want to know more about colour profiles refer to the ICC website. SIPC uses an open source ICC compatible colour management system - Argyll.
SIPC is a freeware application to create colour ICC profiles for scanners using popular IT 8.7 (ISO 12641) targets. Kodak, Agfa and others manufacture IT8 targets. Inexpensive IT8 targets for reflective and transparency work can be purchased from http://www.targets.coloraid.de. Every target comes with its own reference text file, used by software to calculate the profile.
SIPC is licenced under the GNU General Public Licence.
Word of caution:
SIPC is a work in progress and NOT extensively tested. Hopefully, it will change soon but at the moment I advise you to test it thoroughly yourself before using it for any critical work. I won't be responsible for any problems resulting from using this program. After saying that, I would like to emphasize that Argyll has a very solid reputation and seems to work well.
System Requirements
Windows XP, 2000, NT (should also work on Win 95, 98).
Usage
IT8 Target
You would need an IT8 target for scanner calibration (inexpensive targets are available from http://www.targets.coloraid.de ).
1. Use the "Select Target Image" button to open a previously captured target image or click "Capture Target" button to acquire an image. This option allows you to choose the appropriate device (if you have a few different TWAIN devices installed on the computer) and automatically presets capture to 300dpi RGB. Note: It will work with TWAIN devices only.
To make sure that you are acquiring a good quality image:
- Check that the device is NOT set to use automatic mode - for the profile to be acurate the device needs to always scan in the same, predictable way.
- Save the captured image as a TIFF file, preferably 16-bit per channel RGB.
The image should be roughly cropped as in the example above. If it is not or is skewed too much, use image manipulation software to correct it (make it as close to the example as possible). Make sure that the manipulation program does not change other properties of the image.
Alternatively, you can click on the image in the SIPC preview window and invoke the selection tool to crop the original image. You will be asked to save the cropped image.
2. Click the "Select Reference File" button and find the text reference file that came with the target (either .txt or sometimes .q60 file).
3. Crop the image in the preview window if required.
4. Fill in the appropriate fields for the device's name and model, description of the profile (it has to be short and meaningful as it will be displayed and used by imaging applications), and copyright (name of the profile creator - you).
5. Choose the algorithm (default is Lab). Different choices may render different results, depending on the scanner properties. Leave at default if in doubt.
6. Choose the profile quality. Better quality means better results but it makes creation of the profile a bit more time consuming. According to Argyll the "Ultra High" option should almost never be used.
7. Click "Create Profile" button. After profile has been created you will be prompted to save it.
On Windows 2000 and XP the default colour profiles folder is: "\Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color" directory.
Using the Profile
To use the created profile, your device's capture software would need to have an option of selecting the default scanning ICC profile. The profile would be automatically applied during every capture. You would need to select the created profile's name in the device's software. Alternatively, after you finished scanning images you could open them in an image manipulation program like Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro and use option "Assign Profile" to correct the appearance of the colours.
Remember, an ICC colour profile is valid only for the device for which it has been created. In the case of cameras the lighting has to be always the same as it was when the profile was created.
ICC profiles are not perfect (in some cases when the original
material you are capturing is very different to the material used in
production of a target the results may be quite inaccurate), but at the
moment they are the best mechanism available to ensure high fidelity
colour in digital images.
Download
sipc_setup.exe - 3.4Mb
Source Code
