Datacolor

TOOLS v2
Quick Start Guide
Table of Contents

Getting Started with Datacolor Tools v2 Logging in .................................................................... 3

Instrument Configuration and Calibration ................................................................................... 3

Entering the Program - Overview of Datacolor Tools v2 ............................................................11

Data Input and Desktop Explorer ..............................................................................................13

Selecting Illuminants .................................................................................................................16

Creating/Editing a System Tolerance ........................................................................................20

Changing the Input Method for your Samples ...........................................................................24

How to Create or Modify Templates ..........................................................................................28

Adding a Button to the Home Ribbon Bar..................................................................................37

Search - Finding the closest sample to your desktop standard..................................................42

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Getting Started with Datacolor Tools v2 Logging in
Instrument Configuration and Calibration

There are two login options for Datacolor Tools:

1. Pigment users will use the user name user and password cc3.

2. Textile users will login with the dci user and no password.

After inputting user information press the OK button.

Pigment Users Textile Users

If you have not configured your instrument in Datacolor Tools v2 the screen below will
be displayed as you enter to the programs.(Note: if this screen is not displayed, you
may access it from the ‘Instrument’ tab then select ‘Setup’)

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3. Click on ‘Add’. Then select ‘Manufacturer’ and ‘Model’

4. Next select the com port of your instrument. If you are using a serial connection it will
most likely be com 1 or 2. If your instrument is plugged in with a USB cable you will
have to look at the settings in Device Manager on your computer. Step 5 will illustrate
how to do this for both Windows 7 and Windows XP. If you already know your com port
skip to step 6

5. Finding the correct Com port in Windows 7 and Windows XP. On the Windows
taskbar click the ‘Start’ button.

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Windows 7

a. Type in ‘device’ in the ‘search programs and files’ box an then select ‘Device
Manager’

b. Note the Com port used by the ‘USB to Serial’ connection. This is the com port
designation of your spectrophotometer.

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Windows XP

a. Select ‘Start’, ‘Settings’ then ‘Control Panel’

b. Then select the option ‘System’.

c. From the ‘Hardware’ tab choose ‘Device Manager’

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 d. In device manager click on ‘Ports’ to see which port the spectrophotometer was
assigned

6. Enter the Serial number and click on ‘Add’.

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7. The software will then ask for the white tile data. Make sure you have your calibration
cd in the drive. Highlight the files ‘WHITESE’ and ‘WHITESI’.dat and click ‘Open’

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8. The calibrate screen will appear as below. Select your calibration settings and click
on ‘Calibrate’

9. The software will prompt you for the ‘black trap’ then the ‘white tile’ and finally the
‘Diagnostic’ or ‘Green’ tile measurement.

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10. An example of the output of the diagnostic tile measurement is listed below

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Entering the Program
Overview of Datacolor Tools v2

Datacolor TOOLS employs the use of a desktop environment and offers immediate
visibility to manage and view desktop data from one place, as well as access most QC
operations for Standards and Batches. When Datacolor Tools v2 program opens, the
screen contains 3 main areas: The ribbon bar, the desktop explorer and the template
area.

Ribbon Bar- Clicking on command tabs opens up different pre-defined command groups
on the ribbon bar. The software opens to the “Home” command tab.

1. When we open Tools for daily use, the first step will be to calibrate the
instrument. The calibrate button is located on the “Instrument” command tab.
Click on the “Instrument” command tab and then click on the “Calib” button to
calibrate the instrument.

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 2. After instrument calibration, return to the “Home” tab by clicking on it.
Tools Button

Measure Standard Measure Batch Command Groups

The ribbon bar on the “Home” tab has three command groups: standard, batch,
and system. It also contains most of the buttons needed to perform QC operation
i.e. Measure Standard/Batch, Store and Retrieve Standard/Batches as well as
buttons for the illuminant, search, e-mail, and tolerances.(NOTE: The measure
standard and measure batch button read once by default. To change the reading
method so they are an average of a number of reads refer to the section
“Changing the Input Method for your Samples”.

The Tools Button which is always available on the ribbon bar, provides
access to screen, print and file forms as well a “Home Bar Options” which allows
users to edit the “Home” ribbon bar. For detailed instructions on editing the
“Home” ribbon bar refer to the section “Adding a Button to the Home Ribbon Bar”

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Data Input
Desktop Explorer

1. To measure the standard, place the sample in your instrument and click on the
top half of the Std:Inst button

2. You will receive a dialogue box to input the standard name. Input the name and
press OK.

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 3. The instrument then measures the standard and places it on the desktop
explorer. The standard is highlighted and the standard data is now shown in the
data grid.

4. To measure a batch, place the batch in the instrument port and press the top half

of the Bat:Inst button

5. By default, the system is set up to auto name and auto number the batch so it will
not ask for a batch name. Data is now being displayed for the batch measured

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 NOTE: To turn off autoname and autonumber go to the “Bat” command tab and
click on the Batch Defaults button and uncheck “Auto Number”. The system will
then prompt you for a name for your batch. For a detailed description on this and
how to change your measurement method refer to the section on “Changing the
input method for your samples”

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Selecting Illuminants in Datacolor Tools v2

1. To change or manage illuminants/observers select the Home tab and click on the
ill/obs button.

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 2. On the Illuminant/Observer Selection page, the selected illuminants can be put in
the order by highlighting the illuminant on the left and using up and down the
arrows to put them in the desired order. Available illuminants can be added by
bringing them from the list on the right, using the arrows, to the list on the left.

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 3. On the default template the primary illuminant is shown in the standard and batch
grid. The graph has tabs for each of the illuminants in the list.

4. To display the data for more than one illuminant right click on the batch section of
the grid and choose ‘Grid Configuration’

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 5. Select ‘3 illuminants’ from the drop down. Then click on ‘Ok’

The template will show all 3 illuminants on the batch grid.

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Creating/Editing a System Tolerance

1. Tolerances are accessed on the home bar under the system group. Click on the
‘Edit Tolerance’ button. This button is used to create and edit a tolerance.

2. A dialogue box that opens up. Click on ‘new’ to create a new tolerance. Type in
the name of the new tolerance. In this example ‘My new CMC tolerance’

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 3. Click ‘Add’ to display the CMC tolerance. Type in the CMC DE tolerance and the
l:c ratio. In our example 2.0 for CMC DE and l:c ratio 2:1 respectively. Then click
‘Ok’

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 4. The new tolerance will be created. Click ‘Ok’ to add to the list.

5. To use this new system tolerance, click on the drop down below the ‘Edit
Tolerance’ button and highlight your new tolerance ‘My new CMC Tolerance’. On
the template you can see the tolerance area is adjusted on the graph and if you
click the tolerance option bar below desktop explorer the tolerance can be seen

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 6. If you wish to edit an existing tolerance make sure you have the tolerance that
you wish to edit showing and click ‘Edit Tolerance’

7. From the dialogue box click on the button ‘Edit Evaluation’

8. In this case the tolerance is CMC. Change the DE to the tolerance needed, in
this example 1.5. Click ‘Ok’ then ‘Ok’ on the next screen. The default tolerance
for the tolerance template(CMC 2:1) will be changed to 1.5. (Note this tolerance
must be showing under the ‘Edit Tolerance’ button to be active)

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Changing the Input Method for your Samples

By default the input method for measuring standards and batches is a single
measurement: “Std: Inst” and “Bat:Inst” respectively on the ribbon bar of the home tab.
Datacolor recommends multiple readings per measurement to get an average.

1. To change the measurement method click on the bottom half of the Std: Inst and
Bat:Inst button to change the input type.

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 2. Click on “Instrument Average” for both the standard and batch to change the
input type to Instrument averaging. You also have many other options in the drop
down as well if desired. After selecting “Instrument Average” the button will
change to “Std: Inst Avg” and “Bat:Inst Avg” respectively.

3. To change the default measurement type so that Instrument averaging is set

permanently you need to click on the “Std” tab and select the “Std Defaults”
option.

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 4. On the Standard Defaults screen click on the “Default Input Method” drop down
and choose “Instrument Average” then click “Ok”

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 5. Repeat the same process for the batch. On the “Bat” tab click on “Bat Defaults”

6. On the Batch Defaults screen click on the “Default Input Method” drop down and
choose “Instrument Average”. Also if you wish to input a name for each batch,
uncheck “Auto Number” and the program will ask you for a name when reading
each batch. If this is left checked the program will name the batch “Batch1…100”.
Click “Ok” and these defaults will be saved.

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How to Create or Modify Templates

Templates are preset panes (like window panes). The template below “DC QC 3 View
Panel Screen Template” is the default template for Datacolor Tools v2. The template
shows three distinct areas: standard and batch data grid, a color difference plot, and a
color patch.

The data displayed within a pane is configurable. Data fields can be modified for any
pane.

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 1. If you right click within a data grid, as is shown on the standard data grid below,
and choose ‘Grid Configuration’ the ‘Data View Configuration’ screen is
displayed.

The list of available fields is on the left hand side. On the right hand side are the
fields displayed in the grid.

2. To find fields on the left hand side more easily click on the search icon .

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 3. Type in what you are searching for. In this case we type “cie x” and on the right
hand side the result “Std. CIE X” come up. Highlight it and click “OK”

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 4. Click “Ok” and the field will be added to the Standard Data Grid

5. Right click in the Batch Data Grid and choose “Grid Configuration” to access the
available fields for the batch

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 6. Click on the Search icon

7. Type in what you are searching for. In this case we type “cie x” and on the right
hand side the result “Batch CIE X” come up. Highlight it and click “OK”

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 8. The ‘Batch CIE X will be added to the ‘Configuration’ page. At this point you may
change the label of the field if you wish.

9. Click “Ok” and the field “Batch CIE X” will be added to the Batch Data Grid.

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 10. If desired you can click and drag the headers to different positions.

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 11. Once you have the template with the data you desire shown and in the proper
position right click in the template and choose “Save as template”

12. The “Form Save as” box comes up. You must give the form a unique file name
and title. In this case we used the name “ABC Company template” for both the
file name and the title. In your case you may consider using your company name
if you have not created a template by this name before. Then click “Ok”

13. The new template with the file name “ABC Company template” will be created.

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 14. To save this as the template you would like to start on each time you start
Datacolor Tools. Click on the “System Tab” and then choose the option “Save
Screen for startup”.

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Adding a Button to the Home Ribbon Bar

In Datacolor Tools v2. the ‘home’ tab on the ribbon bar is configurable. You may add
buttons within the appropriate command groups

We will add the ‘Calibrate’ button to the home ribbon bar.

1. Click on the Tools button and from the drop down choose “Home Bar Options”

2. The “Edit Home Bar” dialogue box appears. Within the box are two windows.
The one to the left shows available options. The one to the right shows existing
groups and buttons. Click on the magnifying glass to search the available
buttons.

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 3. In the filter dialog box type in the search string you are looking for. In this case
we type “calib”. On the result section on the right hand side highlight
“Instrument:Calib” and click “ok”

4. The “Add Command” dialogue box appears. You may edit the button title. The
command group is assigned and you may choose the button size. Click “Ok”

5. The button “Calibrate” will be added along with a new command group
“Instrument” to the ribbon bar. Click “Ok” to add this button to the ribbon bar.

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 6. Other common buttons that may be added to the button bar are “Store all
standards” or “Store all batches” which can be found by typing in the proper filter
into the filter dialog box.

7. If you are adding screen/templates or printer forms to the ribbon bar you must
also select the template or form you wish to add. Once you click “Ok” below you
will be prompted browse for your form/template.

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 8. Click on the browse button above to display the list of available forms. Click
on the magnifying glass to search for the form you wish to put on the ribbon
bar. In this case we type “abc company” to find the “ABC Company template”.
Highlight it and click “Ok”

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 8. The “ABC Company template” is added to the existing buttons on the right. Click
“Ok” to add this to the home ribbon bar in the “forms” command group.

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Search
Finding the closest sample to your desktop standard

You will measure the sample you wish to search by clicking on the top half of the “Std:
Inst Avg” button from the “Home” tab ribbon bar. Place your sample against your
instrument and click on the “Std: Inst Avg” button.

1. You will receive a dialogue box to input the standard name. Input the name and
click the “Ok” button. In our example we used “Standard for Database Search” for
the name.

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 2. The instrument will take the measurement and place the sample on the desktop
explorer.

3. To perform a search you will make sure the standard you wish to search for is
selected/highlighted in desktop explorer then select the “Search” button from the
“Home” tab ribbon bar. The “Search” button will be in “System” group on the
ribbon bar.

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 4. The results of your search will be displayed as shown below. The table on the
right will list all the samples found in the database that meet all the criteria for the
search on the left.

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 5. Criteria listed below 1(in red)include color difference formula, Number of batches
and the maximum DE difference for samples found.2 Criteria such as types of
lightness and chroma, what type of samples to search, the folder to search and
whether to search user defined fields.

6. You may change any of the criteria and choose the “New Search” button to
change the output results.

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 7. If you want to permanently change the default criteria for the search go to the
“System” tab and choose the option “Search Defaults”

8. Search defaults can be edited on the “System Search Default” screen below.

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