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List:       freedesktop-create
Subject:    [CREATE] HLC Colour Atlas v. 1.0 released
From:       "Christoph_Schäfer" <christoph-schaefer () gmx ! de>
Date:       2018-02-06 2:23:08
Message-ID: trinity-af789b63-aff3-49d8-a3dc-718134a6c80a-1517883788663 () 3c-app-gmx-bs32
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Hi all,



After a year of hard work freieFarbe/freeColour is pleased to announce the completion \
of its first major project, the "HLC Colour Atlas", which is a truly open colour \
system based on mathematics and unrestricted by copyrights or trademarks. It has been \
created by colour professionals from Germany and Switzerland.



The atlas comprises the following elements:


- a printed reference (A4, ring binder) of 2040 colours, based on the intuitive HLC \
colour model (Hue, Lightness, Chroma), with increments of 10 between each hue. It \
also includes colours that can't be reproduced in regular CMYK workflows (spot \
colours). Unlike commercial products, its colour precision is extremely high, with a \
DeltaE00 of 0.5, i.e. colour differences between two copies of the atlas can only be \
measured but not perceived, even by a trained eye. Each atlas is being produced with \
a Fogra-certified high-end proof printer on Fogra-certified paper by a \
Fogra-certified company. Each copy is also being shipped with a production record \
(ISO 12647-7:2016);


- a printed introduction and usage instructions in German and English;


- colour palettes with LAB values for Adobe software (ASE format) and in \
Swatchbooker's SBZ format, as well as sRGB versions for LibreOffice (SOC), GIMP (GPL) \
and Scribus 1.4.x (XML). Please note that Scribus 1.5.x already includes the SBZ \
file, and an sRGB version is being shipped with LibreOffice since version 5.4.x, as \
well as the current officially stable Scribus 1.4.6.


- A PDF master file of the atlas with layers for different output targets (e.g. sRGB, \
ISOCoatedV2);


- XSLX files with colour conversion tables and QC report;


- a CxF v.3 file which includes the colour data in spectral values.


All files are available for download here: \
https://www.freiefarbe.de/thema-farbe/software/


The latter is important, because we want to enable others to create their own \
reliable references without having to ask for permission or paying licence fees. \
Thus, an ink manufacturer can simply load the CxF file into its formulation software \
and create the correct mix for his particular inks. Manufacturers of other colourants \
(e.g. paint, textile colours or plastics) can do the same, provided their software is \
supporting CxF, which is an open standard. This is also the reason for us not to \
publish any mixing recipes, because all necessary data to reliably recreate a colour \
are in the CxF file, so the recipes can be created and customised by software.


Whilst the digital files are available for free download under a CC licence, the \
printed reference needs to be paid for, because production and certification are \
quite labour-intensive (introductory offer: EUR 99.-- until 31 March 2018, later: EUR \
149.-- plus VAT and shipment costs; see: \
https://shop.proof.de/index.php?language=en).


freieFarbe/freeColour are convinced that the "HLC Colour Atlas" is not only a true \
and open alternative to Pantone, HKS etc., but we also think that the very high \
quality standard of our printed reference will be hard to match. 


Our next step is to fill in the necessary paperwork to make this open colour system a \
DIN SPEC with the German industrial standards organisation DIN (April/May 2018). From \
there it will hopefully be moved on to ISO to make it an international standard (time \
frame unknown).


Special credits go to Matthias Betz, Holger Everding, Jan-Peter Homann and Eric A. \
Soder, who did all the heavy lifting, as well as Gregory Pittman, who wrote a Scribus \
script that reduced the creation of the print PDF for the Atlas to a matter of \
seconds. freieFarbe/freeColour is also grateful to ColorLogic GmbH, Epson Deutschland \
GmbH and GMG GmbH & Co KG for generous technical support. The high quality of the \
atlas is owed to the producer, Proof GmbH.



Christoph
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