U3014 + i1Display Pro + sRGB + adobeRGB + maya + photoshop

Hi,

IMHO i1Profiler and Dell Cal. Solution -DCCS- (based on i1Profiler libs) are not very good software...
For "software" callibration & profilling I recommend you this software (GNU):
http://argyllcms.com/
and its user interface:
http://dispcalgui.hoech.net/
(get portable zips without instalation)


Beware DCCS, I do not recoment to use it except in Custom mode (Program's custom mode, not monitor custom color). In custom mode it's fine, use 3DLUT are a great feature and avoid gradient banding after profiling with nvidia gpus

So:

1.- build a CUSTOM hardware profile for sRGB work (e.g. CAL1). Here you will find xy chromaticity coords for RGB + White Point
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB
+ gamma 2.2 + your desired liminance (100-120)
As you said this one is for "critical color" aplications that do not have Color Management

2.- build a CUSTOM hardware profile for your NATIVE GAMUT, better than AdobeRGB, for Color managed Apps (and  "desktop" use if you want). This is because your Wide Gamut GB-LED monitor has wider gamut tah AdobeRGB in Reds and because you are in a color managed enviroment "you don't care" of have wider gamut than Adobe. Extra gamut you win.
+ gamma 2.2 + your desired limunance (100-120)

Native Color xy Coordinates are almost AdobeRGB (moved green -it's 99% AdobeRGB, not 100%- and wider red)

You could try these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_RGB
but set RED x=0.680, y=0.309 (where your monitor is wider than AdobeRGB)
or read them in the EDID profile from your monitor with Dispcal + ArgyllCMS

3.- Sometimes DCCS has weird behaviour and White Point from 1 & 2 are off. Check it with ArgyllCMS+DispCalGUI. It could be GPU's fault, some (Custom "vivid"/"digital vibrance"/gamma) configuration in your GPU drivers config, turn them off.

Check for an XML error in DCCS log (http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1039629784&postcount=199)

etc & re-run 1 & 2. Reset to factory settings if you cannot fix white point.

4.-(Optional) You could calibrate & profile (software, not hardware) the custom color mode with argylcms (native gamut, custom luminance, custom WP BUT "1D" software LUT => posible banding specially with nvidia GPUs).

5.- Validate and re-profile (only if needed) preset color spaces modes: sRGB and Adobe. These "factory calibration" may be "off" spec, specially White point if you set a custom brightness & contrast. If you took step number 4, use that brightness & contrast values.

6.- Profile "Game mode" preset with ArgyllCMS, it is very probable that the WP is too off from 6500K (greenish or bluish). Because the new Dell's GB-LEDs have a very strong overshoot issues you really should use "game mode" for gaming.

Check it with PixPerAn "FLAG TEST". Much better in game mode :-)

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/testsoftware/pixperan.html

7.- Create a shortcut in desktop for "Control Panel -> Color Management". Using it with Dell Display Manager (included in monitor driver CD) you can switch fast between: CAL1,CAL2,sRGB,Adobe,Game,Custom AND apply the correct profile (CAL1, CAL2 and the ArgyllCMS' ones)

Enjoy your 30" !

P.D: You can switch between "OS profiles" while using a color managed app, BUT some apps ARE NOT AWARE if you swicth between "monitor modes", specially if these modes have different coordinates for RGB primaries (example: sRGB vs Adobe, Adobe vs Native, Native vs sRGB).

For example Photoshop CS5 + Win7x64SP1. If you switch between "monitor mode"+OS profile (ICM) after CS5 started, CS5 is not aware of that change and will render colors like the primaries coordinates had not change. Just restart it. It could bring you a lot of headaches trying to figure what was wrong switching between AdobeRGB & Native gamuts until you realize this.

For Maya you are probably going to want to use sRGB. Unless your final output is for print. But even then i would just work in a high bit color render(32bit) so in post you can crush the colors or do whatever you need to for print in Adobe RGB.

From what i have been learning sRGB is the main stream for broadcast,film,video,web ect(adobe rgb color space will look wrong if someone views it with an srgb monitor and not correct). Adobe RGB is for print. 

New to wide gamut and display profiling, have been reading a bit about it around the net, but would like know if my workflow makes any sense. My primary objective is to have accurate colors in Maya and Photoshop. Secondary objective is to have accurate colors in games.
I should use sRGB emulation in Maya, and other non color managed applications, and adobeRGB in photoshop and firefox ?
Engineering = which color space to use depends on the source and output you are looking for.

I should profile the display with the provided Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software, and store a sRGB calibration profile for example in CAL1, and a adobeRGB calibration profile in CAL2. And have the Dell Display Manager switch to CAL2 when using photoshop, and to CAL1 for all applications that aren't color managed ?
Engineering = That is workable. The advantage of using the Dell Ultrasharp Color Calibration SW is that you can specify the luminance(brightness) that is suitable in your environment.  It is not advisable to change the brightness setting(via OSD) after calibration otherwise the accuracy may be affected.  DDM can help you switch between the preset modes link to your applications. 

i1Profiler (the software that came with the i1Display Pro) can monitor ambient light, and automaticly reprofile based on changes in ambient light. The Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software doesn't mention measuring ambient light at all, so I don't think the software have that capability ? Is there a way of using the hardware calibration in U3014 and ambient light measurements at the same time ? Would it be ok to install both i1Profiler and the Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration software, at the same time, do first the hardware calibration with the dell software, and then have the i1Profiler build a (software?) profile, that would mostly just reflect changes in ambient light ?
Engineering = The Dell calibration SW do not take into account the ambient light.  For color critical work, I suggest using the Dell calibration SW to cal to a brightness that is suitable to your ambient, eg in dark environment use lower brightness like 120nits.

For accurate colors in games (if at all possible) I should use the games preset (to reduce lag) and then use i1Profiler to create a profile ?
Engineering = Yes, use Game preset for the best input lag when playing games.  The Game preset mode is tune to enhance the typical gaming scene especially the dark areas.  Accuracy is less of a concern here.  There is no need to create a profile using the SW, as the purpose of color calibration SW is to calibrate the monitor to certain industry standard(eg AdobeRGB or particular color coordinates).

With "the SW" in

"There is no need to create a profile using the SW, as the purpose of color calibration SW is to calibrate the monitor to certain industry standard(eg AdobeRGB or particular color coordinates)."

you mean YOUR software (Dell's) ? Basically because DCCS cannot calibrate & profle game mode... not because IT IS NOT NEEDED, specially if WP is FAR OFF D65 (7000K or higher). We're not taking about accuracy but about a possibly noticeable WP color shift in game/standard mode of-of-the-box.

soerenL, easy guide:

1- create yout custom 3DLUT for sRGB and AdobeRGB/Native in CAL1 & CAL2.

2- test these profiles with ArgyllCMS in order to check that your DCCS setup has no misconfiguration. Remember to load the corrections for your GB-LED wide gamut screen, "RG_phosphor_family(..).edr".

__Really__, you want to do this step number 2.

3- While in game mode if you notice a color shift of WP (white is too greenish or bluish or redish), just create a D65 profile with ArgyllCMS (XYZ LUT +matrix) without calibrate (leave contrast as is if you built a profile for your U3014 "custom mode" with custom brightness, contrast en RGB gain). It won't make miracles, but it's a welcome improve.

You did not run a test, you "reprofiled" your display and created a new profile.

0- Get latest DispaclaGUI (1.7.x)

1- Make sure that DCCS profile for your CAL1(CAL2) is active (Control Panel->Color management->your display device). If not sleect it and click set as default.

2-Open DipcalGUI, the first combo box (sorry I use a non english version) maybe called "settings" must point to " ", not to " WHATEVERNAME.icm". If was not selected, sleect id and restart DispcalGUI. This will ensure that on DispcalGUI startup it will load in GPU LUT the calibrations of current display profile in Control panel. In our case since it is a calibration in monitr's internal LUT3D GPU LUT will be written with linear values (inut=output). Same applies to your "profile only" if you want to test its accuracy.

3- With proper DispcalGUI setup in step 2, Tools-> Measuremet report. Choose "verify_extended.ti1", uncheck the other combos and press "current profile" button. Then press "measurement".
It will mesaure 51 patches and build a HTML file with the report.

Thank you so much for this reply.  I didn't "Upload profile..." or "Install Profile" after doing the Profile Only run, so at least I didn't install a new unnecessary profile (I assume)!

I have dispcalGUI 1.7.5.7.  For the purposes of the test, I physically disconnected the 3007 so that only the U3014 appears in my Colour Management window, and set the profile for the U3014 to CAL1 (my AdobeRGB profile).  I forced the Dell Display Manager to "Manual Mode" and CAL1 as well, just to be sure that everything was aligned.  Then I rebooted the PC.

Unfortunately, after following your instructions for dispcalGUI, when I pressed the "Measure" button, I received a dialog box with the error message:

C:\Program Files (x86)\dispcalGUI\Argyll_V1.6.3\bin\xicclu.exe:

Error - File 'temp.icc' is not an ICC or .cal file

I tried searching the dispcalGUI and ArgyllCMS sites, but could find no list of error messages and how to deal with them.  Do you have any idea what this might mean?

ArgyllCMS/DispcalGUI only work with ICC v2 profiles (DCCS gives you that option).

You're a genius!  It took me a few minutes to find out how to create v2 profiles, but the measurement worked like a  charm.

The average/max deltaE were 0.37 and 1.17 respectively, which seems pretty good.  However the whitepoint values were slightly more out (as below).  Is there anything in particular I can do to correct that?

Profile whitepoint XYZ (normalized): 113.55 123.32 129.18 (92.08 100 104.75), CCT = 6576K
Measured whitepoint XYZ (normalized): 112.96 122.82 128.66 (91.98 100 104.76), CCT = 6588K
Assumed target whitepoint (XYZ): 6600K daylight (94.99 100 110.26)

Criteria Nominal # Actual Result
Measured vs. assumed target whitepoint ΔE*00 <= 2 <= 1 16 5.48 NOT OK ✖

I forgot to say something very important YOU MUST apply GB-LED spectral corrections to DispcalGUI. They are stored in RG_phosphor.edr. (C:\Program Files (x86)\X-Rite\Devices\i1d3\Calibrations). Import them in Tools menu. You must set RG_phosphorXXX.ccss (translated from EDR binary to text) in "Corrections" combo box prior to any measurement.

Run a measurement report again. If it still happens:

Check "show additional stats" and look for measured WP vs profile WP. It should look OK in this comparison.

Seems a common issue with 27" and 30" and DCCS, to a lesser extent present in U2413.
The cause IMHO is the way DCCS fix desired luminance. The proper way to do this is to perform an iterative process:
1-make an aproximation to WP
2-fix luminance
3-do it again
until a certain goal has been achieved (+-5cd/m2 and WP dE < 2, for example)

The way DCCS do that is to fix in somekind of internal RGB gain the WP (RGB gain, or LUT3D, or something like that...remember that there is no documentation... and playing with contrast). The DCCS measure native gamma in grey and r,g,b ramps from black to that color (too few measuremets but dell or xrire do not care) and some secondary colors native (uncalibrated) response.
After that it does its calculations, builds a LUT3D and stores it in CAL1 or CAL2 preset. Then tries to fix luminance.
After that it measures the 400 patches or whatever number you choose in order to make the profile that describes this OSD mode behaviour (what a profile is meant to do) and this measuremets are stored in ICM file for color managed apps to read.

Do you see what's done in a wrong way? DCCS first fixes a little WP, then calibrate, then fixes luminance. Last step should be done at the same time than first one and 0 changes should be done after LUT3D calibration.

If you change brightness or contrast (specially last one) WP will drift. Measure it in OSD custom mode if you want, for GB-LED: the greater contrast  the greater green boost is, brightness boosts a litle blue an green, just a little (so contrast should keep arround 40-60%)
Maybe this is what happens to you, it's an DCCS software issue (Xrite's fault I think) but them (dell & Xirte) do not care... Same applies to native gamma measurements which may cause that calibrated CAL1/CAL2 grey ramp may be not even 99% neutral.

Ah, that's an excellent pickup!  I had downloaded and selected the correct .ccss file when I was preparing my original profiles.  But after I did the DCCS rescan with ICC v2 chosen, I selected Options | Restore Defaults in dispcalGUI before doing the Measurement Report to make sure I was starting from the correct base - but I had forgotten to re-select the correct .ccss file.  

I can't thank you enough for your detailed explanations and help!

After setting the correct RG_Phospor_Family_25Jul12.ccss, the three "Measured vs profile whitepoint" values are all less than 0.7, even though the "Measured vs assumed target whitepoint" values are 5-7%.