Summary

Measuring instruments record very extensive color information of the samples during the measurement and store this in an internal raw data format. Everything the sensor has measured is stored lossless in this raw data format. These raw files (.mdl) are device-specific and can therefore only be read by the Color Manager measuring program.

The subsequent procedures that process the measurement data (e.g. calibration / linearization, profiling, quality assurance,...) require only a part of the color information, but often in very different color systems (densities, colorimetric data, spectra) according to different standards (measurement conditions, density status, colorimetric observer and illumination parameters,...).

The preparation of the raw data for the required user data takes place in the data export. Here, the required color values are calculated using predefined or selectable settings and saved in a standardized open file format.

The process is comparable to raw data processing in photography. The camera first stores all captured image information lossless in a large camera-specific raw file. The RAW converter uses this data to create small image files optimized for the respective purpose with individual user settings in the desired color model and data format with the appropriate bit depth and resolution. The raw file is retained, so that new, different image files can be created again and again without any loss of information.

Color Manager works in a similar way. The raw file is the internal .mdl measurement file, the exported files are CGATS text files with the color data required for the respective application (densities, XYZ, L*a*b*, spectral data,...).