Pictographics Digital Photo Color Correct Technology

Pictographics^®Color Correct

Point-and-Click White Balance, Exposure, and Skin Tone Correction

The Color Correct Library is the color engine behind PictoColor's award winning iCorrect Portrait color correction Photoshop Plug-in. iCorrect Portrait is the fastest and easiest way to make every portrait more life-like. With just a few clicks, you can instantly correct the white balance, exposure, and skin tone of any portrait. With iCorrect Portrait, you can easily remove any color cast, correct the tonal range, adjust the brightness and contrast, and give every skin tone the color of life.

Pictographics Color Correct technology creates a color correction “profile or function” by direct analysis of a digitized image. The correction profile is based on associating color groups of the original image with color groups obtained either from reference images or mathematical color models. Once the color correction profile has been made, it may be applied to the original image or any other images needing the same correction. The technology uses an approach to color editing that allows direct interaction with the image or, in many situations, totally automates the color correction process. In either case, the image may be easily and accurately corrected in a very short time, without repetitive steps or trial-and-error methods.

Color Correct technology was developed by Pictographics International Corporation. The technology is licensed to digital imaging software developers, system companies, hardware manufacturers, and Internet based imaging services under Pictographics Digital Color Technology License Agreement. It is available as a library or DLL.

Technical Overview

Monitor RGB

Foundational to the whole library’s approach to color correction is the notion of a colorimetric monitor RGB. Much like the RGB working space found in Adobe Photoshop, the library requires the RGB system to have an unambiguous colorimetric meaning by tying it to the CIE color system. This allows the color correction to have meaning to other programs afterward, and it also allows for the possibility of properly displaying the color image for the user by taking into account the monitor profile.

Memory Colors

The library has the ability to create correction functions that map selected RGB colors into a form that matches a predefined memory color definition. For example, the library has built-in, device independent definitions for a few common colors, such as skin tone, foliage and neutrals. Colors from the image, when interpreted to device-independent color through the monitor parameters, may be made to align with corresponding definitions by applying the proper transformation. This transformation is computed automatically by the library.

Color Sampling

RGB colors are taken from a low resolution representative of the full resolution image by using user-selected “marks”, or pixel coordinates as seed points from which similar colors are contiguously collected. Each mark is associated with a particular memory color definition, allowing the memory color correction to take place.

Application Examples

Color Correct technology is the foundation of PictoColor's iCorrect Portrait Photoshop Plug-in.

Licensing Information

For information on licensing Pictographics Digital Color Technology please contact us.