We have been getting a few questions about what features are available in the “Calibrate” license level. Some users have noticed that they can use an IT8.7-5 chart (TC1617) to calibrate when they have a Complete license - but the same chart won’t work to calibrate with the “Calibrate” license.
The Curve4 Calibrate level of licensing is designed to be the natural upgrade from our previous Curve offerings (Curve3, Curve2). Using Curve4 Calibrate you can use all the features of calibration while using a P2P target, just like the previous versions.
The Complete license not only opens up the Blend tool but also adds the ability to use most any CMYK target for calibration. An IT8.7-5 makes for a natural choice because you can use the same target for profiling. This uses a new feature whereby we can regenerate or extrapolate the measurement of patches that are not present in the original target. Basically, Curve4 will create a P2P target “behind the scenes”. So this is a fabulous new function that opens up great number of uses in the Blend tool. At the same time, we wanted to make it available in the Calibrate tool because of its obvious benefits there. But generally everything using this new regenerative function is unlocked with the Complete license only.
There are only 3 features in the Calibrate tool that are not available in the Calibrate license:
- This “P2P-less calibration” feature I mentioned above,
- The use of small “reCal” targets,
- and VPR.
Here’s a layout of the features of the different license levels:
https://www.chromix.com/curve4/licensingMatrix.cxsa
I can understand the confusion when the Calibrate license does not include all the features of the Calibrate tool. I know we did a lot of internal discussion over the naming of the different license levels (and I wasn’t the one who came up with calling it the “Calibrate” license level), but if anyone comes up with a better way to refer to this, we’re all ears!
For further reading, check out my post on the Auto button.