ColorCalculator User Guide

by

OSRAM Sylvania, Inc.

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Contents
I. Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 4
II. Installation and Program Files .............................................................................................................. 4
1.

Windows Version ......................................................................................................................... 4

2.

Mac OS X Version ......................................................................................................................... 5

III. Main Modes of Operation ................................................................................................................... 6

1.

General Photometry .................................................................................................................... 6

2.

Design Optimization..................................................................................................................... 8

3.

Total Combinations ...................................................................................................................... 9

IV. Other Functionality........................................................................................................................... 11

1.

Filters......................................................................................................................................... 11

2.

Color Quality Scale (CQS) ........................................................................................................... 11

3.

Colors ........................................................................................................................................ 12

4.

Delta(uv) .................................................................................................................................... 12

5.

R-Values Plots ............................................................................................................................ 13

6.

Subtract Blue Peak ..................................................................................................................... 15

a.

Spectrum Plots ....................................................................................................................... 16

b.

CIE Plots ................................................................................................................................. 16

c.

Matching Plots ....................................................................................................................... 16

d.

CIEL*a*b* Plots ...................................................................................................................... 17

e.

Color Rendering Plots ............................................................................................................. 19

7.

Other Features ........................................................................................................................... 20

a.

Generic Pure Color LEDs ......................................................................................................... 20

b.

Black Body and Daylight Spectra............................................................................................. 20

c.

Gaussian Peak ........................................................................................................................ 21

d.

MacAdam Ellipses .................................................................................................................. 22

e.

Adding Color Points ................................................................................................................ 23

f.

Calculating x,y from CCT and Duv ........................................................................................... 24

g.

Convert Between Different Coordinate Systems ..................................................................... 26

h.

Natural Colour System (NCS) .................................................................................................. 27

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i.

Class A Light ........................................................................................................................... 29

j.

Three Color Mixing ................................................................................................................. 29

k.

Spectra Mixing ....................................................................................................................... 30

l.

Circadian System Response .................................................................................................... 30

m.

TLCI-2012 Metric ................................................................................................................ 31

IV. Description of Menu Commands ...................................................................................................... 32

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ColorCalculator User Guide

I. Overview
The ColorCalculator software was developed by Osram Sylvania, Inc to help users design color mixing
LED lighting solutions. The software has three main modes of operation along with several other useful
features. The main start-up window is shown in Figure 1.
The three main modes of operation are:
1) General photometry.
- The user either selects the intensity of several LEDs or inputs a spectrum and the
program calculates several photometric quantities.
2) Design optimization.
- A set of desired photometric values are specified by the user and the program calculates
the intensity of the LEDs required to obtain the design.
3) Total combinations.
- The user specifies a set of LEDs and the program calculates all of the designs possible
based on this selection.
The photometric quantities are derived from equations given in CIE documents 13.3 and 15.2

II. Installation and Program Files

The program is completely self-contained in the ColorCalculator.exe file, no other files or dlls are
needed. The executable can be moved to any directory or copied to any computer without having to be
installed. The program will create several file when run. These files have names such as:
ColorCalculator.ini, userSpectra.spec, userFilters.fils, userColors.cols, photometry.txt. All of the files
created by this program are in plain text can be viewed in a standard text editor but should not be
changed by the user. Other files may be created but with user defined names.

1. Windows Version
The downloaded file is a self-extracting zip file. Save it you your hard drive and double-click. Select the
folder you want to save the program in. Two files will be saved: ColorCalculator.exe and
ColorCalculator_User_Guide.pdf (a copy of this document).

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The files the program writes are written to the directory where the ColorCalculator.exe is located. You
may want to put the ColorCalculator.exe in a central location and create Windows shortcuts to this exe
in other folders. Then you can edit the Start in: directory of the shortcut so that all files will be written
to the directory where the shortcut is located. In the example below the shortcut name is ColorCalc. You
can put shortcuts in several directories and edit each shortcut so the Start in points to the local
directory where the shortcut is. This is helpful if you are working on several different projects with
different design requirements. See Windows help for more information on working with shortcuts.

2. Mac OS X Version
The Mac version runs in X Windows (X11). If you double-click the program and you only see a terminal
window you need to install the X11 libraries. X Windows (X11) can be installed using the XQuartz project
files (http://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/).
The download file is ColorCalculator.dmg.zip, unzip it by double-clicking it. Open the .dmg file file and
save the two files within, ColorCalculator (the executable) and ColorCalculator_User_Guide.pdf (a copy
of this document). You start the program by double-clicking the executable in Finder. The program will
try and create a directory called %HOME%/ColorCalculator_OSI/ where your user files and the ini files
will be kept. If this directory cannot be created these files will be stored in your %HOME% directory.

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III. Main Modes of Operation

Not all of the available menu commands will be discussed in details here. Most of them should be fairly
obvious to the experienced designer or may be best understood by trying them. Also, if you let your
mouse pointer hover over an input box many of the input boxes have a small pop-up help description.

Figure 1. Main window at start-up.

1. General Photometry
The user selects the LEDs to include in the design (by checking them), enters the dominate wavelengths
and the intensities. The intensity can be entered as watts or lumens and these can be mixed. Once the
design is entered the Calculate button is clicked and the results are displayed in the window and the
resultant spectrum is displayed in the table. The spectra from the individual LEDs are combined together
additively to give the spectrum of the mix. By default, the photometry results are also written to a text
file called photometry.txt in the directory where the ColorCalculator.exe is located.

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The user can also enter a spectrum directly into the table. This is done by first selecting the Direct
spectrum input as the Analysis type and pasting the spectrum into the table. You can enter the
spectrum at predefined wavelength intervals or in a free format. The wavelength intervals can be
selected from the menu item Data->Spectrum from.. If the Data->Free format spectrum is used
then the program will interpolate the entered data to the calculation points. The free format spectrum is
useful when importing data from photometric sphere measurements where the data is not measured at
regular intervals.

Once a design has been entered it can be saved for later use. To save a spectrum first perform a
calculation then click the menu item User Spectra->save as user spectrum. You will be prompted to
enter a name and a LPW. Entering the LPW is optional, you may leave this blank. All of the user spectra
you save are written to a file called userSpectra.spec in the directory where the ColorCalculator.exe
file is located. The userSpectra.spec file is in plain text and can be viewed in any standard text editor.
Under the User Spectra menu item are several other functions useful in maintaining and manipulating
your saved spectra.
The program can read certain file formats directly without the user having to cut-and-paste the data by
hand. The program can read data files from the SpecWin and SpectraSuite software packages.The
SpectraSuite format will also read-in an asc file with two columns of wavelength and intensity. You can
encode the drive current and forward voltage in the filename and the program will parse these out and
calculate the LPW and include this information in the photometry.xls file. Example files names are
test_led_3.1V_50mA.isd, test led 3.1V 50mA.isd and test led 50mA 3.1V.isd. The important
feature is that you must use V to indicate the forward voltage and mA to indicate the drive current,

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with no space between the number and the symbol. Both must be surrounded by ether underscores or
spaces or be at the beginning or end of the file name for this feature to work. You can also use W for
readings from a watt meter.

2. Design Optimization
The user selects several LEDs to include in a design, specifies a set of photometric targets and the
program adjusts the intensity of the LEDs to reach the target design. It is best to first find a design that is
reasonably close to your target, as described in the previous section. In Figure 2 the optimization
method is Target a CRI. The target CRI is defined as 80 with a CCT within 50K of 3000K and a Delta(uv)
of 0.002. Also, a minimum R9 of 40 is specified. Only some of these parameters need to be specified. If
an input box is left blank it will not be constrained. Once you click the Calculate button the program
will prompt you to enter any required values that you left blank. In order to optimize for the LPW, the
LPW of all of the LEDs included in the design must be specified. You will be prompted if any are missing.
If your optimization is successful the new intensity values will be copied to the correct input boxes for
you to run a complete calculation. If you do not like the design you may return to the original intensity
values by clicking the Reset values button. If the optimization is not successful you may need to relax
some of the optimization constraints, begin with a better design or add more LEDs to the design.
While design optimization is a very powerful tool it may not be the best approach to find a desirable
design. One of the drawbacks is that it gives you only one best design. There may be a design that is
very close to the best but has some advantages that would lead you to select it over the best design
if you were aware of it.

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Figure 2. Portion of the main window used to define the optimization targets.

3. Total Combinations
This method is a brute force method. Instead of finding the one best design that meets a set of userdefined parameters it finds all designs that meet the parameters. It calculates all of the possible
combinations of the selected LEDs over a given intensity range and a very loose set of photometric
parameters. It writes all of the designs to a text file for the user to manually scan through. The file is tab
delimited and can be opened in Excel or other database programs. Once the designs have been run
through the user can view all of the designs and make trade-offs that a strict optimization process does
not allow.
This method is started with the Other options->Run combinations menu item. A new window, Figure
3, is opened and the details of the combination run can be specified here.

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Figure 3. Combination run window.

The user checks the LEDs to include, the minimum and maximum number of LEDs to include in a given
design and some basic photometric values. In the window shown in Figure 3 the run will include a total
of 5 LEDs but only consider designs with between 2 and 4 LEDs. The intensity of each LED will be varied
in steps of 1% and all designs with a CCT of 2700K and 2800K, and CRI above 80, any R9 and a delta(uv)
less than 0.0020 will be written to a file. The total number of designs to calculate is 5,669,185,365. This
set of parameters ran in 7 minutes on a quad core Windows PC and 564 designs were found that met
the photometric parameters. The user can then open the result file in Excel and evaluate the designs. If
a very large number of designs are found there is a basic filtering function built into the program. Click
the Filter button and you can specify a CCT range, CRI, R9 and delta(uv) to create a new file with your

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refined selection criteria. The original file is not affected by this and can be re-filtered as many times as
desired.

IV. Other Functionality

1. Filters
A filter is used in some applications to control some aspect of the light. You can enter and save a filter
much in the same way as a spectrum can be saved. To enter a filter select the Filter input Analysis
type and paste your transmission data directly into the table, click the Calculate button to have the
program check the data. You can then use the User Filters menu item to save or manipulate your user
filters as you would your user spectra. The transmission is defined as between 0 and 1 or as a percent
from 0 to 100. The units can be changed in the Data menu item. The saved filters are saved to a plain
text file called userFilters.fils.
If you use filters it is helpful to create a user spectrum that has a value of 1 for the intensity at all
wavelengths. This can be used to check your filters by selecting the constant spectrum and a filter. The
resultant plot will be a plot of the transmission of the filter.

2. Color Quality Scale (CQS)

The Color Quality Scale is being developed by NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) as a
possible replacement for the Color Rendering Index (CRI) for use with LED light sources. A full
description of the CQS is given in W. Davis, Y. Ohno, Optical Engineering, v49(3), 033602 (March 2010).
The user can switch back-and-forth between the CRI and CQS using the radio buttons towards the
bottom of the main window as highlighted below.

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3. Colors
The individual values in the CRI and CQS scales (R1-R14 and Q1-Q15) give a measure as to how well the
test source will render a color as compared to the reference source (a black body at the same CCT). The
individual colors in the CRI and CQS scales were chosen for their general applicability. However, in some
cases, you may want to see how a different color will be rendered. To do this you can define a user
color. A user color is defined by entering the spectral reflectance representing the color. The measure
of how well this color will be rendered compared to the reference source will be calculated using the
CQS formulation and written to the photometry.txt file for each user color checked. The user colors
can be managed in the same manner as the user filters. The reflectance is defined as 0 and 1 or as a
percent from 0 to 100. The saved colors are saved to a plain text file called userColors.cols.

4. Delta(uv)
The delta(uv) is a measure of the distance an x,y point is from the black body locus in u-v space. For
white light you generally want delta(uv) to be below 0.0020. If you have x,y data and want to plot it on
a CIE diagram or calculate the CCT or delta(uv) values you can click the D(uv) button near the top of
the main window. A new window will open where you can enter your data and have the program plot
your points and calculate the desired values. This can also be used to plot more than one point on the
CIE diagram.

If you have several spectra you want to plot at the same time you can take the following steps. After a
calculation click the x,y button near the top of the main window. This will save the x,y data for the
spectrum that was just calculated. Repeat this for as many spectra as you wish, click the D(uv) button,
and in the new window that opens click the x,y button. The saved x,y pairs will be written into the
table. Then click the calculate button to plot the data.

You can clear the saved x,y pairs by clicking the Data->Clear all saved x,y values menu item on the
main window or by restarting the program. You can also check several spectra and press the Cal
Individual button. This will calculate each checked spectra individually and automatically save the x,y
point. These can then be pasted into the Duv table using the method described above. From this

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window you have several features such as; change plot symbols, show/hide the MacAdams ellipses for
the individual points. You can also display one MacAdams ellipse centered on all of your points.

Figure 4. Input form for the Delta(uv) calculations.

5. R-Values Plots
You can make a plot of the R-values or Q-values, depending on which metric is selected. After a
calculation click the button circled in red below.

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You will see a plot similar to the one below (Figure 4).

Figure 5. R-value plot.

You can plot the R-values from several spectra on the same plot by saving the R-values by clicking the
button circled in red below. You can clear the saved R-values by clicking the Data->Clear all saved Rvalues menu item on the main window or by restarting the program.

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6. Subtract Blue Peak

The Subtract blue peak option will automatically fit the blue peak and subtract it from the spectrum.
The amount of watts in the fitted blue peak and the remaining peak (called the phosphor peak) will be
reported in the output. The spectrum without the blue peak will be plotted as a solid black line so the
user can see the fit and evaluate if it is reasonable. The calculated watts in each peak are usually good to
within 10%. These values only are meaningful for LED sources.

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Figure 6. Spectrum with the blue peak fit.

Other Plot Types

a. Spectrum Plots
You can save the plot of a spectrum to a file as a bitmap image. To save the spectrum click the button
circled in red below. A window will open with only the spectrum plot in it. You can resize the plot and
save it to a file.

b. CIE Plots
You can save the plots of the CIE diagram to a file as a bitmap image. To save the CIE diagram click the
button circled in red below. A window will open with only the CIE diagram plot in it. You can resize the
plot and save it to a file. There are several options in the menu of this window that allow you to tailor
the plot in many ways. The display of the MacAdam ellipses can also be controlled in this window.

c. Matching Plots
If you check the Matching->Matching mode menu item a new column will be added to the table. You
can paste a spectrum into the column labeled Matching. When you calculate the spectrum this
matching plot will also be plotted. You can also select to use the photopic curve as the matching
spectrum by checking the appropriate box in the Matching menu item.

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d. CIEL*a*b* Plots
You can make and save CIEL*a*b*plots of either the CRI, CQS or user colors to a file as a bitmap image.
To display the CIEL*a*b*plot click the button circled in red below. A window will open with the
CIEL*a*b*plot in it. You can resize the plot and save it to a file. The CMCCAT2000 chromatic adaptation
is used to correct the CQS and user colors and the von Kries chromatic adaptation is used to correct the
colors. The plot can display the results as individual points of as vectors connecting the test and
reference points, color rendering vectors (CRV). You can also make these types of plots using any user
colors you have any defined and checked.

Figure 7. CIEL*a*b* plot of the 14 R-values for the reference and test light source.

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Figure 8. CIEL*a*b* plot of the 14 R-values for the reference and test light source showing color
rendering vectors (CRV). A vector pointing toward the center indicates that a particular color is under
saturated, a vector pointing away from the center indicates that the color is oversaturated. Vectors
pointing in a rotational direction indicate that there is a shift in hue for a color. Longer vectors indicate
larger shifts in color and/or saturation.

Once the plot is displayed you can list the L*, a* and b* values (and related metrics) in a table by clicking
the Data->Show the data values in a table menu item.

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Figure 9. Values used to make the CIEL*a*b* plot.

e. Color Rendering Plots

How well each color is rendered can be seen using the color patch plot, Figure 8. The plot can be seen
using the Other plots->Show color patches of R, Q or user colors menu item. You can also show user
colors, if you have any defined and checked, using the Plot type menu item. Note, the colors are only
approximate and are rendered as sRBG assuming a gamma of 2.2 and normalized to 100 lumens. The
CMCCAT2000 chromatic adaptation is used to correct the colors and the source illumination is D65.

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Figure 10. Color patch plot of the 15 R-values for the reference and test light source.

7. Other Features
a. Generic Pure Color LEDs
You can also display what are called generic pure color LEDs in addition to the standard packaged LEDs
shown by default. You can control what types of LEDs are displayed with the Other options menu
item. The generic pure color LEDs are mainly of interest to designers using the Total combinations
method previously described. These LEDs have their peak shapes defined by Gaussian fits. Each peak is
represented by a fit of three individual Gaussians which were derived by fitting to experimental data.
The peak shapes change with the dominate wavelength. When these LEDs are shown the Total
combinations window looks as shown below. In addition to the standard LEDs you can chose these
generic LEDs and include the wavelength variation in a combinations run.

b. Black Body and Daylight Spectra

You can display the spectrum of a black body or reconstituted daylight at any CCT. This can then be
saved as a user spectrum or used as a matching plot.

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c. Gaussian Peak
You can have the program generate a simple Gaussian peak to represent an LED. Click the User
Spectra->Generate Gaussian based user spectrum menu item. You can then enter the peak center, the
peak width (FWHM) and a name and the program will generate the spectrum and add it to your user
spectra.

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d. MacAdam Ellipses
The program will calculate the points for a MacAdam ellipse for use in other plotting software. Use the
Other Options->Calculate coordinates of MacAdam ellipse to display this window:

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You can enter the ellipse center and the other parameters and the points describing the ellipse will be
written to the table. Note that the ellipse is based on equations from: Chickering, JOSA V57 n4,
"Optimization of the MacAdam-Modified 1965 Friele Color-Difference Formula" and Chickering, JOSA
V61 n1, "FMC Color-Difference Formulas: Clarification Concerning Usage".

e. Adding Color Points

You can add a series of x,y and lumen value to see the resultant color point.

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Figure 11. Input form for the additive x,y and lumen calculations.

f.

Calculating x,y from CCT and Duv

You can enter values for the CCT and Duv and have the program calculate the corresponding x,y color
points. The program solves for the x,y and then uses these to redo the forward calculation to calculate
the CCT and Duv so you can compare the calculated to inputted values as a check on the solution.

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g. Convert Between Different Coordinate Systems
You can convert between different sets of color coordinates. Enter any set (xy or uv or uv or XYZ or
L*a*b*) and the others sets will be calculated. You can enter a lumen level or, if none is specified, the
program uses a default of 100. For conversion to and from CIELab space a white point must be entered.
If you are not interested in the L*a*b* values this white point can be ignored.

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h. Natural Colour System (NCS)
The Natural Colour System is a color notation system developed and supported by NCS Colour and is
the property of and used on licence from NCS Colour AB, Stockholm 2013. The system is comprised of 40
hues, a blackness level (vertical axis) and a chromaticness level (horizontal axis). More information can
be found at http://www.ncscolour.com/.
These colors can be selected and used as user colors and can then be used to generate color rendering
vector plots (CRV) to give a designer an indication as to how a light source will render a wide range of
colors, section C. Figure 12 was made using all 1950 of the NCS colors as user colors. This plot is much
more informative than the similar plots shown in Figure 8 which was made using the 14 CRI R-value
colors.

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Figure 12. CIEL*a*b* plot of the 1950 NCS colors for the reference and test light source showing color
rendering vectors (CRV).

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i.

Class A Light

J.P. Freyssinier and M.S. Rea of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and
Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST) have proposed a specification for
what they call Class A lighting. Detailed information on this work can be found at
http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/solidstate/colorResearch.asp and
http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/solidstate/colorResearch.asp .

j.

Three Color Mixing

The Other options->Calculate 3 color mixing based on x,y menu item will show the following
window. Enter the x,y coordinates of the three color sources in the top table. In the Targets table
enter either the CCT and Duv or the x and y of the desired mixed light and the required lumen level of
each of the three colors will be calculated. You can either enter a value in the Total lm column or leave
it empty. If it is left empty then a default value of 100 lumens will be used.

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k. Spectra Mixing
The Other options->Calculate color mixing based on spectra menu item will show the following
window. The checked spectra (up to 4) from the main window will be used in these calculations. The
watts or milliwatts of each color can be entered and the photometry will be calculated.

l.

Circadian System Response

The Other options->Calculate Circadian system response menu item will show the following window.
First you must select and perform a calculation from the main window. You can enter the Lux values and
have the program calculate the resultant CLA and CS values, or enter a target CS value and the required
Lux and CLA values will be calculated. The Circadian system response calculation is based on work by
M.S. Rea, M.G. Figueiro, J.D. Bullough, A. Bierman and R. Hamner at the Lighting Research Center,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA.

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m. TLCI-2012 Metric
The TLCI-2012 metric refers to the Television Lighting Consistency Index, as specified in EBU Tech 3355.
It is used to evaluate the suitability of a light source for use in television. A complete description is
available on the web at https://tech.ebu.ch/tlci-2012. Below shows sample output for the 2700K white
LED included in the program.

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IV. Description of Menu Commands

A brief description of each menu command will be given. For many of these the meaning is obvious or it
can be easily ascertained by trying them.

1. Main Window

a. File Menu
i.

Open design file

Open a previously saved design file. This contains all of the settings you can set in the UI.
ii.

Save design as

Saves the current state of the UI to a file. These setting can be read back in using the Open design
file command.

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iii.

Clear recent project list

Clears the list of the recently used design files. This will be grayed out if no design files have been
used.
iv.

Open photometry.txt file

Opens the photometry.txt file in a simple text editor. This file contains a surrey of all of the runs
performed since the program was last started. It is overwritten each time the program is restarted.
This file is only written to if the Write to Excel button is pressed or if the menu item Data->Write
photometry data to a file (photometry.txt) is checked.
v.

Open photometry.xls file

Opens the photometry.xls file in excel. This file contains a surrey of all of the runs performed since
the program was last started. It is overwritten each time the program is restarted. This file is only
written to if the Write to Excel button is pressed or if the menu item Data->Write photometry
data to Excel file (photometry.xls) is checked.
vi.

Open asa_out.txt file

Open a text file with results from any optimization runs. The contents of this file will not be
described here.
vii.

Exit

It does what is says.

b. Edit Menu
i.

Select entire table

Selects the content of the table where the spectrum is displayed.

ii.

Copy selection to clipboard

Copies the selected cells in the table to the clipboard. These values can then be pasted in other
software.
iii.

Paste selection to clipboard

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Allows values to be copied from other software, such as Excel, to be pasted in to the table.
These values must already be in the clipboard and can only be pasted when the program in the
one of the input modes.
c. Data Menu
i.

Input power units (milliWatts)

Sets the watts units for the spectra to milliwatts. These are the values you enter into the UI to
set how much of each spectrum you have. This does not affect values of any spectra which are
read from files.
ii.

Input power units (watts)

Sets the watts units for the spectra to watts. These are the values you enter into the UI to set
how much of each spectrum you have. This does not affect values of any spectra which are read
from files.
iii.

Input units for filters and colors (fraction 0-1)

Sets the input units for filters and colors to fractional values. The values must be in the range of
0 to 1.
iv.

Input units for filters and colors (percent 0-100)

Sets the input units for filters and colors to percentage values. The values must be in the range
of 0 to 100.
v.

Spectrum from 360-830nm (2nm)

Set the wavelength range and interval for the spectrum copied into the main table for the
Direct spectrum input mode to 360-830nm in 2 nm steps.
vi.

Spectrum from 360-830nm (1nm)

Set the wavelength range and interval for the spectrum copied into the main table for the
Direct spectrum input mode to 360-830nm in 1 nm steps.
vii.

Spectrum from 380-780nm (2nm)

Set the wavelength range and interval for the spectrum copied into the main table for the
Direct spectrum input mode to 380-780nm in 2 nm steps.
viii.

Free format spectrum

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Set the wavelength range and interval for the spectrum copied into the main table for the
Direct spectrum input mode to any range and any interval. The program does the photometry
calculations from 360 to 830 in 2 nm steps. The inputted data will be extrapolated to fit this
range and set to 0 if not data is provided. This input format is the most general and can always
be used.
ix.

Input units for spectrum

Set the units of the inputted spectrum to either: W/nm, milliWatts/nm or microWatts/nm.
These units are only in effect when Direct spectrum input is checked.
x.

Invert values in table

When pasting in a spectrum, filter or color into the table requires that the wavelengths values
are arranged short to long, 360-830nm. If your data is in the opposite order (long to short) you
can paste it in then click this command and the values will be flipped in the table.
xi.

Write current spectrum data to a text file

The current contents of the spectrum table will be written to a text file of your choosing. This
can be read in using another command. This is in addition to being able to cut and paste the
data to a file for saving.
xii.

Gamut based on 1976 (u'v') diagram

The gamut areas based on the 1976 diagram will be displayed in the UI.
xiii.

Gamut based on 1960 (uv) diagram

The gamut areas based on the 1960 diagram will be displayed in the UI. Note that the gamuts
themselves are ratios and have the same values on the 1976 and 1960 diagrams. Only the gamut
areas are different.
xiv.

Write uv for the R-values, Q-values, and any checked User Colors to Excel file
(CRI_CQS_uu.xls)

Calculates the uv for the individual R-colors, Q-colors and any user colors under the test and
reference light sources and writes then to an Excel file names CRI_CQS_uu.xls.
xv.

Hide spectrum data when possible

The table with the spectrum data will be hidden unless you are in one of the input modes or are
displaying a matching spectrum.
xvi.

Set empty cells in spectrum to 0

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When inputting a spectrum any wavelength values not entered in the table will be set to zero. If
this is not checked then any empty cells will cause an error.
xvii.

Use original spectral intensity if lumens or watts are blank

If this is checked the user can leave both the watts and lumen values empty and the program
will use the value of the original spectrum. If this is not checked then any empty cells will cause
an error.
xviii.

Clear spectrum data from table

Clear the table of any user entered data. This can also be accomplished using the red x button
on the toolbar.
xix.

Clear all saved x,y values (0/2000)

Clears any saved x,y data from memory. After a spectrum is calculated you can click the x,y
toolbar button to save the x,y values to an array. Also, if you selected several spectra and click
the Cal. Individual button then each of the checked spectrum will be calculated individually
and not summed, then the x,y values will automatically be saved to the x,y array. These saved
values can then be pated into the Duv table (accessible by clicking the Duv toolbar button) and
used to make more customizable CIE plots.
xx.

Clear all saved R-values and Q-values (0/7)

Clears any saved R, Q data from memory. After a spectrum is calculated you can click the Rn
toolbar button to save the R and Q values to an array. These can then be used to make R or Q
values plots like that shown in Figure 5. You can use the current values or all of the saved values
to make your plot by using the menu commands in the R-values plot window (accessible with a
toolbar button).
xxi.

Clear input data on start-up

By default the program will start each time with the final values from the last time it was run.
Checking this will always start the program with no spectrum selected and lumen or watt values.
xxii.

Reset all program default values

Reset any user changeable values to their default settings with no spectrum selected and no
lumen or watt values. This can also be accomplished by deleting the ColorCalculator.ini file
located in the same directory as the ColorCalculator.exe file. Note that any user spectra, filters
or colors will not be affected; these are stored in separate files.
xxiii.

Update decimal format

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The program is international aware, meaning that it asked the operating system whether to
use a dot or comma for the decimal separator. You can reset this is the operation system and
use this command to have the program reset itself to use the new value.
d. Colors Menu
i.

Show CIE and CQS test colors

Set the background color of the individual R and Q values cell to an approximate representation
of the actual R or Q value at D65.
ii.

Show tab highlight colors

Highlights the Spectra, Filters, Colors, Optimization tabs with colors to make them more
visible.
e. Matching Menu
i.

Matching mode

Adds a third column to the spectrum table. An additional spectrum can be pasted into this 3rd
column to be plotted along with the original spectrum. The name of the matching spectrum can
be changed in the spectrum plot window.
ii.

Plot normalized data

Normalize the original and matching spectra before plotting.

iii.

Use photopic ( y ) curve as the matching spectrum

Use the photopic ( y ) curve as the matching spectrum, the spectra will be normalized before
plotting.
iv.

Use scotopic ( y ) curve as the matching spectrum

Use the scotopic ( y ) curve as the matching spectrum, the spectra will be normalized before
plotting.
Use photopic ( x ) curve as the matching spectrum
Use the photopic ( x ) curve as the matching spectrum, the spectra will be normalized before
plotting.

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v.

Use photopic ( z ) curve as the matching spectrum

Use the photopic ( z ) curve as the matching spectrum, the spectra will be normalized before
plotting.
vi.

Plot spectrum difference

Plot the original and matching spectra along with the difference between the two.
f.

User Spectra Menu

i.

Save as a user spectrum

After a spectrum has been calculated it can be saved for future use. The spectrum can be from a
combination of existing spectra, pasted into the table or read from a file. You can enter any
name you like and enter an LPW if it is known. Any saved user spectra are saved to a file called
userSpectra.spec in the directory where the ColorCalculator.exe is. It is a plain ascii file and
can be read in most text editors. You can move the file around, make copies or rename it. Each
time the program starts it looks for a file called userSpectra.spec and reads in any spectra
found within.
ii.

Import user spectra (add to current ones)

Open and read in saved spectra. You will be prompted for a file to open. This file must be in the
correct format so it is almost always a previously renamed userSpectra.spec file. The spectra
read-in will be added to any existing user spectra.
iii.

Read a saved user spectra file (replace current ones)

Open and read in saved spectra. You will be prompted for a file to open. This file must be in the
correct format so it is almost always a previously renamed UserSpectra.spec file. The spectra
read-in will replaced any existing user spectra. A file called userSpectra_bck.spec will contain
the contents of the old userSpectra.spec file if any existed.
iv.

Edit user spectra

Opens a new window allowing the user to rename, reorder, change the LPW, or delete any user
spectra in the current file.
v.

Create Gaussian peak user spectra

You can enter the peak center and FWHM to define a Gaussian peak which will be added to your
user spectra.

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vi.

Standard illuminates

You can select standard illuminates to be added to your user spectra.

vii.

Import *.isd SpecWin data file

You can select files created by the SpecWin software and directly import them as user spectra.
viii.

Import *.txt SpectraSuite data file

You can select files created by the SpectraSuite software and directly import them as user
spectra. You will be prompted to enter the intensity units (W/nm, mW/nm or W/nm) for the
spectrum.
ix.

Import data file (1st column is nm, 2nd column is intensity)

These files can be from any source and any wavelength range or interval. The data can be
separated by spaces or tabs, commas may also work depending on the symbol used as the
decimal point. You will be prompted to enter the intensity units (W/nm, mW/nm or W/nm) for
the spectrum. In this file format you can have up to 100 spectra in the same file in different
columns as long as they all have the same wavelengths, only the first column is used for the
wavelength, the other columns will be considered as holding the intensity.
x.

Import data file (1st column is intensity, 2nd column is nm)

These files can be from any source and any wavelength range or interval. The data can be
separated by spaces or tabs, commas may also work depending on the symbol used as the
decimal point. You will be prompted to enter the intensity units (W/nm, mW/nm or W/nm) for
the spectrum. In this file format you can have only 1 spectrum in the file.
g. User Filters Menu
i.

Save as a user filter

After a filter has been entered and calculated it can be saved for future use. The filter must
paste into the table when in Filter input mode. You can enter any name you like. Any saved
user filters are saved to a file called userFilters.fils in the directory where the
ColorCalculator.exe is. It is a plain ascii file and can be read in most text editors. You can move
the file around, make copies or rename it. Each time the program starts it looks for a file called
userFilters.fils and reads in any filters found within.
ii.

Import user filters (add to current ones)

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Open and read in saved filters. You will be prompted for a file to open. This file must be in the
correct format so it is almost always a previously renamed userFilters.fils file. The filters readin will be added to any existing user spectra.
iii.

Read a saved user filters file (replace current ones)

Open and read in saved filters. You will be prompted for a file to open. This file must be in the
correct format so it is almost always a previously renamed userFilters.fils file. The spectra
read-in will replaced any existing user filters. A file called userFilters_bck.fils will contain the
contents of the old userFilters.fils file if any existed.
iv.

Edit user filters

Opens a new window allowing the user to rename, reorder, or delete any user filters in the
current file.
v.

Uncheck all user filters

Uncheck any checked user filters.

vi.

Allow values greater than 1 or 100%

If this option is checked than values greater than 1 or 100% will be allowed. If this is not checked
a warning will be shown.
h. User Colors Menu
i.

Save as a user color

After a color has been entered and calculated it can be saved for future use. The color must
paste into the table when in Color input mode. You can enter any name you like. Any saved
user colors are saved to a file called userColors.cols in the directory where the
ColorCalculator.exe is. It is a plain ascii file and can be read in most text editors. You can move
the file around, make copies or rename it. Each time the program starts it looks for a file called
userColors.cols and reads in any colors found within.
ii.

Import user colors (add to current ones)

Open and read in saved colors. You will be prompted for a file to open. This file must be in the
correct format so it is almost always a previously renamed userColors.cols file. The colors
read-in will be added to any existing user colors.
iii.

Read a saved user colors file (replace current ones)

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Open and read in saved colors. You will be prompted for a file to open. This file must be in the
correct format so it is almost always a previously renamed userColors.cols file. The spectra
read-in will replaced any existing user colors. A file called userColors_bck.cols will contain the
contents of the old userColors.cols file if any existed.
iv.

Edit user colors

Opens a new window allowing the user to rename, reorder, or delete any user colors in the
current file.
v.

Check all user colors

Check all of the user colors.

vi.

Uncheck all user colors

Uncheck any checked user colors.

i.

CIE Plot Options Menu

More options are available in the main CIE diagram window. Additional customizations involving
MacAdams ellipses and point symbols, colors and labels are also available from the Duv toolbar
button.
i.

Plot color CIE space

Fill the CIE diagram with color.

ii.

Plot white CIE space

Do not fill the CIE diagram with color, it will be white.

iii.

Show raw spectra with points and lines

A point representing each individual checked spectra along with a dotted line connecting it to
the sum of the check spectra will be displayed.
iv.

Show grid lines

Show grid lines in the CIE plot.

v.

Show wavelength markers

Show the wavelength markers on the outer CIE horseshoe.

vi.

Show 100K CCT lines

Show tick marks every 100K on the blackbody locus.

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vii.

Show ANSI C78.377-2011 quadrangles

Show the ANSI C78.377-2011 quadrangles.

viii.

Show ANSI C78.377-2008 quadrangles

Show the ANSI C78.377-2008 quadrangles.

ix.

Write the photometry on the CIE diagram

An abbreviated summary of the photometry will be displayed on the CIE diagram. In the main
CIE diagram window the location of this label can be moved.
x.

Enable SmartZoon (center at x,y)

Center the CIE diagram at the x,y of the spectrum.

xi.

Show black body locus

Show the black body locus on the diagram.

xii.

Show black body locus or daylight locus

Show the black body locus below 5000K and show the daylight above 5000K.
xiii.

Show black body locus and daylight locus

Show the black body and the daylight loci.

xiv.

Show no locus

Do not show either the black body or daylight locus on the diagram.
xv.

MacAdam ellipse

Select which of the MacAdam ellipses to display.

xvi.

Symbol size

Select the size of the x,y point symbol

j.

Spectrum Plot Options Menu

More options are available in the main spectrum plot window.
i.

Plot with white background

Do not fill the plot with color.

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ii.

Plot with rainbow under curve

Fill the plot with color only under the curve.

iii.

Plot with rainbow background

Fill the entire plot with color.

iv.

Draw color patch (at 6500K) on plot when plotting colors/filters

Display a patch representing the color/filter under 6500K daylight on the plot.
v.

Write the photometry or the filter/color name on the plot

Display a summary of the photometry or the filter/color name on the plot.

vi.

Position text and color patch top right of spectrum plot

Draw the caption and color patch in the top right corner.
vii.

Position text and color patch top left of spectrum plot

Draw the caption and color patch in the top left corner.
viii.

Keep y-axis for filters and colors at full scale (1 or 100)

For filters and color plots do not scale the y-axis, keep it at 1 or 100%.
ix.

Show grid lines

Draw vertical grid lines.

x.

Enable mouse wheel zoom

When this is checked scrolling the mouse wheel when over the spectrum plot will zoom the
wavelength axis in or out. The zoom will take place centered at the wavelength where the
mouse is positioned.
Other Options Menu

xi.

Program font

Change the font used for the UI.

xii.

Calculate CCT & Duv from x,y

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Opens a new window where you can enter x, y values and the corresponding uv, CCT and Duv
values will be calculated. You can also make highly customized CIE plots from this window. You
can enter x,y points to plot, select different MacAdams ellipses, specify your own, change the
point size, symbol, color and add captions to the points. This window can also be open with the
Duv toolbar button. This is the main function to make customized CIE plots.
xiii.

Calculate x,y from CCT & Duv

Opens a new window where you can enter CCT and Duv values and the corresponding x,y values
are calculated.
xiv.

Calculate photometry from x,y and lumens

Opens a new window where you can enter x, y and lumens of several light sources and the
resultant photometry of all of the light sources combined is calculated.
xv.

Convert coordinates (xy/uv/u'v'/XYZ/L*a*b*)...

Opens a new window where you can enter one set of coordinates and the other sets of
coordinates are calculated.
xvi.

Calculate the black body locus and CCT lines

Opens a new window where you can enter minimum and maximum CCT values and the x,y
coordinated of the black body line will be written to a tab delimited file called
blackBodyLocus.txt.
xvii.

Calculate the coordinates of MacAdams ellipse

Opens a new window where you can enter an x,y point along with the size of the MacAdams
ellipse and points representing the ellipse will be calculated..
xviii.

Calculate 3 color mixing based on x,y

Opens a new window where you can enter the x,y values of your three colors. In another table
you enter the target CCT and Duv or x and y, and the total lumens you want. The program will
then calculate the lumens required of each of the three colors to hit your target.
xix.

Calculate color mixing based on spectra

Opens a new window where you can mix up to 4 spectra. These must be checked in the main
window before you click this command. You can enter different intensities of these peaks and
the photometry will be calculated.
xx.

Calculate circadian system response

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Opens a new window where you calculate the circadian/melatonin suppression metric based on
work by M.S. Rea, M.G. Figueiro, J.D. Bullough, A. Bierman and R. Hamner at the Lighting
Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA..
xxi.

CIEL*a*b* plot with user inputted values...

Opens a new windows where you can enter your own L*a*b* values to make a CIELab plot.
xxii.

CIEDE2000 with user inputted values...

Opens a new window where you can L*a*b* values and calculate various CIEDE2000 quantities.
xxiii.

Write the R1-R15 colors to a R_values.cols file

Writes the reflectance spectra of the CIE test colors to a file. These can then be read-in as user
colors or used in other software.
xxiv.

Write the Q1-Q15 colors to a Q_values.cols file

Writes the reflectance spectra of the CQS test colors to a file. These can then be read-in as user
colors or used in other software.
xxv.

Write photometry coefficients file

Writes several of the photometric constant to a file. The following files are written:
"XYZ_coeff.xls", "TCS_VS_coeff.xls", "CCT_coeff.xls", "daylight_coeff.xls".
xxvi.

Run combinations...

Opens a new window where you can select various spectra and photometric targets and the
program will generate all possible combinations and write out designs that match your
photometric targets. In many ways this is preferred over an optimization approach since the
entire design space can be covered and the user can make tradeoffs between the differenced
designs themselves.
xxvii.

Play sounds

Beeps when a run is completed.

xxviii.

Enable sticky menus

Keeps certain menus open after a selection is made.

xxix.

Show all standard LEDs

Shows all of the standard spectra what come with the software. User spectra are shown.

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xxx.

Do not show generic pure color standard LEDs

Do not show any of the pure color spectra what come with the software. User spectra are
shown.
xxxi.

Do not show IR standard LEDs

Do not show the standard spectra for the IR LEDs what come with the software. User spectra are
shown.
xxxii.

Do not show any standard LEDs

Do not show any of the spectra what come with the software. User spectra are shown.

k. Color Systems Menu

i.

Natural Colour System (NCS)

Opens a new window where you can access the colors in the NCS system. These colors can be
individually selected and saved as user colors.
Help Menu

i.

Open pdf User Guide

Opens a pdf version of this file if it exists in your local directory.

ii.

Web site

Opens a web browser to the home page of this program. You can check if a new version is
available.
iii.

About

Gives some very general information about this program.