Link-o-lator Troubleshooting

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Question: How does Edit Scale Curves affect UCR/GCR and/or gray balance?

Answer: The curves do not affect UCR or GCR, gray balance, or total ink coverage at all.

Link-o-lator changes the curves (or tone reproduction) of pure channels of color only and does not affect the black generation, total ink coverage, and grey balance of a profile or link.

Question: How do I change my UCR/GCR or total ink coverage?

Answer: Left Dakota understands that Link-o-lator customers made a significant investment in what they feel is the finest color profiling software and we respect the technologies and sciences used by those vendors. If you need to adjust UCR or GCR, use the tools in your profiling application and modify the profile then rebuild your links in Link-o-lator.

Question: Link-o-lator won't run on my computer. What’s the problem?

Answer: Link-o-lator is a Macintosh-only program. Make sure you are using a computer that meets the minimum system requirements.

Make sure the Link-o-lator dongle is attached to a USB port on your Macintosh. Link-o-lator will not function without a dongle.

If you are using OS9, make sure Link-o-lator has at least 40 Megabytes of RAM allocated to it.

Question: Link-o-lator crashes or simply fails when making a link. What’s causing this?

Answer: Most likely you need to allocate more RAM to Link-o-lator (primarily in OS 9) Complex links don’t take up more disk space but do require more RAM to build, and Maxi-Channel links grow in size and consume disk space (and RAM) exponentially with each channel added. Link-o-lator can create very large links, however, if you decide to make monstrous links, you must allocate more RAM to Link-olator. You can also choose to build a link in 8-bit mode and with a smaller matrix. This requires less RAM in the link-generation phase, and the resulting link file will be smaller.

Some RIPS may not accept device links if they are too large. If you find yourself in this situation, you should create Maxi-Channel profiles in 8-bit mode.

Question: I’ve created a device link, but the results don’t match what Adobe Photoshop does with the same profiles.

Answer: Some deviation is normal and several things can cause this. Once difference can be the choice of CMM. Adobe Photoshop has its own embedded CMM that is set to be active by default. Link-o-lator does not have access to this CMM, and this can cause a color difference. If you want to achieve results as similar to Photoshop as possible, make sure you are using the same CMM in both Photoshop and Link-o-lator.

The number of data points used when building the link will subtly change the results. In Photoshop you can’t choose the accuracy values used to connect two profiles but with Link-o-lator you can. If the connection data points aren’t identical the results will be slightly different.

Also, Link-o-lator’s Black Point Compensation technologies are different from Adobe’s, so if you choose Black Point Compensation in Link-o-lator and Photoshop, you can definitely see a minor color difference. (Note: Ed Granger, the Mad Color Scientist, ex-Kodak scientist, and current RIT professor with 900 bazillion patents, insists that Link-o-lator’s algorithms are absolutely the best). Still, Photoshop is the de facto standard, and we do strive to match it as closely as we can.

Question: My profiles are @#$@%^ HUGE!

Answer: If you are creating Maxi-Channel profiles, this is to be expected. You can set Link-o-lator to use 8-bit mode or use a smaller matrix size. This will affect color accuracy, but will also reduce the size of the profiles. Also, you can reduce the size of Left Dakota MegaLinks by not embedding the source and/or destination profiles.

Question: I used the Equal Amounts of RGB equals K only feature, but now there are stray “light” pixels!

Answer: They aren’t light — they are black-only. Any pixel from the source image that actually is made of equal amounts of RGB will become a percentage of black-only, and can show up as a “light” pixel when located within a field of rich-black. We are aware this is a rather dangerous feature, and may not work for all images, but it is powerful enough that inclusion was warranted.

Question: When using Equal Amounts of RGB equals K only the resulting blends seem to drift in and out of black-only and 4-color in a “wavy” or “beating” fashion!

Answer: When you build the link use a higher Size setting. Select Custom and then try a number like 41. This will create a much larger link, but will solve the problem.

Return to Left Dakota Link-o-later Manual

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