AvaSoft Application Software - Color

The AvaSoft Color Application has been developed to perform on-line color measurements with a spectrometer system. It can be used for reflective color measurements. This application provides a precise way to perform color measurements using the basic principles and techniques defined by the International Committee on Illumination (CIE). The CIE 1976 L*a*b* color parameters are calculated, as well as other frequently used parameters, like Hue, Chroma and X, Y, Z. 

These parameters can be displayed in a CIELAB chart or in a graph versus time.  It is also possible to save the measured L*a*b* values online to a database and use one of the products from the database as a reference color. By comparing the measured L*a*b* values to the stored database values, color differences (ΔE_Lab, ΔL*, Δa*, or Δb*) can be measured as well. 

 The color of an object can be expressed by the CIE 1976 (L*a*b*) color space.  L* describes the brightness of the color. A positive value of a* describes the redness of the color, a negative a* the greenness. Similarly, yellowness or blueness is expressed by coordinate b*, which is positive for yellow and negative for blue. The L*a*b* values are derived from the CIE tristimulus values X, Y and Z of the sample (object) and the standard illuminant tristimulus values X_n, Y_n and Z_n. 

The standard illuminant tristimulus values for X_n, Y_n, and Z_n are constant and depend only on the type of standard illuminant that has been chosen.

The CIE tristimulus values X, Y and Z of the color of an object are obtained by multiplying the relative power P of a standard illuminant, the reflectance R (or the transmittance) of the object, and the 1931 CIE standard observer functions x_λ, y_λ and z_λ (2 degrees angle). The integral of these products over all the wavelengths in the visible spectrum (380 to 780 nm with a 5 nm interval) gives the tristimulus values.

Color Chart

• Display in CIELAB chart, the actual sample color as well as the reference color with the corresponding ΔE_Lab, ΔL*, Δa*, or Δb* values are displayed and saved as well.
• The settings for the LAB chart display can be changed, such as no graphical display of reference and sample color in order to speed up the measurements.
• New additional option is to select the standard observer angel for 2° or 10°.
• The reference color can be saved to and loaded from a color database. This color database contains next to all color parameters a product ID and a display of the actual color. The database can be sorted alphabetically or on either value column

Time series

The time series display has following features:

• Display in time series can be done for up to 8 channels.
• For each channel a color parameter (L*, a*, b*, hue, C, X, Y, Z, ΔE_Lab, ΔL*, Δa*, or Δb*) can be selected, also for each channel a different reference color can be selected, enabling the use as a color sorting.
• For each channel the time axis can be set to different scale, allowing simultaneous display of long time and short time monitoring of the same parameter.
• For each channel the actual measured color, as well as the reference color (if in ΔE_Lab, ΔL*, Δa*, or Δb* mode) is displayed.
• The saved time series data can be loaded again and displayed with extensive zooming and dragging options.

Ordering Information