Datacolor User to User Support Group.

>hi guys.
>
>i am having a frustrating problem with the patch reading process.
>
>what is happening is that, yesterday, i printed out a 225 patch target
>and did a reading of it and all was okay... except that after i printed
>the target i waited for awhile for it to dry then i went back to the
>computer and clicked 'next' to advance the software to the patch
>reading stage only to find that all the dialogues were grayed out.
>suddenly i am not able to do any reading. finally i just shut PrintFIX
>down and relaunched and just proceeded to click 'next' until i came to
>the same patch reading window and this time all the dialogues were
>normal. i just went ahead and did the reading.
>
>now today i decided to do a larger patch reading and printed out a 729
>target. i proceeded through the dialogues, printed the target got to
>the reading window and there it was again with all the dialogues grayed
>out, except for the 'Select an existing measurement...' option was
>highlighted. i couldn't figure out how to continue.
>
>is there something i'm not figuring out?

Ghi:

(Short answer: have the spectro plugged in before you launch PFP, most likely:
see below). PFP isn't seeing the spectro.

>i need a hand with this
>
>thanks, ghi!


If you launch PFP, and you the patch reading controls are dimmed: that
means that it's not "seeing" your spectro. (Can't see the spectro means:
can't read any patches). It won't see the spectro if:

- The spectro isn't plugged in.

- The spectro is plugged in, you're running Windows, and Windows hasn't
properly hooked in the spectro's USB driver. (May need to restart, or to
manually install the driver using the Device Manager). Mac OSX users don't
have to worry about this; it just works.

- The spectro is plugged in, but the USB port is dead

- The spectro is plugged in to a working USB port, but it doesn't supply
enough power for the spectro to work

- The spectro is plugged into a good USB port that has enough power, BUT:
you didn't plug the spectro in this port until AFTER you launched PFP.

In the latter case (most likely!), to make PFP see the spectro, you either
have to:

- Quit and relaunch. (This is what you did, and everything worked after that,
so I think this was the situation, and your solution).

- Without quitting, you can just go into Preferences, use the popup in the
upper left corner to select the spectro (the serial number, etc will then
show up), get out of Preferences and you're all set.

Hope that helps! Let me know if this doesn't solve it for you.

(Also: what version of PFP are you running?)


Best regards,


-- 
David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
ColorVision