Aeronautics
engineer by training, Wilfrid Meffre came to digital imaging in
1982 per taste for photography and still images. He brings you a nearly
40 years' experience in professional imaging, in most fields of its
industrial and commercial applications (scientific and medical imaging,
industrial vision, audio-visual, still image and cinematographic
post-production, professional photography, prepress, digital and
traditional N-colors printing).
He
brings you a thorough knowledge of color management, and the hardware
and software technologies for image and document acquisition,
retouching, processing, reproduction and diffusion, as well as a good
knowledge of the involved Trades, associated Markets and Vendors.
He
worked with many graphic tools' originators and manufacturers of Europe,
United States and Japan, and introduced in France since 1996 the Color
Management tools and modern working methods of the main Vendors, by
simultaneously developing the distribution of the best products and
training the actors of the involved markets,
including Distribution channels, Education establishments, the End Users... and
Vendors.
He
also brings you a great independence of judgment. Most famous brands
do not always offer the best for each application, and are not always the
most innovative.
He nevertheless has distinct preferences for good products,
and never hesitated to denounce the oddity of some commercial or
technical offers, including when they emanated from his own Suppliers!
Independent of any
Manufacturer, Dealer or Vendor, Colorsource traditionally do not sell any hardware or
software. One exception since 2011: Colorsource now market
their own developed standard application software for Print Houses, plus
specific application software for specific color engineering applications.
Colorsource
standard software solutions for Graphic Industries were originally developed for their own use, in the scope of their
long-standing education and engineering activities, not only for Graphic
Industries, but also for many other manufacturing and service Industries, where
sense of industrial processes and quality is still today much more mature and
effective than in Graphic Arts!
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1995:
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European
product manager for SEIKO Instruments (SII) professional color printers at
THETA Scan (European Importer at the time).
Development in Japan
of color calibration of the first PostScript digital Color proofing
system in the world being set... by using measurement instruments.
(Designed for calibration with a CMYK densitometer at the time because a
spectrophotometer was more expensive than the complete CMYK proffer with its embedded
PostScript RIP and color calibration).
These
SII color proofers were the first digital printers worldwide that allowed
their Users performing by themselves the printer's CMYK inks density
calibration, inputting to the color proofer the 4 press target TVI curves as
measured by the same densitometer, inputting the paper tint by D50 visual
matching, and converting CMYK input data form main market CMYK analog proof
standards to Lab and then to printer's C'M'Y'K' density calibrated inks.
All
this while the existing digital proofing systems supplied by all major long
standing Graphic Market Vendors did not even offer with their color proofing
systems the density based CMYK inks calibration allowing stabilizing their
colors!
Which
confirms Graphic Industries were buying and using many expensive and quite
badly designed production tools!
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1996:
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Launch
in France of the first "democratic" and user-friendly
spectrophotometer allowing measurements on paper, monitors, and later
transparencies, the famous COLORTRON, invented by the Californian
company LIGHT SOURCE. (Later bought by X-Rite).
Creation of an adapted
professional training to color measurement and encouragement of all
THETA Scan suppliers to make prompt use of the universal color management I.C.C architecture and
its advantages.
Development
of software allowing computing SII color proofers proprietary CMYK to C'M'Y'K'
DeviceLink profiles by using standard input and output CMYK I.C.C. profiles.
Because no proprietary color calibration system gives a future to their
Customers, so that we had to open them calibrating their SII dye sublimation
CMYK color proofers by using the market standard ICC profiles.
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1997:
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Launch
in France of Gretag color management equipment's (since become
GretagMacbeth). Development of a universal full I.C.C. complying
engine (CMS) for UNIX for optimal driving of PostScript and raster SEIKO
Instruments printers in monitor softcopy and file copy modes for
CAD/CAM User's, and development of a monitor profiling software allowing
first the calibration, then the characterization of the calibrated
monitor by computing it's I.C.C. profile, for UNIX and Windows 9x/NT
workstations.
Development
of software allowing computing SII color proofers proprietary CMYK to C'M'Y'K'
DeviceLink profiles by using standard input and output CMYK I.C.C. profiles.
Because no proprietary color calibration system gives a future to their
customers, so that we had to open them calibrating their SII dye sublimation
CMYK color proofers by using the market standard ICC profiles.
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1998:
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Creation
and realization of the Digital Color professional trainings
allowing fast transfer of competence to professional Users (End User's,
Distribution channels, and Education Establishments).
Request to
GretagMacbeth for a replacement of LightSource-X-Rite COLORTRON, which would in addition
measure continuous and flash lights and allow to address a much wider
markets than the existing high end Color Management hardware and software based
on
GretagMacbeth Spectrolino + SpectroScan...
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1999
- March 2004:
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Creation
and Management of THETA Scan professional Imaging department, and
management of product lines Leica S1 (high res. studio digital
photography), Fujifilm Electronic Imaging (scanners), Colortrac (large
formats canners), X-Rite (Color Management), GretagMacbeth (Color
Management), ENCAD (Ink Jet wide format printing) and EDOX
(First PostScript RIP for Canon copiers with ICC color
management made by Graphics management, later
purchased by EFI who were very late on color technology at the time ;-)) but
still had many Customers in Graphic Industries ;-)).
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