ReadMe for the ColorPerfect Photoshop Plug-in, Version 2.25 11/10/2017
This package is for legacy POWER PC Macs.
For modern INTEL based Macs we have a separate download.
The use of our PPC plug-ins under the Rosetta emulation is NOT supported.
We strongly recommend that new users read through all of this ReadMe file skipping only headlined sections that are not of interest to them. Those of you who really hate to read instructions, skip to the installation instructions for your host application, use the Help system in ColorPerfect as needed ( also available here) and visit us on YouTube.
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS README:
01 WHAT IS COLORPERFECT, WHERE TO PURCHASE IT AND CHECK FOR UPGRADES?
02 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHOTOSHOP 7 AND CS
03 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHOTOSHOP CS2 THROUGH CS4
04 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHOTOLINE 15 THROUGH 17.10
05 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 2 AND 3
06 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 4 AND 6
07 RECOMMENDED WEB PAGES AND VIDEOS TO GET STARTED WITH COLORPERFECT
08 GETTING STARTED WITH COLORPERFECT USING THIS README
09 TROUBLESHOOTING: THE COLORPERFECT PLUG-IN CANNOT BE RESIZED
10 TROUBLESHOOTING: ENTERING COLORPERFECT LICENSE KEY AFTER PURCHASE
11 LEGAL NOTICE
01 WHAT IS COLORPERFECT, WHERE TO PURCHASE IT AND CHECK FOR UPGRADES?
ColorPerfect is an Adobe Photoshop, PhotoLine and Adobe Photoshop Elements plug-in that is designed to produce and preserve the natural look of good color images. It features our PerfectRAW System to edit digital camera RAW images in a superior and unprecedented way, converts scanned color and B&W negative film images into digital positives in its ColorNeg mode and deals with scanned positives in its plain ColorPos mode as well.
In ColorPerfect version 2.22 PerfectRAW recognizes calibrations for over 627 designations of digital cameras covering the whole market range from professional models down to CHDK hacked compacts for which PerfectRAW is the first commercial RAW converter ever to actually provide full model support.
For color negatives, version 2.22 has built-in calibration data for over 310 types of color negative film from Kodak, Fuji, Agfa, AgfaColor, Konica, China Lucky, Rollei and Ferrania. Problem negatives and positives as well as negatives of unknown type usually can be satisfactorily calibrated using our unique FilmType control.
We distribute ColorPerfect as a fully functional demo version on our web sites (www.colorperfect.com and www.c-f-systems.com/Plug-ins.html). The MakeTiff utility, which is required for dealing with digital camera RAW photos using PerfectRAW, can be downloaded from the same places.
The demo version of ColorPerfect embeds an unobtrusive gridwork in all images it produces to allow evaluating results. To unlock the demo version and eliminate the gridwork a license key may be purchased through either web site. The SAME license key can be used on up to three computers owned by the same person or company and will unlock the Mac versions not only of ColorPerfect, but the older separate ColorNeg, ColorPos and Gamsat plug-ins as well.
Mac Keys work only on Macs - a separately purchased PC Key is required for PCs.
02 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHOTOSHOP 7 AND CS
This details how to extract the ColorPerfect CW.plugin.zip and how to put the plug-in in Adobe Photoshop's Plug-ins/Filters folder.
Expand the ColorPerfectPPCMac2.25.zip file into a folder on your desktop or elsewhere and open the folder in a Finder window. For Adobe Photoshop 7 and Adobe Photoshop CS locate the file ColorPerfect CW.plugin.zip and double-click it to extract the file ColorPerfect.plugin which needs to be installed for Adobe Photoshop. Now, leaving that Finder window open, open a new Finder window by clicking File in the Finder menus at the top of the screen and selecting New Finder Window. In the list at the left of this new window click Applications so that your applications show in the new Finder window. Locate the folder for your version of Adobe Photoshop and double-click it to open it. Inside the Photoshop folder locate the Plug-ins folder and double-click that to open it. If there is a Filters folder inside that, double-click Filters to open it. Next you need to drag and drop the plug-in from your other finder window to this folder. Afterwards the installation will be complete. Adobe Photoshop will automatically configure for ColorPerfect the next time it is started. You are ready to use and test ColorPerfect after this step. If you are updating ColorPerfect it is very important to remove or delete (don't just rename) any older versions of ColorPerfect before installing the new one as having both present has been known to cause puzzling problems.
03 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHOTOSHOP CS2 THROUGH CS4
This details how to extract the ColorPerfect XC PPC.plugin.zip and how to put the plug-in in Adobe Photoshop's Plug-ins/Filters folder.
Expand the ColorPerfectPPCMac2.25.zip file into a folder on your desktop or elsewhere and open the folder in a Finder window. For Adobe Photoshop CS2 through Adobe Photoshop CS4 locate the file ColorPerfect XC PPC.plugin.zip and double-click it to extract the file ColorPerfect.plugin which needs to be installed for Adobe Photoshop. Now, leaving that Finder window open, open a new Finder window by clicking File in the Finder menus at the top of the screen and selecting New Finder Window. In the list at the left of this new window click Applications so that your applications show in the new Finder window. Locate the folder for your version of Adobe Photoshop and double-click it to open it. Inside the Photoshop folder locate the Plug-ins folder and double-click that to open it. If there is a Filters folder inside that, double-click Filters to open it. Next you need to drag and drop the plug-in from your other finder window to this folder. Afterwards the installation will be complete. Adobe Photoshop will automatically configure for ColorPerfect the next time it is started. You are ready to use and test ColorPerfect after this step. If you are updating ColorPerfect it is very important to remove or delete (don't just rename) any older versions of ColorPerfect before installing the new one as having both present has been known to cause puzzling problems. Adobe Photoshop CS4 was the final version for the Power PC platform.
04 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHOTOLINE 15 THROUGH 17.10
This details how to extract the ColorPerfect XC PPC.plugin.zip and how to install it with PhotoLine's "Manage Plug-ins" feature.
Expand the ColorPerfectPPCMac2.25.zip file into a folder on your desktop or elsewhere and open the folder in a Finder window. Locate the file ColorPerfect XC PPC.plugin.zip and double-click it to extract the file ColorPerfect.plugin.
The plug-in will need to be copied into one of PhotoLine's Plug-ins folders. It is best to open another Finder window to locate the desired folder and to place the plug-ins by drag and drop. The Plug-ins folder is any folder of your own choosing which you have already declared and activated or will declare and activate using the "Manage Plug-ins" entry in PhotoLine's Filter menu. If you are updating ColorPerfect it is very important to remove or delete (don't just rename) any older versions of ColorPerfect from all Plug-ins folders before installing the new one as having both present has been known to cause puzzling problems. PhotoLine 17.10 was the final version for the Power PC platform.
05 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 2 AND 3
This details how to extract the ColorPerfect CW.plugin.zip and how to put the plug-in in Adobe Photoshop Elements' Plug-ins/Filters folder.
Adobe Photoshop Elements users please note that PSE is not among the hosts we routinely check with our new releases. There are no known issues with ColorPerfect and Adobe Photoshop Elements at this time and our debugging work on the various versions of Adobe Photoshop normally suffices but if you do encounter anything odd while using ColorPerfect on Adobe Photoshop Elements let us know and please do try before you buy.
Expand the ColorPerfectPPCMac2.25.zip file into a folder on your desktop or elsewhere and open the folder in a Finder window. For Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 locate the file ColorPerfect CW.plugin.zip and double-click it to extract the file ColorPerfect.plugin which needs to be installed for Adobe Photoshop Elements. Now, leaving that Finder window open, open a new Finder window by clicking File in the Finder menus at the top of the screen and selecting New Finder Window. In the list at the left of this new window click Applications so that your applications show in the new Finder window. Locate the folder for your version of Adobe Photoshop Elements and double-click it to open it. Inside the Photoshop Elements folder locate the Plug-ins folder and double-click that to open it. If there is a Filters folder inside that, double-click Filters to open it. Next you need to drag and drop the plug-in from your other finder window to this folder. Afterwards the installation will be complete. Adobe Photoshop Elements will automatically configure for ColorPerfect the next time it is started. You are ready to use and test ColorPerfect after this step. If you are updating ColorPerfect it is very important to remove or delete (don't just rename) any older versions of ColorPerfect before installing the new one as having both present has been known to cause puzzling problems.
06 INSTALLATION: INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 4 AND 6
This details how to extract the ColorPerfect XC PPC.plugin.zip and how to put the plug-in in Adobe Photoshop Elements' Plug-ins/Filters folder.
Adobe Photoshop Elements users please note that PSE is not among the hosts we routinely check with our new releases. There are no known issues with ColorPerfect and Adobe Photoshop Elements at this time and our debugging work on the various versions of Adobe Photoshop normally suffices but if you do encounter anything odd while using ColorPerfect on Adobe Photoshop Elements let us know and please do try before you buy.
Expand the ColorPerfectPPCMac2.25.zip file into a folder on your desktop or elsewhere and open the folder in a Finder window. For Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 locate the file ColorPerfect XC PPC.plugin.zip and double-click it to extract the file ColorPerfect.plugin which needs to be installed for Adobe Photoshop Elements. Now, leaving that Finder window open, open a new Finder window by clicking File in the Finder menus at the top of the screen and selecting New Finder Window. In the list at the left of this new window click Applications so that your applications show in the new Finder window. Locate the folder for your version of Adobe Photoshop Elements and double-click it to open it. Inside the Photoshop Elements folder locate the Plug-ins folder and double-click that to open it. If there is a Filters folder inside that, double-click Filters to open it. Next you need to drag and drop the plug-in from your other finder window to this folder. Afterwards the installation will be complete. Adobe Photoshop Elements will automatically configure for ColorPerfect the next time it is started. You are ready to use and test ColorPerfect after this step. If you are updating ColorPerfect it is very important to remove or delete (don't just rename) any older versions of ColorPerfect before installing the new one as having both present has been known to cause puzzling problems. Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 was the final version for the Power PC platform. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 was available for PCs only.
07 RECOMMENDED WEB PAGES AND VIDEOS TO GET STARTED WITH COLORPERFECT
New users please do view our feature overview video. Note that albeit it starts out using PerfectRAW all artistic adjustments shown in that mode are available in ColorNeg mode as well.
Users working with film visit our scanning tutorial section afterwards.
Users working with Black and White film please view our specialized video on monochrome work.
Users working with digital cameras should familiarize themselves with MakeTiff.
08 GETTING STARTED WITH COLORPERFECT USING THIS README
ColorPerfect requires that images be in RGB mode or Monochrome (B&W) mode. ColorPerfect produces its best results when you scan files as 16 bits/channel or use MakeTiff and PerfectRAW for digital camera RAW images but also will work with standard 8 bit/channel images and scans.
Call the plug-in from the Adobe Photoshop, PhotoLine or Adobe Photoshop Elements Filter menu: Filter->C F Systems->ColorPerfect. The C F Systems entry should be near the bottom of the Filter menu. ColorPerfect has three modes that can be selected from a Pop-Up on the Start panel: ColorNeg for treating scans of color and BB&WW negatives, ColorPos for treating positive images from scanners or digital cameras, and Touch Up for dealing with positive images that have already been calibrated. ColorPos also contains the special PerfectRAW mode for editing digital camera RAW images. PerfectRAW requires that you convert the camera RAW files to very special TIFF files using the free MakeTiff application.
Note: ColorNeg Mode will produce the best results you are likely to get from a "standard" scan of a color negative if you scan it in the same way you scan a slide (color positive) - so the result looks like the color negative. However, the results from ColorNeg mode will be best, with very noticeable improvements in detail and color, when using a linear 16 bit/channel scan, and for 16 bit/channel images ColorNeg Mode is set up to expect linear images by default. We provide tutorials on how to scan with many scanners and their software . If you are producing 16 bit/channel images but cannot do a linear scan or do not know what that means, try pressing the "L" button next to ColorNeg to see if the results are better. Also, ColorNeg needs you to use the pop-ups at the bottom of the dialog to select a film manufacturer and a film type that most nearly matches that of the scanned negative. Monochrome (B&W) negatives cannot be calibrated according to manufacturer and film type, so the manufacturer pop-up is not available for monochrome.
Learn more about the "L/G" linear/gamma button or any other topic by pressing the Help button and then activating the button or control which you want to learn about.
ColorPerfect works differently than other color systems. Select the Black number box, located near the top of the slider, and use the slider to control the lightness/darkness of the image. This control adds and removes black and so has its greatest effect on the brighter areas of the image. (Just as when you add black paint to white paint the change will be greater than when adding black paint to dark gray paint). White, just below Black, also controls image lightness/darkness but does so by adding or removing white and so it shows greatest in the darker areas of the image. By using the White button you can toggle to Graded White which is a sibling function with a different distribution of the White effect. These two adjustments give an amazing amount of control over the image without damaging its color. It should be noted that the white adjustment so important and so easily done here ranges from difficult to impossible to do in Adobe Photoshop proper or with most color adjustment systems. Located at the top of the dialog, the Highlights control works in conjunction with Black to control highlight brightness and detail and the Shadows control works in conjunction with White to control shadow depth and detail. The way Black and White work in ColorPerfect might be more obvious to artists and is explained in this document. Ignore the next control, BPTails, until you are more familiar with the system, but Saturation can be used to control the depth of color while maintaining an amazingly natural appearance. The Gamma control is similar to the "middle gray" slider in Photoshop's Levels control, but unlike "middle gray", this Gamma adjustment affects only the tonal scale - photographic contrast - while leaving the colors unchanged. When working with Monochrome images (B&W) this Gamma control is also used to adjust the tonal range of the image.
Color balance can be set by clicking areas in the image that should be gray or by using the Ring Around or by using the AutoColor control. Use Help to understand how to use these features. Color balance is expressed in terms of the CC (Color Compensation) filters that are familiar to many experienced photographers. For a start, find a patch in the preview image that should be gray (colorless) and click on it. "Gray" can be anywhere from quite dark to white. If possible, click several gray patches and see what happens to the image, choosing the best result. ColorPerfect provides great control over color relationships in an image while still retaining a natural appearance.
ColorPerfect will also deal with problem or mishandled negatives or positives using the unique FilmType system, but save this until you have gained some familiarity with ColorPerfect. Use the Help system to get a better idea of how FilmType works.
There is also a unique ColorPerfect Alpha Channel Feature with the ability to apply the accurate colors of an image to a grayscale version of the same image made from any image adjustment that has been prepared outside of ColorPerfect.
09 TROUBLESHOOTING: THE COLORPERFECT PLUG-IN CANNOT BE RESIZED
The Power PC versions of ColorPerfect cannot be resized using a handle on their dialog as is the case for the modern 64 bit Mac version we use in our video tutorials. Note that we provide a download with 16 different sizes of the PPC plug-ins to provide each user with the dialog size he or she favors.
10 TROUBLESHOOTING: ENTERING COLORPERFECT LICENSE KEY AFTER PURCHASE
Using Help on the Register button and the registration dialog in the ColorPerfect plug-in will explain the registration sequence, too. You can avoid typing in the registration code by doing a copy and paste from your e-mail containing the key code. Copy the Key text from the e-mail in the normal manner, then start up the ColorPerfect plug-in and don't actuate any item on its interface except the Register button (it is on the bottom of the Start Panel which is in the upper right corner) to pull up the registration dialog box, then click inside to highlight the registration Key edit box. Then press TAB to enter the copied key in the box. OK out of the registration dialog and then OK or Cancel out of ColorPerfect. The key will be active the NEXT time you call up ColorPerfect. Please remember to keep a copy of your key in case you need it in the future.
Occasionally we get e-mails from Mac users who cannot get their purchased key to work. In fact the keys always do work. If you are having trouble getting your key to work please just enter the key by hand. There are no numeric digits 0, 1, or 2 in the key codes. The letters O, I, and Z might be mistaken for them in some fonts. The letters are all capitals.
11 LEGAL NOTICE
This software is provided "as is" without any warranty or condition, whether expressed, implied or statutory. In no event will C F Systems be liable for any lost profits or other consequential, incidental or special damages (however arising, including negligence) in connection with the ColorPerfect software even if C F Systems has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will C F Systems' liability in connection with the ColorPerfect software regardless of the form of action, exceed the purchase price of the software. C F Systems retains all right, title, and interest in and to the ColorPerfect software. This software is Copyright 2004 - 2025 by C F Systems. All rights reserved. You may make copies of this software for personal use or for use within your own single business location, not to exceed three (3) copies total for each registration Key code purchased. You are prohibited from making copies for distribution in any other form.
Adobe, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and DNG Converter are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. PhotoLine is a trademark of Computerinsel GmbH in Germany and/or other countries. Windows is trademark of Microsoft Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Apple, Macintosh and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.