ColorThink vs OpenColorIO
ColorThink
chromix.comOpenColorIO
opencolorio.orgSide by side
| Figure | ColorThink | OpenColorIO |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 10 | 3 |
| Spec score · Color Management Software | 7.7 (#10) | 8.3 (#5) |
| Audience | CHROMiX says it focuses on color management and image fidelity and serves businesses in content-production industries. | The project describes use for artists, studios integrating color management into pipelines, and developers building or upgrading color management frameworks. |
| Founded | 1998 | 2003 |
| Purpose | ColorThink is a color graphing and analytics tool that helps users calibrate printing systems, verify accuracy, and prepare measurements for ICC profiling or use as color references. | OpenColorIO is a color management solution geared toward motion picture production, especially visual effects and computer animation. |
| Security | The maker's ColorThink information and download pages reviewed here do not state security or compliance certifications. | The opened official pages did not state a security certification or compliance claim. |
| Support | The maker provides a ColorThink 4 User Guide and ColorThink discussion forums, and lists weekday support hours of 9:30–6:00 Pacific. | The project directs users to its Slack channel, user and developer mailing lists, or GitHub issues for help and contact. |
Plans
ColorThink
- ColorThink 4 Photo$249, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Photo XPlat Bundle$334, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Photo + MeasPack Bundle$448, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Pro$449, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Photo + MeasPack XPlat Bundle$601, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Pro XPlat Bundle$602, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Pro + MeasPack Bundle$628, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Pro + PrePress Bundle$673, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Pro + MeasPack XPlat Bundle$842, paid once
- ColorThink 4 Pro + MeasPack + PrePress Bundle$897, paid once
In their own words
ColorThink
ColorThink is a color graphing and analytics tool for calibrating printing systems, checking accuracy, and preparing measurements for ICC profiling or color references. ColorThink 4 measures directly from connected instruments and sends results to a worksheet or graph. Color Assets organizes installed profiles and other color assets, with metadata filtering and sorting. Pro licensing adds gamut comparison by subtraction or addition and calculates a Gamut Comparison Index. Image animation is available across license levels, showing transitions between normal display and Lab color values in the grapher. PrePressPack adds nColor and color-list handling, device-link and ColorCast profile creation, white-point editing and remapping, and patch tuning. Listed instruments span X-Rite, Barbieri, Konica Minolta, Techkon, and Color Sentinel. The software runs on macOS and Windows; version 4.2 is listed for both. Photo licensing starts at $249, paid once.
OpenColorIO
OpenColorIO is a free color management solution for motion picture production, particularly visual effects and computer animation. It supports artists managing color, studios integrating color management into pipelines, and developers building or upgrading color management frameworks. Its Python API can connect a studio pipeline or modify a configuration. Config merging is in preview, with controls for name and alias conflicts and duplicate color spaces. The GPU renderer supports the Khronos Vulkan graphics API, and the project describes ACES 2.0 support as feature complete, including ACES 2.0 Output Transforms as OCIO views. OpenColorIO also supports Color Interop ID and attributes for ICC and AMF. Listed integrations include Blender, Autodesk Maya, Houdini, Nuke, Photoshop, and Unreal Engine, with some version requirements, including Blender 2.64 and up, Maya 2016 and up, and Unreal Engine 4.22 and up. It is available as an API and for Linux, macOS, and Windows under the BSD-3-Clause license. Prebuilt libraries are available through package managers; Python bindings and command-line tools can be installed from PyPI.