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Calibration profile

A calibration profile describes how a particular camera renders the world, so its optical errors can be computed out of every photo it takes.

What it records

Every lens bends straight lines a little, and every camera sits its sensor a fraction off centre. Those deviations are constant for one device and can be measured once. The profile holds those values so software can reverse them later.

Made once per device

You photograph the printed checkerboard from several angles. From its corners, whose real spacing is known, the optical properties of the camera are derived. The result stays valid as long as you use the same camera, so it is a one-off step, not something you repeat per pattern.

When you need one

For every photo you upload from the desktop. PatternScan Pro Mobile reads the camera data of most current phones directly and needs no profile there. On devices whose camera data the app cannot rely on, you create a profile once in the app.

In the file

The profile belongs to the camera, not to the pattern. Once it exists it applies to every photo from that device, and you never think about it again.

Made-to-measure paper pattern on an atelier table with a dress form

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