For creative professionals, color accuracy is everything. Whether you're sketching digital illustrations, animating in 3D, or color-grading cinematic footage, your screen must reflect your creative intent down to the finest hue.

That’s where the new Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ Studio Series steps in, now fully supported by Calman Ultimate, the industry-leading calibration software from Portrait Displays.

In this tutorial, Marcel from Portrait Displays walks you through how easy it is to calibrate this pen display using Calman Ultimate. Spoiler alert: it really is as simple as 1-2-3.

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Why Calibrate a Pen Display?

When artists and editors collaborate, consistent visuals are key. If everyone on the team is using displays calibrated to different color gamuts, things can quickly fall apart.

Calibrating your display ensures that what you see is what your team sees and, most importantly, what your audience will see. For the Xencelabs Pen Display 24+, Calman enables direct hardware communication, meaning no guesswork and no manual tuning, just precision and ease.

And here's the big news: this is the first KN-ready drawing display. That means Calman can talk directly to the Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ with no extra pattern generator or hardware controller needed. Artists can stay focused on what matters: the art itself.

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Getting Set Up: Simplicity at Its Core

To get started, all you need to do is:

1. Connect the Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ via USB-C to your laptop.
2. Plug in the Portrait Displays C6 HDR2000 colorimeter (or HDR5000).
3. Launch Calman Ultimate and choose the Xencelabs workflow.

The workflow is a wizard-style guide that walks you step-by-step, ideal for both first-time calibrators and seasoned professionals.

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Choosing Your Color Targets

In the calibration process, selecting the right color space, gamma, and white point is crucial. For this demo, Marcel selects Rec. 709 / sRGB, the HDTV standard and one of the most commonly used formats today.

But don’t worry, Calman automatically recommends the proper gamma (2.2) and white point (D65) based on your color space. You can also opt for other standards like Adobe RGB or BT.1886 depending on your workflow.

What’s amazing is that the Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ has 99% Adobe RGB coverage, so you're working with a panel capable of incredibly wide color reproduction, and Calman makes sure that whatever target you choose, the display hits it precisely.

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Smart Calibration Powered by Calman

Calibration with Calman isn’t just automation; it’s intelligence. Here’s what happens:

Pre-Calibration Check

Calman measures the current display state and identifies color deviations using Delta E values. Any reading above a Delta E of 2 is visually noticeable, and some values were even above 5 out of the box. Time to fix that.

Display Reset & Luminance Check

Before calibration, the display resets to factory settings. You can also check peak luminance; in this case, it measured around 335 nits, suitable for most studio environments.

Step 1: 1D LUT Calibration (Grayscale)

Calman builds an 11-point grayscale LUT using its Aurora Color Engine. You get to monitor this in real time, with the software generating virtual corrections to RGB triplets before validating everything later.

Step 2: 3x3 Matrix (Color Gamut Calibration)

Next, it calibrates the color matrix, aligning color targets at 75% stimulus level with a Delta E goal of 0.5. The result? An accurate, consistent color space that maps beautifully to Rec. 709 or sRGB.

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Final Validation & Reporting

After calibration, Calman runs a post-calibration validation to ensure the LUT and matrix are hitting their targets.

Here’s how the results turned out:

• Grayscale Average Delta E: 0.5
• Grayscale Max Delta E: 1.7
• Color Checker Avg: 0.5
• Max Delta E in Color: 1.0

Anything under 2 is considered imperceptible to the human eye, and this calibration hits well below that.

Calman then generates a PDF calibration report, giving you a documented record to share with directors, collaborators, or your color pipeline team. It’s peace of mind in print.

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Prefer to Watch the Workflow in Action?

If you’re more of a visual learner, we’ve got you covered. Watch the full step-by-step calibration tutorial below to see how easy it is to get precise, professional-grade color from your Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ using Calman Ultimate.

Why This Matters for Digital Artists

Having a calibrated Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ means you can now confidently design, draw, and review with assurance that what you're seeing is color-accurate and aligned with the rest of your workflow.

No more second-guessing. No more color surprises in post. Just creative integrity, preserved from concept to completion.

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Ready to Try It Yourself?

The integration between Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ and Calman Ultimate makes professional display calibration more accessible than ever for creative teams. Whether you’re a solo artist or part of a global pipeline, this toolset ensures your creative intent stays intact.

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