Color Grade

Quick definitions:

• Color Grade: The categorization of fruit based on color distribution, generally to align with market requirements
• Color Family: A grouping of similar fruit varieties that share the same color profiles for grading purposes
• Color Shade: Specific color tones within a fruit variety used to differentiate grades
• Color Seeds: Sampled color points on fruit pieces used to define a color shade.

Setup and usage steps for Color Grade:

1. Assign color expert
2. Setup families for all varieties
3. Scan your first group with a new variety
4. Setup the shade profiles for that family
5. Setup grade profiles for the variety
6. Scan a group with this variety again to see color results
7. Validate the results against grader data

Once steps 1 - 5 above are complete for a specific variety, step 6 can be repeated over and over without further configuration unless required for accuracy tuning.

1 - Assign a Color Expert

Setup a Color Expert at your organization. This person will be responsible for configuring Color. The email recipient will receive emails from Hectre each time a new variety has been scanned without being setup for color as a notification and prompt to setup color for that variety.

To assign:

1. Login to Hectre Dashboard
2. Navigate to the Admin tab on the left hand side
3. Select the applicable staff member you wish to make the color expert, if they are not listed, follow '+ ADD NEW' to create one
4. Ensure that their email is listed correctly and 'Color Expert' box is checked/ticked

2 - Setup Color Families for all varieties

To ensure a smooth start when your first bins of a new variety are scanned into the system, setup color families beforehand. These can be done after harvest begins, but will potentially mean that you won't be able to view Color Grade results until setup.

Setting up a Color Family through Dashboard:

1. Login to the Hectre Dashboard
2. Navigate to the Spectre tab on the left hand side
3. Click 'Color Settings' button, you will then see a list of all previously created families, with their associated varieties
4. Click '+' button to add a new family and select the crop type
5. Name the new 'Color Family', this is a group of varieties which are similar to one another. As an example, it's typical for users to make a Color Family called 'Gala', where they can assign all Gala variants such as Royal Gala, Gala, Brookfield, Galaxy, etc.
6. Select the varieties to be assigned to the named family. Each listed variety can only be assigned to one family.
7. Select 'Create Color Family' button, you will then see the newly created family on the list

3 - Scan your first group with a variety that's been assigned to a family

Once step 2 is complete and a variety ready to harvest has been assigned a family, you can go ahead and create a Spectre group with images regardless if you are a handheld mobile or topdown user. For handheld users, ensure the image is captured following the guidelines. See this guide to optimise color accuracy for handheld and topdown users. There is no need to manually select a color parameter or configuration at this step.

After reviewing the results for the submitted group on either device or dashboard, you will notice that where the color results should be displayed, there is a notification prompting you to create a group.

4 - Setup the shade profiles for the family

By following the button 'Create shade group' as above through device or dashboard, you can create color shades that apply for all varieties within the family. Alternatively, the email designated in Step 1 as the color expert will receive an email once per day with a list of scanned families that are missing shades with a link to configure.

Steps to setup shades:

1. For a newly scanned family, click the 'Create shade group' button on device or dashboard as described above and outlined in Step 2. Alternately follow the prompt via email which is sent once per day.
2. Click the '+' button to create your first shade, depending on the commodity and your operation, you can decide how many color shades are required per family
3. Name your first shade and click the dropper button to start sampling seeds. For example: 'Dark Red'.
   1. On the visible piece, start clicking points which reflect the shade, for a shade named 'Dark Red' ensure to sample points that are visibly dark red
   2. Scan through the nine selected pieces and sample points until you have 10+ seeds in total for that shade
   3. Seeds can be added or removed before selecting 'Confirm color seeds'
4. Repeat Step 4 above for all relevant shades for that family. For example a Gala family might have three shades: Dark Red, Light Red & Yellow.
   1. Tip: Toggle the eye button on and off for a visualization of the shade
5. Once all shades have been built for the family, click 'Save and lock color list'
6. Note: shade profiles must be setup for each light condition displayed Bright, Medium and Dull. The product will detect these light shades automatically and prompt you to shade creation.

Once a set of shades have been configured for a given family, all varieties within that family will refer to the same shades. No need to setup shades for every variety.

5 - Setup grade profiles for the variety

With shades now setup for the given color family, we can go ahead and setup grades for the varieties within that family.

From the shades screen we left off in the previous step:

1. Click 'Grade', you will then see the varieties within the family listed
2. Select '+ Add grades' to one of the listed varieties
3. Name the grade. For example 'Premium'.
4. Set the conditions for that grade to be true based on the setup color shades
   1. Select the shade(s)
   2. Set the lower and upper limits, meaning how much of the shade(s) must be present
   3. Click 'Save grade'
5. Repeat the steps for the other grades for that variety by clicking 'Edit grades', then 'Add a grade'
6. Note: unallocated grade definitions will default to Undercolor. This means if you setup a first and second grade, the third grade will automatically be created called Undercolor to handle the fruit that did not make it into the first and second grades.

6 - Scan a new group with this variety to see color results

Now you have the shades configured for your color family and grades setup for your new variety, you can go ahead and start scanning the variety in. For handheld users, ensure the image is captured following the guidelines. There is no need to manually select a color parameter or configuration at this step.

7 - Validate the results against grader data

Now that your color expert has setup grades and your users are capturing data through the harvest, pull aside grader reports for the Spectre groups scanned to validate the accuracy of the results by comparison. You may find that you want to tune the shades or grades to optimize the results.

8 - How to Set Up a Blush Color Shade

Setting up a blush color shade for non-red apple varieties, such as Granny Smith and Golden Delicious, is now easier with the latest upgrade to the Color Grade setup process.

Previously, users needed to time their setup after scanning blush trucks, often facing challenges in identifying blush on the auto-selected samples. With the new process, users can directly select blush images from their Spectre results, choose representative apples, and configure blush shades without manual intervention. This streamlined workflow empowers users to handle blush configurations independently, ensuring accurate grading for non-red varieties.

For detailed steps, watch the attached video tutorial to see how to find and set up a blush color shade effectively.