Color accuracy
There are two basic requirements for color accuracy:
1. Ensure that your paper type has been calibrated, which will give you consistency from print to print,
and from printer to printer. See
Perform color calibration.
2. Select suitable options in your application: see
How do I... (color topics).
NOTE If you are not using PostScript, remember that your printer may be configured to use
one of its internal pen palettes instead of your software's palette (which is the default). See
Pen settings seem to have no effect.
Color accuracy using EPS or PDF images in page layout applications
Page layout applications such as Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress do not support color management
of EPS, PDF, or grayscale files.
If you have to use such files, try to ensure that the EPS, PDF, or grayscale images are already in the
same color space that you intend to use later on in Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. For instance, if
your final goal is to print the job in a press that follows the SWOP standard, at the time of creating the
EPS, PDF or grayscale you should convert the image into SWOP.
PANTONE color accuracy
Spot colors are special premixed inks to be used directly in the press, and the best–known spot colors
are PANTONE colors.
If you have the PostScript model, your printer provides a facility called Automatic PANTONE Calibration,
which can easily match most of the PANTONE Solid Coated spot colors. When an application sends a
PANTONE color to print, it sends the PANTONE name together with its own estimate of equivalent
CMYK values. The Automatic PANTONE Calibration facility recognizes the PANTONE name and
converts it to CMYK in a way that depends on the printer model and the selected paper type, enabling
the color to be rendered with greater precision than is possible with the generic CMYK values sent by
the application.
Even when using Automatic PANTONE Calibration, you cannot expect the printer to match the
PANTONE colors exactly. Your printer is certified by Pantone for some papers, but this does not mean
that it can reproduce 100% of the PANTONE colors.
Using Automatic PANTONE Calibration (the best choice)
In order to use Automatic PANTONE Calibration, you need an application that recognizes the
PANTONE colors, and a calibrated PostScript printer.
The Automatic PANTONE Calibration facility emulates PANTONE Solid Coated colors only (suffix C).
Other PANTONE colors will be printed using the CMYK values sent by the application.
Converting PANTONE colors manually
If you have a non–PostScript printer, or if you are using an application (such as Adobe Photoshop) that
does not send the name of the PANTONE color to the printer, you will not be able to use Automatic
PANTONE Calibration. Instead, if you wish, you can convert each PANTONE color manually to CMYK
values in the application, using tables produced especially for your printer and paper type.
ENWW Color accuracy 149
The problem is... (print quality
topics)
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