Color In Printing Does Not Match Color On Screen
Randy Yates
I just bought a Lexmark C760N color printer. This is a native
1200x1200 DPI color laser printer that marketing intimates can reach
4500 DPI using resolution enhancement technology.
However, I can't get a simple color page to print "properly" no matter
how I tweak the color management settings. The color page I'm using
for testing is page one (the cover sheet) of the pdf document
http://www.uspsdata.org/hw9.pdf.
The problem is that the red grid is coming out WAY too light - barely
even noticeable, while it is obviously noticeable on the display. (If
it's relevent, I'm using a ViewSonic P225F color monitor.) The
"Typeset using LaTeX2e" in the lower right corner is also very light -
subjectively much lighter than what I see on the screen. I'm using
Epson S041586 paper, "Premium Bright White" (24 lbs/ream, 95% opacity,
108 ISO brightness). I'm printing from within Adobe reader 6.0.3.11
under Windows 2000.
I've tweaked the color management properties to try to get the best
color output I can - color saving thrown to the wind - and still
cannot get the page to print right. For example, there is a "toner
darkness" setting where you can manually set the toner saturation on a
scale or 1 o 5. I've set it to 5. I've turned off the ColorSaver. I've
tried "color correction" both in following modes:
1. off
2. manual, with the "RGB" and "CMYK" parameters set to all of
"sRGB Vivid," "sRGB Display," and "Vivid."
3. I've turned "color balance" to manual, with equal weighting
on all colors.
4. I've tried "Color Matching" in the last two of the three possible modes
a. Contrast, for images
b. Saturation, for business graphics
c. Colometric, for closest colors
I would REALLY appreciate the help and guidance and knowledge of this group
as this is more than a matter of getting a homework to print. I am also
editing a book, so this subject will no doubt arise again. Is there a FAQ
or good book on this somewhere? Any pointers would be appreciated.
--
% Randy Yates % "...the answer lies within your soul
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % 'cause no one knows which side
%%% 919-577-9882 % the coin will fall."
%%%% <ya...@ieee.org> % 'Big Wheels', *Out of the Blue*, ELO
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr
Gernot Hoffmann
IMO your test conditions are far from any average standard.
You may inspect this doc:
http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/a3gencolortest.pdf
For a special laser printer I had added some advice:
http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/oki-ps-28082005.pdf
Books about professional editing for CMYK:
Dan Margulis
Professional Photoshop
Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann
Alastair M. Robinson
Randy Yates wrote:
> The problem is that the red grid is coming out WAY too light - barely
> even noticeable, while it is obviously noticeable on the display. (If
Your problem with the grid isn't colour related, it's resolution
related! The grid seems to be a hairline grid, so it comes out 1 pixel
wide. On the screen one pixel is typically around 1/72 of an inch.
On your printer it's 1/1200 of an inch! (It's probably a bit thicker
than that in reality...)
Anyway, that's why the line is barely visible.
Since it's not a solid (toner) colour either, it will be halftoned by
the printer, and it's possible that the thickness of the line is
interacting with the halftone to compound the problem.
All the best,
--
Alastair M. Robinson
Randy Yates
Alastair,
Thank you *VERY* much! You're exactly right. I was using a line width
of 0.1 point (via the pstricks package under LaTeX if you know of such
things). That translates to about 1/720th of an inch. After I bumped
it to 1 point, the page prints beautifully!
I was beginning to lose confidence in my choice of printers, when in
reality this "problem" was a testament to this printer's accuracy!
--
% Randy Yates % "Midnight, on the water...
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % I saw... the ocean's daughter."
%%% 919-577-9882 % 'Can't Get It Out Of My Head'
%%%% <ya...@ieee.org> % *El Dorado*, Electric Light Orchestra
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr
Randy Yates
Thanks for the pointers, Gernot. By the way, I had
trouble printing your high-resolution version of the
file - it came out magnified by about 1.5.
--
% Randy Yates % "With time with what you've learned,
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % they'll kiss the ground you walk
%%% 919-577-9882 % upon."
%%%% <ya...@ieee.org> % '21st Century Man', *Time*, ELO
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr
Gernot Hoffmann
the original page size is A3. If you use 'Shrink to fit' then
the content is shrinked for your actual paper size.
Page 4 contains lines near to the borders. Without 'Shrink to
fit' and on A3 paper one can check the printable area.
Strange color modes like 'sRGB Vivid' shouldn't be used.
My second doc shows the installation of consequent PostScript
color management by ICC profiles (not the same printer, but
perhaps useful).
The rendering intent should be 'Perceptual' or 'Relative
Colorimetric' (which I prefer for everything).
'Absolut' is used ONLY for proof printing: simulate the offset
appearance of a CMYK doc (source e.g. ISO Coated, destination
the local printer profile).
Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann