[scribus] Colour Profiles

John Beardmore John at T4sLtd.co.uk
Fri Sep 4 21:44:34 CEST 2009


Hal V. Engel wrote:
> On Thursday 03 September 2009 03:32:55 pm John Beardmore wrote:

>>> This has been said before here.  The color management learning curve is
>>> fairly steep and most users who are new to color management feel like
>>> they have been pushed into the deep end of the pool.   But once you
>>> understand how it works and make the effort (and yes spend the money) to
>>> get good profiles you will find that your results are MUCH more
>>> consistent and that you are spending less time dealing with
>>> color/tonality issues.
>> I don't think any of this changes the notion that the current
>>
>>      "Output intended for: Printer"
>>
>> wording is pretty unhelpful, and whatever the difference is between the
>> options, it could be more clearly expressed.
>>
>> If the difference is simply RGB vs CYMK workflow, and printers can
>> require either, why not word the choices as
>>
>>      "Screen / Web / RGB work flow"
> 
> This might be slightly better wording for this option since it always gives an 
> sRGB result.
> 
>> and
>>
>>      "CYMK work flow" ?
> 
> But this is NOT always a CMYK work flow.  It is a printer work flow that 
> generates output in what ever your printer color space is.  In many cases this 
> will be CMYK but it can be RGB, Gray or Device N.  It depends on the printers 
> ICC profile.

Then word it

	"Work flow in printer colour space" ?


>> I'm not sure that the tool tip in its current form helps much either.
> 
> This is certainly true.
> 
>> Typical ink jets may take RGB at the driver interface, but so are some
>> reasonably chunky laser printers. 
> 
> On Windows and OS/X this is true but this is NOT true for the most common *nix 
> drivers for ink jet printers.  The general case is that printers and printer 
> drivers can and do accept input in color spaces other than and in addition to 
> RGB.  The GutenPrint drivers that I use, for example, can accept CMYK input 
> and will use it directly with the only processing done (other than ink 
> limiting and gamma correction) is for the driver to work out how to mix the 
> light/dark inks for each channel.   This same driver will accept Gray input and
> only use the black/light black/light light black inks.

OK, though I suspect that at least in the wonderful world of windows, 
most people use HP, Epson, Dell etc manufacturer sourced drivers.

One epson driver we had a few years back couldn't even render a simple 
bit map without ballsing it up.  Epson were no use, and nor were the ppl 
that wrote the drivers for them.

I suspect that at least in windows, the use of superior third party 
drivers is pretty much limited to a few cognoscenti with esoteric 
hardware, RIPs etc.


Cheers, J/.
-- 
John Beardmore, MSc EDM (Open), B.A. Chem (Oxon), CMIOSH, AIEMA, MEI
Managing Director, T4 Sustainability Limited. http://www.T4sLtd.co.uk/
Energy Audit, Carbon Management, Design Advice, Sustainable Energy
Consultancy and Installation, Carbon Trust Standard Registered Assessor
Phone: 0845 4561332   Mobile: 07785 563116   Skype: t4sustainability




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