[scribus] Printing in gray

Peter Nermander peter at nermander.se
Wed Dec 10 06:27:43 UTC 2014


> HP Color laserjets have four cartridges, one
> each for Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black.
>

Yes, ALL printers print with CMYK, because mixing inks/dyes is subtractive
color mixing.

Mixing light of different colors (as computer monitors do) is additive
color mixing, which uses RGB.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_color

BUT, as has already been stated, what inks the printer uses has no relation
to what kind of digital data it expects. Most consumer printers only accept
RGB data.

So the first thing to find out is: What color spaces can the printer accept?

And then: How do I get my document to that color space using a minimum of
conversions?

In most cases the answers are: The printer expects sRGB colors which means
exporting to PDF for screen/web is the easiest way.

There are exceptions, but they are rare.

Since you normally have no control over the RGB to CMYK conversion inside
the printer, you need to get a color profile for the printer to make the
preview in Scribus look as the print. Trying to make the print look like
the preview in Scribus is the wrong way around.

And, to get a really good color profile for the printer, you should print a
test document and measure the colors, because the colors do not only depend
on the printer and the ink/toner, but also the paper used. The second best
it to get the printer manufacturers profile.

/Peter
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