Ricoh ap305 OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS f500ug

User’s Guide

FINAL DRAFT 5/2/99

This file contains material copyrighted by EFI. Ricoh may not use, copy, or distribute this material except for internal purposes only. Under no circumstances can Ricoh copy or distribute this material to anyone outside of Ricoh without EFI’s written consent.

FIERY 500 COLOR PRINTING SYSTEM

This publication is protected by copyright, and all rights are reserved. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means for any purpose without express prior written consent from Electronics For Imaging, Inc., except as expressly permitted herein. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Electronics For Imaging, Inc.

The software described in this publication is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. Patents: 5,867,179; 5,835,788; 5,666,436; 5,553,200; 5,543,940; 5,537,516; 5,517,334; 5,506,946; 5,424,754; 5,343,311; 5,212,546; 4,941,038;

4,837,722; 4,500,919

Trademarks

ColorWise and Rip-While-Print are trademarks registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Ofﬁce. Fiery Driven, the Fiery Driven logo, Starr Compression, NetWise, and VisualCal are trademarks of Electronics For Imaging, Inc.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Illustrator, PostScript, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Separator, and Adobe PageMaker are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated, registered in certain jurisdictions. EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) is a trademark of Altsys Corporation. A pple, the Apple logo, AppleShare, AppleTalk, EtherTalk, LaserWriter, and Macintosh are register ed trademarks, and MultiFinder is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Microsoft, MS, MS-DOS, and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft in the US and other countries. QuarkXPress is a registered trademark of Quark, Inc. Times, Helvetica, and P alatino are trademar ks of Linotype AG and/or its subsidiaries. IT C Avant Garde, ITC Bookman, ITC Zapf Chancery, and ITC Zapf Dingbats are registered trademarks of International Typeface Corporation. E thernet is a register ed trademark of Xero x Corporation. N etWare and Novell are registered trademarks and I nternetwork Packet Ex change (IPX) is a trademark of Nov ell, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, a wholly owned subsidiary of Novell, Inc. PANTONE is a registered trademark of Pantone, Inc.

All other terms and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners, and are hereby acknowledged.

Legal Notices APPLE COMPUTER, INC. (“APPLE”) MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION

THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE APPLE SOFTWARE. APPLE DOES NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESUL TS OF THE USE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE IN TERMS OF IT S CORRECTNESS, AC CURACY, RELIABILITY , CURRENTNESS, OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS T O THE RESULT S AND PERFORMANCE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY YOU. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NO T PERMITTED BY SOME STA TES. THE ABO VE EX CL USION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

IN NO EVENT WILL APPLE, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY T O USE THE APPLE SOFTWARE EVEN IF APPLE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALL O W THE EXCL USION OR LIMITA TION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMIT ATIONS MA Y NOT APPLY TO YOU.

the form of the action (whether in contract, tort [including negligence], product liability or otherwise), will be limited to $50.

Restricted Rights Legends

For defense agencies: Restricted Rights Legend. Use, reproduction, or disclosur e is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.227.7013.

For civilian agencies: Restricted Rights Legend. Use, reproduction, or disclosur e is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraph (a) through (d) of the commercial Computer Software Restricted Rights clause at 52.227-19 and the limitations set forth in Electronics For Imaging, Inc.’s standard commercial agreement for this software. Unpublished rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States.

Apple’s liability to you for actual damages from any cause whatsoever, and r egar dless of

Software License Agreement

Before using the Software, please carefully read the following terms and conditions. BY USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU SIGNIFY THAT YOU HAVE ACCEPTED THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. If you cannot or do not accept these terms, you may return the entire package within ten (10) days to the Distributor or Dealer from which you obtained them for a full refund.

Electronics For Imaging, Inc. grants to you a non-ex clusive, non-transferable license to use the software and accompanying documentation (“Software ”) included with the Fiery 500 you have purchased, including without limitation the PostScript

software provided by Adobe Systems Incorporated.

You may: a. use the Software solely for your own customary business purposes and solely with Fiery 500; c. use the trademarks used by Electronics For Imaging to identify the Coded Font Programs and Typefaces reproduced therefrom (“Trademarks”); and d. assign your rights under this Agreement to a transferee of all of your right, title and interest in and to Fiery 500 provided the transferee agrees to be

bound by all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement. You may not:

a. make use of the Software, directly or indirectly, to print bitmap images with print resolutions of 600 dots per inch or greater, or to generate fonts or typefaces for use other than with Fiery 500;

b. make or have made, or permit to be made, any copies of the Software, Coded Font Programs, accompanying documentation or portions thereof, except as necessary for use with the Fiery 500 unit purchased by you; provided, however, that under no circumstances may you make or have made, or permit to be made, any copies of that certain portion of the Software which has been included on the Fiery 500 hard disk drive. You may not copy the documentation;

c. attempt to alter, disassemble, decrypt or reverse engineer the Software, Coded Font Programs or accompanying documentation. d. rent or lease the Software.

Proprietary Rights

You ackno wledge that the Software, Coded F ont P rograms, Typefaces, Trademarks and accompanying documentation are proprietary to Electronics For Imaging and its suppliers and that title and other intellectual property rights therein remain with Electronics For Imaging and its suppliers. Except as stated above, this Agreement does not grant you any right to patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks (whether registered or unregister ed), or any other rights, franchises or licenses in respect of the Software, Coded Font P rograms, Typefaces, Trademarks or accompanying documentation. You may not adapt or use any trademark or trade name which is likely to be similar to or confusing with that of Electronics For Imaging or any of its suppliers or take any other action which impairs or reduces the trademark rights of Electronics For Imaging or its suppliers. The trademarks may only be used to identify printed output produced by the Coded Font Programs. At the r easonable request of Electronics For Imaging, you must supply samples of any Typeface identiﬁed with a trademark.

Conﬁdentiality

You agree to hold the Software and Coded Font Programs in conﬁdence, disclosing the Software and Coded Font Programs only to authorized users having a need to use the Software and Coded Font Programs as permitted b y this Agreement and to take all reasonable precautions to prev ent disclosure to other parties.

Remedies

Unauthorized use, copying or disclosure of the Software, Coded Font Programs, Typefaces, Trademarks or accompanying documentation will result in automatic termination of this license and will make available to Electronics For Imaging other legal remedies.

Limited Warranty And Disclaimer

Electronics For Imaging warrants that, for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery to you, the Software under normal use will perform without signiﬁcant errors that make it unusable. Electronics For Imaging’s entire liability and your exclusive remedy under this warranty (which is subject to you returning Fiery 500 to Electronics For Imaging or an authorized dealer) will be, at Electronics F or Imaging’s option, to use reasonable commercial efforts to attempt to correct or work around errors, to replace the Software with functionally equivalent software, or to refund the purchase price and terminate this Agreement. Some states do not allow limitations on duration of implied warranty, so the above limitation may not apply to you.

Except for the above express limited warranty, Electronics For Imaging makes and you receive no warranties or conditions on the Products, express, implied, or statutory, and Electronics For Imaging speciﬁcally disclaims any implied warranty or condition of merchantability or ﬁtness for a particular purpose.

For warranty service, please contact your authorized service/support center.

EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE EXPRESS LIMITED WARRANTY, ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING MAKES AND YOU RECEIVE NO WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS ON THE SOFTWARE OR CODED FONT PROGRAMS, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR IN ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT OR COMMUNICATION WITH YOU, AND ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PAR TICULAR PURPOSE. Electronics For Imaging does not warrant that the operation of the software will be uninterrupted or error free or that the Software will meet your speciﬁc requirements.

Limitation Of Liability

IN NO EVENT WILL ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, LOST PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE, CODED FONT PROGRAMS OR ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY. THIS LIMITATION WILL APPLY EVEN IF ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING OR ANY AUTHORIZED DEALER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PRICE OF THE UNIT REFLECTS THIS ALLOCATION OF RISK. BECAUSE SOME STATES/JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMIT ATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Export Controls

You agree that you will not export or re-export the Software or Coded Font Programs in any form without the appropriate United States and foreign government licenses. Your failure to comply with this provision is a material breach of this Agreement.

Government Use

Use, duplication or disclosure of the Software by the United States Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subdivision (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 or in subparagraphs (c) (1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software—Restricted Right Clause at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable.

Third Party Beneﬁciary

You are hereby notiﬁed that Adobe Systems Incorporated, a California corporation located at 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, CA 95110-2704 (“Adobe”) is a third-party beneﬁciary to this Agreement to the extent that this Agreement contains provisions which relate to your use of the Fonts, the Coded F ont Programs, the Typefaces and the Trademarks licensed hereby. Such provisions ar e made expressly for the beneﬁt of Adobe and ar e enforceable by A dobe in addition to Electronics For Imaging.

Contents

Preface

Welcome to the desktop color concepts and issues and describes how to maintain and calibrate the printer. I t explains how to conﬁgur e and print from various platforms—P ostScript printing from the Macintosh and P ostScript and PCL printing from Windo ws 95/ 98 and Windows NT 4.0.

The audience for this manual is anyone who needs to maintain color consistency and print to the printer at your site.

The following major topics are included:

• Color printing

• Printing from Macintosh and PC-compatible computers

• Printing from popular applications

• Using Fiery WebTools to manage print jobs

• Fonts and additional font utilities

User’s Guide

for the Fiery 500. This manual gives an overview of

Conventions

Indicates functionality for which a hard disk drive is required.

1-1 The properties of color

Chapter 1: Working with Color

This chapter introduces concepts that are basic to color theory . You will encounter some of these concepts (such as hue, saturation, and brightness) when you work with color in applications; others provide useful background information.

a complex topic, so consider this a starting point for experimentation and further research.

Color is

The properties of color

What we call “color” is really a perceptual ability unique to humans and a small number of animal species. Color theory is an attempt to systematize the properties of color perception, which by nature is relative and changeable. A color appears different depending on the other colors around it, and individuals vary in their abilities to perceive color.

The physics of color

The human eye can see electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths between 400 nanometers (purplish blue) and 700 nanometers (red). This range is called the visible spectrum of light. We see pure colors. Sunlight at midday, which we perceive as white or neutral light, is composed of light from across the visible spectrum in more or less equal proportions. Shining sunlight through a prism separates it into its spectral components, resulting in the familiar rainbow of colors.

spectral light

as intensely saturated or pure

Like the sun, most light sources we encounter in our daily environment emit a mixture of many light wavelengths, although the particular distribution of wavelengths can vary considerably. Light from a tungsten light bulb, for example, contains much less blue light than sunlight. Tungsten light appears white to the human eye which, up to a point, can adjust to the different light sources. However, color objects appear different under tungsten light than they do under sunlight because of the different spectral makeup of the two light sources.

The mixture of light wavelengths emitted by a light source is reﬂected selectively by different objects. Different mixtures of reﬂected light appear as differ ent colors. Some of these mixtures appear as relatively saturated colors, but most appear to us as grays or impure hues of a color.

1-2 Working with Color

CIE color model

In the 1930s, the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) deﬁned a standard the communication of color information. This color space is based on research on the nature of color perception.

By mixing any two spectral colors in different proportions, we can create all the colors found between them. For example, it is possible to create the same gray by mixing blue-green and red light or by mixing yellow-green and blue-violet light. This is possible because of a phenomenon peculiar to color vision called

metamerism

Therefore, different combinations of spectral light can produce the same perceived color.

Hue, saturation, and brightness

A color can be described in terms of three varying characteristics:

color space

. The eye does not distinguish individual wavelengths of light.

, a way of deﬁning colors in mathematical terms, to help in

• Hue, or tint (the qualitative aspect of a color—red, green, or orange)

• Saturation, or the purity of the color

• Brightness, or relative position between white and black.

Many computer applications include dialog boxes in which you choose colors by manipulating hue, saturation, and brightness. For example, Photoshop uses a square Color Picker which can be reconﬁgured according to your preference.

Additive and subtractive color systems

Color devices used in desktop publishing and printing colors using a set of primary colors that are combined to create other colors. There are two methods of creating a range of colors from a set of primary colors. Computer monitors and scanners use the technologies, including Fiery 500 print devices and offset presses, use the

subtractive color model

additive color model

simulate

the range of visible

. Printing

1-3 The properties of color

Additive (RGB) color

Color devices that use the additive color model make a range of colors by combining varying amounts of red, green, and blue light. These colors are called the

additive primaries

green, and blue light available. Black occurs wherever all three colors are absent. Grays are created by adding varying amounts of all three colors together. Combining varying amounts of any two of the additive primaries creates a third, saturated hue.

A familiar device that uses this color model is the computer monitor. Monitors have red, green, and blue a given color. Scanners create digital representations of colors by measuring their red, green, and blue components through colored ﬁlters.

Subtractive (CMY and CMYK) color

The subtractive color model is used in color printing, and in color photographic prints and transparencies. While the additive color model simulates the visible spectrum of color by adding light of three primary hues, the subtractive color model uses a “white ” or neutral light source containing light of many wavelengths. Inks, toners, or other wavelengths of light that otherwise would be reﬂected or transmitted by the media in question.

. White is created by adding the maximum amount of red,

phosphors

colorants

that emit varying amounts of light to display

are used to selectively absorb (subtract) certain

The

subtractive primaries

and blue light, respectively. Combining any two subtractive primaries creates a new color that is relatively pure or saturated. For example, you can make red by combining magenta and yellow, which absorb green and blue light, respectively. White occurs when no colorant is applied. Combining all three subtractive primaries in theory yields black, but due to deﬁciencies of cyan, magenta, and yellow colorants, combining these three primaries actually yields a muddy brown. Black colorant is added to compensate for the deﬁciencies of cyan, magenta, and yellow colorants, and consequently color printing uses four

agenta, Yellow, and blacK (CMYK). The use of black ink helps in producing

rich solid blacks and also allows for improved rendition of black text.

are cyan, magenta, and yellow; they absorb red, green,

process colors: C

yan,

Color transparency ﬁlm

RGB monitor

1-4 Working with Color

Print device gamut

Different color reproduction techniques have different color capabilities, or gamuts. Color transparency ﬁlms have comparatively large gamuts, as do color monitors. The color gamut that can be produced using CMYK toners on paper is smaller. This is why some colors that can be displayed on a color monitor, especially bright saturated colors, cannot be reproduced exactly by your Fiery 500 print device—nor, for that matter, can they be reproduced on press using process colors. Moreover, different print devices have different gamuts—some colors that your print device can produce cannot be reproduced on an offset press, and vice versa. The following illustration provides a graphical representation of this concept.

Offset press (white)

Other print device

You need to account for the gamut of your print device when designing on a color monitor. When printed, colors that fall outside the print device’s gamut are “mapped” to printable colors. This process, referred to as place when color data is converted or adjusted to meet the color space and gamut requirements of a print device.

The Fiery 500 is specially designed to perform gamut mapping at high speed with high quality results. It provides these color management features automatically, using either built-in default settings or settings that you specify for a particular print job. For added ﬂexibility, the Fiery 500 color management system can also be used in combination with color management systems on Macintosh and Windows computers See “Rendering styles” on page 1-18.

gamut mapping

, takes

1-5 Controlling printed color

Controlling printed color

When working with color materials, whether they be presentations, illustrations, or complicated page designs, you make aesthetic decisions about the colors you use. Once you have decided on your goal, you then need to realize it in print. Your color printing system becomes an ally in this creative process to the extent that you can get results that are

• If you have designed a brochure to print on the F iery 500, you want the printed colors to match the design speciﬁcation.

• If you are printing presentations on the Fiery 500, you want to preserve the vivid colors in the monitor display.

• If you are working with color that will print on press, you want the Fiery 500 output to match prepress proofs.

The type of print job and the ﬁnal print device either the Fiery 500 printer or an offset press, determine the methodology you use to achieve optimal results.

predictable

No matter what your goals are, two hardware factors always impact color print output: print device consistency and the range of colors the print device can print, known as its successful color documents and presentations also requires an understanding of color management software as it is implemented by the Fiery 500 and on your desktop computer. Most of this chapter is devoted to discussing the various elements of color management that contribute to predictable color results.

Maintaining print device consistency

The factors described below affect print device consistency, as well as color ﬁdelity and overall output quality.

Paper stock and toner

The paper and toner used by the print device can greatly affect printed color. For best results, use the consumables recommended by the manufacturer of your printer.

gamut

. These factors are covered brieﬂy in this chapter. Creating

1-6 Working with Color

Maintenance

Problems such as streaking and insufﬁcient or excessive amounts of one or more toners arise when a print device does not receive periodic maintenance. In addition to having it serviced regularly, monitor the color production of your printer by making standard test prints at regular intervals. You can do this easily by printing the Fiery 500 Test Page from the operation panel. Save the prints and show them to your system or site administrator if recalibration becomes necessary.

Calibrating the printer

VisualCal calibration

VisualCal is a calibration method that allows you to recalibrate your printer to an ideal color output standard deﬁned by the printer’s manufacturer. The calibration calculations performed by the controller software are based on a series of values entered on the operation panel. The values used in the calculations ar e determined by evaluating toner densities and color combinations produced on two specially designed calibration pages printed from the operation panel.

For information on how to use the operation panel, see

Limits and 30% Match

The ﬁrst VisualCal page, “Limits and 30% Match,” provides the basis for calculating the most acceptable luminosity (brightness) of the toners. This page consists of rows of CMYK dots in a graduated range of toner densities.

The variables needed to recalculate the determined by identifying the leftmost dots that can be fully distinguished against their ﬁelds in each row, and sequentially entering their corresponding numeric values on the operation panel. The variable needed to r ecalculate the the toners is determined in a slightly different way—you identify the black dot which best matches a 30% dot gain ﬁeld. When all values have been entered, the printer’s toner density and luminosity settings are recalculated.

density

of the colored toners are

Getting Started.

luminosity

1-7 Calibrating the printer

Gray Balance

The second VisualCal page, “Gray Balance,” provides the basis for calculating a “neutral gray balance,” that is, a CMY gray that as closely as possible matches a pure K (BlacK) gray produced by the printer’s engine. This page consists of rows of CMY gray patches on a ﬁeld of gray produced solely from black.The variables needed to calculate the printer’s most neutral gray balance are determined by identifying the CMY patch that best matches this ﬁeld, and entering its row and column location on the operation panel. When the values have been entered, the printer’s gray balance is recalculated.

PERFORM VISUALCAL CALIBRATION

1. From the READY screen, press the Menu k e y and then the up arr o w k e y to adv ance to the VISUALCAL screen.

OTE

If the printer is in

up before you can perform calibration.

ENERGY SAVE MODE

, you must wait for the printer to warm

2. Press Enter to advance to the PRINT LIMITS screen. To print the Limits and 30% Match page, use the up and down arro w keys to select YES. Press Enter to print the page.

To reset the printer’ s toner density and luminosity settings, follo w the instructions provided on the Limits and 30% Match page.When you have ﬁnished entering all values, the

OTE

for any of the colors, the resulting calibration will be inaccurate. If the entered value for any color is 9, the Limits and 30% Match page is reprinted automatically. Re-enter values for all color rows starting with Black Start.

3. To print the Gray Balance page, use the up and down arrow keys to select YES. Press Enter to print the page.

To reset the printer’s gray balance, follow the instructions provided on the Gray Balance page. When you have ﬁnished entering all values, the PRINT COLOR TEST screen appears.

NOTE: If the Gray Balance page is printed after the Limits calculations have been

made, the gray ﬁeld on which the CMY patches appear on the Limits page will use the new density and luminosity calibration settings.

PRINT GRAYS

Zero (0) and 9 are unacceptable values for color calibration. If you select 0

screen appears.

1-8 Working with Color

4. To print a Color test that uses the original values (CURR ENT COLOR T EST P AGE) and

5. If you are satisﬁed with the printer’s calibration based on the new values, select

a Color test that uses the new values (NEW COLOR TEST PAGE), use up and down arrows to select YES, and press Enter to print the pages.

The Color Test pages are in the same format as the Test page which you can print from the PRINT PAGES FROM LIST menu.

Before applying the calibration changes compare the Color test that uses the original calibration values against the Color test that uses the new values.

YES from the APPLY CHANGES screen that appears, and press Enter to recalibrate the printer based on the previously entered values.

Adjusting VisualCal values

Consider the following suggestions for adjusting VisualCal for your speciﬁc preferences:

• If your print seem to be color balanced but too dark, enter a lower value for the

30% Match entry on the Limits and 30% Match page, last row.

• If your print seems too light, enter a higher value.

• If light areas on your prints have a color cast, enter a lower value in the S tart row

for that toner.

• If dark areas on your prints have a color cast, enter a higher value in the End

row for that toner.

Color adjustment

The printer’s color adjustment feature provides additional creative control over printer’s color production. The color adjustment screens, accessible via the operation panel, allow you to override the printer’s current toner density and brightness settings.

Using the color adjustment controls, you can also increase or decrease the brightness of an image, or you can increase or decrease the density of each the following colors: red, yellow, green, cyan, blue or magenta. For example, you may choose to emphasize the bright, blue sky in an image by increasing the density of the blue and the cyan in the image, and increasing the brightness setting.

1-9 Calibrating the printer

TO PERFORM COLOR ADJUSTMENT:

1. From the READY screen, press the Menu ke y and then the up arr o w k e y to adv ance to the COLOR ADJUSTMENT screen. Press Enter.

OTE: If the printer is in ENERGY SAVE MODE, you must wait for the printer to warm

up before you can perform color adjustment.

2. Use the up and down arrow keys to specify an increase or decrease in the overall brightness of printed documents. Press Enter.

Negative values are darker, positive values are lighter.

3. Use the up and down arrow keys to select a color to be adjusted, and press Enter.

4. Use the up and down arrow keys to increase or decrease the density of the selected color. Press Enter.

Negative values are lighter, positive values are darker.

5. To print a Color test that uses the original values (CURR ENT COLOR T EST P AGE) and a Color test that uses the new values (NEW COLOR TEST PAGE), use up and down arrows to select YES. Press Enter to print the pages.

The Color Test pages are in the same format as the Test page which you can print from the PRINT PAGES FROM LIST menu.

6. To apply the new color and brightness values, use the up and down arrow keys to select YES.

OTE: Changes made using Color Adjustment are retained until the printer is

recalibrated. You can reset the adjusted colors to the last calibration made using the RESET ALL TO 0 option in the Adjust Color screen; recalibrate the printer using VisualCal, or reset the printer’s color production to factory defaults using the operation panel’s

RESETS>RESET COLOR option.

1-10 Working with Color

Using color effectively

The ability to print in color can greatly increase the effectiveness of your message, whether you are printing a presentation or a newsletter , or pr ooﬁng an ad concept that will later be printed on press. Some potential beneﬁts of using color include:

• Conveying information rapidly by using color cues

• Making use of the emotive aspects of different colors

• Increasing impact and message retention

Color can also be a source of distraction and discord if it is used poorly. This section outlines some tips and concepts that will prove useful as you approach designing color materials.

A few rules of thumb

Try some of the following strategies for creating successful color materials:

• Rather than applying colors indiscriminately, use color to aid comprehension.

In presentations, graphs, and charts, use color to highlight patterns and emphasize differences.

• In general, fewer colors work better than many colors.

• Use red as an accent color. Red is particularly effective when used in otherwise

monochromatic materials.

• Consider the tastes of your target audience when choosing colors.

• Keep a ﬁle of printed color pieces that appeal to you or strike you as effective.

Refer to it for ideas when designing your own documents.

1-11 Calibrating the printer

Color wheel

A color wheel is a helpful tool for understanding the interrelation of colors. The colors on one side of the color wheel, from magenta to yellow, appear to most people to be warm colors, while those on the other side, from green to blue, appear to be cool. The distance between two colors on the color wheel can help predict how they will appear when seen side by side. Colors opposite one another on the wheel are called complements, and create a striking contrast side by side. This can be the basis for a bold graphical design, but it is an effect you should use with discretion since it can be visually fatiguing. Other bold combinations to consider are split complements (a color and the two colors adjacent to its complement) and triads (three colors evenly spaced on the color wheel). Colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel result in subtle harmonies.

The color wheel simpliﬁes color relationships for the purpose of clarity, showing only saturated or pure colors. Adding the myriad variations of each hue to the palette (more or less saturated, darker or lighter) creates a wealth of possibilities. Taking a pair of complements from the color wheel and varying the saturation and brightness of one or both colors produces a very different result from the pure complements. Combining a light tint of a warm color with a darker shade of its cooler complement often gives pleasing results. Combining a darker shade of a warm color with a light tint of its cooler complement produces an unusual effect you may like.

Once you have mastered the concept of the color wheel, you have a good framework for experimenting with color combinations. Many books targeted at graphic designers show groups of preselected color combinations. Some are organized by themes or moods, and some are based on a custom color system such as PANTONE. The more you develop a critical facility for judging color combinations, the more you will be able to trust your own eye for color.

Color and text

It is not a coincidence that the overwhelming majority of text you see is printed in black toner on white paper. Text in black on white is highly legible and is not fatiguing to read for extended periods. For many color materials, using black text on a white background and conﬁning color to graphic elements and headings is a good choice.

1-12 Working with Color

Color text can add ﬂair to documents printed on paper when used skillfully , and is widely used in presentations. When using color text, avoid dazzling text and background combinations created from primary complements, especially red and cyan or red and blue; they are visually fatiguing and hard to read. Color text is more legible when distinguished from its background by a difference in lightness—for example, dark blue text on a light beige background. In addition, using many different colors in a string of text makes for a confused appearance and is hard to read. However, using a single highlight color is an effective way to draw the reader’s eye to selected words.

When using color text, keep in mind that small font sizes typically do not print in color with the same sharpness as in black. In most applications, black text prints exclusively in black toner while color text usually prints with two or more toners. Any misregistration between the different toners on paper causes color text to lose deﬁnition. You can make test prints to ﬁnd the smallest point size at which color text prints clearly. When using high-end graphics applications that allow you to specify color as percentages of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, you can create pure cyan or pure magenta text that prints with the same sharpness as black text. (Pure yellow text is extremely hard to read on anything but a dark or complementary background.)

Raster images and vector images

Two broad categories of artwork can be printed from a personal computer to a color printer: raster and vector images.

A raster image, also referred to as a bitmap, is composed of a grid of pixels, each assigned a particular color value. The grid, when sufﬁciently enlarged, resembles a mosaic made from square tiles. Examples of raster images include scans and images created in painting or pixel-editing applications, such as Photoshop and Painter.

The amount of information found in a raster depends on its resolution and bit depth. The resolution of a raster describes the density of the pix els and is speciﬁed in pixels per inch (ppi). The bit depth is the number of bits of information assigned to each pixel. Black and white rasters require only one bit of information

1-13 Optimizing ﬁles for processing and printing

per pixel. For photographic quality color, 24 bits of RGB color information are required per pixel, yielding 256 separate levels of red, green, and blue. For CMYK images, 32 bits per pixel are required.

When printing raster artwork, the quality of the output depends on the resolution of the raster. If the raster ’s resolution is too low , individual pix els become visible in the printed output as small squares. This effect is sometimes called “pixelation.”

In vector images, picture elements are deﬁned mathematically as lines or curves between points—hence the term “vector.” Picture elements can have solid, gradient, or patterned color ﬁlls. Vector artwork is created in illustration and drawing applications such as Illustrator and CorelDRAW . P age layout applications such as QuarkXPress also allow you to create simple vector artwork with their drawing tools. PostScript fonts are vector-based as well.

Vector artwork is resolution-independent; it can be scaled to any size without danger of pixels becoming visible in printed output.

Optimizing ﬁles for processing and printing

The following sections provide tips on how to create image ﬁles that produce the highest possible print quality while minimizing the processing time and disk space they require.

Resolution of raster images

While a 72 ppi raster image appears sharp on a monitor, the same image would likely appear pixelated when printed to the Fiery 500. Color print devices are capable of much greater detail than monitors, and require correspondingly higher resolution image ﬁles. However, high-resolution ﬁles can be large, and therefore cumbersome to transmit over a network, process for printing, store on disk, and edit.

Beyond a certain threshold, a higher image resolution greatly increases ﬁle size while having a minimal effect on output quality. The optimal image resolution depends on the resolution of the ﬁnal print device. Aim for the resolution that optimizes both ﬁle size and output quality.

1-14 Working with Color

The resolution of a raster, along with its bit depth and physical dimensions, determine its ﬁle size. The following table sho ws the ﬁle sizes of color raster images at different dimensions and resolutions.

File size at:

Image size 100 ppi 150 ppi 200 ppi 400 ppi

RGB/CMYK RGB/CMYK RGB/CMYK RGB/CMYK

3" x 4" 0.4/0.5 MB 0.8/1.0 MB 5" x 7" 1.0/1.3 MB 2.3/3.0 MB

8.5" x 11" 2.7/3.6 MB 6.0/8.0 MB

In this table, the shaded areas indicate that 200 ppi is typically the best trade-off between image quality and ﬁle size. However, higher resolutions (e.g., 250 to 300 ppi) may be needed for offset printing, when quality is of the utmost importance, or for images containing sharp diagonal lines.

To ﬁnd the best image resolution for your purposes, make test prints of some raster artwork at different resolutions. Start with a high-resolution image (400 ppi) and save versions at progressively lower resolutions, down to 100 ppi, using a pixel-editing application such as Photoshop. Always save a copy of the original high-resolution version in case you need to revert to it. The highresolution data cannot be recreated from a lower resolution version.

1.4/1.8 MB 5.5/7.3 MB

4.0/5.3 MB 16.0/21.4 MB

10.7/14.3 MB 42.8/57.1 MB

Image quality

1-15 Optimizing ﬁles for processing and printing

Print the ﬁles and examine the output. You will likely begin to see a marked deterioration in output quality at resolutions below 200 ppi, while above 200 ppi the improvement may be very subtle.

100 ppi 200 ppi 300 ppi 400 ppi

Image resolution

Raster images prepared for offset printing may need to be at higher resolutions than needed for prooﬁng on your Fiery 500.

Scaling

Ideally, each raster image should be saved at the actual size it will be placed into the document and at the optimal resolution for the print device. If the image resolution is correct for the print device, there is no quality advantage to be gained by scaling an image down to a percentage of its actual size. If you scale a large image down to a percentage of its actual size, you incur unnecessary ﬁle transfer time because the image data for the entire large image is sent to the printer. If an image is placed multiple times at a markedly different sizes in a document, save a separate version of the image at the correct size for each placement.

If you need to place an image at greater than 100% in a document, remember that the output image resolution is affected. For example, if you scale a 200 ppi image to 200%, the image is printed at 100 ppi.

1-16 Working with Color

Color management on the Fiery 500

The Fiery 500 uses a simple and ﬂexible color architecture that produces excellent color results with default settings. It also allows you to customize your color r esults using various color controls.

Settings for the following Fiery 500 options can be speciﬁed using print dialog box options when you send a job. Some can also be set as defaults during Fiery 500 Setup on the operation panel. Settings speciﬁed in the print dialog box override equivalent settings in the printer setup on the operation panel.

Color print option: What it does:

RGB Source EFIRGB/sRGB (PC)/ Apple Standard/Off (Default value is sRGB)

Color Rendering Dictionary Photographic/Presentation/ Transparency (OHP)

Brightness 85% to 115% (Default value is 100%)

CMYK Simulation SWOP-Coated/DIC/Euroscale/ None (Default value is None)

Explanations of how these settings affect your print jobs are provided in the following sections.

Applies an RGB source space deﬁnition to R GB data (see page 1-17).

NOTE: RGB Source is available only with the

PostScript printer driver. Applies a Fiery 500 color rendering dictionary

(CRD) to objects (text, photographs and illustrations) in a RGB data ﬁle (see page 1-18).

Performs a color adjustment on all color channels to make the printed output lighter or darker.

Adjusts CMYK color data to simulate an offset press standard or a custom color gamut deﬁned at your site. Choosing None bypasses simulation.

NOTE: CMYK Simulation is available only with the

PostScript printer driver.

1-17 Color management on the Fiery 500

RGB Source and Rendering Style

The RGB Source option is used to provide a source color space deﬁnition for RGB data in your document. The setting y ou specify for this option ov errides any source color space proﬁles you may have speciﬁed using other color management systems. For example, if you speciﬁed a ColorSync System Proﬁle on the Macintosh computer, the RGB Source setting speciﬁed in the Print dialog box overrides it. In cases where you don’t want this setting to override another speciﬁed source color space, choose Off.

RGB Source: Description:

EFIRGB The source color space deﬁned by this setting is optimal for

color conversions that will be sent to a Fiery 500 print device. It also allows for consistent output across different operating systems.

sRGB (PC) The sRGB (PC) setting speciﬁes the source space of a generic

Windows computer monitor.

Apple Standard The Apple Standard setting speciﬁes the source space of all

standard Macintosh computer monitors.

PostScript RGB data is converted to CMYK data using the CRD speciﬁed by the Rendering Style option (see page 1-18). This type of RGB data contains its own source color space information which is used as a reference point for the conversion.

NonPostScript RGB data does not contain source color space information and so cannot be converted using a CRD. NonPostScript RGB data is converted using a general under-color-removal conversion method.

1-18 Working with Color

Rendering styles

The Color CRD options are used to specify a CRD for color conversions. The following table describes the color rendering styles (CRDs) for Fiery 500 software and provides guidelines on when to use each one. Each color rendering style uses a different gamut mapping method, such as Photographic or Presentation, designed for a particular kind of color usage.

Rendering style: Best used for:

Photographic—Preserves tonal relationships in images

rather than exact colors. This rendering style maps out-ofgamut RGB colors to printable colors in a way that retains differences in lightness. Color accuracy is sacriﬁced slightly in favor of presenting color relationships in the way the human eye perceives them. Photographic rendering typically gives less saturated output when printing out-of-gamut RGB colors than Presentation Color rendering does.

Presentation—Creates bright saturated colors. This rendering style does not try to match printed colors precisely to displayed colors but instead provides vibrant, dense colors. Photographic images, however, are treated the same way as by the Photographic rendering style.

Transparency (OHP)—Improves the correspondence between monitor colors and printed color on transparency paper.

NOTE: The rendering styles in the table cannot be used when specifying a target

device proﬁle with a color management system such as ColorSync or ICM.

Continuous tone photographs, including scans and images from stock photography CDs

Artwork and graphs in presentations and continuous tone photographs

Artwork and graphs printed on transparency paper

+ 98 hidden pages