Making color-printer output match your monitor image is a complex and frustrating problem.But consistent and predictable color management is on the way.
Russell Kay, Technical Editor
Color is wonderful. It adds impact, interest, and information to most documents and graphics (colorized movies excepted). Color monitors have been available for personal computers almost from the beginning. Today, inexpensive and surprisingly good new printers, using a variety of output technologies, make color printing affordable for almost anyone.
So you fire up your graphics program, whip up a color chart, poster, or image, and send it off to your desktop color printer. Surprise! You discover that the printed color doesn't match the color on your screen. Remember that favorite color photograph of your family that you had
put on Photo CD? The monitor image doesn't look like the glossy print, and when you send the image to the printer, the output doesn't look like the original or the image that was on the computer screen.
Color can be a serious problem. Its quality changes from one device to another and from one operation to the next. There is no consistency, no accuracy, and no predictability.
Computers manipulate color images in a number of ways. You can scan a photograph or painting into digital form and then rework it using software, with effects judged on your monitor's screen. Or an artist can create original art directly on his or her computer, without any physical object. From there, the artwork can be translated into a number of different file formats, combined with other images and text, proofed on a variety of color or black-and-white devices, shown on a projection panel, printed out on high- or low-quality paper, sent on for full-color reproduction via offset or gravure printing, or incorporated into a
multimedia product that is designed to be viewed on someone else's computer.
What is merely a frustrating annoyance for one user can be a crippling and expensive problem for the user who must maintain consistent color across a variety of applications, displays, and output devices. You can't have the company logo appearing in 15 different shades of red, ranging from orange to purple. And, if you're showing off a product, your reproduction had better look like the real thing.
The problem is real. The good news is that help is on the way. A variety of products tackle this problem head-on, and some of these technologies are being integrated into the next generation of operating systems, such as Windows 95 and SunSoft's Solaris.
Standards and Software
In "Consistent Color," Michael Sugihara discusses the roots of the color-matching problem, beginning with the ways in which we define color. He describes the fundamental differences between the color of transmitted light (
e.g., from your monitor) and that of reflected light (e.g., anything reflected off of paper). He introduces some of the intricacies of color space models, looks at the issues of color calibration and characterization, and explains the difficulties inherent in translating a specific color from one system or model to another.
The bulk of Sugihara's article, however, is concerned with the solutions, not the problems. An industrywide consortium is busy hammering out standards that hold out the promise of accurate and predictable color. Sugihara takes a broad look at several of the leading-edge color management products now on the market. He explains where they're coming from, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how they differ from one another.
In Your Face
While a color graphic is being manipulated on computer, the primary point of reference is how the image looks on the monitor. It's neither practical nor economical to send the file off to the color printer after ev
ery minor revision. For the past few years, monitor makers have been trying to address their end of the color-matching problem, and they have evolved some ingenious new approaches.
In "On-Screen Color," Bill Hilliard, who is a color consultant to the VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) monitor committee, takes a look at where monitor technology is heading with regard to color calibration and management, resolution, convergence, and other factors. He describes the color management solutions that monitor makers are currently offering with the latest crop of digital monitors. He also discusses the relationship between screen resolution and brightness and provides tips on what you should look for in choosing a monitor and a video card. In addition, he examines the question of how many colors you need in your palette.
However, more than the monitor has to be calibrated; its immediate environment plays an important role. Ambient lighting can seriously alter your perception of on-screen col
or, and magnetic forces from nearby equipment or even the earth itself can distort color if you're not careful. Finally, Hilliard discusses color-matching issues for the flat-panel LCDs used in laptops and assesses how well their color matches up to that of CRT monitors.
In Print
Hard copy -- the output from color printers and four-color printing presses -- is the end of the line, the make-or-break area in which you -- and your customers and your bosses -- judge final color production or reproduction. A new generation of color ink-jet and laser printers is raising user expectations, but how realistic are these?
In "Final Output," printer consultant and industry-analyst Michael Weiss examines the current state of the art and the future potential of a number of competing color-printing technologies -- ink-jet, laser, thermal-wax, dye-sublimation, and solid ink-jet. He shows how the different technologies compare with respect to speed, consistency, equipment cost, and operati
ng expenses, and he discusses how they are likely to shake out in the marketplace in the next few years.
Matching Colors
