Xerox DocuColor 5252 Operator's Manual page 32

A bo u t c ol o r p r i nt i ng
Additive color
Subtractive color
Color servers
2- 6
Computer monitors work with energized phosphors that glow red,
green, or blue on the face of a picture tube. If accurate color
reproduction is important to you, your monitor should be calibrated
on a regular basis. Calibration adjusts and corrects the gamma,
white and black points, and color balance of the monitor. Monitors
display color with impressive accuracy, but they can never match
the printed page perfectly because of the physics of color
involved. Monitors display additive color space RGB, and printing
devices use CMYK, which is subtractive color space.
Printing is based on the subtractive color process. Cyan, magenta,
and yellow dry ink/toner is placed on white reflective paper. Each
color then absorbs, or subtracts, its opposing counterpart from the
reflected white light. This process controls the amount of red,
green, and blue light that is reflected from the white paper. The
CMYK colors are printed as layers of halftone dots in various sizes
and at various angles to create the illusion of different colors. The
varying dot sizes create an effect similar to the varying intensities
of the red, green and blue phosphors of a monitor.
Media The paper on which the image has printed significantly affects
color reproduction. Paper reflects unabsorbed light back to the
eye of the viewer. Therefore, the more reflective the surface of the
paper, the wider the range of colors that can be produced.
Refer to the Color Materials Usage Guide included in your
Customer Documentation package for more information on how
paper influences image quality.
Once a file is ready to print, it is sent to a color server to be
processed for output. Color servers typically offer a wide range of
functionality, including electronic collation, processing while
printing, color management, automatic trapping, and calibration.
Refer to your color server User Documentation for more
information on the functionality of your unit.
D oc u Co l or 5 25 2 O pe r a to r M a nu a l