About Color Printing; The Three Primary Colors Of Light And Color - Canon Color imageCLASS MF8170c Software Manual

About Color Printing

This section describes the fundamentals of colors and the method for color printing
from this printer.

The Three Primary Colors of Light and Color

The colors that you see in the computer display are expressed from the three
primary colors of light which are red, green, and blue. White will result if all the
three primary colors are mixed (additive process).
Red Red
Green Green Blue Blue
Most color printers express color not with the three primary colors of light but with
their three inverted complimentary colors, the same as those used in mixing plants,
but with the addition of black as a separate color. The three primary printing colors
are cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), plus black (K)(subtractive process).
C C
M M
The three primary colors of light and color are in a complementary color
relationship.
The red in light and cyan in color, green in light and magenta in color, and blue in
light and yellow in color complement one another.
Red Red
Green Green
White
Black
Y Y
Complementary
color
M M
Blue Blue
C C
Y Y
About Color Printing
6
6-3