Gamut And Rendering Intent; Color Mixing And Calibration - Ricoh InfoPrint Pro C900AFP Manual

An ICC profile contains information for converting an image between a
device-specific color space and a device-independent color space. A
device-independent color space is a color space that does not depend on or relate
to the characteristics of any particular device, but rather contains all colors for all
gamuts. The ICC identified a specific profile connection space (PCS) as the target
device-independent color space for all ICC profiles.
You can use an input ICC profile to translate color data created on one device
(such as a digital camera) into the PCS. Then you can use an output ICC profile to
convert from the PCS into the native color space of a different device (such as a
printer). Converting images from one color space to another is process-intensive
and can affect performance in your print system, although it is the best way to
maintain consistent color for the devices in your system.

Gamut and rendering intent

Every device has a gamut, a range of colors or shades of colors that it can display
or print. Some devices have larger gamuts than others; some devices have gamuts
that are similar sizes, but that contain slightly different colors. When an image or a
print job is created on a device with a gamut that is different from the printer, you
can use a rendering intent to tell the printer how to adjust the colors that are
outside the gamut of the printer.
The gamut of a printer is almost always significantly smaller than the gamut of a
monitor, digital camera, or scanner. Images or graphics nearly always have to be
adjusted to print appropriately because some of the colors that they require might
be outside the gamut of the printer.
A rendering intent tells the printer how to adjust the image when it encounters
colors that it cannot reproduce. Each rendering intent has different benefits and
trade-offs, so you can choose one based on how the print output should look.

Color mixing and calibration

Four standard colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) are blended to create all
the colors in the gamut of a printer. A printer mixes colors by printing four layers
of a page or an image, one in each color. If the printer registration is not set
correctly, the images do not line up properly and the colors appear wrong. In
addition, the printer must be calibrated to ensure that all its systems are
functioning correctly and that it is in a known good state.
By using the color information described in its color space, each device determines
the amount of cyan, magenta, yellow, or black to use. Dots of each color are
printed in overlapping patterns that, when interpreted by your eyes, blend the
colors appropriately. To ensure the colors are created accurately, the color planes
must be perfectly aligned. If they are not, you might see moire patterns, unintended
patterns in the printed images, or poorly blended colors, which are especially
noticeable on the edges of your images.
Color printers must be calibrated regularly, in some cases daily, to ensure that the
colors they produce are consistent. In addition, follow the recommended printhead
maintenance procedures and schedule to ensure that the printer operates optimally.
Even when a printer is calibrated correctly, its gamut is much smaller than that of
any monitor, so images do not look the same when they are printed as they do
when they are displayed on a monitor.
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