Screens reproduce colors by mixing blue, green and red lights (RGB).
Printers reproduce colors by mixing cyan, mangenta, yellow and black inks (CMYK).
Rgb images can be printed by the newer digital copy machines, but you may be surprised with the outcome. If you are offset printing the images must be in cmyk mode to print correctly.
It depends on the file's color mode (RGB or CMYK), and the output printer. Most Computer Monitors are RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) color based, as are the majority of printers used by most non-professional users. As such, the file you're working in should be RGB, and rendered/printed as RGB to ensure what you see on screen will look like what's printed on paper. Print publishing graphics have always used a 4 color process, CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). In addition to the file being CMYK, the output printer should also be CMYK. Many higher-end printers are now CMYK. Sharp's new Aquos Quattron monitor technology is a step toward finally making monitors 4 colors instead of the CRT based 3 colors they were originally designed to handle.
CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK, which are the four colors of ink used in standard color printing. A CMYK code is a set of four numbers representing the proportions of those four colors of ink, thus defining a color to be printed.
There are 2 benefits of CMYK colors:You can preview your work to see how it will look like when printed (preview is very close not exact)Files with CMYK colors are ready for professional offset printing.
CMYK color mode is used for print and does not have as wide of a color gamut as RGB (video screens). So your neon blue will turn into a dull grey blue when converting to CMYK, or your beautiful flower on your computer screen will turn into a vintage photograph in CMYK. (Those are exaggerated examples). By converting to CMYK, you will get a closer preview of what the image will look like once it's printed and you can make adjustments before printing. But be careful because your screen is not accurately representing the printed colors.
working CMYK
BestPrintingOnline contains a free CMYK Colour Chart for House Use that can be printed. One can also order large and high quality posters from their website.
They aren't - RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is a color format primarily used in computer and electronic applications, because computer screens use red, green and blue led's (or in older CRT's, dots) to formulate an image onscreen. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) is used in printed mediums. Since the 2 are different color profiles, work constructed on a computer must be converted to CMYK, along with using a proper color profile, to get a truer representation of what the finished product will look like in printed form. Without those tools, an image created in RGB won't look as intended when printed out in CMYK format. Printers connected to computers are often RGB format as well, though some can be purchased with CMYK cartridges. Color copiers usually have both formats that can be selected.
CMYK refers to Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. RGB refers to Red, Green, and Blue. RGB is used for display devices. It's based on the premise that Equal amounts of Red, Green, and Blue light that mix together will create white. If you could magnify your computer screen, every illuminated pixel would be made of varying percents of red, green, and blue. It's called additive color. CMYK is used for printing. CMYK are the "process colors" used to reproduce full colored graphics on printed media. If you could magnify a printed picture, there would be a bunch of overlapping cyan, magenta, yellow, and black "dots" of varying sizes. When the human eye looks at the image at the proper distance, they meld together to create the colors of the image. CMYK are the subtractive colors. You can never print with RGB, nor can you use CMYK on a monitor. It's because one's emitting light, and the other is reflecting light off the ink.(since reflected light is how we see "things". If you plan for something to be printed, make sure it's in CMYK, is the proper resolution, and you save it in a non-lossy file format. (such as a tiff instead of a jpeg) -Joe S.
PC = process coated ec = euro coated
sepia cmyk 0%, 60%, 81%, 63%
It depends on the file's color mode (RGB or CMYK), and the output printer. Most computer monitors are RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) color based, as are the majority of printers used by most non-professional users. As such, the file you're working in should be RGB, and rendered/printed as RGB to ensure what you see on screen will look like what's printed on paper. Print publishing graphics have always used a 4 color process, CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). In addition to the file being CMYK, the output printer should also be CMYK. Many higher-end printers are now CMYK. Sharp's new Aquos Quattron monitor technology is a step toward finally making monitors 4 colors instead of the CRT based 3 colors they were originally designed to handle.