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EN Color Printing Overview 1-3
The PCL language also allows users to use patterns in combination
with colors. These patterns and colors can be combined with text,
vector graphics, and images to create new, complex graphics objects.
The PCL Print Model determines the logical operations (known as
ROPs, Raster Operations) used to combine each part of the graphic
object.
PCL 5 Color Concepts
This section describes some of the concepts and terminology of color
science related to the PCL 5 color commands.
Color
Color is a combination of human physiological and psychological
responses to a relatively narrow band of frequencies in the
electromagnetic spectrum. The frequencies visible to the human eye
are called the visible spectrum. It’s useful to understand that color
comes both from direct light and indirect light that has reflected from a
surface. Reflected light absorbs all but the reflected frequency. The
colors seen on a color monitor are combinations of different-colored
lights traveling directly to the eye. They are called additive colors
since the different colors combine to form the resulting color. The
colors seen on a printed material such as paper are reflected from the
paper surface, which absorbs some of the light. Colors seen under
these conditions depend on the viewing conditions, the amount and
color of ambient light, as well as the amount and color of the reflected
light.
Color Specifications and Color Spaces
A given color can be described as particular amounts of three light
frequencies (red, green, and blue light). For example, equal amounts
of red, green, and blue light are perceived as white light. The absence
of all three primary light colors is black.