Results 1 to 7 of 7
  1. #1
    Craig's Avatar
    Craig is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    1,253

    Default How many colors can be printed?

    Someone actually asked me how many colors can be printed from the CMYK color space. I have no clue....anyone know???

  2. #2
    Luc St-Pierre's Avatar
    Luc St-Pierre is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Montreal
    Posts
    138

    Default

    In theory, around 10,000,000 shades can be obtained with 4 inks. Since the CMYK has limitations, all these shades are compressed into the CMYK gamut. To make a long story short, none of these 10,000,000 shades will be a bright orange, a limy green or a down-deep purple. So the question is tricky in that sense. Many shades but a very “ordinary” gamut in the end.
    Luc St-Pierre
    Prepress and Color Management

  3. #3
    Craig's Avatar
    Craig is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    1,253

    Default

    Thanks... I knew someone had that bit of useless knowledge floating around!

  4. #4
    rbailleu's Avatar
    rbailleu is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    illinois
    Posts
    846

    Default

    kind of depends on what you call a distinct color if you have 256 shades of each of the 4 colors
    thats 4.3 billion colors again some limitations may apply. not valid with any other offer.

  5. #5
    ColorGeek is offline Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    12

    Default

    I've always found it beneficial to use a gamut viewer to help illustrate the gamut of any given device. I use ColorThink Pro to do gamut comparisons of different color spaces using ICC profiles. It's very graphic and easily understood by sales people, CSR's, and clients. You can even drag images into the gamut plot and it will plot points of the colors in the image showing out-of-gamut colors - very useful!

  6. #6
    michaelejahn's Avatar
    michaelejahn is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
    Posts
    477

    Default I see you have digital printing device as your profile picture

    I guess I just wanted to point out that as all CMYK output devices are not equal, you may discover that when compared to many offset heatset printing press work, that - depending on the vendor and the condition of the device, the amount of color difference may vary quite widely.

    Hope this helps.
    Michael Jahn - Slightly used PDF Evangelist
    Simi Valley California

  7. #7
    Craig's Avatar
    Craig is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    1,253

    Default

    I think a round about number of 10,000,000 will do just fine! Thanks for all the info guys!!


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Sponsors

Esko Sponsored Content