In printing, under color removal (UCR) is a process of eliminating overlapping yellow, magenta, and cyan that would have added to a dark neutral (black) and leaving the black ink only, called a Full Black, during the color separation process. Under color removal is used in four-color (or more colors) printing. Black ink used to add details and darkness in shadowed areas is called a Skeletal Black.
With current[as of?] ink technology, the total CMYK ink in the shadows refuses to stick after it reaches the dark shadows (usually above a 250% total CMYK coverage), and begins to peel off. To prevent this, printers developed UCR, in which neutral shadows– which would have normally been produced by overprinting the four inks Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black on top of each other (high ink coverage)– are replaced with the single layer of Black. UCR removes the color inks under the Black, resulting in a single layer of ink which sticks to the sheet better, and saves on the consumption of ink.
There is no universal rule for UCR. The amount required will depend on the printing press, paper, and ink in use.
Advantages: Solves the ink not sticking problem and;
Advantages: Black ink is cheaper.
Possible disadvantages: Black ink by itself in a shadow may not be dark enough, so CMY colors are added (called under color addition or UCA) to make a more accurate reproduction.
UCR is generally not recommended for use in printing, due to its tendency to produce dull-looking images and artwork. (The problem of "looking dull" can often be obviated on coated paper by use of an aqueous coating or UV coating applied on the press or as post-press. A press-applied coating can also eliminate the "ink sticking" problem.) The main exception to this rule is that where working in newsprint, UCR is the best way to avoid the associated ink limit and registration issues. UCR is also recommended for some specific paper stocks, depending on the coloration and texture of the paper.
Cyan is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue.
The CMYK color model is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation CMYK refers to the four ink plates used: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black).
Magenta is a color that is variously defined as purplish-red, reddish-purplish, or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between red and blue. It is one of the four colors of ink used in color printing by an inkjet printer, along with yellow, cyan, and black to make all other colors. The tone of magenta used in printing, printer's magenta, is redder than the magenta of the RGB (additive) model, the former being closer to rose.
Pantone LLC is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphic design, fashion design, product design, printing and manufacturing and supporting the management of color from design to production, in physical and digital formats, among coated and uncoated materials, cotton, polyester, nylon and plastics.
In the visual arts, color theory is the body of practical guidance for color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination. Color terminology based on the color wheel and its geometry separates colors into primary color, secondary color, and tertiary color. The understanding of color theory dates to antiquity. Aristotle and Claudius Ptolemy already discussed which and how colors can be produced by mixing other colors. The influence of light on color was investigated and revealed further by al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham (d.1039). Ibn Sina, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Robert Grosseteste discovered that contrary to the teachings of Aristotle, there are multiple color paths to get from black to white. More modern approaches to color theory principles can be found in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. A formalization of "color theory" began in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy over Isaac Newton's theory of color and the nature of primary colors. From there it developed as an independent artistic tradition with only superficial reference to colorimetry and vision science.
Subtractive color or subtractive color mixing predicts the spectral power distribution of light after it passes through successive layers of partially absorbing media. This idealized model is the essential principle of how dyes and inks are used in color printing and photography where the perception of color is elicited after white light passes through microscopic "stacks" of partially absorbing media allowing some wavelengths of light to reach the eye and not others.
Digital printing is a method of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers.
In offset printing, a spot color or solid color is any color generated by an ink that is printed using a single run, whereas a process color is produced by printing a series of dots of different colors.
RYB is a subtractive color model used in art and applied design in which red, yellow, and blue pigments are considered primary colors. Under traditional color theory, this set of primary colors was advocated by Moses Harris, Michel Eugène Chevreul, Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, and applied by countless artists and designers. The RYB color model underpinned the color curriculum of the Bauhaus, Ulm School of Design and numerous art and design schools that were influenced by the Bauhaus, including the IIT Institute of Design, Black Mountain College, Design Department Yale University, the Shillito Design School, Sydney, and Parsons School of Design, New York.
Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color. Any natural scene or color photograph can be optically and physiologically dissected into three primary colors, red, green and blue, roughly equal amounts of which give rise to the perception of white, and different proportions of which give rise to the visual sensations of all other colors. The additive combination of any two primary colors in roughly equal proportion gives rise to the perception of a secondary color. For example, red and green yields yellow, red and blue yields magenta, and green and blue yield cyan. Only yellow is counter-intuitive. Yellow, cyan and magenta are merely the "basic" secondary colors: unequal mixtures of the primaries give rise to perception of many other colors all of which may be considered "tertiary".
Within the CMY color space used in color printing, a range of colors can be achieved by combining the three primary colors. This combination can be thought of as a hue component and a grey component. If the grey component is replaced by black ink, the same color is being achieved by using two primaries and black. The substitution of black for the grey component is described as grey component replacement (GCR).
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed, or electronic media, such as brochures and advertising. They are also sometimes responsible for typesetting, illustration, user interfaces. A core responsibility of the designer's job is to present information in a way that is both accessible and memorable.
In printing, trap expresses the degree to which ink already printed on a substrate accepts another layer printed on top of it compared to how well the substrate accepts that ink.
Rich black, in printing, is an ink mixture of solid black over one or more of the other CMYK colors, resulting in a darker tone than black ink alone generates in a printing process.
A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color components. When this model is associated with a precise description of how the components are to be interpreted, taking account of visual perception, the resulting set of colors is called "color space."
CcMmYK, sometimes referred to as CMYKLcLm or CMYKcm, is a six-color printing process used in some inkjet printers optimized for photo printing. It complements the more common four color CMYK process, which stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (black), by adding light cyan and light magenta. Individually, light cyan is often abbreviated to Lc or c, and light magenta is represented as Lm or m.
Thermal paper is a special fine paper that is coated with a material formulated to change color when exposed to heat. It is used in thermal printers, particularly in inexpensive or lightweight devices such as adding machines, cash registers, and credit card terminals.
Specifications for Web Offset Publications, invariably abbreviated to SWOP, is an organization and the name of a set of specifications that it produces, with the aim of improving the consistency and quality of professionally printed material in the United States, and of certain other products, programs and endorsements related to their work. Among other things, the organization specifies SWOP inks used in CMYK printing, colors of SWOP proofs, other physical qualities pertaining to printing. The organization publishes its own specification and ICC profile and runs a certification program.
There are three types of color mixing: additive, subtractive, and average. In first two cases, mixing is typically described in terms of three primary colors and three secondary colors. Subtractive mixing with all three primaries will result in black, while additive mixing with all three primaries will result in white.
The color cyan, a greenish-blue, has notable tints and shades. It is one of the subtractive primary colors along with magenta, and yellow.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
