OnPoint Visuals: Tools

ADDITIVE COLOR
Color process that mixes different light colors, usually red, green, and blue, to create color. The term additive is used because at 0% of each, you have black, an absence of color, and at 100% of each, you have white, a mix of all light colors.

BEZIER CURVE
A curve whose shape is defined by a mathematical formula. Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and CorelDraw are programs that use bezier curves to define shapes. See also Vector, below.

BIT
(Binary digit) The smallest unit of information in a computer, representing either an on or off signal.

BLEED
Any part of a printed image which extends beyond the trimmed or finished edge.

BYTE
A group of eight bits

CALIBRATION
The process of adjusting an output device so it correctly and consistently reproduces color.

CMYK
Subtractive color consisting of the four process colors used in printing: cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K). Normal blacks can be reproduced using either 100% black (which may not appear "black" enough), or a mix of approximately 62% cyan, 53% magenta, 51% yellow, and 100% black. A so-called "rich black" is created by applying 100% of each of these four colors. To arrive at other colors, certain percentages of these colors are subtracted.

DCS
Desktop Color Separation. Used in offset printing. This is an option when a four-color, photo-shop eps file is saved. When chosen, the eps file creates a low-resolution composite file and the high-resolution separation files for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Generally not recommended for large-format output.

DPI
Dots Per Inch. A measure of printer resolution that is expressed as the number of dots a device can print or display per linear inch.

DYE-SUBLIMATION
Can refer to a continuos-tone method for color printing onto paper. In our world, a digital color printing process which embeds images directly into fabric fibers.

ELECTROSTATIC PRINTING
Printing process which works by creating an image with an electrostatic charge on a polished plate, attracting magnetic ink (toner) to the plate, and transferring it to paper with heat and pressure.

EMULSION
The photosensitive layer on a piece of film or paper.

JPEG
File format which compresses bitmapped images. Each time this type of compression is used with an image, there is a loss of quality.

LOW RESOLUTION
Resolution is the number of pixels or dots per inch in an image. The fewer the pixels, the lower the resolution. A low resolution image has course detail and may display and/or print with "jag-gies," or what appears to be a step ladder effect.

LZW
File format which compresses .tif images without a loss of quality.

PMS
Pantone Matching System Standard color matching system that utilizes a swatch booklet. Used primarily in the offset industry, however it is a very useful reference point for color matching, which is why we often ask for these colors.

PROCESS COLOR
Printing system using CMYK (or sometimes more) to produce color.

RASTERIZE
To convert vector graphics to raster or bitmapped graphics.

RESOLUTION
The clarity or fineness of detail attained by a printer or monitor in producing an image. Resolution can be the number of pixels per inch in a displayed image or the number of dots per inch in printer output.

RGB
Additive color primaries which are red, green and blue. These colors are used to create all other colors with direct (or transmitted) light. A computer or television screen are exam-ples. When the red, green and blue colors are superimposed on each other, they create white. Images that are created and saved in RGB format have a much wider color gamut than can be printed using a CMYK printer, which can sometimes cause misunderstandings in color expectations. To avoid this always convert images to CMYK unless you are sending them for Lightjet output.

RIP
Raster Image Processor. A hardware and/or software device that converts PostScript graphics and text into high-resolution bitmapped images.

SCREEN
A pattern of dots used to reproduce color or grayscale continuous-tone images. The fineness of the screen can vary from 65 to 200 or more lines per inch. Typically, newspapers are print-ed with a 65 to 85 line screen and magazines are printed using a 133 or 150 line screen. The higher the line screen, the finer the dot and the crisper the image is.

STOCHASTIC
A random placement of dots. There are no screen angles with stochastic printing which allows images to render a higher apparent resolution. Most inkjet printers and our dye sub printer use stochastic screening.

SUBTRACTIVE COLOR
Color generation using pigments to subtract from white, rather than light adding to black as in additive color. CMYK process color is the most common version of this, though there are efforts to create 6- and 8- color process color systems.

VECTOR
Type of image defined by points and curves, or Bezier curves. Vector images scale up or down to any size without any loss of quality. Vector programs include Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and CorelDraw.

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