Re: Why don't drivers use a CMYK profile?
Re: Why don't drivers use a CMYK profile?
- Subject: Re: Why don't drivers use a CMYK profile?
- From: email@hidden (Bruce Fraser)
- Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 14:52:04 -0700
At 2:33 PM -0800 11/8/00, Dave Camp wrote:
I'm putting on my printer driver engineer cap and posing a question that I
have not been able to answer myself...
Historically, QuickDraw based printer drivers have always used RGB profiles,
and converted to CMYK using algorithms internal to the driver. Thus, the
print job goes from RGB to RGB to CMYK.
If the images being printed are tagged with source profiles (they can be),
and the printer driver receives the source profiles with the print job (they
do), why don't any of the current inkjet drivers use a CMYK output profile
and let ColorSync do the conversion from RGB to CMYK, thus removing a step
from the process and allowing advanced users more control?
It seems like an obvious thing, but nobody does it. Is there a good reason?
Neither Quickdraw nor GDI has any facility for handing off CMYK to a
printer driver. They both work exclusively in RGB. Many applications
that print through QuickDraw or GDI don't understand CMYK either. And
a lot of the printers are CcMmYK rather than CMYK.
Also, in most drivers the RGB to inkspace conversion and the
screening seem to be inextricably mingled...
Bruce
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