User's Manual

XPS Card Printer Guide
Printer Guide
About the Printer
Using the Printer
Card Design and Setup
Card
Components
Color Printing
Monochrome
Printing
Topcoat Printing
Magnetic Stripe
Printing & Non-
printing Areas
Layout
Settings
Printer Driver
Printing Cards
Troubleshooting
Supplies and Parts
Installation Guide
Color Printing
This section includes:
Print Ribbon
Managing Color
Printing Text
Printing Graphics
Types of Color Images
Print Ribbon
Color printing uses a print ribbon with three color panels Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan).
The ribbon also includes a black (K) panel and a topcoat (T) panel.
The printer applies the color images to the card first,
prints black components using the K panel, and then
applies the topcoat (T) which helps protect the color
image from damage.
Color print ribbon is available in full panel or short panel. The color
area for short panel ribbon is 1.57 inches (40mm) from the left
edge of a landscape orientation card and 1.57 inches (40mm) from
the top edge of a portrait orientation card. The color printing is
always on the leading edge of the card as it passes through the
printer.
For more information on print ribbon, see the
Supplies section of
this guide.
Managing Color
Many people think that a color on the monitor and the printed color "should be the same." Color
management is the technical process of making color in two different places (such as on the PC
monitor and printed on the card) as similar as possible. A widely used color standard is sRGB
color, and the card printer also uses sRGB color. (sRGB is the name for the standard Red,
Green, and Blue color space.)
Other color characteristics include brightness and contrast. The Windows driver includes settings
to fine-tune the brightness and contrast for the card. See
Settings for more information. In a
non-Windows environment, color management or graphics software can be used to manage
images.
XPS Card Printer Guide
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Datacard Confidential
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SHORT TERM CONFIDENTIAL