HP PCL/PJL reference (PCL 5 Color) - Technical Reference Manual

EN Color Printing Overview (Color LaserJet, 5, 5M, DeskJet) A-1

Color Printing

Overview

(Color LaserJet, 5, 5M,

DeskJet)

Introduction

This appendix provides an overview of the way color is used in the

HP Color LaserJet, Color LaserJet 5, 5M, DeskJet 1200C, and

DeskJet 1600C printers. It previews the remaining appendices, which

describe the specific details of Hewlett-Packard color printing.

Note The features described in these appendices are a superset of those

supported by the HP Color LaserJet, Color LaserJet 5, 5M and

DeskJet printers. Some features are supported on one or more

printers, but not necessarily on all of them. See the PCL 5

Comparison Guide for specific feature support for each printer.

Processing a color document involves specifying a palette or palettes,

and then using the colors within the current palette to print. For

non-raster printing, items such as text, rules, and vectors are simply

printed in the currently active color, which is specified using the

Foreground Color command or Select Pen command if in HP-GL/2.

For raster printing, the color of each pixel is specified as either a

direct color specification, or as an index into the palette, depending on

the pixel encoding mode.

The PCL Print Model determines how color is applied to the page.

The printed result can vary in background and texture depending on

the source transparency mode, pattern transparency mode, and

selected logical operation (ROP). Besides the pre-defined shading

and patterns, users can define new monochrome or multicolor

patterns.