PCL 5 Color Technical Reference Manual - LPRng

1 PCL 5 Color Technical Reference ManualEdition 1E009945961-0635 Printed in 9/94 NoticeThe information contained in this document is subject to change without MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH REGARD TOTHIS MATERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIESOF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental consequential dam-ages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this document contains proprietary information which is protected by copyright.

2 All rightsare reserved. No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated with-out the prior written consent of Hewlett-Packard Company. Copyright 1994 by HEWLETT-PACKARD , PostScript, and the PostScript logo are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporatedwhich may be registered in certain jurisdictions. AppleTalk is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. PCL and Resolution Enhancement are registered trademarks ofHewlett-Packard Company. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

3 First Edition September 1994iiiiInside This ManualWhat You CanLearnFrom This ManualThis Manual describes the PCL 5 commands used to print Color on the HP Color LaserJet and DeskJet 1200 Cprinters. Some of the main topics include an overview ofthe Color printing process, using palettes, choosing colormodes, adjusting output Color to meet your requirements,printing Color raster graphics, and HP-GL/2 vectorgraphics. Examples are provided which demonstrate the use of the PCL 5 Color commands described in this Manual are not necessarilysupported by both printers.

4 See the PCL 5 ComparisonGuide for feature support information for each Manual is written primarily for users that are alreadyfamiliar with PCL 5 printer features. For information onusing PCL 5, see the PCL 5 printer language TechnicalReference OrganizationThis Manual contains seven chapters. A brief description ofeach chapter is provided 1. Color Printing OverviewThis chapter explains background information about print-ing Color documents using PCL 5. Topics include palettes,device-dependent vs. device-independent Color , Color selec-tion, pixel encoding, Color modes, and Color 2.

5 Using Color Modes Chapter 2 defines the four Color modes and describes how touse them, including descriptions of sending Color rasterdata using different pixel encoding modes and Color 3. Using PalettesThis chapter describes the palettes associated with the fourcolor modes and explains how palettes are created, saved,and 4. Modifying Output ColorThis chapter explains how Color can be optimized by com-pensating for different conditions, such as variations incolor due to light sources, limitations of the original art-work and variations in viewing monitors.

6 The chapter details the use of halftone rendering algorithms, colorlookup tables, gamma correction, and viewing illuminantcommands provided so that users can request and receivecolored output that matches their 5. The PCL Print ModelChapter 5 describes the print model and how it determinesthe printed outcome when various patterns, colors, and im-ages are applied together on a page. This chapter discussesthe role that logical operations and transparency modeshave on this 6. Raster GraphicsThis chapter describes the raster graphics commands andalso compressing raster graphics images using various com-pression methods.

7 Chapter 7. Color Vector Graphics (HP-GL/2)This chapter discusses printing Color pages using HP-GL/2,the vector graphics language included on all PCL 5 print-ers. The chapter describes new and/or modified HP-GL/2commands and how they are used to print with HP Manual includes an index for quick access to PCL com-mand Documents The following documents provide related information aboutHewlett-Packard PCL 5 printers. PCL 5 printer language Technical Reference ManualThe PCL 5 printer language Technical Reference Manualprovides a description of the printer command languagethat controls PCL 5 printers.

8 The Manual provides explana-tions of each PCL command, and examples demonstratinghow the commands are used to manipulate the printer . A large portion of the Manual is devoted to HP-GL/2, thevector-based graphics language in PCL 5 5 Comparison GuideThis document provides printer -specific information on paper handling, internal fonts, PCL command support, andcontrol panel information. It identifies feature differencesbetween the various PCL 5 printers, and how the printersimplement the commands described in the PCL 5 PrinterLanguage Technical Reference Manual .

9 printer Job language Technical Reference ManualThis Manual describes PJL, the HP printer job languageused on many of the Hewlett-Packard printers. PJL is usedfor switching printer languages, requesting status informa-tion, changing display messages, inquiring about featuresettings, and other job-level Technical Quick Reference GuideThis booklet is designed to provide quick access to the syn-tax of each PCL and PJL command. The commands aregrouped by their function so that those familiar with PCLand/or PJL can find the syntax of a specific command with-out opening the Color Printing OverviewColor Concepts.

10 1-3 Palettes .. 1-3 Raster Mode .. 1-3 Raster Color vs. Non-Raster Color .. 1-3 Device-Dependent vs. Device-Independent Color .. 1-3 Black and White References .. 1-4 Color Selection .. 1-5 Pixel Encoding .. 1-5 Color Modes .. 1-7 Device-Independent Color .. 1-9 Device-Dependent Color .. 1-9 Device-Independent Color .. 1-9 Color Matching .. 1-10 Processing Color Documents .. 1-12 Non-Raster Color vs. Raster Color .. 1-12 Color Processing Functions .. 1-132. Using Color ModesBlack-and-White Mode (Default).