HP Designjet T1200 HD User Manual

							NOTE:If you protect a roll, then later unload the current roll and load a new one, the new roll
remains protected. You are protecting the roll number, not one specific roll of paper. That roll number
will remain protected until you cancel the protection.
TIP:If you print without specifying a roll number or paper type, you will not be able to print on any
protected roll.
Unattended printing/overnight printing (T1200 series
only)
The HP Designjet T1200 printer series, with multiple rolls, plus robust and consistent image quality, is
perfect for long unattended printing jobs.
Here are some recommendations to help you deal with a long queue of printing jobs.
●If feasible, use brand-new long rolls of paper.
●If you want to print on partly-used rolls, you can check the paper type and the remaining length
in the Embedded Web Server or in the front panel, to confirm that you have enough paper to
print all your jobs.
NOTE:Information on the remaining length is available only if you told the printer the length of
the roll when you loaded it, or if the printer read the length of the roll from the barcode printed on
it.
●Load two rolls of paper suitable for your jobs. If the printer finishes one roll, it will automatically
switch to the other.
●Check that you have paper wide enough to print all of your jobs. Any jobs that are too wide may
be put “on hold for paper” if the paper mismatch action is set to Put job on hold (see 
Paper
mismatch action on page 21).
●Check the ink levels remaining in your ink cartridges.
●When you have submitted your print jobs, you can use the Embedded Web Server from a
remote location to monitor their status.
●Drying time should be set to Optimal.
●
Select the Setup menu icon 
, then Printing preferences > Paper options > Roll switching
options > Minimize roll changes or Use roll with less paper.
We recommend the following settings, depending on the paper type and what kind of prints you are
making.
Table 7-1  Recommended settings for unattended printing
Print type Print mode MaxDetail Optimized for Drying time Paper types
Lines Normal Off Lines Optimal Coated, Bond,
Heavyweight
Coated, Glossy
Lines and fills Normal On Lines Optimal Coated, Bond,
Heavyweight
Coated, Glossy
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							Print type Print mode MaxDetail Optimized for Drying time Paper types
Maps Best On Images Optimal Coated,
Heavyweight
Coated, Glossy
Renderings,
photographsBest On Images Optimal Coated,
Heavyweight
Coated, Glossy
Table 7-1  Recommended settings for unattended printing (continued)
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							8 Color management
●Introduction
●
How colors are represented
●
A summary of the color management process
●
Color calibration
●
Color management from printer drivers
●
Color management from printer drivers (PostScript printers)
●
Color management from the Embedded Web Server (T1200 series only)
●
Color management from the front panel
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							Introduction
Your printer has been engineered with advanced hardware and software features to ensure
predictable and dependable results.
●Color calibration for consistent colors.
●One gray and two black inks provide neutral grays on all paper types.
●The Photo Black ink provides pure blacks when printing on photo papers.
●Color emulation of other HP Designjet printers.
How colors are represented
All devices that display color use a color model to represent color in numerical terms. Most monitors
use the RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color model, while most printers use the CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-
Yellow-blacK) color model.
An image can be converted from one color model to another, but in general the conversion is not
perfect. Your printer uses the RGB color model: the same color model that is used by your monitor.
This simplifies but does not completely solve the problem of matching colors. Each device represents
colors a little differently from another device, even if they use the same color model. However,
software can adjust the colors in an image according to the characteristics of the particular device,
using a color profile of the device, in order to achieve correct colors.
A summary of the color management process
To get the accurate and consistent colors that you want, you should follow these steps for each paper
type that you use.
1.Color-calibrate the paper type, for consistent colors. Calibration should be repeated every now
and then (see 
Color calibration on page 66). In addition, you may wish to calibrate immediately
before a particularly important print job for which color consistency is vital.
2.When printing, select the correct color preset for the paper type you are using.
Color calibration
Color calibration enables your printer to produce consistent colors with the particular printheads, inks
and paper type that you are using, and under your particular environmental conditions. After color
calibration, you can expect to get similar prints from any two different printers situated in different
geographical locations.
Some paper types cannot be calibrated. For all other paper types, calibration should be done in any
of the following circumstances:
●Whenever a printhead is replaced
●Whenever a new paper type is introduced that has not yet been calibrated with the current set of
printheads
●Whenever the environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) change significantly
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							You can check the color calibration status of the currently loaded paper at any time by pressing the
View information key on the front panel. The status may be one of the following:
●PENDING: the paper has not been calibrated.
NOTE:Whenever you update the printers firmware, the color calibration status of all papers is
reset to PENDING.
●OBSOLETE: the paper has been calibrated, but the calibration is now out of date because a
printhead has been replaced, and should be repeated.
●DONE: the paper has been calibrated, and the calibration is up to date.
●DISABLED: this paper cannot be calibrated.
NOTE:Color calibration cannot be performed on plain paper, nor on any kind of transparent
material.
You can also check the color calibration status by using the HP Utility.
You can start color calibration in the following ways:
●From the HP Utility for Windows: select Color Center > Calibrate paper, and choose the paper
to be calibrated.
●From the HP Utility for Mac OS: select Paper Preset Management from the HP Color Center
group, choose the paper to be calibrated, press the 
 button and select Calibrate Paper.
●
From the front panel: select the Image Quality Maintenance menu icon 
, then Calibrate
color.
The calibration process is fully automatic and can be performed unattended after you have loaded
paper of the type you wish to calibrate—which should be A4 or any larger size. The paper on the
active roll will be calibrated; you should ensure that the roll you want to calibrate is active. To change
the active roll, select the Paper menu icon 
, then Select active roll.
The process takes about 3–5 minutes and consists of the following steps.
1.A calibration chart is printed, which contains patches of each ink used in your printer.
2.The chart is allowed to dry for a period of time that depends on the paper type, so that the colors
have time to stabilize.
3.The chart is scanned and measured.
4.From the measurements, the printer calculates the necessary correction factors to apply for
consistent color printing on that paper type. It also calculates the maximum amount of each ink
that can be applied to the paper.
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							Color management from printer drivers
Color management options
The aim of color management is to reproduce colors as accurately as possible on all devices: so that,
when you print an image, you see very similar colors as when you view the same image on your
monitor.
There are two basic approaches to color management for your printer:
●Application-Managed Colors: in this case your application program must convert the colors of
your image to the color space of your printer and paper type, using the ICC profile embedded in
the image and the ICC profile of your printer and paper type.
●Printer-Managed Colors: in this case your application program sends your image to the printer
without any color conversion, and the printer converts the colors to its own color space. The
details of this process depend on the graphics language that you are using.
◦PostScript (PostScript printers): the PostScript interpreter module inside the printer
performs the color conversion using the profiles stored in the printer and any additional
profiles sent with the PostScript job. This kind of color management is done when you are
using the PostScript driver and you specify printer color management or when you send a
PostScript, PDF, TIFF or JPEG file directly to the printer through the Embedded Web
Server. In either case you have to select the profiles to use as default (in case the job
doesnt specify any) and the rendering intent to apply.
◦Non-PostScript (PCL, RTL, HP-GL/2): the color management is done using a set of stored
color tables. ICC profiles are not used. This method is somewhat less versatile than the
alternatives, but is a little simpler and faster, and can produce good results with standard
HP paper types. This kind of color management is done when you are using a non-
PostScript driver and you specify printer color management, or when you send a PCL, RTL
or HP-GL/2 file directly to the printer through the Embedded Web Server.
NOTE:There are only two color spaces that the printer can convert to its own color space
using the stored color tables: Adobe RGB and sRGB if you are using Windows, Adobe
RGB and ColorSync if you are using Mac OS.
ColorSync is the Mac OS built-in Color Management System; so, when you select
ColorSync, color management is performed by Mac OS, and it is done based on the ICC
profiles of the specified paper type. ColorSync is available with the PCL3 driver only.
ColorSync can be selected under Mac OS X 10.4 from the Color Options panel: select
Use Embedded (ICC/ColorSync) from the Source Profile drop-down list. Under Mac OS
X 10.5 and 10.6, ColorSync can be selected from the Color Matching panel.
You are recommended to consult the Knowledge Center (see Knowledge Center on page 180) to
see how to use the color management options of your particular application.
To choose between Application-Managed Colors and Printer-Managed Colors:
●In the Windows driver dialog: select the Color tab.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog: select the Color Options panel.
●In some applications: you can make this choice in the application.
Printer emulation
If you want to print a particular job and to see approximately the same colors that you would get from
printing the same job on a different HP Designjet printer, you can use the emulation mode provided
by your printer.
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							NOTE:This option is available only when printing an HP-GL/2, PostScript or PDF job. It will work
correctly only when printing on plain, coated or heavyweight coated paper.
●In the Windows HP-GL/2 or PostScript driver dialog: select the Color tab, then Printer
Managed Colors, then select Printer Emulation from the Source Profile list. You can then
select from the Emulated Printer list.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog (T770, T1200): select the Color Options panel, then Color
Management > Printer, then select Printer Emulation from the Source Profile list.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog (PostScript printers): select the Color Options panel, then select
from the Printer Emulation list.
Color adjustment options
The aim of color management is to print accurate colors. If you perform color management correctly,
then you should be able to print accurate colors with no need of any manual color adjustments.
However, manual adjustments may be useful in the following situations:
●If your color management is not working correctly for some reason
●If you want colors that are subjectively pleasing rather than accurate
The printer driver provides different adjustment facilities depending on whether you are printing in
color or in grayscale. If you are printing in pure black and white, there are no color adjustment
options.
Printing in color
You can adjust the colors of your print in similar ways under Windows and Mac OS:
●In the Windows driver dialog: select the Color tab, ensure that the Advanced color
adjustments box is checked, then press the Settings button beside it.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog (T770, T1200): select the Color Options panel, select Color from
the Mode list, then press the Adjust button.
●In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 PostScript Print dialog (PostScript printers): select the Color
Options panel, select Color from the Mode list, then press the Adjust button.
●In the Mac OS X 10.4 PostScript Print dialog (PostScript printers): select the Color Options
panel, then Lightness and Hue.
Under either operating system, you will then be able to make adjustments using a lightness slider and
three color sliders.
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							●The lightness slider simply makes the whole print lighter or darker.
●The color sliders can be used to fade or emphasize each of the primary colors in the print. The
primary colors may be red, green and blue; or cyan, magenta and yellow; depending on the
color model used in the image.
The Reset button restores each slider to its default central position.
Printing in grayscale
You can adjust the gray balance of your print in similar ways under Windows and Mac OS:
●In the Windows driver dialog: select the Color tab, ensure that the Advanced color
adjustments box is checked, then press the Settings button beside it.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog (T770, T1200): select the Color Options panel, select Grayscale
from the Mode list, then press the Adjust button.
●In the Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 PostScript Print dialog (PostScript printers): select the
Color Options panel, select Grayscale from the Mode list, then press the Adjust button.
●In the Mac OS X 10.4 PostScript Print dialog (PostScript printers): select the Color Options
panel, then Print in Grayscale, then the Gray balance tab.
Under either operating system, you will then be able to make adjustments using separate controls for
highlights, midtones and shadows.
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							●The lightness slider simply makes the whole print lighter or darker. This slider is available in the
same window as the other grayscale controls, except under Mac OS X 10.4, where it is available
by selecting Lightness and Hue.
●The zone definition sliders can be used to define what you mean by highlight, midtone and
shadow.
●The other controls for highlight, midtone and shadow can be used to adjust the gray balance of
highlights, midtones and shadows respectively.
The Reset button restores each control to its default setting.
Color management from printer drivers (PostScript
printers)
This facility is available when printing with the PostScript driver.
HP Professional PANTONE Emulation
When you use a named PANTONE color in an image, your application will normally send to the
printer a CMYK or RGB approximation to that color. But the application does not take the printer or
the paper type into account, it merely produces a generic approximation of the PANTONE color,
which will look different on different printers and on different papers.
HP Professional PANTONE Emulation can do a much better job by taking into account the
characteristics of the printer and the paper type. The results look as similar to the original PANTONE
colors as is possible on a given printer using a given paper type. This technology is designed to
produce emulations similar to those set up manually by prepress professionals.
To use HP Professional PANTONE Emulation, all you have to do is to turn it on. In fact, it is normally
on by default.
●In the Windows PostScript driver dialog: go to the Color tab and select HP Professional
PANTONE Emulation.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog: go to the Color Options panel and select HP Professional
PANTONE Emulation.
You can also use the Embedded Web Server to print a swatch book showing emulations of
PANTONE colors as made by your printer, together with a measure of the color difference (∆E)
between each emulation and the original PANTONE spot color. So HP Professional PANTONE
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							Emulation not only provides the closest match that can be achieved on your printer; it also gives clear
information on how close the emulation is to the original spot color. See 
Printing PANTONE swatch
books on page 74.
Color emulation
Your printer can emulate the color behavior of other devices: RGB devices such as monitors, and
CMYK devices such as presses and printers.
You can set color emulation in the following ways:
●In the Windows PostScript driver dialog: select the Color tab, and Printer Managed Colors.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog: select the Color Options panel, then select Printer from the Color
Management list.
For a good emulation, the printer needs a specification of the colors these devices can reproduce.
The standard way of encapsulating such information is in ICC profiles. As part of the solution, we
provide the most common standards for the different devices.
The options are as follows.
CMYK color emulation
A traditional workflow defines color in the CMYK space. For best results, the colors must be adjusted
to the printer, because different printers will produce different colors from the same CMYK data. If the
image file you are printing was not created specifically for your printer, it will require some
readjustment, which can be done using one of the following options provided with your printer.
●None (Native): no emulation. The printer will use its default internal conversion from CMYK to
RGB, without following any color standard. This does not imply that results will be bad
●U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) 2 uses specifications designed to produce quality separations using
U.S. inks under the following printing conditions: 300% total area of ink coverage, negative plate,
coated publication-grade stock.
●U.S. Web Uncoated 2 uses specifications designed to produce quality separations using U.S.
inks under the following printing conditions: 260% total area of ink coverage, negative plate,
uncoated white offset stock.
●U.S. Sheetfed Coated 2 uses specifications designed to produce quality separations using U.S.
inks under the following printing conditions: 350% total area of ink coverage, negative plate,
bright white offset stock.
●U.S. Sheetfed Uncoated 2 uses specifications designed to produce quality separations using
U.S. inks under the following printing conditions: 260% total area of ink coverage, negative plate,
uncoated white offset stock.
●Europe ISO Coated FOGRA27 is designed to produce quality separations for standard ISO
12647 printing under the following printing conditions: 350% total ink coverage, positive film,
coated paper.
●Euroscale Uncoated 2 uses specifications designed to produce quality separations using
Euroscale inks under the following printing conditions: 260% total area of ink coverage, positive
plate, uncoated white offset stock.
●Japan Web Coated (Ad) uses specifications developed by the Japan Magazine Publisher
Association for digital proofing of images in the Japanese magazine/advertising market.
●Japan Color 2001 Coated uses the Japan Color 2001 specification for type 3 (coated) paper. It
is designed to produce quality separations using 350% total ink coverage, positive film and
coated paper.
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