HP Designjet Z3200 24 in User Manual

							Autorotate
With some printer drivers, you can also select the Autorotate option, which will automatically rotate by
90 degrees any oversized portrait images in order to save paper.
Print with crop lines
Crop lines indicate where the paper should be cut to reduce it to your selected page size. You can print
crop lines automatically with individual jobs in the following ways:
●In the Windows driver dialog: select the Features tab, then Enable crop lines.
●In the Mac OS Print dialog: go to the Paper Type/Quality panel and select Paper, then select
Enable crop lines.
●
Using the front panel: select the Setup menu icon 
, then Printing preferences > Paper >
Enable crop lines > On.
Print on sheet paper
To print on cut-sheet paper, first load the sheet of paper (see Load a single sheet on page 30). Then:
●Under Mac OS: select a paper size described as “for sheet paper”, then select Manual Feed as
the Paper Source.
●Under Windows: select Manual Feed as the Paper Source.
Use paper economically
Here are some recommendations for making economical use of paper:
●If you are printing relatively small images, you can print up to 16 of them on one sheet of paper.
Use the Pages per sheet option in the Features tab (Windows driver) or the Layout panel (Mac
OS driver).
NOTE:This works for multipage documents only.
●You may be able to save some roll paper by using the following options:
◦In the Windows driver dialog: select the Features tab and then Remove Top/Bottom Blank
Areas and/or Rotate by 90 degrees or Autorotate.
◦In the Mac OS Print dialog: select the Paper Type/Quality panel, then Paper, then Remove
Top/Bottom Blank Areas; and/or select HP Print Preview, then Rotate by 90 degrees.
●If you check the print preview on your computer before printing, you can sometimes avoid wasting
paper on prints containing obvious mistakes. See 
Preview a print on page 46.
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							Use ink economically
Here are some recommendations for making economical use of ink.
●Clean the printheads only when needed, and clean only those printheads that need cleaning.
Cleaning the printheads can be useful, but it uses ink.
●Leave the printer permanently turned on so that it can maintain the printheads in good condition
automatically. This regular printhead maintenance uses a small amount of ink. However, if it is not
done, the printer may need to use much more ink later to restore the health of the printheads.
●Wide prints make more efficient use of ink than narrow prints, because printhead maintenance
uses some ink, and its frequency is related to the number of passes made by the printheads.
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							6 Color management
●What is color?
●
The problem: color in the computer world
●
The solution: color management
●
Color and your printer
●
A summary of the color management process
●
Color calibration
●
Color profiling
●
Color management options
●
Color adjustment options
●
Color management scenarios
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							What is color?
We see the world around us as steeped in color, where color is in the first instance simply an aspect of
how we experience our environment. Color is therefore subjective. Upon further inspection we find that
our color experiences are closely related to brain activity that is triggered by signals sent to it by our
eyes. These signals undergo a complex and highly interlinked sequence of processing stages that make
the relationship between what our eyes emit and what we experience anything but direct. The signals
sent by the eye depend on the light-sensitive cells that line the back of our eyes, and they belong to
three types, each sensitive to electromagnetic radiation of different physical properties (wavelengths).
Such electromagnetic radiation is called light and objects appear to have certain colors because of how
they interact with light (by emission, reflection, absorption, transmission, scattering, etc.).
Our individual experiences of color are also affected by our previous experiences and memories and
by the way in which we put our experiences into language. Finally, environmental factors such as
changes in lighting, scene content or the proximity of other colors also have an effect, which makes the
way in which we view a given display or print an essential part of the colors we will see. Differences in
all these aspects (from physiological differences between people, to differences in their past
experiences, memories and linguistic tendencies) can result in people talking about colors differently
even in response to the same light reflected from an single object. Nonetheless there are also many
similarities between how individuals experience color and it is possible to make very specific judgments
about it that others will also agree with when care is taken in the process. In conclusion we can say that
color results from the interaction between light, objects and a viewer, which makes it a very complex
and to a large degree subjective phenomenon.
The problem: color in the computer world
Color imaging devices such as printers, displays, projectors and televisions create colors by different
means and by using different materials (colorants). Displays, for instance, use colorants that emit red
(long wavelength), green (medium wavelength) and blue (short wavelength) light, where outputting a
white color requires the full use of all three colorants and black requires that none of them be used (i.e.
that no light be emitted). Devices that use light emitting colorants are called additive, because the light
from them is added together before it enters a viewer’s eyes. Printers, on the other hand, use materials
that absorb parts of the light that shines on them and because of this absorption, they are called
subtractive. Typical prints use cyan (red absorbing), magenta (green absorbing) and yellow (blue
absorbing) inks as well as an additional black ink that absorbs light at all wavelengths. To get white
using a printer requires not absorbing any of the light that illuminates a piece of paper and to get black,
all of the inks need to be used to absorb all of the light that is present.
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							To control the output of color imaging devices, the following color spaces are normally used:
●RGB (Red, Green and Blue) is the color space typically used for additive devices. A color is
represented as a combination of specific quantities of red, green and blue colorants and all such
combinations address the range of colors (color gamut) of the chosen device.
NOTE:Subtractive devices can also be controlled using RGB data and, especially when you do
not require control over how you want to use your printer’s black ink, this is an efficient option.
●CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) is the color space for subtractive devices, such as
printers or presses. A color is represented as a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black
(K) inks and all such combinations let you address the entire range of colors of the chosen device.
Both of these color spaces are only ways of controlling different color imaging devices and their values
do not describe colors directly. The same CMYK values, for example, will give different colors when
sent to different printers that use different inks and paper types. For example, consider a printer that
can use indoor inks or outdoor inks. The printer (hardware) is the same, but it has two different color
gamuts due to the different chemistry of the inks (dye-based versus pigmented). Furthermore, they need
to work with different paper types, as ink interaction with the paper depends on its chemistry. Thus, the
colors resulting from given CMYK values depend on the types of inks and papers that you use with a
printer. If this is the case using the same printer, you can easily imagine how different results can be
obtained with printers using different technologies and therefore using different ink chemistry.
The same happens with RGB-controlled devices. For example, imagine that two different monitors from
the same manufacturer have their white points at 9600 K and 6500 K respectively. Their colors are going
to be different because they will be related to a different white point reference. The situation is even
worse when comparing monitors from different manufacturers. As a recommendation, set the white point
of your monitor to 5000 K (also called D50), since this is the standard color temperature for the graphic
arts industries. If you dislike the appearance of D50 (you may find it too yellowish), the second choice
is to set the display to 6500 K (D65).
NOTE:The white point is the brightest neutral color that a device can reproduce or that is present in
an image. The human visual system automatically adapts to the content of an image with respect to its
white point.
Furthermore, an RGB image, such as an image obtained from a digital camera and edited on a monitor,
needs to be first converted to CMYK for a specific printer before printing. Unfortunately different devices
do not give access to the same color gamuts: there are some colors that can be shown on a display
that cannot be matched in print and vice versa. The following graphic illustrates how colors visible to
the human eye are greater than those reproduced by a typical display or printer using a specific paper
type and also how the color gamuts accessible using these two color imaging devices do not match
each other.
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							1.All colors
2.Computer monitor gamut
3.CMYK press gamut
Finally, there are some color spaces that are not device-dependent, but instead represent how a viewer
sees colors, such as CIE Lab or CIECAM02 defined by the CIE (Commission Internationale de
l’Éclairage). The advantage of these spaces is that, unlike CMYK or RGB, if two objects have the same
CIE Lab values then they will look the same when viewed under the same conditions. Values in these
spaces can be obtained from measuring the light emitted or reflected by an object.
The solution: color management
There are many colors from an RGB-controlled device that can no be reproduced in a CMYK-controlled
device and vice versa. These colors are called “out-of-gamut” colors. The industry uses two steps to
reduce color differences as much as possible:
●Describe the color behavior of each device as accurately as possible
●Convert one color gamut to another as effectively as possible
The solution:
1.Describe the color behavior of a device as accurately as possible using an ICC profile. By
taking various RGB or CMYK combinations, sending them to a device, measuring the resulting
output and expressing it in a device-independent color space (e.g. CIE Lab), the color behavior of
a device can be described. The resulting relationship is stored in an ICC profile, which is a standard
file that acts as a dictionary to translate the device’s color space (CMYK or RGB) to a device-
independent color space (e.g. CIE Lab). The process of generating an ICC profile is called profiling.
2.Convert colors as effectively as possible using a Color Management System (CMS). A CMS
is software that uses information from ICC profiles to transform one device’s color space (defined
by a source profile) into the color space of another device (defined by a destination profile). The
difficult part of the job is with those colors that exist in one device’s gamut but not in the other. We
will explore this in more detail later on.
Briefly, we can describe any CMS by the following 4 settings:
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							●CMS: CMS stands for Color Management System. It is the application that converts the color
information stored in the input image, which has the color space defined by a source profile, into
an output image that has the color space specified by a destination profile. There are many different
CMSs on the market: there are CMSs in applications, in operating systems and in printing software
provided by printer manufacturers (in our case the HP Designjet Z3200 internal RIP).
●Source profile: a description of the color behavior of the input device.
●Destination profile: a description of the color behavior of the output device.
●Rendering intent: the most difficult challenge in color management is when a color in the source
gamut does not correspond directly to a color in the destination gamut. As a perfect match is not
possible, there are different types of choices that can be made about how to treat gamut differences
and these are called rendering intent. There are four different possibilities depending on the final
output you want to achieve.
◦Use Perceptual for the most pleasing final output from your original RGB image. It is suitable
for photographic content.
◦Use Saturation for vivid final output. It is suitable for business graphics (charts, presentations,
etc.), but is not recommended for color matching.
◦Use Relative Colorimetric for press proofing. This rendering intent provides a match for
colors that are inside both the source and destination gamuts and minimizes differences when
a match is not possible.
◦Use Absolute Colorimetric for press proofing (like Relative Colorimetric), when you also
want to simulate the color of the source’s paper.
TIP:You can use soft proofing options in your application (such as Photoshop and InDesign) to view
the result of each rendering intent.
The most commonly used device color spaces and, therefore, profiles are:
●RGB mode:
◦sRGB (sRGB IEC61966-2.1): for images originating typically from consumer digital cameras
and scanners and in general from the Web
◦Adobe RGB (1998): for images originating typically from professional digital cameras
◦Specific RGB device space: for images coming from or going to a specific RGB device that
has been profiled. The HP Designjet Z3200 has the capability to measure itself and generate
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							an RGB ICC profile, describing its color behavior for the paper that was loaded at the time of
measuring.
●CMYK mode:
◦SWOP: abbreviation of “Specifications for Web Offset Publications”, a set of press standards
defined for a typical US press and for different types of paper
◦ISO 12647-2: a set of press standards defined by the International Standards Organization
for different types of paper (Coated, Uncoated, …)
◦Other regional standards: Euroscale, JMPA, Japan Color
◦Specific CMYK device space: for images coming from or going to a specific CMYK device
that has been profiled
Color and your printer
As a creative professional, predictable and dependable results from your printer are essential to getting
your job done. Predictability is a key element of an efficient color workflow. You need prints that match
your expectations with neutral grays and correct colors on your selected paper. Your prints should be
produced consistently print-to-print and printer-to-printer. Dependability ensures that every print is free
of print-quality defects and ready to use or send to your customer. You save time and effort and avoid
wasting ink and paper, and you can meet demanding production schedules by printing overnight with
confidence.
HP Designjet Z3200 printers have been engineered with advanced hardware and driver features to
ensure predictable and dependable results, and offer dramatic improvements in efficiency and control
for your color workflow.
HP Embedded Spectrophotometer
HP Designjet Z3200 printers revolutionize professional color workflows by using a built-in
spectrophotometer for color calibration and profiling.
A spectrophotometer is a precision instrument that can determine the exact composition of light reflected
from a color patch. It splits the reflected light into different wavelength components, just as Newton’s
prism splits white light into the colors of the rainbow, and measures the strength of each component.
The HP Embedded Spectrophotometer is mounted on the printhead carriage.
The spectrophotometer allows HP Designjet Z3200 printers to generate custom ICC profiles
automatically for your preferred paper types and calibrate the printers to deliver print-to-print and printer-
to-printer repeatability with less than half the color error of earlier HP Designjets, under all environmental
conditions, and even on unknown (not factory-profiled) paper types. A built-in white calibration tile,
protected by an automatic shutter, ensures reliable measurements that meet international standards.
The printer, color imaging pipeline and professional-quality spectrophotometer with GretagMacbeth i1
color technology are integrated with the HP Color Center software for the HP Designjet Z3200. Giving
the calibration and profiling processes direct access to the writing system allows precise control of ink
levels and color separations for each printed color patch. The automated measurement process
eliminates handling the test print, provides repeatable drying times and allows fast measurements with
precise electromechanical positioning of the spectrophotometer over the color patch. This provides
unprecedented ease of use and matches or exceeds the performance of more expensive off-line,
handheld profiling systems.
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							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.If your paper type is not already known to the printer, add it to the printers list of known papers.
See 
To create your own paper preset on page 36. Typical users may add a few custom paper types
every year.
2.Color-calibrate the paper type, for consistent colors. Calibration should be repeated every now and
then, when recommended by a printer alert (typically, every few weeks for each paper type you
use). In addition, you may wish to calibrate immediately before a particularly important print job for
which color consistency is vital.
3.Color-profile the paper type, for accurate colors. Profiling does not normally need to be repeated:
once you have a profile for a particular paper type, you can continue to use it. However, re-profiling
does no harm, and some users repeat the profiling process every month to ensure that the profile
is up to date.
4.When printing, select the correct color profile for the paper type you are using.
If you use a paper type already defined in the printer, it has a color profile already, but you should at
least calibrate it before using it.
If you define a new paper type, you are automatically led through the steps of calibration and profiling.
The following diagram shows the operations handled by the HP Color Center, in the correct order.
NOTE:You can perform all three operations in sequence as shown, but you can also choose to start
with or stop after any of the three operations. With one exception: color calibration is performed
automatically after adding a new paper type.
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							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 identical prints from any two different printers situated in different
geographical locations.
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 a certain amount of printing has been done since the last calibration
●Whenever the printer has been turned off for a long period of time
●Whenever the environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) change significantly
The printer driver usually reminds you with an alert whenever you need to perform color calibration,
unless you have disabled the alerts. However, there will be no alert if the environmental conditions
change.
You should calibrate a paper type before creating its color profile; however, you can later recalibrate
without needing to recreate the color profile.
You can turn off color calibration from the front panel: select the Image Quality Maintenance menu icon
, then set Enable color calibration to OFF. In this case, the printer will use a default calibration
set in the factory for all paper types. If you later turn color calibration back on, it will still remember any
calibrations that you performed earlier.
Check calibration status
You can check the color calibration status of the currently loaded paper at any time by pressing the
View loaded paper 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. See 
Update the firmware on page 98.
●OBSOLETE: the paper has been calibrated, but the calibration is now out of date for one of the
reasons mentioned above, and should be repeated.
●OK: the paper has been calibrated, and the calibration is up to date.
●N/A: this paper cannot be calibrated. The following paper types cannot be calibrated: plain paper,
transparent materials, and textured glossy paper (such as HP Collector Satin Canvas). They can,
however, be profiled.
Calibrate
You can start color calibration in the following ways:
●From the printer driver alert that recommends calibration.
●From the HP Color Center: select Paper Preset Management > Calibrate Paper.
●
From the front panel: select the Image Quality Maintenance menu icon 
, then Calibrate
color.
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