[vox] Software for Flyers

[Bill Kendrick]

On Tue, Sep 05, 2006 at 08:11:32AM -0700, Marianne Waage wrote:
> Hrm. According to the online manual, GIMP *still* doesn't support CMYK.
> 
> But hey, if you enjoy having your color horribly mangled once you print,
> go ahead. ;)

I'm still kind of confused by this.  What is it about having the ability
to convert RGB pixels in a bitmap into CMYK that makes it print better?

Is it because you get the opportunity to tweak some configuration in
between?  (i.e., how the RG and B become CMY and K?)

In any case, why does one's front-end application (like The GIMP) need to
do this?  Can't this be part of a system-wide printer config, or at least
system-wide printer dialog (e.g., so that other applications can share it)?

I realize a lot of printing services prefer CMYK format (like, what, is
there a ".cmyk" file that you convert an image into?), but I've always heard
that it's best to send them your original bitmap, and let THEM do the
color separation, since they know what they're doing, and are familiar
with their printers and ink.

CMYK has always kind of been the 'silver bullet' for The GIMP, but obviously
I still don't understand why. :^)

Thanks in advance!

-- 
-bill!
bill at newbreedsoftware.com
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/