Color Reproduction Studies in RGB and CMYK Workflows Using Inkjet Printer Drivers and RIPs

This research concerns the evaluation of printed color values when printing to an inkjet printer using a device driver (RGB mode) vs. using RIP software (CMYK mode). The color conversion methodology and algorithms vary from vendor to vendor. The aim of this work is to assess and compare the color gamut produced by different printing methods on the same inkjet printer. An important practical implication of this work is - which printing method gives the user a larger device gamut - device driver (RGB mode) or RIP software (CMYK mode)? To answer this question a number of printing configurations were tested using RGB device drivers (both Macintosh and Windows), and RIP software - ColorBurst, EFI Designer Edition, and PowerRIP X. In order to characterize tested configurations, ICC profiles were created using X-Rite MonacoProfiler. Results presented here show the comparative gamut volume of each printing configuration for an Epson Stylus Pro 4000 printer. It may be expected that as all printing methods ultimately use the same inks, all methods will generate the same device gamut. Outcomes from this work show that the color gamut is different for different printing methods and that the numerical gamut volume is dependent on the vendor implementation. Calibration is also an important part of digital printing and color proofing. Several methods of linearization were tested and compared.