THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY October 17, 2002 CMYK ______________ TODAY'S SPONSOR: Postmaster Direct
Sign up today to receive free information and offers about computers, networking, wireless devices, security, and other timely IT topics. Choose the specific topics you would like to learn more about. Visit http://whatis.techtarget.com/postmasterDirect/ ______________ TODAY'S WORD: CMYK See our definition with color chart and hyperlinks at http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211805,00.html CMYK is a scheme for combining primary pigments. The C stands for cyan (aqua), M stands for magenta (pink), Y is yellow, and K stands for black. The CMYK pigment model works like an "upside-down" version of the RGB (red, green, and blue) color model. Many paint and draw programs can make use of either the RGB or the CMYK model. The RGB scheme is used mainly for computer displays, while the CMYK model is used for printed color illustrations (hard copy). There is a fundamental difference between color and pigment. Color represents energy radiated by a luminous object such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a light-emitting diode (LED). The primary colors are red (R), green (G), and blue (B). When you see a red area on a CRT, it looks red because it radiates a large amount of light in the red portion of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum (around 750 nanometers), and much less at other wavelength. Pigments, as opposed to colors, represent energy that is not absorbed by a substance such as ink or paint. The primary pigments are cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y). Sometimes black (K) is also considered a primary pigment, although black can be obtained by combining pure cyan, magenta, and yellow in equal and large amounts. When you see yellow ink on a page, it looks yellow because it absorbs most energy at all visible wavelengths except in the yellow portion of the spectrum (around 600 nanometers), where most of the energy is reflected. The primary pigments and the primary colors are mathematically related. Any two pure radiant primary colors (R, G, or B), when combined, produce radiation having the appearance of one of the pure non-black primary pigments (C, M, or Y). Any two pure non-black primary pigments, when mixed, produce a substance having the appearance of one of the pure primary colors. The primary colors RGB, combined at 100-percent brilliance, produce white. The primary pigments CMY, combined at maximum concentration, produce black. Shades of gray result from equal (but not maximum) brilliances of R, G, and B, or from equal (but not maximum) concentrations of C, M, and Y. If you have a paint or draw program such as CorelDRAW! that employs both the RGB and the CMYK schemes, you can investigate these relationships by filling in regions with solid colors using one mode, and examining the equivalent in the other mode. After a while you will develop an intuitive sense of how these schemes work, how they resemble each other, and how they differ. In general, the RGB mode should be used when preparing graphics intended mainly for viewing on computer displays. The CMYK mode should be used when creating illustrations for print media. RELATED TERMS: RGB http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212900,00.html cathode ray tube http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213839,00.html light-emitting diode http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213613,00.html electromagnetic radiation spectrum http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212045,00.html ______________________ SELECTED LINKS: Herd Software describes CMYK for users of its DaVinci Graphics Library product. http://www.herdsoft.com/ti/davincie/cmyk0yp7.htm The International Color Consortium provides more information about color management. http://www.color.org/ ______________________ THIS DAY IN IT HISTORY | October 17, 1996 Prodigy, founded in 1984 by IBM, Sears, and CBS, announced that the company's main focus would now be to provide Internet access. http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci214028,00.html ______________________ CROSSWORD PUZZLE #5 | Firewalls Improve your flexible thinking skills. Print out the puzzle and keep it nearby to work on throughout your day! http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci856796,00.html ______________________ QUIZ #17 | DSL Do you know why DSL is so fast? Take our quiz and find out! http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci783951,00.html ______________________ REAL-LIFE CHALLENGE #18 | Can backup tapes wear out? Bob wants to know if there's a shelf-life for backup tapes. How long can you use the same tapes over and over before they need to be permanently retired? http://whatis.discussions.techtarget.com/WebX?msgInContext@;166.6Twoa8pir9i.0@.1dcfae0e/148!viewtype=threadDate&skip=&expand= ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] N1 http://searchsolaris.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid12_gci854790,00.html [2] OOPSLA http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci854764,00.html [3] segmentation and reassembly http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci854752,00.html [4] SIGTRAN http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci854620,00.html [5] TP0-TP4 http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci854617,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___________________________________________________________________ :::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ::::::::::::::::::::: Published by TechTarget (http://www.techtarget.com) TechTarget - The Most Targeted IT Media Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved. 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