Make Printer Colors Print Right.Written by Niall Roche
Having trouble understanding dpi and resolution? Pictures not printing in color you expected? Here’s an inkjet project you can do to help you understand how it all works! After you do project (or don’t do it!), read on for some color solutions to help you get results you want from your printed images. The project: Open up your art program and draw a one-inch square. Reduce your square to 10% (1/10 of inch). Now duplicate it 9 times running across width of your page. You should have a horizontal row of 10 squares. Duplicate your row 9 times, so you end up again with a one-inch box that contains one-hundred 1/10th inch squares. Print out your one-inch box. Next, get three magic markers: one magenta, one cyan, and one yellow. Fine tip markers will probably work best. Have a friend or relative stand behind you and yell out purple, green, orange, yellow, cyan, magenta in order of their choice. If they yell out yellow, pick up yellow marker and fill in one of small blocks in your box. It they yell out purple, pick up cyan marker in one hand and magenta marker in other and simultaneously fill in next block in row across. Repeat this process, choosing correct marker for each color as your friend yells out color name. Color in each of your blocks until your box is full, Congratulations! You have just made a one hundred dpi color image without your inkjet printer! Now of course, above project is just a rough rendering of what we ask our printers to do. First of all, they don’t have luxury of a visible grid! Secondly, they squirt ink through print head nozzles in tiny units of measure called Pico liters, squirting only enough of each color to generate six colors above plus reds, browns, navy blues… and they do it all in resolutions of three to six hundred dpi or more in micro-seconds per requested color!
| | Inkjet LingoWritten by Niall Roche
Aren’t acronyms fun? LOL (laugh out loud). However, they sure can be confusing when selecting printers and inkjet inks. Most sites are good about defining acronyms they use at least once, but finding that “once” isn’t always as easy as it looks! Knowing how to speak “inkjet” will help you choose both printer and inkjet ink you need to get kind of results you want! Here are a few inkjet acronyms and other terms to help with your searches for inkjet printers and related products:AIO (all in one) and MFP (Multifunction Printer) — AIO and MFP are often used interchangeably and stand for printers that include a copier, a scanner, and frequently have fax capabilities as well. Relatively new in marketplace, All-in-Ones are an affordable way to set up a comprehensively equipped home office. CMYK— Inkjet colors: C=cyan, M=magenta, Y=yellow, and K=black. The first inkjet printers were three-color printers (CMY) that mixed colors to produce black. Today’s printers generally have capability to simultaneously use both black and colored inks on same page. DPI— Dots per inch. Measures resolution of images produced by printers, scanners, etc. Typically, more dots per inch means that image will display with more detail. OEM— Another way to say brand name (or name brand). Actually means Original Equipment Manufacturer PPM (pages per minute) and CPM (copies per minute) — How many sheets your printer will spew out per minute. PPM usually means printing directly from printer and CPM denotes copies from a scanned item. Aside from acronyms, other inkjet terms frequently appear when searching for inkjet printers, medias, and inks: Bulk ink— Sold either as compatible printer ink or universal printer ink (see below). The difference between bulk ink and refill kits is that bulk ink doesn’t come with either tools or instructions. Unless you are experienced in refilling inkjet cartridges and have necessary tools on hand, a better money-saving refill solution is a compatible inkjet refill kit.
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