Page 196 - Xara Designer Pro X17

196 Color Handling

As an example, pure green on computer screen is a fluorescent bright color that is
impossible to reproduce accurately on any printer. Similarly pure blue on a computer
screen will often print as a much darker purple-blue. Technically, the range of colors on a
computer screen (known as the "color gamut") is far greater than that on a printer. So
there will always be differences between screen and print colors.
Xara Designer Pro X provides the ability to simulate how printed colors will look. Select
the "WINDOWS -> SHOW PRINTER COLORS -> SIMULATE PRINT COLORS" menu to get a better
idea of how your colors will look when printed. This is an approximation only since
printers vary slightly, but it is far more accurate than normal screen colors.

Tip: To get bright blue on a printer, select a color on screen that is almost pure cyan
(printer’s cyan is much more blue than screen cyan).

The color models

Color models let you define a color in terms of different color components. RGB and HSV
are typically used for screen use. If you know your document is going to be printed and
require very specific CMYK color values, then you can use CMYK colors.

Unlike some graphics software, Xara Designer Pro X allows you to mix RGB, HSV and
CMYK colors in the same document.
Models provided by Designer Pro are:

• RGB (Red–Green–Blue),
• CMYK (Cyan–Magenta–Yellow–Key),
• HSV (Hue–Saturation–Value),
• Grayscale.

RGB and HSV colors are stored within Designer Pro in 24-bit format. This gives you 16.7
million possible colors.

CMYK colors are stored in 32-bit format. When printed or output as EPS or PDF they are
output in CMYK format.

Local colors and Theme colors

Designer Pro has two types of color:

• LOCAL COLORS are used in only one place in the document. Each object has a
separate color and nothing is shared. This is useful if you want to change the color of
an object without affecting other objects. Local colors are the easiest method and best
for simple documents that use relatively few colors. "Applying color" and "Editing an
object’s color" above describe local color handling.