Printing gradients and color blends, Improving gradients and color blends in print, About halftone dots and printer dots – Adobe InDesign CS3 User Manual
Page 566
INDESIGN CS3
User Guide
559
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Under Print, select Proof. The profile should match the proof setup you specified.
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For Color Handling, choose Let InDesign Determine Colors.
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Select Simulate Paper Color to simulate the specific shade of white exhibited by the print medium as defined by
a document’s profile (absolute colorimetric rendering intent). This option is not available for all profiles.
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Press either Setup (Windows) or Printer (Mac OS) to access the printer driver dialog box.
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Turn off color management for the printer, and click Print to return to the InDesign Print dialog box.
Every printer driver has different color management options. If it’s not clear how to turn off color management,
consult your printer documentation.
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Click Print.
Printing gradients and color blends
Improving gradients and color blends in print
PostScript Level 2 and PostScript 3 output devices can print up to 256 shades of gray, and most PostScript desktop
laser printers are capable of printing approximately 32 to 64 shades, depending on the device resolution, specified
screen frequency, and halftoning method. Banding occurs when each available shade covers an area large enough for
you to see individual shades. Also, if you specify a gradient using two percentage values that differ by less than 50%,
you’re specifying a narrow range of shades that’s more likely to result in banding. If you have difficulty printing
smooth gradients without banding, try these techniques:
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Use a gradient that changes at least 50% between two or more process color components.
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Specify lighter colors, or shorten the length of dark gradients. Banding is most likely to occur between very dark
colors and white.
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Increase the percentage of change in the gradient.
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Decrease the screen frequency for the document (PostScript output devices only).
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If banding occurs in an imported graphic, such as an Adobe Illustrator® file, you might need to adjust the original
graphic.
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Print to a PostScript® 3 output device, which is capable of producing smoother gradients.
•
Use shorter gradients. The optimum length depends on the colors in the gradient, but try to keep gradients shorter
than 7.5 inches.
See also
“Specify a halftone screen frequency and resolution” on page 586
About halftone dots and printer dots
Most printers simulate gray by using halftone dots printed on a grid; the grid cells are called halftone cells, and the
grid rows are called lines or line screens. Each halftone dot is made up of printer dots. As the halftone cell fills up with
printer dots, the halftone dot gets larger, resulting in a darker shade of gray.