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Subject:Re: Hexadecimal to PMS From:"Richard G. Combs" <richard -dot- combs -at- voyanttech -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 10 Nov 2003 11:15:14 -0700
Dan Goldstein wrote:
> I've been looking at http://www.pargolf.com/PMS.htm. When I go into the
> source code, I see hexadecimal values for the PMS "swatches" on the page.
> For example, the hexadecimal value for PMS 2945 seems to be #0054a0.
>
> I've worked extensively with hexadecimal values in designing colors for
Web
> pages, but I am not familiar with PMS requirements. Is it fair to say that
> these are approximate hexadecimal values for the actual PMS colors?
>
> By the way, http://www.cyberbits.com/Backgrnd/hexcolr2.htm gives a chart
for
> converting RGB values to hexadecimals.
Hexadecimal color values are RGB. They're simply base-16 representations of
the more familiar base-10 (decimal) values, 0-255. For instance, decimal 255
is hexadecimal FF.
RGB colors are additive. Your monitor uses additive colors of necessity
because it _emits_ light.
PMS (Pantone Matching System) is a standard for defining ink colors for
printing, so they're based on the subtractive CMYK model. Printing uses
subtractive colors of necessity because a printed surface _absorbs_ light.
Trying to depict a CMYK color on an RGB monitor is of necessity an
approximation. A glowing phosphor can't precisely replicate a dot of
(light-absorbing) ink. How close the approximation is depends on whether the
monitor is color-calibrated.
Check the archives for more -- much more -- about RGB vs. CMYK, monitor
calibration, etc.
HTH!
Richard
------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT voyanttechDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT freeDASHmarketDOTnet
303-777-0436
------
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