Ricoh AP 306 [5/77] Introduction

Printing Guideline for Ricoh Color Products 2.01

1 Introduction

Each device has a unique way to see or represent colours. This unique colour space

that each device can see, display or print is called the gamut of that device. Some

devices such as scanners have quite a large gamut, others such as printers have

smaller ones. When you want an image to have the same appearance on different

devices, the respective gamuts of these devices (e.g. scanner, printer) have to be

matched. This process is called gamut mapping.

An ICC proÞ le is a small Þ le which deÞ nes the gamut of a device. A Color

Management System (CMS) is a software utility, which maps colors from one gamut

to another via a device-independent colorspace. Thus, if you have ICC proÞ les for

the device your image comes from (eg. a scanner, a digital camera or a monitor)

and the device you want it to go to (eg. a printer or a different monitor) and a CMS,

then consistent gamut mapping from one device to another can be done easily and

consistently.

On www.ricoh-support.com customers can download ICC proÞ les for Ricoh color

scanners and printers. This manual describes how to install ICC proÞ les on Windows

and Macintosh operating systems, and how to use them with the major ofÞ ce and

DTP applications.