4: Printer Settings and Adjustments

Printing Preferences

Black Panel Print Overview

This section covers special handling of black data specified on the “Black Panel (K)” tab and applies only to surfaces of the card on which both YMC (color) and K (black) are to be printed.

Reasons and Behavior for Black Panel Extraction

To print black during the print process, equal amounts of process colors Y, M, and C (printer ribbon panels) are delivered, with maximum intensity, to create a near-black image.

However, this “composite” image appears as a dark shade of gray and not machine readable. For example, a visually-black barcode printed with Y, M and C will not be detectable by most barcode readers and is not a true Visible Black color.

The remedy for this is to “extract the black.” In other words, print the same text, graphics, or barcode, using the K (black) panel, on top of the YMC barcode. (You can also choose to print only in K, omitting YMC from that region.)

Depending on the application used to design the card layout, different elements of the card image may be identified in different ways to the printer driver. The printer driver needs to recognize four types of basic elements:

1.Black text

2.Black (monochrome) graphics -- lines, circles, rectangles, and area fills

3.Black color bitmap images

4.Black monochrome bitmap images

These elements may not always be sent to the driver as expected. For example, a barcode may be sent as black text, a series of black area fills, or a black monochrome bitmap. Results will depend on the application used to create the card design. Another variable, again controlled by the card design application, is the precedence (stacking order) of the various element types in the event that one or more of them overlap.

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Zebra Technologies zebra zxp series 1 Black Panel Print Overview, Reasons and Behavior for Black Panel Extraction