Colors in typesetting databases

[Atarimaster]

Hello,

I’ve never noticed this before, because I’ve always used black text labels so far.
But now, I wanted to use blue text labels. So I used a graphics application to find the color I want, according to this application it’s C:82, M:36, Y:7, K:12.

Bildschirmfoto 2018-09-30 um 15.20.37.png (136.6 KiB) Viewed 8886 times

So the font declaration line in the typesetting database looks like this:

Code: Select all

%0	"MyriadPro-It"	10	0	82	36	7	12	0

… but Geocart renders some green-ish color:

Bildschirmfoto 2018-09-30 um 15.24.46.png (36.29 KiB) Viewed 8886 times

That green color is also exported in PDF and TIFF files.

Am I getting something wrong here or is it a bug?
Is there a way to get the color I want?

Of course, in a PDF file it’s quite easy to change the text color in the graphics application that I use anyway to work on the final map. Nonetheless it’d be nice if I could do it in Geocart.

I’m using Geocart 3.2.1 on OS X 10.11.6.

Kind regards,
Tobias

[daan]

It’s just a bug, and a surprisingly simple one: Upon reading the database, Geocart exchanges the M and Y values.

Thanks for finding and reporting this. I have fixed it and the fix will be in the next release. It’s very odd that this has gone unnoticed from the beginning.

Beyond the simple bug, there’s a lot that goes in between CMYK and RGB such that your exported RGB won’t necessarily match what your color selector shows in your example. These factors pertain to color profiles (which Geocart has provision for but does not use), color conversion models, and in general the gigantic field of color management. Your screen shot shows R=10, G=121, B=175, but what I get output is R=40, G=144, B=209. This still yields a color that, on my screen, looks very close to what you specified. In fact, if I show your raw RGB values in Adobe Illustrator, they do not look as close to your original color on my screen as my RGB values do. This could be due differing color profiles used to interpret the RGB values, or different models to convert between CMYK and RGB, or any of several other factors. Indeed, given your RGB, Illustrator gives C=87, M=46, Y=11, K=0. This is without Geocart in the picture at all.

Sorry for the trouble.
— daan

[Atarimaster]

Thank you, that helps!
For the moment, I’ll simply exchange the M and Y values in the typesetting database, and I’ll get the color I want.
And yes, of course there are many other obstacles when it comes to the colors, which I usually handle on a "close enough" approach.

Kind regards,
Tobias