CMYK or RBG

I am not sure how good I can explain this so please try to bare with me - CMYK are color specifications intended for output devices such as printers because the basic color setup for them involves these colors to print an accurate rendering. RGB are color specifications intended for use with monitors that deal with these 3 primary colors to render images on your screen. Deciding which format to use should really be dictated by what you plan to do with the image. If you plan to print the image, then it might be beneficial to use CYMK but if you plan to use it say for a skin then RGB is the best to work with. Generally its just easier and my personal preference to use RGB.

Now hopefully, using what you learned from above you may have at least a clue as to why your export is not working. BMP format is specific to computer screens, as such BMP do not handle the CYMK color specification. If you are using an art program, then this should not be an issue because it should simply convert the color specification over to RGB for you when it goes to export.

Couldn't have said it better. Listen to Raithe.

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) = best for print
RGB (Red, Green, Blue) = best for screen display

Therefore, formats used for screen use RGB: BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG; And formats used for printing use CMYK: TIF, EPS.

yep CMYK is for , Four Color seperation in print ready graphics design.

RGB, sRGB (photoshop and other apps come ready for either) though form everything I have read RGB is best because you are not sure how colors will turn out on hardware that is not able to keep sRGB colors true and everything is ready to handle RGB, heck the human eye can not make the distinction between the two can it?


ditto Raithe and paxx

DuOH ip :}



[Message Edited]

Just a note.....RGB are not 'primary colours'......that would be RYB.....

ok ok



actually it is something to know if your've an interest in color theory and such

RGB is the only thing your monitor will understand, even if a file is in CMYK your monitor is interpreting how it should look. Like wise, printers don't understand RGB colors, and interpret them as well. Nothing in print ever looks like it did on screen, colors will always change a little.

A way to think of the differences is that RGB is an additive color scheme, and CMYK is a subtractive. The more color you add in RGB the more white it becomes, while in CMYK the less color you have the more white it is.

making something for the web is useless to be created in CMYK, because it will only be displayed in RGB, If your doing something for print then it can be benificial to make it from the get go in CMYK, but is just as easy in the majority of cases to convert at the end. (Just be ready for a shift in colors)

I'm going to try and not get into "spot colors" or "websafe colors" esp. since websafe colors aren't needed anymore for the most part, but that concludes our lesson today, class dismissed, and don't be tardy next time or I'm taking of 10 points.

Ok, thanks