This is not directly PyMOL specific, but it addresses a problem I think
a lot of us have encountered in preparing hardcopy outputs.
Some RGB triplets do have equivalents in CMYK space, and as a result, a
figure that looks great on a screen can come out with unpredictable
colors when printed.
Most applications do a good job with RGB-to-CMYK conversions for photos,
but do not do such a good job with graphics that use pure primary
colors. For example, reds are generally OK, but pure blues and greens
do not translate very well.
Here are some RGB values that are within the CMYK gamut (i.e. are
"CMYK-safe"):
##
#optimized rgb values for cmyk output:
set_color _dblue= [0.05 , 0.19 , 0.57]
set_color _blue= [0.02 , 0.50 , 0.72]
set_color _mblue= [0.5 , 0.7 , 0.9 ]
set_color _lblue= [0.86 , 1.00 , 1.00]
set_color _green= [0.00 , 0.53 , 0.22]
set_color _lgreen=[0.50 , 0.78 , 0.50]
set_color _yellow=[0.95 , 0.78 , 0.00]
set_color _orange=[1.00 , 0.40 , 0.0 ]
# these are trivial
set_color _red= [1.00 , 0.00 , 0.00]
set_color _mred= [1.00 , 0.40 , 0.40]
set_color _lred= [1.00 , 0.80 , 0.80]
set_color _vlred= [1.00 , 0.90 , 0.90]
set_color _white= [1.00 , 1.00 , 1.00]
set_color _vlgray=[0.95 , 0.95 , 0.95]
set_color _lgray= [0.90 , 0.90 , 0.90]
set_color _gray= [0.70 , 0.70 , 0.70]
set_color _dgray= [0.50 , 0.50 , 0.50]
set_color _vdgray=[0.30 , 0.30 , 0.30]
set_color _black= [0.00 , 0.00 , 0.00]
##
There may be a more elegant way to do this (specific to the OS and
post-PyMOL application), but this is a simple solution.
Wishlist:
It would be useful to specify a "CMYK mode" in PyMOL, so that the color
palate uses RGB colors that have good CMYK equivalents. This would
simplify color selection when preparing hardcopy figures.
With apologies to color-matching gurus,
Gil
======================================================
Gil Privé
Ontario Cancer Institute
University of Toronto
pr...@uhnres.utoronto.ca
http://xtal.uhnres.utoronto.ca/prive
======================================================
