UMAX Technologies PowerColor, User Manual, Page: 99 / 127

Chapter 5: Color Correction in the CMYK Color Space: Expert Mode 5-17
Understanding Gradation
In a general sense, gradation governs how quickly colors ramp from highlight to
shadow. In the CMYK Tone window (see the
Using Tone Controls later in this
chapter), highlight and shadow values are defined independently for Cyan,
Magenta and Yellow. In the CMYK Gradation window, however, highlight and
shadow are set for groups of colors globally.
The CMYK Gradation window consists of a curve grid and a table of editable fields
(see
Working with the Gradation Table below). You may notice that only Cyan
appears to be represented in the table. Cyan is the most representative of the colors
which make up “Grad 3,” a term designating the CMY curve. However, gradation
changes affect all colors.
Above the table is a set of four radio buttons (see Figure 5–5) to select the grada-
tion curve to work on. The buttons are defined as follows:
• Grad 3: activates the three-color (CMY) density curve, shown as the upper-
most blue curve in the graph. This curve determines the shape of the three-
color density gradation curve and sets both the three-color input and output
range (see
Setting the Input Range later in this chapter).
Note: The endpoint of the Grad 3 curve repre-
sent the CMY reproduction density. This value is
set automatically during CMYK selective calibra-
tion (see the section earlier in this chapter). Do
not modify this value unless you intend to limit
the Cyan dot. This value should never be
increased beyond the maximum three-color den-
sity.