(v13) EraseColor in the page device

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; both Harlequin Core and Harlequin MultiRIP.

The EraseColor setpagedevice key (for more information see (v13) Raster devices and setpagedevice) is used to set the background color of the page, that is; those regions of the page where no objects have been painted. By default, the background color is clear for all colorants, that is; no ink:

<< /EraseColor {[/Separation /All /DeviceCMYK {pop 0 0 0 0}] setcolorspace 0 setcolor}
>> setpagedevice

For more information re the EraseColor background color, color interception and separations see Omit in SeparationDetails.

When color management is used, it is usually good practice to set the background white of the output media to match a color managed CMYK white using this PostScript language fragment:

<< /EraseColor {0 0 0 0 setcmykcolor} >> setpagedevice

When using relative rendering intents, this lays down zero ink in most cases (although there are some rare exceptions with non-compliant ICC profiles). The value comes when using an absolute rendering intent where it is important to set the page background to match that of a color managed white object. If this is not done, there may be obvious boundary artifacts around white objects when white objects are color managed to a non-white, while the background remains clear.

Setting the erase color to a color managed CMYK white works well for all known practical print use cases.

If object-based color management is used, (for more information see (v13) Object-based color management), the object type used when deriving the EraseColor is Other, also known as linework.

See Simple interception of device color spaces, and (v13) Color management for simulating paper color for additional detail for particular use cases.

If using an EraseColor with separation omission see Prevent unintentional auto-separation.