Color Management - esma

An intro to applied RIP
and Color Management
strategies for Industrial
Inkjet applications
Thomas Kirschner,
CEO ColorGATE GmbH
@ ESMA Inkjet Conference.
30th September 2014
Software - the brain of your printer ?
Commercial Printing
The Commercial Printing sector comprises all printing services in which the printed product is
identical to the end product. In this case, the printing process is the core service provided. As a
result, Commercial Printing includes the processes of digital printing and conventional printing.
Conventional Printing
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Flexo printing
Offset printing
Screen printing
Gravure printing
Digital Printing
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Large Format Printing
Small Format Production Printing
Inkjet Printer Ecosystem
Industrial Printing
Industrial Printing is different from Commercial Printing, as in Industrial Printing the actual printing
is merely one process in the overall production that serves to decorate the products. Inkjet
technology is often used to apply an ink or another liquid to any kind or shape of image carrier.
ColorGATE offers solutions for:
Décor
•HPL
•MDF/HDF
•Laminate
Ceramics
•Tiles
Packaging
• Direct-toShape
– flat bodies
– 3-D bodies
Textile
•Fabrics
•Clothing
Glass
Wallpaper
Software Tasks in an inkjet environment
• Interpretation
• Variable Data Handling
• Layout
• Color Management
• Screening
• Printer Control
• Print & Cut
1. Interpretation
1. Interpretation: Concept
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Graphic File Formats
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Bitmap vs Vector]
Image scaling factor 400%,
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Core RIP task -> Raster Image Processor (RIP)
PDF (Portable Document Format)
PDF/X (ISO 15930) - > "PDF for Exchange"
PDF/A (ISO 19005) - > "PDF for Archive"
PDF/E (ISO 24517) - > "PDF for Engineering“
PDF/VT (ISO 16612-2) -> "PDF for Variable data and Transactional (VT)
printing“
PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) -> "PDF for Universal Accessibility
PDF Interpreter / RIP Core Engines
Harlequin Host Renderer
Jaws PDF and PostScript RIP SDK
RIP: Color & Pixel generator
Input
• Colormodes: RGB, CMYK, Lab,
Greyscale, Multicolor
• Filetypes: Bitmap (TIFF, JPG, …),
PDF, PS, PSD, AI, … …
Output
• Inks: CMYK, Multicolor, Light color
Inks, Special Inks
• Output settings: Resolution, Droplet
sizes, Screening, Passes, Curing…
RIP issue examples: Drop Shadows
Design Reference
Actual Output
Designtools today have featuresets that allows for easy creation of image elements. The results
of these tools need to be interpreted correctly, otherwise the results may differ from the
intended output.
Sometimes the differences are subtle.
RIP issue examples: Transparency
Design Reference
Sometimes they are obvious.
Actual Output
RIP issue examples: Spot Color Overprint
Design Reference
And sometimes this happens…
Actual Output
2. Screening
2. Screening
Georg Meisenbach invented glas gravure
screening and Autotypie
nach einem Photo der Gebrüder Lützel (gedruckt 1905)
2. Screening: FM-Screening
FM-multilevel-screening
Frequency of dots is Modulated -> FM a.k.a.: stochastic, error diffusion, dithering
AM Screening
Applied screening techniques for industrial inkjet
Custom Screen:
Free definition of dot shape, angle, resolution
Frequency Screen:
FM screeing with controllable minimum dot size
Super Rosette 2:
High precision super cell screening
Hybrid Screen 2:
AM/FM mixed screening
3. Color Management
Color Management
• Color reproduction
• Color transformation
• Color separation
• Color consistency
• Color simulation
• Control of special colors
• Application driven colors
• Managing colors over multiple production devices
Color reproduction
Color transformation
„Kontrastverlust“ von Montage durch Friedrich Graf, Quellbilder aus Wikipedia - Montage aus 3 Quellbildern: "Krausnicker-Berge-06-VI-2007-087.jpg", "Slide.jpg",
"2006 Italy voting hand.jpg". Lizenziert unter Creative Commons
Color Appearance
• Detailed rendition of highlights, mid-tones and shadows
• Neutral and balanced grey tones
• Accurately saturated full tones
• Finely graduated color gradients
• Natural skin tones
• Exact reproduction of spot colors
• Best possible processing of design elements
Profiling
Profiling
ColorGATE Ink Saver Technology:
Less Ink Same Quality
Cyan: 2,73 ml
Magenta: 3,19 ml
Yellow: 3,81 ml
Cyan: 1,53 ml
Magenta: 1,49 ml
Yellow: 1,29 ml
Total ink amount: 14,41 ml WITHOUT IS
Total ink amount: 9,99 ml WITH IS
Area: 0,67 m²
Savings: 30,7 %
Black: 4,69 ml
Black: 5,98 ml
ColorGATE Ink Saver Technology:
Less Ink Same Quality
Special Color Handling
• Printing White
• Metallic Effects
• Varnish
• Primer
• Inks for security purposes
Printing White: color image on black
Printing White: single image front&back on transparent
Printing White: 2 different images front&back on transparent
Metallic Effects
Application driven color management objectives
88,78,65,93
0,0,0,100
Printed 4C
Printed 100K
Target Yellow
(color correct)
Pure Yellow
Color Consistency
Quality Control and Re-Calibration
Print Quality
Inkjet devices drift in color!
Today
Tomorrow
In a week
In a month
In a year
ColorGATE Solution: QAM und MDS
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QAM = Quality Assurance Module
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Continuos control wedge evaluation
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Color drifts are identified before they get
visible
Easy assesment for non-experts
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ColorGATE Solution: QAM und MDS
MDS = Media Device Synchronization
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Devicelink based re-calibration
Re-adjusts color performance to a reference state
Print Quality
QAM & MDS ensure color consistency
Today
Tomorrow
In a week
In a month
In a year
What do we mean with Campaign Printing?
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Same image appearance over different print
applications
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Retain Corporate Identity as good as possible
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Leading print service providers have developed into
„hybrids“ that serve their customers with conventional
and digital printing machines
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This increases the demands for quality and color
consistency over individual machine limitations
Challenges of color management with multiple devices
• Inks and colors are not standardized
• Substrate choice is unlimited
Vendor 1
Vendor 2
Vendor 3
• Every Ink + Substrate combination is unique
Typical production approach
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Each invidual printer prints max gamut
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Each print viewed individually looks OK
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Prints next to each other differ
Solution approach
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Production wide color management system
Define matchable reference color spaces
(re-)calibrate and (re-)profile
Evaluate control wedges
Ensure a proper pre-press workflow
Campaign Printing with PSD (Process Standard Digital)
Reference print
and color space
https://www.colorgate.com/en/misc/serivces/processstandard-digital.html
Software - the brain of your printer ?