understanding the color characterization process … the color characterization process for textile...
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UNDERSTANDING THE COLOR CHARACTERIZATION PROCESS FOR TEXTILE PRINTING
© Jonathan Read 2017
UNDERSTANDING THE COLOR CHARACTERIZATION PROCESS
FOR TEXTILE PRINTING
OutputICCprofilesarebuiltuponamyriadofvariablesandpredeterminedcondi8ons.Thesevariables&condi8onsarethebuildingblocksorfounda8onforthequality&accuracyofthefinaloutput.
Ifthefounda8onispoorlybuiltoraltereda@ertheICCprofileiscreated,thentheICCprofilemayberendereduselessandpredictablecolorreproduc8onisimpossible.
Thekeytosuccessisconsistentlycontrollingvariables.
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
• Temperature
• Humidity
• Electrical (Amperage, Voltage, & Ground)
• Static Electricity
• Dust, Dirt, & DebrisAmbient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORSTemperature, Humidity, Electrical, & Debris
Optimum Conditions: 68 F (+/- 10) & 50% RH (+/-10)
Affects: -Ink absorption on printed substrates-Droplet placement & jetting
Symptoms: -Ink bleed & coalescence-Paper cockle-Clogged Nozzles-Banding-Ink color/density shifts-Ink voids on printed substrate-Bad dot patterns
• Media Loading & Take-Up Unit Procedure
• Printhead Height
• Printhead Alignment (Uni/Bi-Directional)
• Media Feed Adjustment
• Heat Settings
MEDIA TO PRINTER CALIBRATION
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
Affects: -Droplet placement, jetting, fixation
Symptoms: -Fuzzy, blurry, grainy appearance -Bad dot pattern-Banding
MEDIA TO PRINTER CALIBRATIONMedia & Take-Up Unit Loading, Printhead Height, Printhead Alignment,
Media Feed Adjustment, On-Printer Heat Settings
• Temperature
• Dwell Time
• Pressure
• Placement
• Ink “Bloom”
OPTIMIZING HEAT PRESS / CALENDAR
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
Ink Bloom:
Comparing different dwell
times on heater :
10 sec.20 sec.30 sec.40 sec.50 sec.
Affects: -Color gamut-Ink consumption-Consistency
Symptoms: -Dull / flat color-Excess ink left on transfer paper-Color change -Non-uniformity across media width
OPTIMIZING HEAT PRESS / CALENDARTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
• Halftone / Dither Settings
• Resolution
• Printhead Pass Count
• Overprint or Second Strike
• Variable Dot Setting
• Light Ink Transitions
• Print-head Voltage & Waveforms
RIP SETTINGS & DEVICE OPTIONS
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
Affects: -Print Speed-Overall print quality-Resolving power-Color gamut-Droplet placement-Ink consumption
Symptoms: -Low productivity-Bad dot pattern-Fuzzy, blurry, grainy appearance-Banding -Color fidelity-Over-inking artifacts-Low total ink limit
Halftone/Dither, Resolution, Pass Count, Overprint/Second Strike, Variable Dot, Light Ink Transitions
RIP SETTINGS & DEVICE OPTIONS
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, Light Inks, Spot Colors, & Device N Colors
Each channel can expense up to 100% of ink. In most cases 100% is unnecessary & some ink
restriction is required to allow for re-linearization.
PRIMARY INK RESTRICTIONS
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
Affects: -Color gamut-Color accuracy
Symptoms: -Dull/Flat Color-Hue Shift-Heavy ink consumption-Fuzzy, blurry, grainy appearance -Over-inking artifacts-Banding-Low total ink limit
PRIMARY INK RESTRICTIONSPrimary Ink Restrictions
Demonstrates how primary ink
restrictions provide the framework for the device’s color
gamut.
PRIMARY INK RESTRICTIONS
Linearization is the process of determining the default tonal response of a device and altering it’s response to
a desired & repeatable state.
The unaltered tonal response of a device is usually non-linear (an increase in ink dispersion doesn’t produce an
equal increase in density). By calibrating the tonal response to known and
repeatable state, you can “re-linearize” back to that state when the tonality drifts over time.
LINEARIZATION
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
LINEARIZATION
Unaltered tonal response of the black
channel.
Desired response
Affects: -Smoothness of gradients-Tonal detail-Ink consumption-Gray balance / Neutrality
Symptoms: -Loss of shadow or highlight detail-Lack of consistency-Hue shift-Possible heavy ink consumption
LINEARIZATIONLinearization
Limits the maximum total amount of ink that can be used when mixing primary inks (C,M,Y,K).
Each channel can expense up to 100% of ink x the amount of ink channels = 400%
The goal is to set the maximum total ink consumption to the highest acceptable level without producing
over-inking artifacts.
TOTAL INK LIMIT
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
TOTAL INK LIMITExample of a test target used to determine the maximum level of
total ink to be used.
TOTAL INK LIMIT
TOTAL INK LIMIT
Examples of Over-Inking Artifacts
TOTAL INK LIMITExamples of Over-Inking Artifacts
Before Transfer / After Transfer Before Transfer / After Transfer
It can be very difficult to determine over-inking artifacts on dye sub transfer paper. Sometimes it helps to look at the paper after it has been transferred to see what has remained. The most important thing is the end result, the finished transferred
product. It that looks good then it doesn’t really matter what is occurring on the paper.
Affects: -Color Gamut-Gradients -Tonal detail-Ink consumption-Gray balance / Neutrality
Symptoms: -Over-inking artifacts-Loss of shadow or highlight detail-Lack of consistency-Hue shift-Possible heavy ink consumption
TOTAL INK LIMITTotal Ink Limit
The ICC Profile describes the color gamut that can be achieved based upon all of the previous
conditions. They are used to translate the appearance of color from one device to
another device.
ICC Profiles do not correct over-inking or bad print quality!
OUTPUT ICC PROFILE
Ambient / Environmental Conditions
Temperature, Humidity, Static Electricity, Bad Grounding of Equipment, Dust/Dirt, etc.
Calibrating Media to Printer
Head Height, Nozzles, Uni/Bi Directional Alignment, Media Feed Adjustment, Heat/Cure Settings, etc.
RIP Settings
Dot Pattern, Resolution, Pass Count, Print Speed, Overprint/2nd Strike, Variable Dot Settings, Light Ink Transitions, etc.
Linearization
T.A.C.(Total Ink Limit)
(Total Area Coverage)
ICC Profile
Primary Ink Restrictions
Optimizing Heat Press / CalendarTemperature, Dwell Time, Pressure, Placement, Ink Bloom, etc.
The ICC Profile in created by printing a range of various colors, measuring them, then creating
a characterization dataset.
The IT8.7.4 Target is a Print Industry Standard Target for CMYK Printer Characterization.
It consists of 1,617 Patches.
ICC PROFILE123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
IT8.7/4-2005
GCR is a way to replace component gray (CMY) with single channel black (K).
The overall effect is ink savings without compromising the achievable color gamut.
Another benefit of using a high amount of GCR is to minimize metamerism.
ICC PROFILEGCR (Gray Component Replacement) & Black Generation
When the characterization data is brought into a ICC Profiling Engine you can decide how you want to produce black when generating the ICC Profile.
K %
Lightness
0%
100%
Amount of GCR
Black Start
Special care should be taken when deciding the level of CGR to use and where to “Start” black replacement. If your single channel black ink produces a very grainy appearance and you start black too early, you may see “peppering” or black
dots in areas that aren’t desired like skin-tones.*Look at your linearization target to see how grainy your K ink is to make an educated guess as to where to start black replacement.
ICC PROFILEGCR (Gray Component Replacement) & Black Generation
K Start in Highlights
K Start in 1/4 Tones
K Start in Mid-tones
K Start in 3/4 Tones
Affects: -Color Accuracy-Gray balance / Neutrality-Ink consumption
Symptoms: -Metamerism-Heavy/light ink consumption $$$
ICC PROFILE& GCR (Gray Component Replacement)
ICC PROFILE
© Jonathan Read 2017