Reflections on the Application of High-fidelity Color Printing Technology (2)

High-fidelity color printing technology is the research content that emerged in the mid-1990s. Some internationally renowned companies, such as Heidelberg in Germany, Agfa in Belgium, DuPont in the United States, AURELON in the Netherlands, and China Founder Group, have published their own high-fidelity printing samples.

When high-fidelity color printing technology is adopted as a production specification, the color space for printing and copying colors is controlled based on the visual effects of nature's spectral color, and its innovative color separation technology can greatly exceed the traditional four-color printing color space. , thus realizing the highest color performance in the printing field (see Figure 4).

Moreover, due to the use of CTP technology, or the use of high-definition printing technology under conditions in which the printing equipment and materials are basically unchanged, the continuity of sharpness and tone of prints can be greatly improved, and the visual clarity of printed images can be improved. And the degree of refinement will be improved.

The research and application of high-fidelity color printing technology is a revolution in technology and quality in the field of printing. Therefore, it will inevitably lead to a series of changes in personnel concepts, applied technical specifications, and quality standards. Actively participating in this revolution will result in the overall strength of the company being taken to a new level. If we continue to rely on technological progress as a driving force, we will surely promote the sustainable and benign development of our company.

"If you don't know what you really like, you will only be in this mountain." Step out of your own home and look around, you will find rapid changes around you. The progress of printing technology has not stopped for a moment. The new functions and new quality of printed matter enable print users and printing companies to obtain more economic and social benefits. In the fierce market competition, users and service providers achieve a win-win situation. It is undoubtedly a benign market model. The basis of this model is technological progress.

Associate Professor Li Lingyi, Ph.D. in Industrial Science and Technology at the University of Northern Ireland in the article “The Gutenberg Effect and the Millennial Plan” discusses the reasons why Gu Dengbao has won the great man of the millennium. He told industry colleagues, “While hundreds of years later, people and things are not. However, the function of the printing industry remains the same, the demand is increasing, and the impact it faces is entirely at the technological level. Therefore, the printing industry should analyze the development of the overall technology in the future and push it smoothly, skillfully upgrading the printing industry to another brand new realm.”

The author has been working in the printing industry for more than 20 years. Since 1995, he has devoted himself to the search for new printing technologies. Because of his feelings, the following will focus on the characteristics of the 4th generation of printing technology and teach it to experts and scholars so as to attract the attention of friends in the industry. .

Printing, as the name implies, and India, is literally understood as a seal. In modern printing, a fingerprint is used. Brushing can be understood as the printing of ink on the plate and the transfer of ink from the plate to the substrate. In this sense, the main function of "India" is to complete the copying of the "shape" of the original. The main function of "brushing" is to complete the reproduction of the original "color". All kinds of manuscripts can also be interpreted as all sorts of colors on the manuscript, and can be copied in large numbers using printing techniques and corresponding equipment.

"Shape" mainly affects the clarity of prints. "Color" mainly influences the visual effects of print colors and is similar to the scene in the visible light color space of nature. In this sense, in the fourth-generation printing technology, the new technologies can be divided into two categories: the application technologies that mainly aim at improving the clarity of printed matter, which are called high-definition printing technologies, and are mainly based on the expansion of the printing color gamut. The application technology of printing color to control the visible color effect is called high-fidelity color printing technology. Although the application effect of the above two technologies may have a cross-over effect, it can be clearly distinguished from the technical principle. The purpose of this distinction is very simple. In order to enable the printing company to understand its own future goals and formulate its own technological progress plan, what technology should be used.

At present, the high-definition printing technologies mainly include the addition of an amplitude modulation network of 250 lpi or more and the adjustment of the gradation values ​​and the regulation of printing plate characteristics; the dot widths of 20 microns or less, one or two frequency modulation screenings, and matching tonal adjustments. Value characteristics measurement and regulation techniques. The core of high-definition technology is to reduce the dot size or change the way the dots are arranged.

The main feature of high-fidelity color printing technology is that the printing base color ink is more than the conventional CMYK four colors, and all the base color inks are involved in color separation and neutral gray balance except the black ink. The core of high-fidelity technology is the application of a new color separation algorithm and a neutral gray component control algorithm.

It should be noted that the use of high-chroma (high-density) CMYK four-color ink to expand the printing color gamut is based on the improvement of ink performance, the color separation technology used has not changed, and the actual test proved that the high chroma four-color ink printing color gamut expansion It is very limited, so it should not be classified as high-fidelity printing technology, it should be regarded as an improvement of the four-color printing quality.

In some articles published in professional magazines, some of them refer to high-definition and high-fidelity technologies as high-quality printing technologies. In Hong Kong, high-fidelity color printing (Hi-Fi Color Printing) is referred to as original color printing. Different words, the content referred to is basically the same. However, there are articles that list the techniques for making prints clearer, such as screen change or ink volume control, to high-fidelity printing technology. Please note that the meaning of high fidelity mentioned in these articles is different from the above.

(to be continued)