Details:
Summary:
In the traditional world of printing, the approach used to define the relationship between CMYK and printed color has been to define the ink color, screen ruling, substrate, and printing process to be used, along with its associated process control parameters (such as density of the solids, tone value increase at several points, ink trap, etc.). In the days before we had the ability to create, distribute, and manipulate electronic data, this was the logical approach. However, electronic data distribution and color management allow us new freedoms to simplify, optimize, and achieve the definition of the desired relationship between CMYK data and printed color, and at the same time give more freedom to both the preparers and printers of graphic arts data. Printing characterization data is the term that is currently used to define the relationship between CMYK electronic data and printed color. The concept of reference printing conditions is simply the organization of such characterization data sets into a minimum logical family that covers the full range of printable color gamut. ANSI CGATS TR 001 is one example of a characterization data set that is a logical candidate for such a family of reference printing conditions. Two recent events, that facilitate the use of both printing characterization data and reference printing conditions, are the establishment of the ICC Characterization Data Registry and the introduction of the OutputIntents array in the PDF/X file structure.