EP0563498B1 - Multicolour printing process, especially multicolour raster silk screen printing process - Google Patents

Multicolour printing process, especially multicolour raster silk screen printing process Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0563498B1
EP0563498B1 EP92810232A EP92810232A EP0563498B1 EP 0563498 B1 EP0563498 B1 EP 0563498B1 EP 92810232 A EP92810232 A EP 92810232A EP 92810232 A EP92810232 A EP 92810232A EP 0563498 B1 EP0563498 B1 EP 0563498B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
printing
colour
fields
inks
grid
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP92810232A
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German (de)
French (fr)
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EP0563498A1 (en
Inventor
Hanspeter Hermann
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
BASF Schweiz AG
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Ciba Geigy AG
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Ciba Geigy AG filed Critical Ciba Geigy AG
Priority to DE59206618T priority Critical patent/DE59206618D1/en
Priority to ES92810232T priority patent/ES2089470T3/en
Priority to EP92810232A priority patent/EP0563498B1/en
Priority to US08/036,650 priority patent/US6262808B1/en
Priority to BR9301344A priority patent/BR9301344A/en
Priority to JP09565493A priority patent/JP3289093B2/en
Publication of EP0563498A1 publication Critical patent/EP0563498A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0563498B1 publication Critical patent/EP0563498B1/en
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B44—DECORATIVE ARTS
    • B44D—PAINTING OR ARTISTIC DRAWING, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PRESERVING PAINTINGS; SURFACE TREATMENT TO OBTAIN SPECIAL ARTISTIC SURFACE EFFECTS OR FINISHES
    • B44D3/00—Accessories or implements for use in connection with painting or artistic drawing, not otherwise provided for; Methods or devices for colour determination, selection, or synthesis, e.g. use of colour tables
    • B44D3/003—Methods or devices for colour determination, selection or synthesis, e.g. use of colour tables
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
    • B41M1/00—Inking and printing with a printer's forme
    • B41M1/12—Stencil printing; Silk-screen printing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
    • B41M1/00—Inking and printing with a printer's forme
    • B41M1/14—Multicolour printing
    • B41M1/18—Printing one ink over another
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06P—DYEING OR PRINTING TEXTILES; DYEING LEATHER, FURS OR SOLID MACROMOLECULAR SUBSTANCES IN ANY FORM
    • D06P5/00—Other features in dyeing or printing textiles, or dyeing leather, furs, or solid macromolecular substances in any form

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a multicolor printing method for textile substrates according to the preamble of independent claim 1, in particular to a multicolor screen printing method according to the preamble of independent claim 2 and a multicolor inkjet printing method according to the preamble of independent claim 11.
  • the screen printing process is usually used, in which a separate screen printing stencil is required for each printing ink involved in the printing process.
  • Screen printing stencils can either be fully transparent or, in order to achieve halftones, can also be rasterized analogously to the halftone printing plates in offset printing; in the latter case we are talking about screen printing stencils.
  • the raster percentage value of a raster screen printing stencil is also understood to mean, again in analogy to offset printing, the ratio of the permeable area portion to the total area of an imaginary elementary area of the raster screen printing stencil.
  • the entire motif to be printed is constructed from a limited set of usually four standardized printing colors (mostly cyan, yellow and magenta as well as black). The case of special colors is irrelevant for the following and is therefore not considered.
  • the print template containing the motif to be printed is photoelectrically measured pixel-by-pixel using a lithographic scanning device, and so-called color separations are created from the measurement data obtained (now electronically using digital image processing), which represent the proportions of the four standard printing inks on the motif. These color separations are then used to produce raster films which are used to produce the individual printing plates for the four printing inks involved.
  • the print template or the motif to be printed on it is broken down into individual areas, each of which is assigned a single printing color that comes as close as possible to the actual color tone.
  • a screen printing template is then created for each of the intended printing inks, which is permeable in all areas of the motif belonging to the printing ink concerned.
  • the creation of screen printing stencils today also takes place with photoelectric image scanning devices (lithographic scanners) and is supported by digital image processing with analog devices such as in the production of offset printing plates.
  • the present invention is intended to overcome these difficulties and limitations when printing on textile substrates and to improve a method of the generic type defined in the preamble of the independent claim in such a way that a substantial improvement in the reproduction quality and increased brilliance of the printed color tones can be achieved on conventional screen printing systems and that special effects such as shading, finely graded color gradients, 3D effects etc. can be realized without significant additional effort.
  • Another object of the invention is to achieve these advantages in other printing processes for textile substrates, for example an inkjet halftone printing process.
  • a template 1 contains the motif to be printed, here for example in the form of a sailing boat with the sun.
  • a (raster) screen printing stencil 2 is produced from this printing template 1 for each of the printing inks to be used in printing.
  • These stencils 2 are then fed to a multi-color screen printing system 3, in which the textile substrate 4, for example, is printed with the individual printing inks in accordance with the stencils 2.
  • the substrate which is produced as a result of this process and is printed with the motif of the original 1 is designated by 9. So far, the method according to the invention completely agrees with conventional methods, so that no further explanation is necessary in this regard.
  • FIG. 2 schematically shows the steps typical for the production of the screen printing stencils 2, as they result when using a computer-controlled lithographic raster film exposure system 5 which is customary today.
  • the exposure system 5 typically essentially comprises a photoelectric scanning system 51 and an exposure system 52 as well as a control computer 53 controlling these two systems and establishing the connection to the operator with the usual input and display units 54 and 55 for interactive communication with the operator.
  • a typical well-known raster film exposure system of this type that is used in lithographic companies worldwide, is distributed for example by the company Scitex. The following explanations relate to this known system for reasons of simplicity of understanding. However, it goes without saying that the method according to the invention is in no way limited to the use of this special system and to the use of a raster film exposure system at all.
  • the scanning system 51 reads the motif of the original 1 into the system 5.
  • the artwork or the motif picture element is measured photoelectrically (scanned), usually either in standardized color channels (typically red, green, blue and visual or infrared corresponding to the standard printing colors cyan, magenta, yellow and neutral black) or in a number of more or less narrow spectral ranges.
  • the entirety of the measurement data generated thereby represents the motif in electronically stored form.
  • the computer 53 uses the usual methods of electronic image processing either fully automatically or interactively with the operator (in electronic form) to produce color separations 56, which are the proportions of the individual reproduce the inks used in printing on the overall motif.
  • the color separations 56 can be displayed on the screen 54, with the operator being able to make corrections per pixel via the input unit 55 (keyboard, mouse, graphics tablet, etc.).
  • raster films 58 are now generated in the exposure system 52 for each of the printing inks involved in the printing.
  • the control computer 53 calculates, for each of the printing inks involved, the required halftone percentage value R i of the halftone film for each individual picture element of the motif, and from this the required exposure data for the relevant picture element of the halftone film on the basis of standardized or e.g. Parameter inputs defined printing conditions.
  • the totality of the raster percentage values R i which are decisive for the exposure of the raster films 58, is symbolized in FIG. 2 by raster extracts 57 (of course only available as data).
  • the operator can also interactively influence this step, for example by making corrections or at all can enter the raster percentage values R i for individual or all picture elements.
  • the method according to the invention makes use of precisely this possibility.
  • the screen printing templates 2 for the individual printing inks involved in the printing are now produced from the raster films 58 using known standardized methods. This is absolutely conventional, for example as in Switzerland. Seidengazefabrik AG, CH-9425 Thal published company publication "SST - a handbook for the screen printer", and therefore requires no further explanation.
  • the screen printing stencils can of course also be produced using the classic (e.g. photographic) methods of lithography through the usual manipulations of the films.
  • a set of calibration prints referred to below as a color atlas
  • the color atlas A comprises a number of color tables T which is dependent on the number of printing inks from a limited set of printing inks selected according to criteria to be explained below. These, as shown in FIG. 3, each consist of a square arrangement of a plurality, for example of individual color fields F. Each color field F within a color table T represents the superimposition of a maximum of three printing inks always the same for the same color table with different proportions of the three colors.
  • the proportion of one of the three colors is constant within a color table (0-100% ), the proportions of the other two colors vary gradually between 0 and 100%.
  • a number of color tables corresponding to the number of desired gradations is therefore required to display all combinations of the superimposed prints of three printing inks.
  • two types of screen printing stencils are produced by any method known per se.
  • One type has constant raster percentage values of different gradations over its entire area.
  • the other type contains strip-shaped zones that are more constant, but one below the other differently graded raster percentage values. It is obvious that with these two types of screen printing stencils, all color tables T of the color atlas A can be printed.
  • the gradations of the halftone percentage values of the screen printing stencils are advantageously chosen such that an essentially linearly graded tonal value progression of the individual colors results in the printed color fields F.
  • the selection of the ink triple from the available limited set of printing inks is preferably made according to the e.g.
  • the criteria described in EP-A-0 446 168 are such that the individual subspaces of the printable color space that can be represented with all printing inks, which are covered by the overprinting of the three printing inks of the respective printing ink triplet, do not overlap each other, as illustrated in FIG representative cut through a typical color space, such as that in said EP-A-0 446 168.
  • the entire color space is designated by FR, the sub-spaces which are essentially triangular in section bear the designations TR1-TR5.
  • the points P1-P6 represent the color locus of a single one of a total of six printing inks in the sectional plane shown. More details can be found in the aforementioned EP-A-0 446 168.
  • the color fields F of the color atlas A printed according to the above thus represent the entire color space that can be produced with the selected set of printing inks in discrete gradations.
  • Each color field F represents a defined color location (color impression) within the color space, and for each color field F these are among the on the basis of the printing conditions used to achieve the color impression in question, the raster percentage values R i required in the associated raster screen printing stencils for the respective three printing inks are known.
  • the assignments of in this way determined for the underlying printing conditions and the selected substrate Color impressions (color locations) and screen percentage values of the screen printing stencils are now used in the process according to the invention for the production of the screen printing stencils required for printing the motif.
  • the print template 1 with the motif contained on it is visually compared with the color atlas A pixel by pixel.
  • Image element is understood to mean a more or less large area of the artwork, preferably a punctiform area.
  • the size of the (punctiform) area depends on the resolution of the lithographic scanning film exposure system used.
  • the color impression is determined visually for each image element of the artwork 1 and the color field F closest to this color impression is determined in the color atlas A.
  • the data associated with this color field about the maximum of three printing inks involved and the associated halftone percentage values are then input via the input device 55 into the control computer 53 of the halftone film exposure system 5, the image elements are "formulated".
  • the raster film exposure system 5 If the data for all the picture elements of the printing original are entered in this way, the raster film exposure system 5 generates the raster films 58 for the individual printing inks on the basis of the entered raster percentage values. From this, the screen printing stencils 2 for printing the motif are then produced in the manner already explained.
  • FIG. 5 shows the schematic sequence of an expansion of the method according to the invention.
  • the color impressions of the individual fields F of the color atlas A are recorded using a color measuring device 6 and the color value data determined for each color field in association with the associated data about the printing inks involved and the respective raster percentage values R i for these printing colors in a preferably electronic one Storage 7 filed.
  • the coordinates of a color coordinate system such as the L, a, b or the L, u, v system according to the CIE (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage) are particularly suitable as color value data.
  • the color impressions (color locations) of the individual picture elements of the original 1 are also recorded as color value data by means of a color measuring device 7.
  • the color value data of the individual picture elements of the print template are then (manually or automatically) fed to a comparator 8, which is connected to the memory 7 and reads the corresponding raster percentage values R i from the memory 7 for each picture element of the print template based on the color value data supplied to it.
  • These halftone percentages are then fed back either manually or, preferably, automatically to the halftone film exposure system the corresponding raster films are generated from it.
  • a device to be positioned by hand on the individual picture elements of the printing original 1 or on the individual color fields F of the color atlas A or preferably a scanning device that performs the positioning and measurement automatically can be used as the color measuring device 6.
  • the scanning system 51 contained in the raster film exposure system 5 itself can be used for this purpose.
  • the memory 7 and the comparator 8 can also be implemented by the control computer 53 of the raster film exposure system 5.
  • other implementations of the method according to the invention are also possible.
  • the method according to the invention is in no way limited to the screen printing technique explained above, for example, but can generally be used in other, in particular picture element-oriented printing techniques, in particular, for example, also in connection with so-called inkjet printing systems.
  • ink jet printers have a number of fine nozzles corresponding to the number of printing inks to be used (“printing inks”), from which the printing inks are sprayed onto the substrate in the form of fine droplets.
  • the color impression of a picture element of the substrate results from the absolute and relative proportions of the printing inks sprayed onto the substrate in the area of this picture element, these proportions, which can be defined, for example, as the number of unit droplets (e.g. 0-16 droplets) by corresponding ones electrical control of the nozzles can be determined.
  • the control of the nozzles is computer-aided on the basis of a print data table, which contains, for each picture element of the print template to be printed, the proportions of the individual printing inks required under the given printing conditions for the printing reproduction thereof.
  • This print data table thus corresponds to the total of the screen percentage values of a print template in the example of the screen printing method explained above, since these screen percentage values or the screen screen printing stencils based on them ultimately do nothing other than control the amounts of the printing inks involved and thus a measure of the Show proportions of the printing inks involved. Because of this direct correspondence between halftone percentage values and proportions, the principles of the method according to the invention explained above on the basis of the halftone screen printing method can be transferred very simply to the inkjet method.
  • the print data table or the proportions of the individual printing inks contained therein simply replace both the motif to be reproduced and the color atlas.
  • the actual printing process ie the creation of the The print data table following the steps (the printing of the substrate using an inkjet system based on the print data table mentioned) is just as standardized as the production of the screen printing stencils based on the screen percentage values and the printing in the screen printing system itself.
  • the image areas of the print template do not become too much for reasons of practicality Choose small; in particular, pixels of the same hue will be combined into larger areas.
  • Another option is to select only a few characteristic image areas that are particularly important or critical for the color impression from the entire print template and to take the corrective measures, i.e. the determination of the required halftone percentage values or quantitative proportions of the printing inks involved using the color atlas only to be carried out precisely for these areas.
  • the remaining areas can then be corrected or treated accordingly, for example roughly analogously to the tone value curve in the color atlas. Numerous procedures are possible here, and the person skilled in the art requires no further explanation in this regard.
  • the method according to the invention overcomes the limitations of conventional methods when printing on textile substrates.
  • this makes it possible to print each picture element of the motif with the optimal combination of printing inks, thus enabling special effects and the printing of critical color tones that were previously difficult to achieve and, on the other hand, with a relatively small total number of printing inks a brilliance that has never been achieved before To achieve color impressions.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Textile Engineering (AREA)
  • Printing Methods (AREA)
  • Coloring (AREA)
  • Spectrometry And Color Measurement (AREA)
  • Ink Jet Recording Methods And Recording Media Thereof (AREA)
  • Screen Printers (AREA)

Description

Die Erfindung betrifft ein Mehrfarbendruckverfahren für textile Substrate gemäss dem Oberbegriff des unabhängigen Anspruchs 1, insbesondere ein Mehrfarbenrastersiebdruckverfahren gemäss dem Oberbegriff des unabhängigen Anspruchs 2 und ein Mehrfarben-Inkjet-Druckverfahren nach dem Oberbegriff des unabhängigen Anspruchs 11.The invention relates to a multicolor printing method for textile substrates according to the preamble of independent claim 1, in particular to a multicolor screen printing method according to the preamble of independent claim 2 and a multicolor inkjet printing method according to the preamble of independent claim 11.

Während das mehrfarbige Drucken auf Papier und vergleichbaren Substraten heute im wesentlichen als beherrschbar angesehen werden kann, ist der Fachmann beim mehrfarbigen Bedrucken von textilen Substraten nach wie vor mit grossen Schwierigkeiten konfrontiert, wenn es sich um schwierige Motive bzw. Farbtöne handelt oder wenn hohe Ansprüche an die Brillanz der gedruckten Farben gestellt werden.While multicolored printing on paper and comparable substrates can today be regarded as essentially manageable, the expert in multicolored printing on textile substrates is still faced with great difficulties when it comes to difficult motifs or color tones or when high demands are made the brilliance of the printed colors are provided.

Zum Drucken auf textilen Substraten bedient man sich üblicherweise des Siebdruckverfahrens, bei dem für jede am Druckprozess beteiligte Druckfarbe eine eigene Siebdruckschablone benötigt wird. Siebdruckschablonen können entweder voll durchlässig oder zur Erzielung von Halbtönen analog zu den Rasterdruckplatten im Offsetdruck auch gerastert ausgebildet sein; in letzterem Fall wird hier von Rastersiebdruckschablonen gesprochen. Als Rasterprozentwert einer Rastersiebdruckschablone wird, ebenfalls wieder in Analogie zum Offsetdruck, das Verhältnis des durchlässigen Flächenanteils zur gesamten Fläche einer gedachten Elementarfläche der Rastersiebdruckschablone verstanden.For printing on textile substrates, the screen printing process is usually used, in which a separate screen printing stencil is required for each printing ink involved in the printing process. Screen printing stencils can either be fully transparent or, in order to achieve halftones, can also be rasterized analogously to the halftone printing plates in offset printing; in the latter case we are talking about screen printing stencils. The raster percentage value of a raster screen printing stencil is also understood to mean, again in analogy to offset printing, the ratio of the permeable area portion to the total area of an imaginary elementary area of the raster screen printing stencil.

Beim Drucken auf Papier und vergleichbaren Substraten wird das gesamte zu druckende Motiv aus einem beschränkten Satz von in der Regel vier standardisierten Druckfarben (meist cyan, gelb und magenta sowie schwarz) aufgebaut. Der Fall von Sonderfarben ist für das folgende unerheblich und bleibt daher ausser Betracht. Die das zu druckende Motiv enthaltende Druckvorlage wird mittels eines lithographischen Abtastgeräts bildelementweise fotoelektrisch ausgemessen, und aus den dabei gewonnenen Messdaten werden (heute elektronisch mittels digitaler Bildverarbeitung) sogenannte Farbauszüge erstellt, welche die Anteile der vier Standard-Druckfarben am Motiv repräsentieren. Anhand dieser Farbauszüge werden dann Rasterfilme erzeugt, die zur Herstellung der einzelnen Druckplatten für die beteiligten vier Druckfarben dienen.When printing on paper and comparable substrates, the entire motif to be printed is constructed from a limited set of usually four standardized printing colors (mostly cyan, yellow and magenta as well as black). The case of special colors is irrelevant for the following and is therefore not considered. The print template containing the motif to be printed is photoelectrically measured pixel-by-pixel using a lithographic scanning device, and so-called color separations are created from the measurement data obtained (now electronically using digital image processing), which represent the proportions of the four standard printing inks on the motif. These color separations are then used to produce raster films which are used to produce the individual printing plates for the four printing inks involved.

Dieses im Offsetdruck (und in etwas abgewandelter Form auch im Tief- und Flexodruck) bewährte Vorgehen ist aufgrund des völlig anderen Farbaufbaus auf textilen Substraten bestenfalls nur bedingt einsetzbar und führt in den meisten Fällen zu höchst unbefriedigenden Druckergebnissen. Für das mehrfarbige Bedrucken von textilen Substraten geht man deshalb in der Regel einen anderen Weg.This procedure, which has been tried and tested in offset printing (and in a slightly modified form also in gravure and flexo printing), can only be used to a limited extent due to the completely different color structure on textile substrates and in most cases leads to highly unsatisfactory printing results. For the multicolored printing of textile substrates, there is usually a different approach.

Die Druckvorlage bzw. das darauf enthaltene zu druckende Motiv wird in einzelne Bereiche zerlegt, denen jeweils eine einzelne, dem tatsächlichen Farbton möglichst nahekommende Druckfarbe zugeordnet wird. Für jede der vorgesehenen Druckfarben wird dann eine Siebdruckschablone erstellt, die in allen zur betreffenden Druckfarbe gehörigen Bereichen des Motivs durchlässig ist. Die Erstellung der Siebdruckschablonen erfolgt heute ebenfalls mit fotoelektrischen Bildabtastgeräten (lithographischen Scannern) und unterstützt durch digitale Bildverarbeitung mit analogen Geräten wie bei der Herstellung von Offsetdruckplatten.The print template or the motif to be printed on it is broken down into individual areas, each of which is assigned a single printing color that comes as close as possible to the actual color tone. A screen printing template is then created for each of the intended printing inks, which is permeable in all areas of the motif belonging to the printing ink concerned. The creation of screen printing stencils today also takes place with photoelectric image scanning devices (lithographic scanners) and is supported by digital image processing with analog devices such as in the production of offset printing plates.

Aus Aufwandgründen und aus Gründen der praktischen Machbarkeit kann die Anzahl der bei diesem Verfahren eingesetzten Druckfarben in der Praxis nicht beliebig hoch sein. Einerseits ist die Herstellung von Siebdruckschablonen an sich zeit- und entsprechend kostenaufwendig, anderseits sind übliche Siebdruckanlagen in der Regel nicht für mehr als etwa zehn Druckfarben eingerichtet. In der Praxis ist man hier also Beschränkungen unterworfen, die insbesondere bei höheren Ansprüchen an die Wiedergabequalität oftmals zu unbefriedigenden Druckergebnissen führen. Ausserdem sind mit diesem bekannten Verfahren Spezialeffekte wie zum Beispiel fein abgestufte Farbtonverläufe oder Schatten und 3D-Effekte nicht oder nur sehr schwierig zu realisieren. Auch kritische Farbtöne wie zum Beispiel Hautfarben lassen sich bei diesem Verfahren nicht ohne Abstriche erzeugen.For reasons of expenditure and for reasons of practical feasibility, the number of printing inks used in this method cannot be arbitrarily high in practice. On the one hand, the production of screen printing stencils is time-consuming and correspondingly expensive, on the other hand, conventional screen printing systems are generally not set up for more than about ten printing inks. In practice, one is therefore subject to restrictions, which often lead to unsatisfactory print results, in particular with higher demands on the reproduction quality. In addition, special effects such as, for example, finely graduated color gradients or shadows and 3D effects are not or only very difficult to achieve with this known method. Even critical color tones such as skin tones cannot be produced without compromises with this process.

Durch die vorliegende Erfindung sollen nun diese Schwierigkeiten und Einschränkungen beim Bedrucken von textilen Substraten überwunden und ein Verfahren der im Oberbegriff des unabhängigen Anspruchs definierten gattungsgemässen Art dahingehend verbessert werden werden, dass auf herkömmlichen Siebdruckanlagen eine wesentliche Verbesserung der Wiedergabequalität und eine erhöhte Brillanz der gedruckten Farbtöne erreichbar werden und dass ohne wesentlichen Zusatzaufwand auch Spezialeffekte wie Schattierungen, fein abgestufte Farbtonverläufe, 3D-Effekte etc. realisierbar sind. Eine weitere Aufgabe der Erfindung besteht darin, diese Vorteile auch bei anderen Druckverfahren für textile Substrate, beispielsweise etwa einem Inkjet-Rasterdruckverfahren zu erreichen.The present invention is intended to overcome these difficulties and limitations when printing on textile substrates and to improve a method of the generic type defined in the preamble of the independent claim in such a way that a substantial improvement in the reproduction quality and increased brilliance of the printed color tones can be achieved on conventional screen printing systems and that special effects such as shading, finely graded color gradients, 3D effects etc. can be realized without significant additional effort. Another object of the invention is to achieve these advantages in other printing processes for textile substrates, for example an inkjet halftone printing process.

Das erfindungsgemässe Verfahren, das dieser Aufgabenstellung gerecht wird, ist durch die Merkmale der unabhängigen Ansprüche gekennzeichnet. Vorteilhafte Weiterbildungen und Ausgestaltungen des Verfahrens ergeben sich aus den abhängigen Ansprüchen.The method according to the invention, which does justice to this task, is characterized by the features of the independent claims. Advantageous further developments and refinements of the method result from the dependent claims.

Im folgenden wird das erfindungsgemässe Verfahren insbesondere am Beispiel eines Rastersiebdruckverfahrens in Verbindung mit der Zeichnung näher erläutert. In dieser zeigen:

Fig. 1
schematisch die wichtigsten Stufen eines Siebdruckverfahrens allgemein,
Fig. 2
ein Schema der wichtigsten Stufen der Herstellung von Rastersiebdruckschablonen allgemein,
Fig. 3
eine Farbtafel eines Farbatlas,
Fig. 4
ein Prinzipschema einer Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens,
Fig. 5
eine schematische Darstellung einer abgewandelten Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens und
Fig. 6
schematisch eine Ebene eines Farbraums zur Verdeutlichung der Auswahlkriterien der Druckfarben.
The method according to the invention is explained in more detail below, using the example of a screen printing method in conjunction with the drawing. In this show:
Fig. 1
schematically the most important stages of a screen printing process in general,
Fig. 2
a schematic of the most important stages in the production of screen printing stencils in general,
Fig. 3
a color chart of a color atlas,
Fig. 4
1 shows a basic diagram of an embodiment of the method according to the invention,
Fig. 5
a schematic representation of a modified embodiment of the inventive method and
Fig. 6
schematically a level of a color space to clarify the selection criteria of the printing inks.

Der prinzipielle Ablauf eines (Raster-)Siebdruckverfahrens geht aus Figur 1 hervor. Eine Druckvorlage 1 enthält das zu druckende Motiv, hier zum Beispiel in Form eines Segelboots mit Sonne. Von dieser Druckvorlage 1 wird für jede der beim Drucken zu verwendenden Druckfarben eine (Raster-)Siebdruckschablone 2 hergestellt. Diese Schablonen 2 werden dann einer Mehrfarbensiebdruckanlage 3 zugeführt, in welcher das zum Beispiel textile Substrat 4 nach Massgabe der Schablonen 2 mit den einzelnen Druckfarben bedruckt wird. Das als Ergebnis dieses Vorgangs entstehende, mit dem Motiv der Druckvorlage 1 bedruckte Substrat ist mit 9 bezeichnet. So weit stimmt das erfindungsgemässe Verfahren mit herkömmlichen Verfahren vollkommen überein, so dass sich diesbezüglich eine nähere Erläuterung erübrigt.The basic sequence of a (raster) screen printing process is shown in FIG. 1. A template 1 contains the motif to be printed, here for example in the form of a sailing boat with the sun. A (raster) screen printing stencil 2 is produced from this printing template 1 for each of the printing inks to be used in printing. These stencils 2 are then fed to a multi-color screen printing system 3, in which the textile substrate 4, for example, is printed with the individual printing inks in accordance with the stencils 2. The substrate which is produced as a result of this process and is printed with the motif of the original 1 is designated by 9. So far, the method according to the invention completely agrees with conventional methods, so that no further explanation is necessary in this regard.

In Figur 2 sind die für die Erstellung der Siebdruckschablonen 2 typischen Schritte, wie sie sich bei Verwendung einer heute üblichen computergesteuerten lithographischen Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage 5 ergeben, schematisch dargestellt. Die Belichtungsanlage 5 umfasst typischerweise im wesentlichen ein fotoelektrisches Abtastsystem 51 und ein Belichtungssystem 52 sowie einen diese beiden Systeme steuernden und die Verbindung zur Bedienungsperson herstellenden Steuercomputer 53 mit den üblichen Eingabe- und Anzeigeeinheiten 54 und 55 zur interaktiven Kommunikation mit der Bedienungsperson. Eine typische bekannte Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage dieser Art die weltweit in lithographischen Betrieben eingesetzt wird, wird zum Beispiel von der Firma Scitex vertrieben. Die folgenden Ausführungen beziehen sich aus Gründen der einfacheren Verständlichkeit auf diese bekannte Anlage. Es versteht sich jedoch, dass das erfindungsgemässe Verfahren keineswegs auf die Verwendung dieser speziellen Anlage und auf die Verwendung einer Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage überhaupt beschränkt ist.FIG. 2 schematically shows the steps typical for the production of the screen printing stencils 2, as they result when using a computer-controlled lithographic raster film exposure system 5 which is customary today. The exposure system 5 typically essentially comprises a photoelectric scanning system 51 and an exposure system 52 as well as a control computer 53 controlling these two systems and establishing the connection to the operator with the usual input and display units 54 and 55 for interactive communication with the operator. A typical well-known raster film exposure system of this type that is used in lithographic companies worldwide, is distributed for example by the company Scitex. The following explanations relate to this known system for reasons of simplicity of understanding. However, it goes without saying that the method according to the invention is in no way limited to the use of this special system and to the use of a raster film exposure system at all.

Das Abtastsystem 51 liest das Motiv der Druckvorlage 1 in die Anlage 5 ein. Hierbei wird die Druckvorlage bzw. das Motiv bildelement(pixel)weise fotoelektrisch ausgemessen (gescannt), und zwar üblicherweise entweder in standardisierten Farbkanälen (typischerweise rot, grün, blau und visual bzw. infrarot entsprechend den Standarddruckfarben cyan, magenta, gelb und neutralschwarz) oder in einer Anzahl von mehr oder weniger engen Spektralbereichen. Die Gesamtheit der dabei erzeugten Messdaten stellt das Motiv in elektronisch gespeicherter Form dar. Aus den eingelesenen Daten erzeugt der Computer 53 nach den üblichen Methoden der elektronischen Bildberarbeitung entweder vollautomatisch oder interaktiv mit der Bedienungsperson (in elektronischer Form) Farbauszüge 56, welche die Anteile der einzelnen beim Drucken zum Einsatz gelangenden Druckfarben am Gesamtmotiv wiedergeben. Die Farbauszüge 56 lassen sich auf dem Bildschirm 54 anzeigen, wobei die Bedienungsperson über die Eingabeeinheit 55 (Tastatur, Maus, Graphiktablett, etc.) bildelementweise Korrekturen anbringen kann.The scanning system 51 reads the motif of the original 1 into the system 5. Here, the artwork or the motif picture element (pixel) is measured photoelectrically (scanned), usually either in standardized color channels (typically red, green, blue and visual or infrared corresponding to the standard printing colors cyan, magenta, yellow and neutral black) or in a number of more or less narrow spectral ranges. The entirety of the measurement data generated thereby represents the motif in electronically stored form. From the data read in, the computer 53 uses the usual methods of electronic image processing either fully automatically or interactively with the operator (in electronic form) to produce color separations 56, which are the proportions of the individual reproduce the inks used in printing on the overall motif. The color separations 56 can be displayed on the screen 54, with the operator being able to make corrections per pixel via the input unit 55 (keyboard, mouse, graphics tablet, etc.).

Auf der Grundlage der Farbauszüge 56 werden nun im Belichtungssystem 52 Rasterfilme 58 für jede der am Druck beteiligten Druckfarben erzeugt. Dazu berechnet der Steuercomputer 53 für jede der beteiligten Druckfarben aus den Daten des zugehörigen Farbauszugs 56 den erforderlichen Rasterprozentwert Ri des Rasterfilms für jedes einzelne Bildelement des Motivs und daraus die erforderlichen Belichtungsdaten für das betreffende Bildelement des Rasterfilms auf der Grundlage von standardisierten oder z.B. durch entsprechende Parametereingaben definierten Druckbedingungen. Die Gesamtheit der Rasterprozentwerte Ri, welche für die Belichtung der Rasterfilme 58 massgeblich sind, ist in der Figur 2 durch (selbstverständlich nur als Daten vorliegende) Rasterauszüge 57 symbolisiert Auch bei diesem Schritt kann die Bedienungsperson interaktiv Einfluss nehmen, indem sie beispielsweise Korrekturen oder überhaupt die Rasterprozentwerte Ri für einzelne oder alle Bildelemente eingeben kann. Wie weiter unten noch näher ausgeführt wird, macht das erfindungsgemässe Verfahren von genau dieser Möglichkeit Gebrauch.On the basis of the color separations 56, raster films 58 are now generated in the exposure system 52 for each of the printing inks involved in the printing. For this purpose, the control computer 53 calculates, for each of the printing inks involved, the required halftone percentage value R i of the halftone film for each individual picture element of the motif, and from this the required exposure data for the relevant picture element of the halftone film on the basis of standardized or e.g. Parameter inputs defined printing conditions. The totality of the raster percentage values R i , which are decisive for the exposure of the raster films 58, is symbolized in FIG. 2 by raster extracts 57 (of course only available as data). The operator can also interactively influence this step, for example by making corrections or at all can enter the raster percentage values R i for individual or all picture elements. As will be explained in more detail below, the method according to the invention makes use of precisely this possibility.

In einem letzten Schritt werden nun nach bekannten standardisierten Methoden aus den Rasterfilmen 58 die Rastersiebdruckschablonen 2 für die einzelnen am Druck beteiligten Druckfarben hergestellt. Dies erfolgt absolut konventionell, z.B. so wie in der von der Schweiz. Seidengazefabrik AG, CH-9425 Thal herausgegebenen Firmenschrift "SST - a handbook for the screen printer" dargelegt, und bedarf deshalb keiner näheren Erläuterung.In a last step, the screen printing templates 2 for the individual printing inks involved in the printing are now produced from the raster films 58 using known standardized methods. This is absolutely conventional, for example as in Switzerland. Seidengazefabrik AG, CH-9425 Thal published company publication "SST - a handbook for the screen printer", and therefore requires no further explanation.

Die Herstellung der Siebdruckschablonen kann selbstverständlich auch nach den Klassischen (z.B. fotografischen) Methoden der Lithographie durch die üblichen Manipulationen der Filme erfolgen.The screen printing stencils can of course also be produced using the classic (e.g. photographic) methods of lithography through the usual manipulations of the films.

Wie schon einleitend ausgeführt, führen diese bekannten Methoden der Herstellung der Siebdruckschablonen bei Verwendung von Papier oder vergleichbaren Substraten zu befriedigenden Druckergebnissen. Bei textilen Substraten ist das Ergebnis im allgemeinen nur dann befriedigend, wenn eine Separation des Motivs der Druckvorlage in Teilbereiche derart erfolgt, dass jedem Teilbereich jeweils nur eine einzige Druckfarbe einer zur Verfügung stehenden Anzahl verschiedener Druckfarben zugeordnet wird, so dass diese Teilbereiche später dann auch nur mit jeweils einer einzigen Druckfarbe bedruckt werden, also kein Übereinanderdruck erfolgt. Da die Anzahl der Druckfarben aus Praktikabilitätsgründen nicht beliebig gross sein kann, wird dadurch die Vielfalt der im Druck erreichbaren Farbtöne und Schattierungen erheblich beschränkt. Dieses Problem wird nun durch die im folgenden näher erläuterten erfindungsgemässen Verfahrensmassnahmen behoben.As already mentioned in the introduction, these known methods of producing the screen printing stencils using paper or comparable substrates lead to satisfactory printing results. In the case of textile substrates, the result is generally only satisfactory if the motif of the print template is separated into sub-areas in such a way that each sub-area is assigned only a single printing ink to a number of different printing inks available, so that these sub-areas later only can be printed with a single printing ink each, so there is no overprinting. Since the number of printing inks cannot be arbitrarily large for reasons of practicability, this considerably limits the variety of colors and shades that can be achieved in printing. This problem is now eliminated by the method measures according to the invention which are explained in more detail below.

Als erster grundlegender Schritt des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens wird auf demselben textilen Substrat, auf dem der Druck des Motivs erfolgen soll, ein im folgenden als Farbatlas bezeichneter Satz von Eichdrucken hergestellt, und zwar unter genau denselben Druckbedingungen, wie sie auch später beim Drucken des Motivs vorliegen. Der Farbatlas A (Figur 4) umfasst eine von der Anzahl der Druckfarben aus einem beschränkten Satz von nach noch zu erläuternden Kriterien ausgewählten Druckfarben abhängige Anzahl von Farbtafeln T. Diese bestehen, wie die Figur 3 zeigt, je aus einer zum Beispiel quadratischen Anordnung einer Vielzahl von einzelnen Farbfeldern F. Jedes Farbfeld F innerhalb einer Farbtafel T stellt den Übereinanderdruck von maximal drei für ein und dieselbe Farbtafel stets gleichen Druckfarben mit unterschiedlichen Anteilen der drei Farben dar. Der Anteil einer der drei Farben ist innerhalb einer Farbtafel konstant (0-100%), die Anteile der beiden anderen Farben variieren stufenweise je zwischen 0 und 100%. Für die Darstellung sämtlicher Kombinationen der Übereinanderdrucke dreier Druckfarben ist also eine der Anzahl der gewünschten Abstufungen entsprechende Anzahl von Farbtafeln erforderlich.As the first fundamental step of the method according to the invention, a set of calibration prints, referred to below as a color atlas, is produced on the same textile substrate on which the motif is to be printed, and under exactly the same printing conditions as are present later when the motif is printed. The color atlas A (FIG. 4) comprises a number of color tables T which is dependent on the number of printing inks from a limited set of printing inks selected according to criteria to be explained below. These, as shown in FIG. 3, each consist of a square arrangement of a plurality, for example of individual color fields F. Each color field F within a color table T represents the superimposition of a maximum of three printing inks always the same for the same color table with different proportions of the three colors. The proportion of one of the three colors is constant within a color table (0-100% ), the proportions of the other two colors vary gradually between 0 and 100%. A number of color tables corresponding to the number of desired gradations is therefore required to display all combinations of the superimposed prints of three printing inks.

Für den Druck der Farbfelder F bzw. der Farbtafeln T des Farbatlas A werden nach irgendeiner an sich bekannten Methode zwei Typen von Rastersiebdruckschablonen hergestellt. Der eine Typus weist über seine gesamte Fläche konstante Rasterprozentwerte unterschiedlicher Abstufungen auf. Der andere Typus enthält streifenförmige Zonen jeweils konstanter, aber untereinander unterschiedlich abgestufter Rasterprozentwerte. Es ist offensichtlich, dass mit diesen zwei Typen von Siebdruckschablonen sämtliche Farbtafeln T des Farbatlas A gedruckt werden können. Die Abstufungen der Rasterprozentwerte der Siebdruckschablonen sind mit Vorteil so gewählt, dass sich in den gedruckten Farbfeldern F ein im wesentlichen linear abgestufter Tonwertverlauf der einzelnen Farben ergibt. Da der Tonwertverlauf im Unterschied zu Papier und vergleichbaren Substraten bei textilen Substraten nicht linear ist und von einer Reihe von Einflussfaktoren abhängt, müssen die Abstufungen der Rasterprozentwerte durch Ausprobieren mit unterschiedlichen Werten empirisch ermittelt werden. Beispielsweise hat sich eine Abstufungsreihe der Rasterprozentwerte von 100, 70, 50, 35, 25, 15, 10, 7, 4, 2, 0 (jeweils %) als für viele praktische Fälle geeignet erwiesen. Mit dieser Abstufungsreihe umfasst jede Farbtafel T 11*11=121 verschiedene Farbfelder F. Vorzugsweise beschränkt man den Gesamtfarbauftrag auf z.B. 250%, so dass die jeweils dritte Druckfarbe nur in weniger Tonwertabstufungen vorliegt. Im angenommenen Beispiel sind dies 9 Abstufungen mit den entsprechenden Rasterprozentwerten 50, 35, 25, 15, 10, 7, 4, 2 und 0 (jeweils %). Ist der Rasterprozentwert der Siebdruckschablone für eine oder zwei der jeweils drei Druckfarben 0%, so handelt es sich um den Übereinanderdruck von nur zwei Farben bzw. überhaupt nur um einen Einfarbendruck. Betragen alle drei Rasterprozentwerte 0%, so handelt es sich beim betreffenden Farbfeld um unbedrucktes Substrat.For the printing of the color fields F or the color tables T of the color atlas A, two types of screen printing stencils are produced by any method known per se. One type has constant raster percentage values of different gradations over its entire area. The other type contains strip-shaped zones that are more constant, but one below the other differently graded raster percentage values. It is obvious that with these two types of screen printing stencils, all color tables T of the color atlas A can be printed. The gradations of the halftone percentage values of the screen printing stencils are advantageously chosen such that an essentially linearly graded tonal value progression of the individual colors results in the printed color fields F. Since the tone value curve, unlike paper and comparable substrates, is not linear in the case of textile substrates and depends on a number of influencing factors, the gradations of the screen percentage values must be determined empirically by trying out different values. For example, a gradation series of raster percentage values of 100, 70, 50, 35, 25, 15, 10, 7, 4, 2, 0 (in each case%) has proven to be suitable for many practical cases. With this gradation series, each color table T 11 * 11 = 121 different color fields F. Preferably, the total color application is limited to, for example, 250%, so that the third printing ink is only available in fewer tonal gradations. In the assumed example, these are 9 gradations with the corresponding screen percentage values 50, 35, 25, 15, 10, 7, 4, 2 and 0 (each%). If the screen percentage of the screen printing stencil is 0% for one or two of each of the three printing colors, then it is a matter of overprinting only two colors or only a single color printing at all. If all three halftone percentages are 0%, the color field in question is an unprinted substrate.

Die Auswahl der Druckfarbentripel aus dem zur Verfügung stehenden beschränkten Satz von Druckfarben erfolgt mit Vorzug gemäss den z.B. in der EP-A-0 446 168 beschriebenen Kriterien derart, dass sich die einzelnen durch den Übereinanderdruck der drei Druckfarben des jeweiligen Druckfarbentripels abgedeckten Teilräume des mit allen Druckfarben insgesamt überhaupt darstellbaren druckbaren Farbraums gegenseitig nicht überlappen, wie dies die Figur 6 verdeutlicht, die einen repräsentativen Schnitt durch einen typischen Farbraum, wie er z.B. in der genannten EP-A-0 446 168 beschrieben ist, zeigt. Der gesamte Farbraum ist darin mit FR bezeichnet, die im Schnitt im wesentlichen dreieckförmigen Teilräume tragen die Bezeichnungen TR₁-TR₅. Die Punkte P₁-P₆ stellen in der gezeigten Schnittebene den Farbort jeweils einer einzelnen von hier insgesamt sechs Druckfarben dar. Näheres ist der genannten EP-A-0 446 168 zu entnehmen.The selection of the ink triple from the available limited set of printing inks is preferably made according to the e.g. The criteria described in EP-A-0 446 168 are such that the individual subspaces of the printable color space that can be represented with all printing inks, which are covered by the overprinting of the three printing inks of the respective printing ink triplet, do not overlap each other, as illustrated in FIG representative cut through a typical color space, such as that in said EP-A-0 446 168. The entire color space is designated by FR, the sub-spaces which are essentially triangular in section bear the designations TR₁-TR₅. The points P₁-P₆ represent the color locus of a single one of a total of six printing inks in the sectional plane shown. More details can be found in the aforementioned EP-A-0 446 168.

Die Farbfelder F des gemäss dem Vorstehenden gedruckten Farbatlas A stellen also den gesamten mit dem gewählten Satz von Druckfarben erzeugbaren Farbraum in diskreten Abstufungen dar. Jedes Farbfeld F repräsentiert einen definierten Farbort (Farbeindruck) innerhalb des Farbraums, und zu jedem Farbfeld F sind die unter den zugrundegelegten Druckbedingungen zur Erzielung des betreffenden Farbeindrucks erforderlichen Rasterprozentwerte Ri in den zugehörigen Rastersiebdruckschablonen für die jeweiligen drei Druckfarben bekannt. Die auf diese Weise für die zugrundegelegten Druckbedingungen und das gewählte Substrat ermittelten Zuordnungen von Farbeindrücken (Farborten) und Rasterprozentwerten der Siebdruckschablonen werden nun im Rahmen des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens für die Herstellung der für den Druck des Motivs erforderlichen Rastersiebdruckschablonen eingesetzt.The color fields F of the color atlas A printed according to the above thus represent the entire color space that can be produced with the selected set of printing inks in discrete gradations. Each color field F represents a defined color location (color impression) within the color space, and for each color field F these are among the on the basis of the printing conditions used to achieve the color impression in question, the raster percentage values R i required in the associated raster screen printing stencils for the respective three printing inks are known. The assignments of in this way determined for the underlying printing conditions and the selected substrate Color impressions (color locations) and screen percentage values of the screen printing stencils are now used in the process according to the invention for the production of the screen printing stencils required for printing the motif.

Gemäss dem in Figur 4 schematisch dargestellten einfachsten Ausführungsbeispiel des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens wird die Druckvorlage 1 mit dem auf ihr enthaltenen Motiv bildelementweise visuell mit dem Farbatlas A verglichen. Unter Bildelement wird dabei ein mehr oder weniger grosser Bereich der Druckvorlage, vorzugsweise ein punktförmiger Bereich verstanden. Die Grösse des (punktförmigen) Bereichs richtet sich nach dem Auflösungsvermögen der benutzten lithographischen Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage. Für jedes Bildelement der Druckvorlage 1 wird der Farbeindruck visuell bestimmt und im Farbatlas A das diesem Farbeindruck am nächsten kommende Farbfeld F ermittelt. Die diesem Farbfeld zugeordneten Daten über die maximal drei beteiligten Druckfarben und die zugehörigen Rasterprozentwerte werden dann über die Eingabeeinrichtung 55 in den Steuercomputer 53 der Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage 5 eingegeben, die Bildelemente werden "rezeptiert". Wenn auf diese Weise die Daten für sämtliche Bildelemente der Druckvorlage eingegeben sind, erzeugt die Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage 5 aufgrund der eingegebenen Rasterprozentwerte die Rasterfilme 58 für die einzelnen Druckfarben. Daraus werden dann in der schon erläuterten Weise die Rastersiebdruckschablonen 2 für den Druck des Motivs hergestellt.According to the simplest exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention, which is shown schematically in FIG. 4, the print template 1 with the motif contained on it is visually compared with the color atlas A pixel by pixel. Image element is understood to mean a more or less large area of the artwork, preferably a punctiform area. The size of the (punctiform) area depends on the resolution of the lithographic scanning film exposure system used. The color impression is determined visually for each image element of the artwork 1 and the color field F closest to this color impression is determined in the color atlas A. The data associated with this color field about the maximum of three printing inks involved and the associated halftone percentage values are then input via the input device 55 into the control computer 53 of the halftone film exposure system 5, the image elements are "formulated". If the data for all the picture elements of the printing original are entered in this way, the raster film exposure system 5 generates the raster films 58 for the individual printing inks on the basis of the entered raster percentage values. From this, the screen printing stencils 2 for printing the motif are then produced in the manner already explained.

Die Figur 5 zeigt den schematischen Ablauf einer Erweiterung des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens. Bei dieser Ausführungsform werden die Farbeindrücke der einzelnen Felder F des Farbatlas A mittels eines Farbmessgeräts 6 messtechnisch erfasst und die dabei für jedes Farbfeld ermittelten Farbwertdaten in Zuordnung zu den zugehörigen Daten über die beteiligten Druckfarben und die jeweiligen Rasterprozentwerte Rifür diese Druckfarben in einem vorzugsweise elektronischen Speicher 7 abgelegt. Als Farbwertdaten eignen sich insbesondere die Koordinaten eines Farbkoordinatensystems wie zum Beispiel das L,a,b- oder das L,u,v-System gemäss CIE (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage).FIG. 5 shows the schematic sequence of an expansion of the method according to the invention. In this embodiment, the color impressions of the individual fields F of the color atlas A are recorded using a color measuring device 6 and the color value data determined for each color field in association with the associated data about the printing inks involved and the respective raster percentage values R i for these printing colors in a preferably electronic one Storage 7 filed. The coordinates of a color coordinate system such as the L, a, b or the L, u, v system according to the CIE (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage) are particularly suitable as color value data.

In analoger Weise werden auch die Farbeindrücke (Farborte) der einzelnen Bildelemente der Druckvorlage 1 mittels eines Farbmessgeräts 7 messtechnisch als Farbwertdaten erfasst. Die Farbwertdaten der einzelnen Bildelemente der Druckvorlage werden dann (von Hand oder automatisch) einem Vergleicher 8 zugeführt, der mit dem Speicher 7 verbunden ist und für jedes Bildelement der Druckvorlage aufgrund der ihm zugeführten Farbwertdaten die entsprechenden Rasterprozentwerte Ri aus dem Speicher 7 liest. Diese Rasterprozentwerte werden dann wieder entweder von Hand oder vorzugsweise automatisch der Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage zugeführt, die daraus die entsprechenden Rasterfilme erzeugt.In an analogous manner, the color impressions (color locations) of the individual picture elements of the original 1 are also recorded as color value data by means of a color measuring device 7. The color value data of the individual picture elements of the print template are then (manually or automatically) fed to a comparator 8, which is connected to the memory 7 and reads the corresponding raster percentage values R i from the memory 7 for each picture element of the print template based on the color value data supplied to it. These halftone percentages are then fed back either manually or, preferably, automatically to the halftone film exposure system the corresponding raster films are generated from it.

Als Farbmessgerät 6 kann ein von Hand auf den einzelnen Bildelementen der Druckvorlage 1 bzw. auf den einzelnen Farbfeldern F des Farbatlas A zu positionierendes Gerät oder vorzugsweise ein Abtastgerät eingesetzt werden, das die Positionierung und Messung selbsttätig durchführt. Beispielsweise kann dafür das in der Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage 5 selbst ohnehin enthaltene Abtastsystem 51 eingesetzt werden. Ferner kann auch der Speicher 7 und der Vergleicher 8 durch den Steuercomputer 53 der Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage 5 realisiert sein. Selbstverständlich sind auch andere apparative Implementationen des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens möglich.A device to be positioned by hand on the individual picture elements of the printing original 1 or on the individual color fields F of the color atlas A or preferably a scanning device that performs the positioning and measurement automatically can be used as the color measuring device 6. For example, the scanning system 51 contained in the raster film exposure system 5 itself can be used for this purpose. Furthermore, the memory 7 and the comparator 8 can also be implemented by the control computer 53 of the raster film exposure system 5. Of course, other implementations of the method according to the invention are also possible.

Das erfindungsgemässe Verfahren ist keineswegs auf die vorstehend beispielsweise erläuterte Rastersiebdrucktechnik beschränkt, sondern kann generell bei anderen, insbesondere bildelementorientierten Drucktechniken, insbesondere beispielsweise auch im Zusammenhang mit sog. Inkjet-Druckanlagen eingesetzt werden.The method according to the invention is in no way limited to the screen printing technique explained above, for example, but can generally be used in other, in particular picture element-oriented printing techniques, in particular, for example, also in connection with so-called inkjet printing systems.

Sogenannte Inkjet-Druckanlagen oder -drucker ("Tintenstrahl- Drucker") weisen eine der Anzahl zu verwendender Druckfarben ("Drucktinten") entsprechende Anzahl von feinen Düsen auf, aus denen die Druckfarben in Form von feinen Tröpfchen auf das Substrat gesprüht werden. Der Farbeindruck eines Bildelements des Substrats ergibt sich dabei aus den absoluten und relativen Mengenanteilen der im Bereich dieses Bildelements auf das Substrat aufgesprühten Druckfarben, wobei diese Mengenanteile, die zum Beispiel als Anzahl von Einheitströpfchen (z.B. 0-16 Tröpfchen) definiert sein können, durch entsprechende elektrische Ansteuerung der Düsen festgelegt werden. Die Ansteuerung der Düsen erfolgt rechnergestützt aufgrund einer Druckdatentabelle, welche für jedes zu druckende Bildelement der Druckvorlage die unter den gegebenen Druckbedingungen zur drucktechnischen Reproduktion desselben erforderlichen Mengenanteile der einzelnen Druckfarben enthält. Diese Druckdatentabelle bildet damit die Entsprechung zur Gesamtheit der Rasterprozentwerte einer Druckvorlage beim oben erläuterten Beispiel des Rastersiebdruckverfahrens, da diese Rasterprozentwerte bzw. die auf diesen basierend hergestellten Rastersiebdruckschablonen letzten Endes auch nichts anderes bewirken als die Mengen der beteiligten Druckfarben zu steuern und somit ein Mass für die Mengenanteile der beteiligten Druckfarben darstellen. Wegen dieser unmittelbaren Entsprechung Rasterprozentwerte - Mengenanteile können die vorstehend anhand des Rastersiebdruckverfahrens erläuterten Prinzipien des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens sehr einfach auf das Inkjet-Verfahren übertragen werden. An die Stelle der Rasterprozentwerte treten dabei sowohl beim zu reproduzierenden Motiv als auch beim Farbatlas einfach die Druckdatentabelle bzw. die in ihr enthaltenen Mengenanteile der einzelnen Druckfarben. Der eigentliche Druckvorgang, d.h. die auf die Erstellung der Druckdatentabelle folgenden Schritte (das Bedrucken des Substrats mittels einer Inkjet-Anlage aufgrund der genannten Druckdatentabelle) ist genauso standardisiert wie die Herstellung der Rastersiebdruckschablonen aufgrund der Rasterprozentwerte und das Drucken in der Siebdruckanlage selbst.So-called inkjet printing systems or printers (“ink jet printers”) have a number of fine nozzles corresponding to the number of printing inks to be used (“printing inks”), from which the printing inks are sprayed onto the substrate in the form of fine droplets. The color impression of a picture element of the substrate results from the absolute and relative proportions of the printing inks sprayed onto the substrate in the area of this picture element, these proportions, which can be defined, for example, as the number of unit droplets (e.g. 0-16 droplets) by corresponding ones electrical control of the nozzles can be determined. The control of the nozzles is computer-aided on the basis of a print data table, which contains, for each picture element of the print template to be printed, the proportions of the individual printing inks required under the given printing conditions for the printing reproduction thereof. This print data table thus corresponds to the total of the screen percentage values of a print template in the example of the screen printing method explained above, since these screen percentage values or the screen screen printing stencils based on them ultimately do nothing other than control the amounts of the printing inks involved and thus a measure of the Show proportions of the printing inks involved. Because of this direct correspondence between halftone percentage values and proportions, the principles of the method according to the invention explained above on the basis of the halftone screen printing method can be transferred very simply to the inkjet method. Instead of the raster percentage values, the print data table or the proportions of the individual printing inks contained therein simply replace both the motif to be reproduced and the color atlas. The actual printing process, ie the creation of the The print data table following the steps (the printing of the substrate using an inkjet system based on the print data table mentioned) is just as standardized as the production of the screen printing stencils based on the screen percentage values and the printing in the screen printing system itself.

Bei der weiter oben beschriebenen visuellen Abmusterung der Druckvorlage und der Eingabe der entsprechenden Rasterprozentwerte in den Steuercomputer 53 der Rasterfilmbelichtungsanlage 5 bzw. in die analoge Einrichtung im Fall des Inkjet-Drucks oder eines anderen Druckverfahrens wird man aus Gründen der Praktikabilität die Bildbereiche der Druckvorlage nicht allzu Klein wählen; insbesondere wird man Bildpunkte gleichen Farbtons zu grösseren Bezirken zusammenfassen. Eine weitere Möglichkeit besteht darin, aus der gesamten Druckvorlage nur einige charakteristische, für den Farbeindruck besonders massgebende bzw. kritische Bildbereiche auszuwählen und die Korrekturmassnahmen, d.h. die Bestimmung der erforderlichen Rasterprozentwerte bzw. Mengenanteile der beteiligten Druckfarben anhand des Farbatlas nur für diese Bereiche exakt durchzuführen. Die übrigen Bereiche können dann entsprechend approximativ korrigiert bzw. behandelt werden, beispielsweise etwa analog zum Tonwertverlauf im Farbatlas. Es sind hier zahlreiche Vorgehensweisen möglich, und der Fachmann bedarf diesbezüglich keiner näheren Erläuterung.In the visual sampling of the print template described above and the input of the corresponding screen percentage values into the control computer 53 of the screen film exposure system 5 or into the analog device in the case of inkjet printing or another printing process, the image areas of the print template do not become too much for reasons of practicality Choose small; in particular, pixels of the same hue will be combined into larger areas. Another option is to select only a few characteristic image areas that are particularly important or critical for the color impression from the entire print template and to take the corrective measures, i.e. the determination of the required halftone percentage values or quantitative proportions of the printing inks involved using the color atlas only to be carried out precisely for these areas. The remaining areas can then be corrected or treated accordingly, for example roughly analogously to the tone value curve in the color atlas. Numerous procedures are possible here, and the person skilled in the art requires no further explanation in this regard.

Durch das erfindungsgemässe Verfahren werden die Beschränkungen herkömmlicher Methoden beim Drucken auf textilen Substraten überwunden. Insbesondere ist es dadurch möglich, jedes Bildelement des Motivs mit der optimalen Kombination von Druckfarben zu drucken und damit einerseits bisher nur schwierig zu realisierende Spezialeffekte und das Drucken von kritischen Farbtönen zu ermöglichen und anderseits mit einer relativ geringen Gesamtanzahl von Druckfarben eine bisher nie erreichte Brillanz der Farbeindrücke zu erzielen.The method according to the invention overcomes the limitations of conventional methods when printing on textile substrates. In particular, this makes it possible to print each picture element of the motif with the optimal combination of printing inks, thus enabling special effects and the printing of critical color tones that were previously difficult to achieve and, on the other hand, with a relatively small total number of printing inks a brilliance that has never been achieved before To achieve color impressions.

Claims (17)

  1. A multicolour printing process for textile substrates, in which a printing original is divided into image areas and the amounts, necessary under predetermined defined printing conditions, of the printing inks involved in the printing operation are determined for each image area, and in which also the volumes of the printing inks applied to the substrate in the individual image areas during the actual printing operation are determined with reference to the said amounts, wherein
    - a colour atlas is printed, under printing conditions that are the same as the said defined printing conditions, on a test substrate that is the same as the substrate to be printed,
    - which colour atlas comprises a number of colour charts each of which comprises a number of colour fields each of which represents the printing one on top of another of at least two selected printing inks from a limited set of predetermined printing inks with different graduations of the amounts of the said at least two selected printing inks,
    - the colour impression is determined for each of the said image areas of the printing original,
    - the amounts of the printing inks involved in the printing operation are established for each of those image areas by comparing the colour impression of the latter with the colour fields of the colour atlas,
    - and the printing operation is carried out, under the said defined printing conditions, with the amounts so established.
  2. A multicolour grid screen printing process for textile substrates, in which a set of grid screen printing stencils is produced with reference to a printing original and in which the printing operation is carried out on the basis of those grid screen printing stencils under defined printing conditions, wherein
    - a colour atlas is printed, under printing conditions that are the same as the said defined printing conditions, on a test substrate that is the same as the substrate to be printed,
    - which colour atlas comprises a number of colour charts each of which comprises a number of colour fields each of which represents the printing one on top of another of at least two selected printing inks from a limited set of predetermined printing inks with different grades of the grid percentages of the grid screen printing stencils, forming the basis of the printing operation, for the at least two selected printing inks,
    - the printing original is divided into a large number of, especially punctiform, areas,
    - the colour impression is determined for each of those areas,
    - the necessary grid percentages of the grid screen printing stencils in the area concerned are established for each of those areas by comparing that colour impression with the colour fields of the colour atlas,
    - and the grid screen printing stencils required for the printing operation are produced for each of the printing inks involved in the printing operation with reference to the grid percentages so established and the printing operation is carried out, under the said defined printing conditions, with the grid screen printing stencils so produced on the basis of the grid percentages.
  3. A process according to claim 2, wherein a colour atlas is printed, each of the colour fields of which represents the printing one on top of another of a maximum of three selected printing inks from the said limited set of predetermined printing inks with different grades of the grid percentages of the grid screen printing stencils, forming the basis of the printing operation, for the maximum of three selected printing inks.
  4. A process according to either claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the grid percentages of the grid screen printing stencils forming the basis of the printing operation are so graded during the production of the colour atlas that the resulting colour fields have a substantially uniformly graded tone value variation.
  5. A process according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the colour impressions of the colour fields of the colour atlas are stored in association with the corresponding grid percentages of the grid screen printing stencils forming the basis of the printing of the colour fields, and the comparison of the colour impressions of the areas of the printing original with the colour impresssions of the colour fields of the colour atlas is carried out with reference to the stored colour impressions of the colour fields.
  6. A process according to claim 5, wherein the colour impressions of the colour fields of the colour atlas and the colour impressions of the areas of the printing original are detected using a measuring technique and the comparison is carried out with reference to colour value data detected by a measuring technique.
  7. A process according to claim 6, wherein colour density values or colour co-ordinates, preferably those of the CIE-LAB or CIE-LUV colour co-ordinate system, are used as colour value data.
  8. A process according to claim 7, wherein the production of the grid screen printing stencils is carried out by means of a grid film exposure system known per se into which are entered as input data the grid percentages established for the individual areas of the printing original.
  9. A process according to claim 8, wherein the colour value data of the individual areas of the printing original are determined automatically by photoelectric scanning, and the establishment of the corresponding grid percentages and the entering of the same into the grid film exposure device are carried out automatically.
  10. A process according to any one of claims 2 to 9, wherein the printing inks of the said limited set of printing inks are so selected that separate areas of the entire printable colour space that are defined by the colour fields from the printing one on top of another of in each case the same maximum of three printing inks with different grades of the grid percentages do not overlap one another and, taken together, they substantially fill the entire printable colour space.
  11. A multicolour ink-jet grid printing process for textile substrates, in which a printing original is scanned photoelectrically, preferably picture element by picture element, and a printing data table is established from the measurement data so obtained, which table, for each picture element of the printing original, comprises the amounts of the printing inks involved in the printing operation required for the reproduction of that picture element, by printing techniques, under defined printing conditions, wherein
    - a colour atlas is printed, under printing conditions that are the same as the said defined printing conditions, on a test substrate that is the same as the substrate to be printed,
    - which colour atlas comprises a number of colour charts each of which comprises a number of colour fields each of which represents the printing one on top of another of at least two selected printing inks from a limited set of predetermined printing inks with different graduations of the amounts of the said at least two selected printing inks,
    - the colour impression is determined for each image area of the printing original,
    - the necessary amounts of the printing inks involved in the printing operation in the area concerned are established for each image area of the printing original by comparing that colour impression with the colour fields of the colour atlas,
    - and the printing data table required for the printing operation is produced with reference to the amounts so established for the individual areas, and the printing operation is carried out, under the said defined printing conditions, with the printing data table so produced.
  12. A process according to claim 11, wherein a colour atlas is printed, each of the colour fields of which represents the printing one on top of another of a maximum of three selected printing inks from the said limited set of predetermined printing inks with different graduations of the amounts of the maximum of three selected printing inks.
  13. A process according to either claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the amounts of the printing inks involved in the printing operation are so graded during the production of the colour atlas that the resulting colour fields have a substantially uniformly graded tone value variation.
  14. A process according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the colour impressions of the colour fields of the colour atlas are stored in association with the corresponding amounts of the basic printing inks, and the comparison of the colour impressions of the areas of the printing original with the colour impressions of the colour fields of the colour atlas is carried out with reference to the stored colour impressions of the colour fields.
  15. A process according to claim 14, wherein the colour impressions of the colour fields of the colour atlas and the colour impressions of the areas of the printing original are detected by a measuring technique and the comparison is carried out with reference to colour value data detected by a measuring technique.
  16. A process according to claim 15, wherein colour density values or colour co-ordinates, preferably those of the CIE-LAB or CIE-LUV colour co-ordinate system, are used as colour value data.
  17. A process according to any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein the printing inks of the said limited set of printing inks are so selected that separate areas of the entire printable colour space that are defined by the colour fields from the printing one on top of another of in each case the same maximum of three printing inks with different graduations of the amounts do not overlap one another and, taken together, they substantially fill the entire printable colour space.
EP92810232A 1992-03-30 1992-03-30 Multicolour printing process, especially multicolour raster silk screen printing process Expired - Lifetime EP0563498B1 (en)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE59206618T DE59206618D1 (en) 1992-03-30 1992-03-30 Multi-color printing processes, in particular multi-color screen printing processes for textile substrates
ES92810232T ES2089470T3 (en) 1992-03-30 1992-03-30 PRINTING PROCEDURE OF VARIOUS COLORS, ESPECIALLY A SCREEN POLYCHROME SCREENING PROCEDURE, FOR TEXTILE SUBSTRATES.
EP92810232A EP0563498B1 (en) 1992-03-30 1992-03-30 Multicolour printing process, especially multicolour raster silk screen printing process
US08/036,650 US6262808B1 (en) 1992-03-30 1993-03-24 Multicolor printing process, especially a multicolor grid screen printing process for textile substrates
BR9301344A BR9301344A (en) 1992-03-30 1993-03-29 PRINTING AND POLYCHROMATIC SERIGRAPHY PROCESS AND RETICULAR PRINTING PROCESS
JP09565493A JP3289093B2 (en) 1992-03-30 1993-03-30 Multicolor printing method for textile substrate

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP92810232A EP0563498B1 (en) 1992-03-30 1992-03-30 Multicolour printing process, especially multicolour raster silk screen printing process

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EP0563498A1 EP0563498A1 (en) 1993-10-06
EP0563498B1 true EP0563498B1 (en) 1996-06-19

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EP (1) EP0563498B1 (en)
JP (1) JP3289093B2 (en)
BR (1) BR9301344A (en)
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FR2745408B1 (en) * 1996-02-27 1998-05-07 Magneti Marelli France COLOR FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A POLYCHROME PRINTING PROCESS
ES2153785B1 (en) * 1999-06-04 2001-10-01 Univ Madrid Complutense PROCEDURE OF CHROMATIC REINTEGRATION OF ARTWORKS BASED ON THE USE OF CHROMATIC TABLES OR LETTERS AS A CHROMATIC REFERENCE SYSTEM.
DE10110125A1 (en) * 2001-03-02 2002-09-19 Heidelberger Druckmasch Ag Method for determining a color profile for printing with N printing inks
AU2003219930A1 (en) * 2002-02-28 2003-09-16 Robert W. Zumbo Printing method for using printers to present computerized images on screens and other materials
EP1726444A1 (en) * 2005-05-27 2006-11-29 Colorprint di Macchi L. & C. S.n.c. Double technology silk-screen and digital color print process and carousel
JP2007062314A (en) * 2005-09-02 2007-03-15 Nakanuma Art Screen Kk Printing method
JP4772129B2 (en) * 2006-02-16 2011-09-14 チャンデルモハン マヘシュワリ、サンジェイ Method and apparatus for generating a white underbase and generating appropriately modified separations for printing on non-white colored backgrounds
WO2009040492A1 (en) * 2007-09-26 2009-04-02 Focus Label Machinery Ltd Garment label printing method
CN108049226B (en) * 2017-12-28 2020-02-21 杭州万事利丝绸数码印花有限公司 Method for improving permeability of silk single-side digital ink-jet printing
CN110116564B (en) * 2018-02-05 2021-01-26 蓝思科技（长沙）有限公司 Method for silk-screen printing of monochromatic gradient effect pattern

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US6262808B1 (en) 2001-07-17
EP0563498A1 (en) 1993-10-06
JP3289093B2 (en) 2002-06-04
DE59206618D1 (en) 1996-07-25
BR9301344A (en) 1993-10-05
ES2089470T3 (en) 1996-10-01

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