JP2010052208A - Apparatus and method of printing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure both the metal sensation and saturation of color printing, when observing a printed image which uses a metallic ink and a color ink together. <P>SOLUTION: In printing by concurrently using the metallic ink and the color ink together to a printing medium P, first, a metallic region MA is printed and formed, by ejecting the metallic ink to a printing face of the printing medium P. Thereafter, a forming agent including a forming material of an ink-absorbing layer PIK is ejected to overlap with the metallic region MA, whereby the ink-absorbing layer PIK is formed. Then, the dye-based color ink is ejected to the formed ink-absorbing layer PIK. The ejected color ink forms a color-developing region CA which colors permeating the ink-absorbing layer PIK superimposed on the metallic region MA. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing apparatus for printing on a print medium using special glossy ink having special gloss and color ink.

  In recent years, not only high-quality color printing using color inks but also various printing methods that provide metallic feeling by using metallic inks in combination with color inks have been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-50347 A

  As proposed in this patent publication, when the metallic ink is used in combination with the color ink, the printing area by the metallic ink is set as the lower layer side of the printing area by the color ink on the printing paper. By doing so, a metallic luster due to the metallic pigment containing the metallic ink is brought from the lower layer side of the color ink coloring portion. Therefore, as shown in the above publication, when the printed image is observed from the printed surface side of the printed medium (printed product), the color ink print area overlaps with the metallic ink print area. Therefore, in the overlapping area, the color of the color ink is observed with a metallic feeling.

  In the case of printing by an ink jet method, pigment-based color inks and dye-based color inks can be considered as color inks. However, pigment-based color inks have been used exclusively as color inks used in combination with metallic inks. It was. This is because the dye ink penetrates into the printing medium under the metallic layer and does not remain on the metallic layer, and therefore, the dye ink is blocked by the highly light-shielding metallic layer and hardly develops color. On the other hand, in the case of pigment ink, even if the solvent is absorbed by the print medium, the pigment particles remain on the metallic layer and develop color.

  However, pigmented color inks have low transparency. For this reason, when the printing area of the metallic ink and the printing area of the pigmented color ink overlap in this order, there is a problem that the metallic feeling of the printing area of the lower-layer metallic ink is lowered. These problems are not unique to metallic inks containing metallic pigments that express metallic sensations, such as inks similar to metallic inks, such as inks containing pigments that exhibit lustrous feeling similar to pearl luster, etc. This is also a common problem when various inks that develop a texture other than coloring are used.

  Based on the above-described problems, the present invention secures a texture such as a metallic feeling developed by a specific ink when observing a print image in which a specific ink such as a metallic ink and a color ink are used together, and saturation of color printing. Its purpose is to ensure both.

  In order to achieve at least a part of the above object, the present invention adopts the following configuration.

[Application 1: Printing device]
A printing apparatus that prints on a print medium using color ink and other ink,
Color printing means for discharging the color ink to the printing medium;
A special gloss printing means for discharging the special gloss ink using a special gloss ink having a special gloss as the other ink;
Absorbing layer forming means for forming an ink absorbing layer on the surface of the printing medium, which is transparent and allows color development of the permeated color ink;
The absorbent layer forming means, the special gloss printing means, and the color printing means are controlled to print a special gloss area having a special gloss on the surface of the print medium based on the special gloss ink through ink ejection. And a control means for forming the ink absorption layer on the surface of the print medium including the printed special glossy region and discharging the color ink to the formed ink absorption layer. .

  The special glossy ink exhibiting special gloss referred to in the present application is an ink exhibiting special gloss on the surface of the print medium that has undergone printing, and can be a texture-expressing ink containing a pigment that exhibits a predetermined texture. A metallic ink, which is an example of such a special gloss ink, contains a metallic pigment that develops a metallic feeling after fixing on the surface of a printing medium. In addition to this, a special glossy ink is a pearly luster ink containing a pigment that expresses a pearly luster after fixing on the medium surface, for example, a pigment in which a plurality of thin film layers having a pearl color like natural pearls are stacked, Also included are lamainques and plain inks containing pigments with minute irregularities so as to cause irregular reflection after fixing on the medium surface and express a so-called lame or plain feeling. The metallic ink, which is one of the special glossy inks referred to in the present application, is an ink having a metallic gloss, and the metallic gloss is expressed by a metal pigment contained in the metallic ink. As such a metallic ink, an oil-based ink composition containing a metal pigment, an organic solvent, and a resin can be used. In order to effectively produce a metallic luster, the above-mentioned metal pigment is preferably a tabular grain, and the major axis on the plane of the tabular grain is X, the minor axis is Y, and the thickness is In the case of Z, the 50% average particle diameter R50 of the equivalent circle diameter obtained from the area of the XY plane of the tabular grains is 0.5 to 3 μm, and the condition of R50 / Z> 5 is satisfied. preferable. Such a metal pigment can be formed of, for example, aluminum or an aluminum alloy, or can be formed by crushing a metal vapor-deposited film. The concentration of the metal pigment contained in the metallic ink can be, for example, 0.1 to 10.0% by weight. Of course, the metallic ink is not limited to such a composition, and any other composition can be appropriately employed as long as the metallic gloss is generated.

  In addition, the special glossy ink can be an ink in which the optical characteristics of the ink printed on the surface of the medium have a reflection angle dependency, and the metallic feeling of the metallic ink which is an example of these special glossy inks From a viewpoint, it is as follows. Since the metallic sensation is a sensation of looking at the reflected light, various indexes indicating the metallic sensation have been proposed that have reflection angle dependency in optical characteristics. Therefore, it is possible to define a metallic ink that expresses a metallic feeling with this index. For example, a known metallic feeling index value In1 represented by the following formula (1) may be used. This metallic sensation index value In1 measures the brightness of reflected light at three different locations defined in the formula (1) when the measured object (metallic sensation printed matter) is irradiated from an angle of -45 degrees. It can be determined from the relationship of brightness obtained at three locations. Therefore, the metallic ink can be defined by the metallic index value In1 in the same manner as the metallic pigment for expressing the metallic feeling.

  In addition, the metallic feeling index value In2 represented by the following expression (2) using the lightness at three locations for defining the metallic feeling index value In1, and the metallic feeling index value represented by the following expression (3): In3 or the like may be used as an index of metallic feeling.

  Since any index value expressed by the above formula is determined as a numerical value depending on the reflection angle, the special gloss ink can be defined by these index values.

  In addition, the color ink referred to in the present application is an ink that penetrates into the ink absorption layer of the print medium and develops color in the ink absorption layer. A dye-based color ink which is an example of such a color ink is an ink containing a dye as an organic dye, and develops a color defined by the organic dye contained therein. The dye may be either a natural dye or a synthetic dye. Examples of the color used for color printing and a dye ink of that color are as follows.

  For example, in addition to the usual four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, light cyan and light magenta will be described as an example. For cyan ink, direct blue 99, which is an example of a dye that emits cyan, For example, the ink is dissolved in a solvent prepared by mixing diethylene glycol and water. The light cyan ink is an ink in which the content of the above dye that emits cyan is refrained and this dye is dissolved in the above solvent. The magenta ink is an ink in which Acid Red 289, which is an example of a dye that emits magenta, is dissolved in the above solvent. The light magenta ink is an ink in which the content of the dye that emits a magenta color is reduced and the dye is dissolved in the solvent. The yellow ink is an ink in which direct yellow 86, which is an example of a dye that emits a yellow color, is dissolved in the above solvent. The black ink is an ink in which hood black 2, which is an example of a dye that emits black, is dissolved in the above solvent. In such dye-based color inks, the viscosity is adjusted after the content of the dye and the content of diethylene glycol and water for viscosity adjustment are adjusted. Even in the case of pigmented color ink, if the particle diameter of the pigment to be contained is small enough to allow entry into the voids of the ink absorbing layer, it penetrates into the ink absorbing layer of the print medium and An ink that develops color in the ink absorbing layer can be obtained.

  Furthermore, the ink absorbing layer referred to in the present application is a layer in which the color ink of each color described above penetrates to cause color development with the color of the ink. For example, the ink absorbing layer is formed on the surface of the printing medium using a solvent containing a material for forming an absorbing layer such as polyvinyl alcohol that allows easy penetration of dye-based color ink and dye fixing. The thickness of the ink absorbing layer need not be specified as long as it can absorb the amount of ink necessary for sufficient color development. If the absorbing layer thickness is in the range of up to about 50 μm, the thickness of the dye-based color ink can be reduced. There is no particular obstacle to penetration and dye fixing and color development. The above-described ink absorption layer functions as a so-called swelling type ink absorption layer because polyvinyl alcohol as a forming material functions as a binder and absorbs ink. In addition to such a swelling type ink absorption layer, so-called voids are formed. It can also be an ink absorbing layer called a mold. This void-type ink absorbing layer has an ink receiving layer composed of inorganic fine particles such as silica and alumina, and ink is applied to the innumerable fine voids (average diameter around 20 nm) present in the ink receiving layer by capillary action. Absorb.

  In the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration using these inks, when printing on the print medium, the special gloss region that expresses the special gloss based on the special gloss ink through the discharge of the special gloss ink is printed on the surface of the print medium, An ink absorption layer is formed on the surface of the print medium including the printed special gloss region. Then, color ink is discharged onto the formed ink absorption layer. Since the discharged color ink has high penetrability as long as it is dyeable, it quickly penetrates into the ink absorption layer to be discharged and causes the dye to be fixed. It becomes a color development area that is colored by the color of the ink. In other words, the color absorbing area is overlaid with the ink absorbing layer of the coloring area that has been infiltrated with the color ink and the coloring area that is colored with the infiltrating color ink on the surface of the printing medium. Colored with color ink with good saturation. In this case, as the special gloss ink, in addition to the metallic ink described above, there are also inks such as a pearl gloss ink, a lama ink, and a plain ink, etc. In the following description, it is assumed that the special glossy ink is a metallic ink.

  Both the ink absorption layer that overlaps the metallic region where the metallic feeling (predetermined texture) due to the metallic pigment of the metallic ink in the resulting printed product and the color ink that penetrates the absorption layer and develops color are both translucent. Therefore, when the printed result is observed from the printed surface side, the metallic feeling (predetermined texture) of the metallic region located on the lower layer side is hardly impaired. As a result, according to the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration, it is possible to ensure both the metallic feel (predetermined texture) of the printed image using both the metallic ink (special gloss ink) and the color ink and the saturation of the color printing. be able to. In other words, it is possible to easily provide a printed result in which the color ink is observed with a metallic feeling (predetermined texture).

  The printing apparatus described above can be configured as follows. For example, the ink absorption layer can be formed by applying an absorption layer forming agent containing a material for forming the ink absorption layer, or can be printed by discharging the absorption layer forming agent. When the ink absorbing layer is printed by discharging the absorbing layer forming agent, a special glossy ink (metallic ink) discharge head as the special glossy (metallic) printing unit and a color ink as the color printing unit are formed on the printhead. An ejection head and an absorbent layer forming agent ejection head for ejecting the absorbent layer forming agent are provided, and the print head and the print medium are moved relative to each other while moving the metallic ink ejection head to the surface of the print medium. Printing of a metallic region (special gloss region) after discharging the metallic ink (special gloss ink), and the absorbent layer forming agent discharge head to the surface of the printing medium including the printed metallic region (special gloss region) Print formation of the ink absorption layer through ejection of the absorption layer forming agent from the ink absorption layer, and the formed ink absorption layer Of the color ink ejection of the color ink from the ejection head sequentially may be carried out and printing of the color area has undergone. In this way, the above-described effects can be achieved by the ink jet printing method, and a printed result in which the color of the color ink is observed with a metallic feeling (special gloss or predetermined texture) can be easily provided. it can.

  In this case, when the print head and the print medium are relatively moved, the medium movement along the sub-scanning direction of the print medium and the head movement along the main scanning direction of the print head are performed. it can. In this way, the above-described effects can be achieved even with a serial type ink jet, and a printed result in which the color of the color ink is observed with a metallic feeling can be easily provided.

  In addition, when the ink absorbing layer is printed after the absorbing layer forming agent is discharged from the absorbing layer material discharging head, the discharging range of the absorbing layer forming agent can be made to overlap the metallic region (special gloss region). In this way, the ink absorption layer is printed and formed only in a range that exhibits a metallic feeling (special gloss or predetermined texture), so that it is possible to save the absorbent layer forming agent and shorten the time required for printing.

  In this case, the ejection range of the absorbent layer forming agent can be set so that the metallic area (special gloss area) and the color development area overlap, so that the color ink has a metallic feeling (special gloss or predetermined texture). Since the ink absorbing layer is printed and formed only in the range where the color development occurs, it is possible to further save the absorbing layer forming agent and shorten the time required for printing.

  Further, when discharging the absorbing layer forming agent from the absorbing layer forming agent discharge head, the discharge amount of the absorbing layer forming agent is set to the discharge amount of the color ink discharged from the color ink discharging head when the color forming region is printed. The ink absorbing layer can be printed and formed by ejecting the absorbent layer forming agent with a smaller ejection amount as the ejection amount of the color ink is smaller. Even in this case, the absorption layer forming agent can be saved.

[Application 2: Printing method]
A printing method for printing on a print medium using color ink and other ink,
Using the special gloss ink having a special gloss as the other ink, discharging the special gloss ink onto the surface of the printing medium, and printing a special gloss area having a special gloss based on the special gloss ink,
Forming an ink-absorbing layer on the surface of the print medium including the printed special gloss region, which is transparent and allows color development of the permeated color ink;
The gist is that the color ink is ejected onto the ink absorbing layer that has been formed to print a color development region by the color ink.

  The above-described effects can also be achieved by the printing method having the above configuration.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order based on examples.
A. Summary of embodiment:
B. Device configuration:
C. Example:
D. Other examples

A. Summary of embodiment:
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system 10 as an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a printing system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a computer 100 as a printing control apparatus, a printer 200 that actually prints an image under the control of the computer 100, and the like. The printing system 10 functions as a printing device in a broad sense as a whole.

  The printer 200 according to the present embodiment includes cyan ink, magenta ink, yellow ink, and black ink as color inks, and further includes metallic ink that exhibits metallic luster due to the contained metal pigment, and transparent ink. An ink-absorbing layer forming agent containing an ink-absorbing layer-forming material that allows coloring of a dye containing a color ink that penetrates and penetrates light is provided. In this embodiment, the term “color ink” includes black ink.

  As the metallic ink, an oil-based ink composition containing a metal pigment, an organic solvent, and a resin was used in this example. About the metal pigment to contain, what was prescribed | regulated as follows is contained. For example, when a tabular grain metal pigment is used and the major axis on the plane of the tabular grain is X, the minor axis is Y, and the thickness is Z, the tabular grain is obtained from the area of the XY plane of the tabular grain. A 50% average particle diameter R50 of the equivalent circle diameter was 0.5 to 3 μm and a condition satisfying the condition of R50 / Z> 5 was employed. In this case, it is possible to use a metal pigment formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, or a metal pigment formed by crushing a metal vapor deposition film. In this example, a metal pigment formed from aluminum was employed. The concentration of the metal pigment contained in the metallic ink can also be set to 0.1 to 10.0% by weight, for example, and in this example, 1.5% by weight was used.

  The color ink is a dye-based color ink containing a dye as an organic pigment that develops colors with the above-described colors. In this embodiment, four color inks of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black were used. The cyan ink contains 3.6 weight percent of direct blue 99, a cyan dye, which contains 30 weight percent viscosity adjusting diethylene glycol, 1 weight percent Surfynol 465, 65.4. This ink is dissolved in a solvent mixed with weight percent water. The magenta ink contains 2.8 weight percent Acid Red 289, a magenta dye, which contains 20 weight percent diethylene glycol for viscosity adjustment, 1 weight percent Surfynol 465, 76.2. This ink is dissolved in a solvent mixed with weight percent water.

  The yellow ink contains 1.8 percent by weight of direct yellow 86, a dye that produces a yellow color, and includes 30 percent by weight of diethylene glycol for viscosity adjustment, 1 percent by weight of Surfinol 465, 67.2. This ink is dissolved in a solvent mixed with weight percent water. The black ink contains 4.8 weight percent Food Black 2, which is a black emitting dye, containing 35 weight percent diethylene glycol for viscosity adjustment, 1 weight percent Surfynol 465, 69.2 weight percent. Ink dissolved in a solvent mixed with percent water. In any of the inks, for example, the viscosity is adjusted to about 3 [mPa · s] so as not to hinder the ejection from the ejection head.

  If so-called light-colored ink is used in addition to the above-described color ink, direct blue 99, which is a dye that emits cyan, is used as a light cyan ink at 0.9 weight percent, which is 1/4 of cyan ink. In addition, the dye may be an ink in which 35% by weight of diethylene glycol for viscosity adjustment, 1% by weight of Surfynol 465, and 63.1% by weight of water are dissolved. As light magenta ink, acid red, which is a magenta dye, is reduced to 0.7 weight percent, which is 1/4 of magenta ink, and this dye is mixed with 25 weight percent diethylene glycol for viscosity adjustment. An ink in which 1% by weight of Surfinol 465 and 73.3% by weight of water are dissolved in a mixed solvent may be used.

  The ink absorbing layer forming agent (hereinafter referred to as the forming agent) forms an ink absorbing layer in which the above-described dye-based color ink penetrates to cause fixing of the dye of the ink and causes color development depending on the dye. The forming material contains polyvinyl alcohol which can easily penetrate and fix the dye-based color ink.

  A predetermined operating system is installed in the computer 100, and the application program 20 operates under this operating system. A video driver 22 and a printer driver 24 are incorporated in the operating system. The application program 20 inputs image data ORG from the digital camera 120 through the peripheral device interface 108, for example. Then, the application program 20 displays an image represented by the image data ORG on the display 114 via the video driver 22. The application program 20 outputs the image data ORG to the printer 200 via the printer driver 24. Image data ORG input from the digital camera 120 by the application program 20 is data composed of three color components of red (R), green (G), and blue (B).

  The application program 20 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an area composed of R, G, and B color components (hereinafter referred to as “color coloring area”) and an area printed with metallic ink for an arbitrary area in the image data ORG. (Hereinafter referred to as “metallic area”). A part of the metallic area and the color development area are overlapped, and in the overlapped area, a color image is formed on the metallic luster exhibited by the metallic pigment of the metallic ink as a background color. That is, this weight area becomes a metallic color area. Further, it may be a metallic region (metallic single region) where only metallic ink is used. When the metallic area is designated in this way, in addition to designating the area in advance, for example, the application program 20 is programmed so that the printing area of a specific graphic shape is set as the metallic area, or the printing area in a specific color is set. It can also be programmed by the application program 20 so as to be a metallic area.

  Inside the printer driver 24, a color conversion module 42, a halftone module 44, and a print control module 46 are provided.

  In accordance with a color conversion table LUT prepared in advance, the color conversion module 42 is a color component (cyan (C), magenta) that can be expressed by the printer 200 for the color components R, G, and B of the color development region in the image data ORG. (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) colors).

  The halftone module 44 performs a halftone process in which the gradation of the image data color-converted by the color conversion module 42 is represented by dot distribution. In this embodiment, a known systematic dither method is used as the halftone process. As the halftone process, an error diffusion method, a density pattern method, and other halftone techniques can be used in addition to the systematic dither method.

  The print control module 46 rearranges the halftone processed image data in the order to be transferred to the printer 200 and outputs the data to the printer 200 as print data. The print control module 46 controls the printer 200 by outputting various commands such as a print start command and a print end command to the printer 200.

  In this embodiment, the print control module 46 includes a metallic dot forming module 47, a color printing module 48, and a forming agent dot forming module 49. The metallic dot forming module 47 forms metallic dots of a predetermined size in the metallic area designated by the application program 20. In the present embodiment, by changing the dot size of the metallic dots, for example, the metal pigment distribution amount per unit area in the metallic region can be defined. For example, the metallic pigment distribution amount may be increased to increase the metallic feeling, and the metallic pigment distribution amount may be decreased to refrain from the metallic feeling. The color printing module 48 forms dots with the color inks of the above-described colors on the halftone-processed image, that is, the image in the color development region. The forming agent dot forming module 49 ejects an ink absorbing layer forming agent, which will be described later, into an area including a metallic area designated by the application program 20 (hereinafter referred to as an ink absorbing layer forming area), and then into the ink absorbing layer forming area. An ink absorbing layer is formed by printing. In this case, in this embodiment, the print thickness of the area in the ink absorption layer forming area can be defined by changing the dot size when discharging the absorbent. For example, in order to increase the thickness of the ink absorption layer forming region, the forming agent discharge amount may be increased, and to reduce the thickness, the forming agent discharge amount may be decreased. The ink absorbing layer forming region may be a region including a metallic region, and may be the same region as the metallic region.

B. Device configuration:
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a computer 100 as a print control apparatus. The computer 100 is a well-known computer configured by connecting a ROM 104, a RAM 106, and the like with a bus 116 around a CPU 102.

  The computer 100 includes a disk controller 109 for reading data such as the flexible disk 124 and the compact disk 126, a peripheral device interface 108 for exchanging data with peripheral devices, and a video interface 112 for driving the display 114. It is connected. A printer 200 and a hard disk 118 are connected to the peripheral device interface 108. Further, if the digital camera 120 or the color scanner 122 is connected to the peripheral device interface 108, it is possible to perform image processing on an image captured by the digital camera 120 or the color scanner 122. If the network interface card 110 is installed, the computer 100 can be connected to the communication line 300 to obtain data stored in the storage device 310 connected to the communication line. When the computer 100 obtains image data to be printed, the printer driver 24 controls the printer 200 to print the image data.

  Next, the configuration of the printer 200 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the printer 200. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer 200 is mounted on the carriage 240, a mechanism for transporting the print medium P by the paper feed motor 235, a mechanism for reciprocating the carriage 240 in the axial direction of the platen 236 by the carriage motor 230. And a control circuit 260 that controls the exchange of signals with the paper feed motor 235, the carriage motor 230, the print head 241, and the operation panel 256. Has been.

  The mechanism for reciprocating the carriage 240 in the axial direction of the platen 236 is an endless drive belt between the carriage motor 230 and a slide shaft 233 that is installed in parallel with the platen 236 axis and slidably holds the carriage 240. A pulley 232 that stretches 231, a position detection sensor 234 that detects the origin position of the carriage 240, and the like.

  On the carriage 240, a color ink cartridge 243 that contains cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), and black ink (K) as color inks is mounted. The carriage 240 is mounted with a metallic ink cartridge 242M containing metallic ink (S1) and a forming agent cartridge 242I containing an ink absorbing layer forming agent (S2). A total of six types of ink ejection heads 244 to 249 corresponding to these colors are formed on the print head 241 below the carriage 240. When these ink cartridges 242M, 242I, and 243 are mounted on the carriage 240 from above, ink (including a forming agent) can be supplied from each cartridge to the respective ink ejection heads.

  Here, the print head 241 will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the nozzle arrangement of the ink ejection head that constitutes the print head 241. As shown in the drawing, in this embodiment, the ink ejection heads 244 to 247 for the respective colors of metallic ink (S), cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), and black ink (K) And an ink ejection head 248 for the metallic ink (S1) and an ink ejection head 249 for the ink absorbing layer forming agent (S2). Each ink discharge head includes 14 nozzles arranged on the lower surface of the print head 241 in the sub-scanning direction. Each nozzle is arranged at an interval of 2 dots in the sub-scanning direction. In the drawing, since the lower part indicates the sub-scanning direction, the printing medium P passes through the nozzle shown at the lowermost part during printing. In the drawing, the black-filled nozzle indicates that the metallic ink is discharged from the ink discharge head 248, and the nozzle with a cross hatch is the nozzle from which the forming agent is discharged in the ink discharge head 249. In other words, the hatched nozzles indicate that the corresponding color ink is ejected from the ink ejection heads 244 to 247. The other nozzles indicate nozzles that are not used.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, for the ink ejection head 248 of metallic ink, among the 14 nozzles, three nozzles that pass through the print medium P first are used during actual printing, The remaining 11 are not used. As for the ink ejection head 249, among the 14 nozzles, the third to seventh nozzles from the side that first passes through the print medium P are used during actual printing, and the remaining 11 nozzles are not used. And For the ink ejection heads 244 to 247 forming the color ink (C, M, Y, K) nozzle row, eight of the 14 nozzles that pass through the print medium P first are not used. And use the remaining six. Accordingly, in each nozzle row, none of the fourth and eighth nozzles counted from the nozzle that first passes through the print medium are used. Hereinafter, as necessary, nozzles that eject metallic ink are referred to as metallic nozzle groups, nozzles that eject forming agents are referred to as forming agent nozzle groups, and nozzles from which color ink is ejected are referred to as color nozzle groups.

  Piezo elements are incorporated in each nozzle shown in FIG. As is well known, a piezo element is an element that transforms electro-mechanical energy at an extremely high speed because its crystal structure is distorted by application of a voltage. In the present embodiment, by applying a predetermined voltage signal (drive signal) to the piezo element, one side wall of the ink passage in the nozzle is deformed, thereby ejecting an ink droplet from the nozzle. In this embodiment, ink is ejected using a piezo element as described above. However, a method of ejecting ink by generating bubbles in the nozzle may be employed.

  The control circuit 260 of the printer 200 shown in FIG. 3 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a PIF (peripheral device interface), and the like connected to each other via a bus. The operation of the carriage motor 230 and the paper feed motor 235 is performed. By controlling, the main scanning operation and the sub scanning operation of the carriage 240 are controlled. When print data output from the computer 100 is received via the PIF, a drive signal corresponding to the print data is supplied to the ink ejection heads 244 to 249 in accordance with the movement of the carriage 240 in the main scanning or sub scanning. Thus, these heads can be driven.

  The printer 200 having the above-described hardware configuration drives the carriage motor 230 to reciprocate the ink discharge heads 244 to 249 of the respective colors in the main scanning direction with respect to the print medium P, and to perform a paper feed motor. By driving 235, the print medium P is moved in the sub-scanning direction. The control circuit 260 performs printing by driving the nozzles at an appropriate timing based on the print data in accordance with the movement of the carriage 240 reciprocally (main scanning) or the movement of paper feeding of the printing medium (sub scanning). Ink dots of appropriate colors are formed at appropriate positions on the medium P. By doing so, the printer 200 can print a color image on the print medium P and form an ink absorption layer formation region and a color print image region (metallic color region) superimposed on the metallic region as described later.

  The printer 200 of the present embodiment is described as a so-called inkjet printer that forms ink dots by ejecting ink droplets toward the print medium P. However, the printer that forms dots using any method It does not matter. For example, the present invention can be suitably applied to printers and line printers that form dots by adhering toner powder of each color onto a print medium using static electricity instead of ejecting ink droplets. Is possible. The application to the line printer will be described later.

C. Example:
(C1) First embodiment:
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the printing process in the first embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a state of combined printing of metallic ink and color ink in this printing process. In the first embodiment, the computer 100 determines a metallic area using metallic ink, and performs a process for printing with color ink by restricting the use of the metallic ink for areas other than the metallic area.

  When the printing process is started, the computer 100 first inputs RGB format image data (step S100). When the image data is input, the computer 100 determines a metallic area defined by the application program 20 (step S102). This determination process will be described with reference to FIG. 6. The computer 100 determines, for example, a heart-shaped graphic area as shown in FIG. 6 as a metallic area according to a program defined by the application program 20. In addition, the application program 20 can also determine an area printed in a predetermined color as a metallic area including its shape. For example, in the case of a print image including the sun and stars, the sun and stars in the image can be distinguished through image analysis such as shape and color, and the distinction region can be determined as a metallic region.

  If the metallic area is determined, the computer 100 then uses the color conversion module 42 to convert the RGB format image data input in step S100 into CMYK format image data (step S104). When the CMYK format image data is obtained, the computer 100 performs halftone processing using the halftone module 44 and generates data that can be transferred to the printer 200 (step S106).

  When the halftone process ends, the computer 100 uses the print control module 46 to control the printer 200 and starts printing (step S108).

  When the computer 100 starts printing, the metallic area determined in step S102 is compared with the current dot position assigned by dot formation so as to become the printing target, so that the current printing target dot becomes the metallic area. It is determined whether the region is a non-metallic region (that is, a color single region using only color ink) (step S110). If it is determined that the current printing target dot is a non-metallic area, the computer 100 prohibits the use of metallic ink for the current printing target dot (step S112), and the dot is formed using only the color ink. Is formed and printing is performed (step S114).

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the current print target dot is a metallic region, the computer 100 determines to use the metallic ink (S1) and the forming agent (S2) for the current print target dot (step S116). Then, dots are formed using the metallic ink, the forming agent, and the color ink (step S118). Specifically, a metallic ink dot is formed on the current printing target dot, and the metallic ink is ejected first to form a metallic area, and then a dot formed by the forming agent is formed on the metallic area. Then, a forming agent is discharged to form an ink absorption layer forming region, and then, color ink is discharged to print a color coloring region with the color ink. As a result, a metallic color region in which the color coloring region overlaps the metallic region is formed.

  When the formation of the current printing target dot and ink ejection are completed in step S114 or step S118, the computer 100 determines whether printing of the entire image data has been completed (step S120). If printing of the entire image data has not been completed, the computer 100 returns the process to step S110, and continues to form dots for other pixels. On the other hand, when printing of the entire image data is finished, the printing process is finished.

  The state of printing in the above-described step S118 when the dot formation and printing by the discharge are repeated for the entire image data in this way will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, in the present embodiment, the heart-shaped metallic area MA is determined in the process of step S102. Therefore, in step S118, the metallic dot forming module 47 of the print control module 46 first discharges the metallic ink from the ink discharge head 248 of the print head 241 and then forms the heart-shaped metallic area MA with the ink on the printing medium P. Print on the printing surface. In this case, as described with reference to FIG. 4, the metallic nozzle group is a nozzle that first passes through the print medium P. Therefore, the printing of the heart-shaped metallic area MA with the metallic ink is physically performed first. Done.

  Since the metallic ink is an oil-based ink composition containing a metal pigment as described above, the metallic region MA is printed on the printing surface of the printing medium P. The contained metal pigments MG are dispersed and arranged in the heart-shaped metallic region MA, and a metallic feeling is expressed in the metallic region MA by each metal pigment MG. In this case, the state of dispersion of the metal pigment MG is determined by the discharge amount of the metallic ink. The state of dispersion of the metal pigment MG will be described in detail with reference to the side view of FIG.

  When the heart-shaped metallic area MA is observed with the naked eye, the entire area of the metallic area MA is covered with the metal pigment MG. However, since the metallic pigment MG contained in the metallic ink is fine as described above, when a partial area of the metallic area MA is enlarged, the metallic ink is shown as schematically enlarged in the drawing. The state of dispersion of the metal pigment MG can be changed by the discharge amount. That is, as shown in the enlarged view in the figure, by controlling the metallic ink discharge amount, the metallic pigment MG is dispersed so as to cover the entire area of the metallic area MA with the metallic pigment MG, or all of the metallic area MA is It can be made not to be coated with the metal pigment MG.

  When the printing of the metallic area MA with the metallic ink is finished in this way, specifically, when the printing of the metallic area MA in a partial area in the main scanning / sub-scanning direction is finished, the forming agent dot forming module 49 of the printing control module 46 As shown in FIG. 6B, a forming agent printing layer is formed on the metallic region MA with the forming agent after discharging the forming agent from the ink discharge head 249 of the print head 241. This forming agent printing layer becomes the ink absorption layer PIK by the forming material contained in the forming agent. In this case, as described with reference to FIG. 4, the forming agent nozzle group is a nozzle that passes through the printing medium P next to the metallic nozzle group, and therefore, the printing of the heart-shaped ink absorption layer PIK with the forming agent is performed as follows. Physically, it is performed following the printing formation of the metallic area MA.

  The ink absorption layer PIK formed in this manner over the metallic area MA is an ink absorption layer made of polyvinyl alcohol or the like that allows easy penetration of dye-based color ink and dye fixation as described above. It is formed with a thickness up to about 50 μm. Therefore, the ink absorption layer PIK permeates the dye-based color inks to be ejected later to fix the ink dye, and causes color development depending on the dye. In this case, if color inks are mixed, the color is generated with the mixed color. In this case, the thickness of the ink absorption layer PIK determined by the forming agent discharge amount is not particularly required as long as it can absorb the amount of ink necessary for sufficient color development, and should be a thickness of about several μm to 100 μm. You can also.

  When the printing of the metallic area MA and the ink absorption layer PIK that overlaps the metallic area MA is completed in this way, the color printing module 48 of the print control module 46 causes each color of each of the ink ejection heads 244 to 247 forming the nozzle row of the print head 241 to be After discharging the color ink, a heart-shaped color coloring area CA is printed with the ink. In this case, the color development area CA is printed and overlapped with the printed metallic area MA. However, since it is a dye-based ink as described above, the color ink having high permeability to the ink absorption layer PIK is: It penetrates into the ink absorption layer PIK that has already been printed. Therefore, as shown in the side view of FIG. 6C, the dye-based color ink penetrates into the ink absorption layer PIK overlying the metallic area MA to fix the dye, and the ink absorption layer PIK The color coloring area CA is formed in a heart shape similar to the metallic area MA and with high saturation on the upper side of the metallic area MA, as shown by an arrow on the upper surface in FIG. In this case, by changing the discharge timing of the color ink, the color development area CA can have a shape different from that of the metallic area MA, or a partial area of the metallic area MA or an area including the metallic area MA. The ink absorbing layer PIK by forming agent discharge also has a shape different from the metallic region MA or the metallic region MA in the same manner as the formation region of the color coloring area CA by color ink discharge by changing the discharge timing of the forming agent. It is also possible to use a partial area or a metallic area MA.

  On the other hand, in the non-metallic area, printing with metallic ink is not performed in step S112. Therefore, only the color development region is printed and formed by the color ink that has permeated the ink absorption layer PIK by printing with the color ink in step S114. In this case, before printing the color ink in the non-metallic area, before forming the color ink, the forming agent is also discharged in the non-metallic area in advance to print and form the ink absorbing layer, that is, printing on the printing medium P. It is also possible to print and form an ink absorbing layer over the entire surface. By doing so, it is possible to achieve color development through the color ink penetration into the ink absorption layer on the front surface of the printing medium P, which is preferable in terms of improving the saturation.

  By the printing process of the first embodiment described above, the printing system 10 of this embodiment prints the metallic area MA with metallic ink, the ink absorbing layer PIK with the polyvinyl alcohol-containing ink layer forming agent, and cyan ( C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) color-colored area printing with dye-based color inks for each print medium P, metallic area printing, ink absorption layer printing, color This is performed in the order of color development printing. In the printing system 10, printing is performed in this order, and as shown in FIG. 6, the color coloring area CA of the metallic area MA by the metallic ink is passed through the penetration of the dye color ink into the ink absorption layer PIK. High saturation is formed on the upper layer side.

  For this reason, if the printing result portion on the printing medium P obtained by the printing system 10 of this embodiment is observed from the ink printing surface side, that is, the upper side in FIG. 6, the dye that has penetrated into the ink absorption layer PIK. Therefore, the color development area CA of the color ink overlaps with the metallic area MA formed by printing the metallic ink. Then, the color development area CA that overlaps the metallic area MA due to the printing of the metallic ink is colored with the color of the ink in the ink absorption layer PIK in which the dye color ink has penetrated. In addition, the ink absorption layer PIK that overlaps the metallic area MA and the color ink in the color development area CA are also highly transparent because the ink absorption layer PIK itself has translucency and is dyeable even in the color ink. Since it has, it can avoid impairing the metallic feeling of metallic area MA located in the lower layer side. As a result, according to the printing system 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to achieve both ensuring the metallic feel of the printed image using both the metallic ink and the dye color ink and ensuring the saturation of the color printing. This means that a printing result in which the color ink color is observed with a metallic feeling can be easily provided by the printing system 10 of the present embodiment.

  The printing system 10 according to the present embodiment is a so-called inkjet printing method that is widely used as a printing method. The printing system 10 uses a metallic ink and a dye-based color ink together to ensure the metallic feel of the printed image and perform color printing. It is possible to achieve both of ensuring saturation.

  In the printing system 10 of the present embodiment, the ink absorption layer PIK that overlaps the metallic area MA is formed by an ink jet printing method called forming agent discharge from the ink discharge head 249. Therefore, an existing inkjet printer that does not have an ink discharge head for printing formation of the ink absorption layer PIK is mounted on a print head 241 having an ink discharge head 249, and formation agent discharge dot formation and formation agent related thereto. With a simple modification called ejection control, it is possible to ensure both the metallic feel of a printed image using both metallic ink and dye-based color ink and the saturation of color printing.

  Further, in the printing system 10 of the present embodiment, when the forming agent is discharged from the ink discharge head 249, the discharge range, that is, the print formation region of the ink absorption layer PIK is set to an area having the same shape as the metallic region MA. The area MA and the color development area CA may be limited only to the overlapping area. Therefore, by narrowing the formation region of the ink absorption layer PIK, it is possible to reduce the discharge amount (use amount) of the forming agent and shorten the time required for printing.

  Further, in the printing system 10 of the present embodiment, when forming agent is discharged from the ink discharge head 249, the forming agent discharge amount by the forming agent dot forming module 49 can be adjusted to adjust the forming agent discharge amount. Therefore, in the color printing area 48 in which the color printing area 48 in which the color ink discharge amount is reduced by using small dots as color ink discharge dots in the color printing module 48, the forming agent discharge amount is reduced in the forming agent dot forming module 49. Dots can also be formed. As a result, according to the printing system 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the discharge amount (use amount) of the forming agent through such adjustment of the forming agent discharge amount.

D. Other Example (D1) Second Example:
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ink-jet line printer 200A when applied to the line printer, corresponding to FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the line printer 200 </ b> A of this embodiment includes a line-shaped printer head 400 and a transport mechanism 420 for the print medium P. The transport mechanism 420 includes a platen platen 422, a roller pair 424, and a drive motor 426 thereof, and feeds the print medium P between the platen 422 and the printer head 400 along the sub-scanning direction.

  The printer head 400 includes line-shaped ink ejection heads 401 to 406 that change to the ink ejection heads 244 to 249 in the print head 241 described above, and cartridges 411 to 416. The ink ejection heads 401 to 406 are arranged so as to intersect with the paper feeding direction which is the sub-scanning direction, extend in the main scanning direction, and are arranged to face the flat platen 422. In this case, the line-shaped ink ejection heads 401 to 406 may be an aggregate of a plurality of sets of print head chips, and the print head chips may be arranged in a staggered pattern at the same pitch to form a line.

  The ink ejection head 401 through which the print medium P first passes ejects the metallic ink (S1) onto the transported print medium P. The ink ejection head 402 through which the printing medium P passes second ejects the ink absorbing layer forming agent (S2) onto the conveyed printing medium P. The ink ejection heads 403 to 406 through which the print medium P passes after the third eject the cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), and black ink (K). Each of the cartridges 411 to 416 contains metallic ink (S1), forming agent (S2), cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), and black ink (K). Ink is supplied to each ejection head.

  Even in the second embodiment, the arrangement of the ink discharge heads 401 to 406 in the printer head 400 and the order in which the print medium P passes through each ink discharge head are the same as in the above-described embodiment. Print formation of the metallic area MA through discharge of the metallic ink, print formation through discharge of the forming agent of the ink absorption layer PIK overlaid on the metallic area MA, and subsequent printing of the color development area CA through discharge of the color ink of each color Forming. Therefore, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to achieve the effects described above, such as ensuring both the metallic feel of the printed image using both the metallic ink and the dye color ink, and ensuring the saturation of the color printing.

(D2) Third embodiment:
FIG. 8 corresponds to FIG. 7 and is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ink jet line printer 200B. The third embodiment is characterized in that the ink absorption layer PIK using a forming agent is applied by a roller over the entire printing surface of the printing medium P. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the line printer 200B of this embodiment includes a line-shaped printer head 400M including an ink discharge head 401 that discharges metallic ink, and an ink discharge head that discharges the above-described ink of each color. A linear printer head 400 </ b> C including 403 to 406 is provided along the paper feeding direction of the printing medium P. A forming agent application mechanism 430 is provided between the two printer heads. The forming agent applying mechanism 430 includes an applying roller 431 extending in the main scanning direction, a driving motor 432 thereof, and a cartridge 433 that supplies the forming agent to the applying roller. The forming agent application mechanism 430 causes the application roller 431 to rotate with the drive motor 432 and brings the roller into contact with the print surface of the print medium P to form the ink absorption layer PIK over the entire print surface of the print medium P.

  A state of printing by the line printer 200B will be described together with paper feeding of the printing medium P. When the printing medium P is conveyed, the ink ejection head 401 through which the printing medium P first passes ejects the metallic ink (S1) onto the conveyed printing medium P to print the metallic area MA on the printing medium P. Form. Since the print medium P that has passed through the ink ejection head 401 contacts the surface of the rotating application roller 431, the ink absorption layer PIK is applied and formed on the surface of the medium that has already been printed in the metallic region MA. Thereafter, the print medium P that has passed through the application roller 431 passes through these ink ejection heads 403 to 406 in this order. Therefore, cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), black ink (K) from each of the ejection heads 403 to 406 is applied to the ink absorption layer PIK that has already been applied and formed. ) Is ejected, and the color development area CA is printed over the metallic area MA with the color ink that has permeated the ink absorption layer PIK.

  As a result, even in the third embodiment, the printing of the metallic area MA after discharging the metallic ink, the coating formation of the ink absorption layer PIK overlaid on the metallic area MA, and the subsequent discharging of the color ink of each color are performed. The formed color coloring area CA can be printed and formed. Therefore, the third embodiment can achieve the effects described above, such as ensuring both the metallic feel of the printed image using both the metallic ink and the dye-based color ink and ensuring the saturation of the color printing.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to above-described embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary, it is possible to implement in various aspects. For example, in the above-described embodiment, printing using metallic ink is performed in the printing system 10 including the computer 100 and the printer 200. In contrast, the printer 200 itself may input image data from a digital camera or various memory cards and perform printing with metallic ink. That is, the CPU in the control circuit 260 of the printer 200 may perform printing using metallic ink by executing processing equivalent to the printing processing in each of the embodiments described above.

  In addition, the metallic glossy ink has been described as an example of the special glossy ink. However, a pigment that expresses a pearly luster after being fixed on the medium surface, for example, a pigment in which a plurality of thin pearly layers such as natural pearls are stacked. In place of metallic ink, pearlescent ink containing lacquer, or lamaque or plain ink containing pigments with minute irregularities to cause irregular reflection after fixing on the medium surface to express so-called lame or plain texture It can also be used.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing system 10 as an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a configuration diagram of a computer 100 as a print control apparatus. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer 200. FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the nozzle arrangement of an ink ejection head constituting the print head 241. 6 is a flowchart of print processing in the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the mode of the combined printing of metallic ink and color ink in this printing process. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet line printer 200 </ b> A when applied to the line printer, corresponding to FIG. 3. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet line printer 200 </ b> B corresponding to FIG. 7.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printing system 20 ... Application program 22 ... Video driver 24 ... Printer driver 42 ... Color conversion module 44 ... Halftone module 46 ... Print control module 47 ... Metallic dot formation module 48 ... Color printing module 49 ... Forming agent dot formation module 100 ... Computer 102 ... CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 108 ... Peripheral device interface 109 ... Disk controller 110 ... Network interface card 112 ... Video interface 114 ... Display 116 ... Bus 118 ... Hard disk 120 ... Digital camera 122 ... Color scanner 124 ... Flexible disk 126 ... Compact disk 200 ... Printer 200A ... Line printer 200B: Line printer 230 ... Carriage motor 231 ... Drive belt 232 ... Pulley 233 ... Slide shaft 234 ... Position detection sensor 235 ... Motor 236 ... Platen 240 ... Carriage 241 ... Print head 242I ... Cartridge for forming agent 242M ... Cartridge for metallic ink 243 to 247 ... cartridge for color ink 248 ... ink of metallic ink Outlet head 249... Forming agent ink ejection head 256... Operation panel 260... Control circuit 300... Communication line 310... Storage device 400 ... Printer head 400C. 416 ... cartridge 420 ... transport mechanism 422 ... platen 424 ... roller pair 426 ... drive motor 430 ... forming agent application mechanism 431 ... application roller 432 ... drive motor 433 ... cartridge P ... print medium MA ... metallic area CA ... color coloring area MG ... Metal pigment PIK… Ink absorption layer

Claims (15)

A printing apparatus that prints on a print medium using color ink and other ink,
Color printing means for discharging the color ink to the printing medium;
A special gloss printing means for discharging the special gloss ink using a special gloss ink having a special gloss as the other ink;
Absorbing layer forming means for forming an ink absorbing layer on the surface of the printing medium, which is transparent and allows color development of the permeated color ink;
The absorbent layer forming means, the special gloss printing means, and the color printing means are controlled to print a special gloss area having a special gloss on the surface of the print medium based on the special gloss ink through ink ejection. And a control unit configured to form the ink absorption layer on the surface of the print medium including the printed special glossy area, and to discharge the color ink to the formed ink absorption layer.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the absorbing layer forming unit forms the ink absorbing layer by applying an absorbing layer forming agent containing an ink absorbing layer forming material.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the absorbing layer forming unit prints the ink absorbing layer by discharging an absorbing layer forming agent containing a material for forming the ink absorbing layer. The printing apparatus according to claim 3,
A print head having a special gloss ink discharge head as the special gloss print means, a color ink discharge head as the color print means, and an absorbent layer forming agent discharge head for discharging the absorbent layer forming agent;
The control means includes
Printing the special gloss area through the discharge of the special gloss ink from the special gloss ink discharge head to the surface of the print medium while relatively moving the print head and the print medium; Print formation of the ink absorption layer through ejection of the absorbent layer forming agent from the absorbent layer forming agent ejection head onto the surface of the print medium including the special gloss region, and printing on the formed ink absorption layer A printing apparatus that sequentially discharges the color ink from the color ink discharge head.   The control unit performs medium movement along the sub-scanning direction of the print medium and head movement along the main scanning direction of the print head when relatively moving the print head and the print medium. The printing apparatus according to claim 4.   The said control means performs the discharge of the said absorption layer forming agent from the said absorption layer material discharge head about the range which overlaps with the said special glossy area, and print-forms the said ink absorption layer. Printing device.   The said control means prints and forms the said ink absorption layer by discharging the said absorption layer formation agent from the said absorption layer formation agent discharge head about the range with which the said special glossy area | region and color development area overlap. Printing device. A printing apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 7,
The control means discharges the absorbing layer forming agent from the absorbing layer forming agent discharging head, and sets the discharging amount of the absorbing layer forming agent to be discharged from the color ink discharging head when the color forming area is printed. A printing apparatus that adjusts according to an ink discharge amount, and prints the ink absorption layer by discharging the absorbent layer forming agent with a smaller discharge amount as the color ink discharge amount is smaller.   The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the special gloss printing unit discharges a texture-expressing ink containing a pigment that exhibits a predetermined texture as the special gloss ink.   The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the special glossy printing unit ejects an ink having an optical characteristic whose reflection characteristic depends on a reflection angle, as the special glossy ink. .   The printing apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the special glossy ink is a metallic ink containing a pigment that develops a metallic feeling. A printing method for printing on a print medium using color ink and other ink,
Using the special gloss ink having a special gloss as the other ink, discharging the special gloss ink onto the surface of the printing medium, and printing a special gloss area having a special gloss based on the special gloss ink,
Forming an ink-absorbing layer on the surface of the print medium including the printed special gloss region, which is transparent and allows color development of the permeated color ink;
A printing method in which the color ink is ejected onto the formed ink absorbing layer to print a color-development region with the color ink.   The printing method according to claim 12, wherein the special glossy ink is a textured ink containing a pigment that exhibits a predetermined texture.   The printing method according to claim 12, wherein the special glossy ink is an ink in which an optical characteristic of ink printed on a medium surface has a reflection angle dependency.   The printing method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the special glossy ink is a metallic ink containing a pigment that develops a metallic feeling.

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