JP6953379B2 - Image processing equipment, image processing methods, display equipment and programs - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image processing device that processes a recorded image so that it can be displayed on a display device, an image processing method, and a display device and a program provided with the image processing device.

There is known a metallic ink that contains metal particles and can form a recorded material on the recording medium without special processing such as firing by ejecting the metal particles onto the recording medium with an inkjet recording device or the like. Patent Document 1 discloses a metallic ink containing ultrafine aluminum particles suitable for imparting a metallic feeling (metallic luster) or conductivity to a recorded material.

Japanese Patent No. 5757759

When recording with metallic ink and ink that develops color by absorbing and reflecting visible light such as color ink, the amount of function (for example, metallic luster) in the area recorded by metallic ink and the position of the area. Need to be confirmed. In performing such confirmation work, a confirmation method is used in which a recorded image is preview-displayed on a display device before recording.

However, it is difficult in principle to display metallic luster with a general display device. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the recorded material actually recorded on the recording medium. Such confirmation work requires recording materials such as recording media and ink, which is a burden on the user.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is an image processing device for preview-displaying an image including a color metallic region formed by applying color ink and metallic ink in an overlapping manner on a display device. , An image processing method and a display device.

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention produces a color metallic image including a color metallic region formed by superimposing a metallic ink containing metal particles and a color ink containing a coloring material. In order to display the preview image based on the generation means for generating the preview image data for displaying the preview image on the display device based on the image data for recording and the preview image data generated by the generation means. An image processing device having a control means for controlling the display device, wherein the color representing the color metallic region in the preview image data is different from the color constituting the color metallic region in the image data. It is a feature.

According to the present invention, when an image including a color metallic region formed by applying metallic ink and color ink in an overlapping manner is previewed on a display device, the user can easily determine the color metallic region. can do.

The schematic block diagram of the image processing apparatus and the recording apparatus according to this invention. Schematic configuration diagram of the recording unit. A flowchart showing the processing content of the display processing. Explanatory drawing which shows a color image and a metallic luster image. Explanatory drawing for explaining metallic luster. The flowchart which shows the processing content of the 1st conversion process. Explanatory drawing which shows display color according to the amount of silver. The flowchart which shows the processing content of the 1st synthesis process. Explanatory drawing explaining information displayed in a display area. The flowchart which shows the processing content of the 2nd conversion process. Explanatory drawing which shows the transmittance of the display color according to the amount of silver. The flowchart which shows the processing content of the 2nd synthesis process. The flowchart which shows the processing content of the 3rd conversion process. Explanatory drawing which shows the coverage | coverage of a display color according to the amount of silver. The flowchart which shows the processing content of the 3rd synthesis process.

Hereinafter, an example of an image processing device, an image processing method, a display device, and a program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The components described in the following embodiments are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to them.

(First Embodiment)
First, a first embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9. Here, FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing device and a recording device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording unit in a recording device.

As the image processing device 10, a general-purpose personal computer, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a digital camera, and other mobile terminals or stationary terminals are used. The image processing device 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 12 for executing various processes. A ROM 16 storing programs for executing various processes by the CPU 12 and a RAM 18 as a working area in which various registers required for program execution by the CPU 12 are set are connected to the CPU 12 via a bus 14. Has been done. Then, in the control unit 20 composed of the CPU 12, the ROM 16 and the RAM 18, various processes for the recorded image as the recorded data are executed.

Further, an interface (I / F) 22 that can be connected to an external device by wire or wirelessly is connected to the CPU 12 via a bus 14. The image processing device 10 is connected to the recording device 100 via the I / F 22. Further, the I / F 22 is connected to an input unit 24 for the user to input an instruction to the image processing device 10 and a display unit 26 (display means) for presenting predetermined information to the user. Has been done.

Here, as an example of communication between the image processing device 10 and the recording device 100, a case where a recording job is transmitted from the smartphone (image processing device) to the recording device 100 will be described. When there is a document to be recorded in the document displayed on the display screen of the smartphone, the user calls the recording instruction provided in the OS (Operating System) of the smartphone via an input terminal or the like. In the generally popular smartphone terminals, an integrated recording protocol is provided on the OS by forming a tie-up between the terminal vendor and the recording device vendor. When a recording instruction from the user is input, the OS converts the document to be recorded into a predetermined image format, and then creates a recording job according to the recording protocol. Specifically, the document data to be recorded is converted into a bitmap image, and then compressed into a JPEG image. Then, a recording job file in the XML document format including the compressed image is created and transmitted to the pre-registered recording device 100 via the wireless LAN.

The recording device 100 includes a CPU 102 that executes various programs. A ROM 106 that holds a program and a table for performing recording processing and a RAM 108 as a working area in which various registers required for program execution are set are connected to the CPU 102 via a bus 104. Further, the recording device 100 is connected to an I / F 110 for connecting to an external device by wire or wirelessly via a bus 104. Further, in the recording device 100, a recording unit 112 for recording and a DPS (Digital Signal Processor) 114 as a hardware device for performing high-load processing such as image processing are connected via a bus 104. There is. One or a plurality of configurations excluding the recording unit 112 may be mounted as a single LSI and made into a component as an ASIC. The recording device 100 is connected to the image processing device 10 via the I / F 110.

As shown in FIG. 2, the recording unit 112 includes a transport unit 120 that conveys the recording medium M, and a head unit 122 that ejects ink to the recording medium M that is conveyed by the transport unit 120. The transport unit 120 includes two shafts 124 and 126 extending in a predetermined direction and arranged at a predetermined distance from each other. Further, the shafts 124 and 126 are urged, for example, by a driven roller (not shown). Then, the shafts 124 and 126 are rotated by a motor (not shown) or the like, and the recording medium M is conveyed in the direction of arrow A while niping between the shafts 124 and 126 and the driven roller.

The head portion 122 holds a carriage 128 that can move in a direction that intersects (orthogonally in this embodiment) the transport direction of the recording medium M, a detachably mounted ink cartridge 130, and ink stored in the ink cartridge 130. A recording head 132 for discharging is provided. The carriage 128 is movably arranged on a guide rail 133 extending in a direction intersecting the arrow A direction (orthogonal in this embodiment). Further, the recording head 132 is arranged on the surface of the carriage 128 facing the recording medium M. As a result, the recording head 132 faces the recorded recording medium M to be conveyed.

In the ink cartridge 130, color inks of a plurality of colors (four colors in the present embodiment) including a coloring material and one metallic ink are independently stored. In the present embodiment, the color inks are cyan (C) ink, magenta (M) ink, yellow (Y) ink, and black (K) ink. The metallic ink is silver (Ag) ink. The ink stored in the ink cartridge 130 is not limited to the above five.

The ink cartridge 130 is connected to a nozzle (not shown) of the recording head 132 via a flow path (not shown) in the carriage 128. The recording head 132 is connected to the bus 104 of the recording device 100 via a communication cable, and discharge control is performed at a predetermined timing by inputting recorded image information and discharge control information. In the recording head 132, a heater (not shown) is provided as an ejection energy generating element in the nozzle, and ink is ejected by heating this heater. That is, the ink in the nozzle is rapidly heated by the heating of the heater, and bubbles are generated by boiling the film, and the ink droplets are ejected by the bubbles. A piezo element may be used as the discharge energy generating element.

For each ink, the recording head 132 is formed with, for example, a nozzle row in which 512 nozzles are arranged side by side in the transport direction at intervals of 600 dpi. Further, the nozzle rows of the inks are arranged side by side along the moving direction of the carriage 128. Each nozzle has a configuration in which discharge can be controlled independently. As a result, for example, ejection is possible for a height of 0.85 inch (distance between the recorded recording medium M to be conveyed and the recording head 132).

When a recording job is input from the image processing device 10 in the recording device 100 having such a configuration, the recording operation is started after processing the recorded image. Here, the recording job includes recorded data and recording instructions. The recorded data is image data representing a recorded image, and is appropriately referred to as color image data (hereinafter, simply referred to as “color image”) and metal gloss image data (hereinafter, simply referred to as “metal gloss image”), which will be described later. .). In addition, the recording instruction includes layout information such as paper type, paper size, recording quality, recording size, and 2in1.

When the recording job is input, first, the recorded data is converted (color-separated) into the ink color density data (CMYKAg) mounted on the recording device 100. As the conversion method, a known method such as a matrix calculation process or a process using a four-dimensional LUT (look-up table) can be used. Since the recording device 100 uses K ink, C ink, M ink, Y ink, and Ag ink, the recorded data is color-space-converted into an image composed of CMYKAg color signals. The number of inks was five, K ink, C ink, M ink, Y ink, and Ag ink, but in order to improve the image quality, light cyan (Lc) ink, light magenta (Lm) ink, and gray (Gy). Ink and the like may be added.

Next, the ink color density data (CMYKAg) is quantized. A known method can be used as the quantization method. In this embodiment, Dither is performed. The methods that are open to the public include B.I. E. There is Bayer (An Optimum Method for Two-Lebel Rendition of Continuous tone Pictures, ICC Conf. (1973)). After that, the recording unit 112 records the recording medium M based on the quantized data and the recording instruction.

The metallic ink is a metal particle-containing ink, and in the present embodiment, it is a silver ink containing silver particles as metal particles. The metallic ink can exhibit various functions by changing the recording control. Specific examples include metallic decorative printing with metallic luster, circuit printing with conductivity, and mirror printing with high reflectance. In the following description, the function exhibited by the metal particle-containing ink is appropriately referred to as "metal function".

The content (mass%) of the metal particles in the metallic ink is preferably 0.1% by mass or more and 30.0% by mass or less, and 1.0% by mass or more and 15.0% by mass, based on the total mass of the ink. It is more preferably mass% or less. The metal particles are not particularly limited, but are, for example, particles of gold, silver, copper, platinum, aluminum, titanium, chromium, iron, nickel, zinc, zirconium, tin and the like. These metal particles may be simple substances or alloys, and may be used in combination. Further, as the metal particles, gold, silver, and copper particles are preferably used, and silver particles are particularly preferable, from the viewpoints of storage stability, conductivity of the formed image (recorded material), metallic luster, and the like.

Since silver particles have high metallic luster and achromatic color of the formed image, a wide range of metallic colors can be expressed by combining with color ink. The average particle size of the silver particles is preferably 1 nm or more and 200 nm or less, preferably 10 nm or more and 100 nm or less, from the viewpoint of storage stability of the ink and the conductivity and glossiness of the image formed by the metal particles. Is more preferable. As a specific method for measuring the average particle size, it can be measured by using a measuring device by a dynamic light scattering method such as a cumulant method analysis using scattering of laser light.

The method for dispersing the metal particles in the metallic ink is not particularly limited. For example, resin-dispersed metal particles dispersed with a dispersed resin, metal particles dispersed with a surfactant, and the like can be used. It is also possible to use a combination of metal particles having different dispersion methods. As the dispersed resin, a resin having water solubility or water dispersibility can be used, but those having a weight average molecular weight of 1000 or more and 100,000 or less are preferable, and those having a weight average molecular weight of 3000 or more and 50,000 or less are more preferable.

As the dispersion resin, for example, the following can be used. A single amount of styrene, vinylnaphthalene, aliphatic alcohol ester of α, β-ethylenic unsaturated carboxylic acid, acrylic acid, maleic acid, itaconic acid, fumaric acid, vinyl acetate, vinylpyrrolidone, acrylamide, or derivatives thereof. Polymer for the body. Of the monomers constituting the polymer, one or more are preferably hydrophilic monomers, and block copolymers, random copolymers, graft copolymers, salts thereof and the like are used. You may. Alternatively, natural resins such as rosin, shellac and starch can be used. These resins are preferably soluble in an aqueous solution in which a base is dissolved, that is, an alkali-soluble type.

As the surfactant, a surfactant such as an anionic surfactant, a nonionic surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant can be used. Specifically, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether, polyoxyethylene alkyl phenols, acetylene glycol compound, acetylene glycol ethylene oxide adduct and the like can be used. Further, the above-mentioned surfactant may be further added for the purpose of adjusting the surface tension of the ink.

As the metallic ink, it is preferable to use an aqueous medium containing water and a water-soluble organic solvent. The content (mass%) of the water-soluble organic solvent in the ink is preferably 3.0% by mass or more and 50.0% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink. The water content (mass%) in the ink is preferably 50.0% by mass or more and 95.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink. As the water, it is preferable to use deionized water (ion-exchanged water).

As the water-soluble organic solvent, for example, the following can be used. Alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, propanediol, butanol, butanoldiol, pentanol, pentanol, hexanol, and hexanediol. Amides such as dimethylformamide and dimethylacetamide. Ketone or keto alcohols such as acetone, diacetone alcohol. Ethers such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane, and polyalkylene glycols having an average molecular weight of 200, 300, 400, 600 and 1000 such as polyethylene glycol and polypropylene glycol. Alkylene glycols having an alkylene group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, triethylene glycol, 1,2,6-hexanetriol, thiodiglycol, hexylene glycol, and diethylene glycol. Lower alkyl ether acetate such as polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate. Glycerin. Lower alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol monomethyl (or ethyl) ethers, diethylene glycol methyl (or ethyl) ethers, and triethylene glycol monomethyl (or ethyl) ethers.

Further, the metallic ink may contain various additives such as a pH adjuster, a rust preventive, a preservative, a fungicide, an antioxidant, an antioxidant and an evaporation accelerator, if necessary. When such metallic ink is used in the recording device 100, when it is applied onto the recording medium M, it is possible to exhibit conductivity and metallic luster without any special operation such as firing.

In the above configuration, for the confirmation work of the recorded image recorded by the recording device 100, the display process in which the recorded image is preview-displayed on the display unit 26 of the image processing device 10 will be described. Here, the display process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing contents of the display processing. In this display process, first, the recorded image information (recorded image) input by the user as the recorded data (image data) is saved (S302). That is, in S302, the recorded image input by the user is stored in the RAM 108. The recorded image is created by the user using an image editing application or the like to specify a metallic region having a metallic luster as another plane or another channel with respect to the original image.

In S302, as a recorded image, as shown in FIG. 4, two recorded data of a color image and a metallic luster image, that is, color image data and metallic luster image data (color metallic image data) are stored. A color image is an image having information (color information) regarding colors expressed by recording with color ink. The metallic luster image (color metallic image) is an image having information on metallic luster (metallic luster information) for expressing a color metallic region by applying metallic ink and color ink in an overlapping manner. As described above, it is an image created on a plane different from the color image. Here, the metallic luster image will be described as having a golden plane having a golden luster.

The original image displayed in the image editing application may be an image having no metallic luster or an image processed so as to have a metallic luster in a predetermined area. Therefore, in the original image without metallic luster, the user specifies the area to be recorded with metallic luster and sets the metallic luster information to be given to the specified area to generate the metallic luster image. Will be done. Further, in the original image having metallic luster information, the user specifies an area having metallic luster information. Here, the metallic luster information is a functional amount indicating the shade (degree) of the metallic luster of the color metallic region expressed by applying the color ink and the metallic ink in an overlapping manner. For example, in a gold plane, each pixel is represented by a numerical value of 0% to 100%.

The color image is an RGB image composed of three colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), which are image data output from an image pickup device such as a general camera. The color image is not limited to the RGB image, and may be an image using the complementary colors C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow). Further, the image may be an image using four or more colors including the special colors K (black) and orange. That is, the color image includes color information associated with the color material (pigment, dye, etc.) of the color ink mounted on the recording device 100. The colors may be arranged in order for each pixel, or may be arranged in a predetermined unit such as one line, several lines, or an image.

As described above, the metallic luster image is an image having metallic luster information expressed by superimposing the color ink and the metallic ink mounted on the recording device 100. The metallic luster information is acquired based on the presence or absence of metallic luster and the density of metallic luster in the area to be recorded with the metallic luster specified in the original image. Therefore, the input recorded data is an RGB image which is a color image and a golden gloss image having metal function information.

The metallic luster information is not limited to one type. For example, in addition to the golden plane showing the golden color metallic region, a plane showing the color metallic region of another color may be provided. Further, metallic luster information using gold ink as a spot color may be added, or a form having a plurality of metallic luster information may be provided. By providing such a plurality of types of metallic luster information, the number of transfers to the recording device 100 can be reduced, so that the overhead in communication between the image processing device 10 and the recording device 100 is reduced and the transfer speed is improved. can do.

The metallic luster image may be a binary image showing a position with metallic luster and a position without metallic luster based on the metallic luster information, and represents a position with metallic luster and a position without metallic luster as well as metal. In some cases, the image may be a multi-valued image that even represents the gradation of luster. If it is a binary image, the amount of data in the image can be reduced, and the amount of communication data between the image processing device 10 and the recording device 100 can be reduced. Further, by forming a multi-valued image, the amount of silver ink can be adjusted to give a gradation to the metallic luster, and a recording result with higher expressive power can be obtained.

Next, a conversion process is performed to convert the metallic luster information of the metallic luster image into silver display image data (hereinafter, simply referred to as “silver display image”) represented by a display color that can be displayed on the display unit 26 (S304). .. The silver display image in which the metallic luster information is represented by the display color is stored in the RAM 108. The display color in the silver display image is the color information of the silver display image.

Here, metallic luster will be described. FIG. 5A shows the measurement results of metallic luster in a magenta gradation patch chart (Color Only) and a patch chart (Color + Silver) in which a magenta gradation patch is superimposed on a solid patch of silver ink. The measurement environments are 45 ° / 0 ° and SCI (Specular component included), respectively. The 45 ° / 0 ° measurement is an environment as shown in FIG. 5 (b). In this environment, only diffuse reflected light is measured. The measurement of SCI is an environment as shown in FIG. 5 (c). In this environment, light containing both diffusely reflected light and specularly reflected light is measured.

As shown in FIG. 5A, when the image to which only the color ink is applied is measured, there is no big difference between the value measured at 45 ° / 0 ° and the value measured by SCI. On the other hand, when the image in which the color ink and the silver ink are superposed is measured, these color measurement values are significantly different, and the luminance value (L ^* value) measured by SCI is 45 ° / 0 °. Greater than the brightness value measured in. Therefore, giving an image a metallic luster means that the diffusely reflected light and the specularly reflected light have significantly different brightness. In particular, the reflectance of specularly reflected light is higher than the reflectance of diffusely reflected light. However, in a general display device, it is not possible to display diffusely reflected light and specularly reflected light with different luminosities, and it is difficult to express metallic luster in a preview display.

On the other hand, in S304, the conversion process of converting the metallic luster image into a silver display image represented by the color information (display color) that can be displayed on the display unit 26 is executed for each pixel. The conversion process in this embodiment will be referred to as the first conversion process in the following description. Here, the first conversion process of S304 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing contents of the first conversion processing.

In the first conversion process, first, the color of the display color representing the metallic luster information is determined (S602). As described above, it is difficult to display the metallic luster on the display device. However, in order to improve the convenience of the user, it is necessary for the user to recognize the position of the metallic luster of the recorded image (recorded material) and its shading. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the presence or absence of metallic luster is expressed by using a color that can be displayed by the display unit 26 in the image processing apparatus 10 and a color different from the color ink that constitutes the color metallic region having metallic luster. do. As a result, the difference from the area without metallic luster in the preview display can be clarified, and the position of the color metallic area can be easily recognized by the user. Further, in the preview display, the degree of metallic luster is expressed by the shade of color (gradation change) indicating that there is metallic luster. As a result, the user can easily recognize the change in the degree of metallic luster in the color metallic region.

In S602, the display color that can be displayed by the display unit 26 is determined as the color indicating the color metallic region based on the color information of the region (color metallic region) in which the metallic luster image is located in the color image. For example, assuming that the color metallic region specified in the original image is gold, in the image actually recorded on the recording medium M, the gold color is formed by superimposing the yellow ink and the metallic ink. .. Here, as an expression method when decorating with metallic ink, there is a method in which the degree of metallic luster changes. For example, when performing a golden decoration expressed using metallic ink and yellow ink, a gradation expression may be made in which the gloss is gradually increased from a dull yellow to a glossy gold color. At this time, if the display color of the metallic luster information used for the preview display is determined to be the color (yellow in this example) that constitutes the color metallic region (gold in this example), the user is in gold in the image previewed on the display device. It becomes impossible to distinguish between the area and the yellow area. In particular, in the case of a gradation image in which the amount of metallic ink applied gradually increases while the amount of yellow ink applied remains constant, it is difficult for the user to discriminate the change from yellow to gold in the preview display.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, a color having a hue different from the color constituting the color metallic region or a color having a saturation different from the color constituting the color metallic region is determined as the display color in the preview display. In S602, a hue different from the hue of the color constituting the color metallic region in the metallic gloss image or a saturation different from the saturation of the color constituting the color metallic region is determined as the hue or saturation of the display color. .. First, by performing color separation processing on the color information of the color metallic region in the metallic luster image, the color expressed by using the color ink excluding the metallic ink component can be known. Then, a hue (or saturation) different from the hue (or saturation) of the color expressed by the color ink is determined as the hue (or saturation) of the display color in the preview display. Specifically, if the area where the metallic gloss image of the original image is located is gold, the expression color by the color ink excluding the metallic ink component is yellow, so a hue (or saturation) other than yellow is displayed. Determined as the hue (or saturation) of a color. For example, gray having a saturation of 0 is a color having a saturation different from that of yellow. Similarly, if the color metallic region is a red metallic color, the expression color of the color ink is red, so a hue (or saturation) other than red is determined as the hue (or saturation) of the display color. For example, cyan, which is a complementary color of red, has a different hue from red.

As a result, even in a recorded image in which the amount of metallic luster changes with a gradation, such as yellow without metallic luster to gold with metallic luster, the metallic luster region has a hue (or other than yellow) other than yellow in the preview display. It is expressed by (saturation). Therefore, even when the preview display is performed on a display device that cannot express metallic luster, it is possible to distinguish between a gold region and a yellow region having different luster amounts. The determination process for determining the hue (or saturation) of such a display color is executed by the control unit 20.

Next, n = 1 (S604), and the amount of silver in the nth processing target pixel is acquired (S606). In S604, the variable "n" representing the processing target pixel is set to 1. Then, each pixel in the metallic luster image is given a serial number, and in S606, the amount of silver in the nth pixel in the metallic luster image is acquired based on the metallic luster information. Here, the metallic luster information is information indicating the shade of metallic luster in each pixel. For example, in a gold plane, the amount of gold is represented by 0% to 100% for each pixel. Then, based on this metallic luster information (in this example, the amount of gold color described above), the amount of silver color is acquired. The silver color amount is an amount indicating the amount of metallic ink applied, and is expressed by 0% to 100%.

After that, the display color in the preview display is determined according to the color determined in S602 and the amount of silver acquired in S606 (S608). FIG. 7A is an example of a change table in which the display color is defined by the gradation according to the amount of silver when the color representing the color metallic region is determined to be gray in the preview display. In this change table, as the color determined in S602, the color having the highest density is displayed when the silver color amount is 100%, and the gradation of the display color changes as the silver color amount decreases. Then, when the amount of silver is 0%, it is displayed in white. When the metallic luster image is a binary image, the silver color amount of the pixel having metallic luster is 100%, and the display color is displayed as the color having the highest density in the hue determined in S602.

White at 0% silver color means (R, G, B) = (255, 255, 255) in the image data of 8 bits each for RGB, and indicates the maximum value of the RGB signal value. In the change table, the relationship between the gradation of the display color and the amount of silver may be linear. For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the gradation of the display color from 100% silver to 0% silver. The rate of change may be changed. When the change in metallic luster is not proportional to the amount of metallic ink applied, the accuracy of gradation expression can be improved by using such a change table having a different rate of change. In addition, the display color corresponds to the display format of the color image. In the present embodiment, since the color image is an RGB image, the display color is displayed as an RGB value so as to correspond to the color image. As described above, in the processing in S608, known techniques such as arithmetic processing by an approximate expression and one-dimensional LUT (look-up table) can be used. Further, as the display color in the change table, at least one of the lightness and the saturation of the hue may be changed according to the amount of metallic luster. As a result, the difference in the amount of metallic luster in the color metallic region is expressed by at least one of the difference in lightness and the difference in saturation in the same hue.

In S608, when the display color corresponding to the amount of silver is determined in the nth pixel, the determined display color is stored in the RAM 108 in association with the nth pixel (S610). After that, it is determined whether or not the display colors of all the pixels have been determined (S612). That is, in S612, it is determined whether or not "n" has reached the final value of the serial number of the metallic luster image. Here, if it is determined that the display colors of all the pixels have not been changed, that is, "n" has not reached the final value, n is incremented (S614) and returns to S606. Further, in S612, when it is determined that the color display of all the pixels has been changed, that is, it is determined that "n" has reached the final value, the first conversion process is terminated and the process proceeds to S306 described later.

As described above, in the first conversion process, the hue (or saturation) of the display color that can be displayed on the display unit 26 is determined for the color metallic region that expresses metallic luster. Then, the display color is determined according to the determined hue (or saturation) and the amount of silver based on the metallic luster information, and the metallic luster image is converted into a silver display image. Therefore, the silver display image includes color information for displaying the color metallic region exhibiting metallic luster on the display unit 26. The first conversion process is executed by the control unit 20.

Return to FIG. When the conversion process (first conversion process) for converting the metallic luster image into the silver display image in S304 is completed, the process proceeds to S306, and the color image and the silver display image acquired by the conversion process are combined. Processing is done. The composite image data (hereinafter, simply referred to as “composite image”), which is the image data generated by this synthesis process, is stored in the RAM 108. The synthetic process in the present embodiment is referred to as a first synthetic process in the following description. Here, the first synthesis process of S306 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing contents of the first synthesis processing.

In the first compositing process, first, n = 1 is set (S802), and the color information of the nth processing target pixel in the color image and the RGB values (R1, G1, B1) in the present embodiment are acquired (S804). ). Next, the amount of silver of the nth pixel to be processed in the metallic luster image, that is, the amount of 0% to 100% given in the present embodiment is acquired (S806). Further, the color information of the nth processing target pixel in the silver display image, and the RGB values (R2, G2, B2) in the present embodiment are acquired (S808). Note that S804 to S808 may be executed in parallel or may be executed in a different order. The control unit 20 executes the acquisition process of the silver color amount and the RGB value in the processing target pixel of each image stored in the RAM 108 in this way.

After that, it is determined whether or not the amount of silver is "0" (S810). When it is determined in S810 that the amount of silver color is "0", the RGB values (R1, G1, B1) of the color image acquired in S804 are determined as composite values for the nth processing target pixel. (S812). Then, it is determined whether or not the composite value of all pixels has been acquired (S814), and if it is determined that the composite value of all pixels has not been acquired, n is incremented (S816) and the process returns to S804. Further, in S814, when it is determined that the combined values of all the pixels have been acquired, the first combined process is terminated and the process proceeds to S308.

On the other hand, in S810, when it is determined that the silver amount is not "0", the RGB values (R2, G2, B2) of the silver display image acquired in S808 are replaced as composite values for the nth processing target pixel. (S818), and the process proceeds to S814. The composite value replaced by S812 and S818 is stored in the RAM 108 in association with the nth pixel. The image generated by associating the composite value (color information) with each pixel is saved as a composite image (preview image data) in the RAM 108. The process of acquiring the composite value based on the amount of silver color is executed by the control unit 20. That is, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 converts the metallic luster image into a silver display image whose display color changes according to the amount of silver, and generates a composite image based on the color image, the metallic luster image, and the silver display image. Functions as a generator.

On the other hand, in S304, the conversion process of converting the metallic luster image into a silver display image represented by the color information (display color) that can be displayed on the display unit 26 is executed for each pixel. The conversion process in this embodiment will be referred to as the first conversion process in the following description. Here, the first conversion process of S304 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing contents of the first conversion processing.

Return to FIG. When the first compositing process in S306 is completed, the process proceeds to S308, and the composite image acquired by the first compositing process is preview-displayed on the display unit 26. Specifically, on the display unit 26, as shown in FIG. 9, the cancel button 140 and the record button 142 are displayed in the display area 138 together with the composite image. The user confirms the displayed composite image, and when recording the image as it is, the record button 142 is selected and recording is started. On the other hand, when the image is not recorded, the cancel button 140 is selected. In addition, only the composite image is displayed on the display unit 26, and an operator corresponding to a record button or a cancel button may be provided separately from the display unit 26. The preview display of such a composite image is executed by the control unit 20. That is, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 functions as a control unit that controls the display unit 26 so as to display the composite image.

In the composite image previewed in this way, the pixels to which the metallic ink is applied are represented by the display color (color information) of the color determined based on the metallic luster information, and the other pixels are the original colors. It is represented by color information in the image. Therefore, the user can easily recognize the color metallic region to be recorded with metallic luster. In particular, in the present embodiment, the position of the color metallic region to be recorded with metallic luster in the recorded image is easily identified, and the metallic luster in the color metallic region is based on the multi-valued metallic luster image. The shade can be easily recognized.

The preview display of such a composite image is not limited to the method using the display unit 26 of the image processing device 10. For example, the recording device 100 may be provided with a display unit so that the preview image is displayed on the display unit, or the preview image is displayed on both the display unit 26 of the image processing device 10 and the display unit of the recording device 100. It may be.

As described above, in the image processing apparatus 10, the color of the display color that can be displayed on the display unit 26 is determined based on the metallic luster information. At this time, the determined color is a color different from the color constituting the color metallic region to which the metallic luster is imparted (the region recorded with the metallic luster specified by the user). Then, in the determined color, a color corresponding to the amount of silver based on the metallic luster information is determined as a display color to be previewed, and the metallic luster image is converted into a silver display image. Then, the color image and the silver display image are combined, and in the metal gloss image, the color information (display color) in the silver display image is applied to the pixels associated with the metal gloss information, and the color information (display color) in the silver display image is applied to the other pixels. A composite image associated with the color information of the color image is generated.

With such a configuration, in the image processing apparatus 10, the color metallic region in which the metallic luster is exhibited is expressed by a color different from the colors constituting the metallic luster, and the gradation indicating the amount of the metallic luster is expressed. The composite image can be displayed as a preview. By confirming the preview display on the display unit 26, the user can determine the position of the color metallic region where the metallic luster is exhibited and the amount of the metallic luster when the image including the color metallic region is recorded on the recording medium M. It can be easily identified on the preview display. As a result, the amount of the recording medium M and ink used in the confirmation work can be reduced as compared with the case where the image is actually recorded on the recording medium M and the confirmation work is performed, and the burden on the user is reduced.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 12. In the following description, the same or equivalent configuration as the above-mentioned image processing apparatus 10 will be described in detail by using the same reference numerals.

The image processing device 200 according to the second embodiment is different from the above-mentioned image processing device 10 in the following points. That is, in the conversion process of S304 in the display process, the metallic luster image is converted into a silver display image in which the transmittance of the display color is changed according to the amount of silver color for each pixel. Further, in the synthesis processing of S306 in the display processing, the composite value according to the color information of the color image, the display color (color information of the silver display image) and the transmittance is calculated, and the composite image is acquired. Hereinafter, the conversion process and the composition process in the image processing apparatus 200 will be described in detail. In the following description, the conversion process and the synthesis process in the present embodiment will be referred to as the second conversion process and the second synthesis process.

First, the second conversion process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing routine of the second conversion process. In the second conversion process, first, a display color representing metallic luster information is determined (S1002). Next, n = 1 (S1004), and the amount of silver in the nth processing target pixel is acquired (S1006). Since the processing contents of S1002 to S1006 are the same as the processing of S602 to S606 described above, the description thereof will be omitted.

After that, the transmittance of the display color is determined according to the acquired amount of silver (S1008). That is, in S1008, for example, as shown in FIG. 11A, the transmittance is determined based on the change table showing the transmittance of the display color according to the amount of silver. In this change table, the display color is constant with the display color determined in S1002. The transmittance is set to 100% when the amount of silver color is 0%, linearly decreases as the amount of silver color increases, and is set to 0% when the amount of silver color is 100%. In the change table, for example, as shown in FIG. 11B, the transmittance may be a value larger than 0% when the amount of silver color is 100%. Further, as shown in FIG. 11C, the rate of change from the transmittance of 0% to the transmittance of 100% may be changed.

In this way, when the transmittance of the display color corresponding to the amount of silver is determined in the nth pixel, the determined transmittance is stored in the RAM 108 in association with the nth pixel (S1010). After that, it is determined whether or not the transmittance of the display color of all the pixels is determined (S1012), and if it is determined that the transmittance of the display color of all the pixels is not determined, n is incremented (S1014) and the process returns to S1006. Further, in S1012, when it is determined that all the pixels have been determined, the second conversion process is terminated and the process proceeds to S306.

In the second conversion process, the display color and the transmittance of the display color in each pixel are determined based on the metallic luster information. Therefore, the silver display image stored in the RAM 108 by the second conversion process is associated with information regarding the display color (color information) and the transmittance of the display color in each pixel.

As described above, in the second conversion process, the display ratio of the determined display color is determined according to the amount of silver color based on the metallic luster information, and the metallic luster image is converted into the silver color display image based on the determined display ratio. do. Such a second conversion process is executed by the control unit 20.

Next, the second synthesis process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing routine of the second synthesis process. When the conversion process (second conversion process) of the metallic luster image to the silver display image by S304 is completed, the process proceeds to S306, and the composition process (first) of synthesizing the color image and the silver display image acquired by the conversion process. 2 synthesis process) is performed. The combined composite image is stored in the RAM 108.

In the second compositing process, first, n = 1 (S1202), and the color information of the nth processing target pixel in the color image, that is, the RGB values (R1, G1, B1) in the present embodiment are acquired. (S1204). Further, the color information of the nth processing target pixel in the silver display image, that is, in the present embodiment, the RGB values (R2, G2, B2) and the transmittance are acquired (S1206). Note that S1204 and S1206 may be executed in parallel or may be executed in a different order. Further, the acquisition of the information from the processing target pixel is executed by the control unit 20 as in the first synthesis processing.

Then, based on the acquired color information and transmittance, the composite value in the nth processing target pixel is acquired (S1208). That is, in S1208, when the transmittance is α and the transmittance α is 0 ≦ α ≦ 100, the composite value (Rout, Gout, Bout) is calculated by the following equation.
Rout = {α x R1 + (100-α) x R2} / 100
Gout = {α x G1 + (100-α) x G2} / 100
Bout = {α x B1 + (100-α) x B2} / 100

The composite value acquired in this way is stored in the RAM 108 in association with the nth pixel, and the image in which the composite value (color information) is associated with each pixel is saved as a composite image (preview image data) in the RAM 108. NS. The process of acquiring such a composite value is executed by the control unit 20 as in the first composite process. That is, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 converts the metallic luster image into a silver display image in which the transparency of the display color changes according to the amount of silver, and generates a composite image based on the silver display image and the color image. Functions as a generator.

When the composite value of the nth processing target pixel is acquired, it is determined whether or not the composite value of all the pixels has been acquired (S1210). If it is determined that all the pixels have not been acquired, n is incremented (S1212) and the process returns to S1204. Further, in S1210, when it is determined that all the pixels have been acquired, the second synthesis process is terminated and the process proceeds to S308.

In the composite image generated by the processing of S308, when displayed on the display unit 26, the stronger the metallic luster, the more the color information in the silver display image is emphasized, and the weaker the metallic luster, the more the color information in the color image is emphasized. .. As a result, the user can recognize the image located below the color metallic region where the metallic luster is exhibited, and can more clearly recognize the degree of gloss of the color metallic region in the actually recorded image.

As described above, the image processing apparatus 200 determines the display color that can be displayed on the display unit 26 based on the metallic luster information. At this time, the display color is determined to be a color different from the color constituting the color metallic region to which the metallic luster is given. Then, the transmittance of the display color is changed according to the amount of silver based on the metallic luster information, and the metallic luster image is converted into the silver display image. Then, based on the display color (color information of the silver display image), the transmittance, and the color information of the color image, the color information in each pixel of the composite image for preview display on the display unit 26 is acquired. As a result, in the generated composite image, the difference in the amount of metallic luster in the color metallic region is expressed by the difference in the transmittance of the display color.

With such a configuration, in the image processing device 200, in addition to the action and effect of the image processing device 10, in the image recorded on the recording medium, an image located below the color metallic region in which metallic luster is exhibited is displayed. Can be recognized. Therefore, it is possible to confirm the degree of luster while recognizing the position of metallic luster in the recording result more clearly.

(Third Embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15. In the following description, the same or equivalent configuration as the above-mentioned image processing apparatus 10 will be described in detail by using the same reference numerals.

The image processing device 300 according to the third embodiment is different from the above-mentioned image processing device 10 in the following points. That is, in the conversion process of S304 in the display process, the metallic luster image is converted into a silver display image in which the coverage of the display color is changed according to the amount of silver color for each pixel. Further, in the synthesis process of S306 in the display process, the composite value is determined based on the coverage and the composite image is acquired. Hereinafter, the conversion process and the composition process in the image processing apparatus 300 will be described in detail. The conversion process and the synthesis process in the present embodiment will be referred to as a third conversion process and a third synthesis process in the following description.

First, the third conversion process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing routine of the third conversion process. In the third conversion process, first, the display color representing the metallic luster information is determined (S1302), then n = 1 (S1304), and the silver color amount in the nth processing target pixel is acquired (S1302). S1306). Since the processing contents of S1302 to S1306 are the same as the processing of S602 to S606 described above, the description thereof will be omitted.

After that, the coverage of the display color is determined according to the acquired amount of silver (S1308). That is, in S1308, for example, as shown in FIG. 14A, the coverage is determined based on the change table showing the coverage per unit area of the display color according to the amount of silver. In this change table, the display color is constant with the display color determined in S1302. The coverage is 0% when the amount of silver is 0%, linearly increases as the amount of silver increases, and is 100% when the amount of silver is 100%. In the change table, for example, as shown in FIG. 14B, the coverage may be set to a value smaller than 100% when the amount of silver color is 100%. This makes it possible to display the circuit image together with the RGB image even when the amount of silver color is close to 100%, such as when a circuit image is recorded with metallic ink. Further, as shown in FIG. 14C, the rate of change of the coverage from 0% to 100% may be changed.

In this way, when the coverage of the display color according to the amount of silver is determined in the nth pixel, the determined coverage is stored in the RAM 108 in association with the nth pixel (S1310). After that, it is determined whether or not the coverage of the display color has been determined for all the pixels (S1312), and if it is determined that the coverage of the display color has not been determined for all the pixels, n is incremented (S1314) and the process returns to S1306. Further, in S1312, when it is determined that all the pixels have been determined, the third conversion process is terminated and the process proceeds to S306.

In the third conversion process, the display color and the coverage of the display color in each pixel are determined based on the metallic luster information. Therefore, the silver display image stored in the RAM 108 by the third conversion process is associated with information regarding the display color (color information) and the coverage of the display color in each pixel.

As described above, in the third conversion process, the display ratio of the determined display color is determined according to the amount of silver color based on the metallic luster information, and the metallic luster image is converted into the silver color display image based on the determined display ratio. do. This third conversion process is executed by the control unit 20.

Next, the third synthesis process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing routine of the third synthesis process. When the conversion process (third conversion process) of the metallic luster image to the silver display image by S304 is completed, the process proceeds to S306, and the composition process (third) of synthesizing the color image and the silver display image acquired by the conversion process. 3 synthesis process) is performed. The acquired composite image is stored in the RAM 108.

In the third compositing process, first, n = 1 (S1502), and the color information of the nth processing target pixel in the color image, that is, the RGB values (R1, G1, B1) in the present embodiment are acquired. (S1504). Further, the color information of the nth processing target pixel in the silver display image, that is, the RGB values (R2, G2, B2) and the coverage ratio are acquired in this embodiment (S1506). Note that S1504 and S1506 may be executed in parallel or may be executed in a different order. Further, the acquisition of the information from the processing target pixel is executed by the control unit 20 as in the first synthesis processing.

Next, the acquired coverage is quantized (S1508). Quantization of coverage is performed using the known techniques described above. After that, it is determined whether or not the quantized value is "0" (S1510). When it is determined in S1510 that the value after quantization is "0", the RGB values (R1, G1, B1) of the color image acquired in S1504 are used as the composite value for the nth processing target pixel. (S1512). Then, it is determined whether or not the combined value of all pixels has been acquired (S1514), and if it is determined that all the pixels have not been acquired, n is incremented (S1516) and the process returns to S1504. Further, in S1514, when it is determined that all the pixels have been acquired, the third synthesis process is terminated and the process proceeds to S308.

On the other hand, in S1510, when it is determined that the value after quantization is not "0", the RGB values (R2, G2, B2) of the silver display image acquired in S1506 are combined with respect to the nth processing target pixel. As a value (S1518), the process proceeds to S1514. The composite value acquired in S1512 and S1518 is associated with the nth processing target pixel and stored in the RAM 108, and the image in which the composite value (color information) is associated with each pixel is a composite image in the RAM 108. It is saved as (preview image data). The process of acquiring such a composite value is executed by the control unit 20 as in the first composite process. That is, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 converts the metallic luster image into a silver display image in which the transparency of the display color changes according to the amount of silver, and generates a composite image based on the silver display image and the color image. Functions as a generator.

In the composite image displayed on the display unit 26 in the process of S308, the region where the metallic luster is exhibited is indicated by the display color based on the metallic luster information. Therefore, even if the color metallic region in which the metallic luster is exhibited is small, the user can confirm the region with high accuracy.

As described above, the image processing apparatus 300 determines the display color that can be displayed on the display unit 26 based on the metallic luster information. At this time, the display color is a color different from the color constituting the region to which the metallic luster is given. Further, the coverage of the display color according to the amount of silver based on the metallic luster information is determined, and the metallic luster image is converted into the silver display image. Then, based on the display color, the coverage, and the color information of the color image, the color information in each pixel of the composite image to be displayed on the display unit 26 is acquired. Specifically, in each pixel of the composite image, the coverage is quantized, and if the value is 0, the RGB value of the color image is used as color information, and if the value is not 0, the RGB value of the silver display image is used. Was used as color information. As a result, in the generated composite image, the difference in the amount of metallic luster in the color metallic region is expressed by the difference in the coverage of the display color.

As described above, the image processing apparatus 300 exhibits the same effects as those of the image processing apparatus 10. Further, in the image processing apparatus 300, even when the amount of silver color is small, the user can be made to recognize the region where the metallic luster is exhibited with higher accuracy.

(Other embodiments)
The above-described embodiment may be modified as described in (1) to (6) below.

(1) In the above embodiment, in S602 of the conversion process, a color different from the color constituting the color metallic region in which the metallic luster image is located is determined, but the color is not limited to this. The display color that can be displayed on the display unit 26 may be determined to be an approximate color of a generally recognized metallic color. For example, if it is silver, (R, G, B) = (192,192,192), and if it is gold, (R, G, B) = (255,215,0). As a result, even when a plurality of users are checking the preview display, it is difficult for a difference in recognition among the plurality of users to occur.

Further, the color image of the recorded data may be analyzed, and among the colors different from the colors constituting the color metallic region, the colors not used in the color image may be determined as the display color. In this case, the position of metallic luster in the recording result is displayed in a unique color. As a result, the user can more easily recognize information such as the position of the region where the metallic luster is exhibited.

When determining a color that is not used in the color image as a display color, a range in the color space may be set with reference to the color used in the color image. For example, in the LAB color space, a color having a color difference (delta E) with respect to the color used in the color image is set to "10" or more. Further, a threshold value such that the total difference from each signal value such as RGB value is “30” or more may be set. In this case, the time for performing the color space conversion operation can be reduced by performing the color space of the recorded data. Further, weighting may be performed for each signal value, and the total may be calculated by multiplying the weight when performing the total calculation of the signal values. As a result, it is possible to improve the determination speed and the determination accuracy at the same time.

In addition, the user may set the display color. If the display color set by the user is a color close to the color that constitutes the color metallic area and is difficult to recognize at the time of display, the user is notified to that effect. You may be prompted to change the color. Alternatively, the color may be automatically changed to a different color (a color that is easy to check). As a result, even when the display color is set by the user, information such as the position of the region where the metallic luster appears in the recorded image can be recognized with high accuracy in the preview display.

(2) In the first embodiment, the silver amount is "0" after the silver amount is acquired from the metallic luster image together with the RGB values from the color image and the silver display image in the processing target pixel in the first synthesis process. The composite value was obtained by judging whether or not it was, but it is not limited to this. First, the amount of silver is obtained from the metallic luster image, and if the amount of silver is "0", the RGB value is obtained from the color image and this RGB value is used as the composite value. The RGB value may be acquired from the silver display image, and this RGB value may be used as a composite value.

(3) In the second embodiment, in the second conversion process, the display color is kept constant and the transmittance of the display color is changed, but the present invention is not limited to this. The transmittance may be constant, and the display color may be changed according to the amount of silver color as in the first embodiment.

(4) In the above embodiment, a compositing process for synthesizing a color image and a silver display image is executed, and the composite image obtained by this compositing process is displayed on the display unit 26, but the present invention is not limited to this. .. A color image and an image in which the display color is changed according to the amount of silver in the region where metallic luster is exhibited may be displayed alternately. Specifically, in the process of S308, the color image and the composite image are displayed alternately. This makes it easier for the user to recognize the difference between the color image and the composite image, and can recognize the region where the metallic luster is exhibited with higher accuracy.

Further, the compositing process of S306 may be omitted, and the color image and the silver display image may be displayed alternately in the process of S308. In this case, since there is a time when only the region where the metallic luster is exhibited is displayed, it is difficult for the user to overlook even if the region is small. In this case, in the second embodiment and the third embodiment, an image of only a region in which metallic luster is exhibited is generated from the composite image, and the image and the color image are displayed alternately.

Further, by continuously switching and displaying the color image and the silver display image (or the composite image) a predetermined number of times, the user recognizes that the region where the metallic luster is exhibited remains on the color image as a residual effect. be able to. This makes it possible to more clearly recognize the region where the metallic luster is exhibited.

(5) The image processing devices 10, 200, and 300 are provided with a display unit 26 for preview-displaying the processed image. In this case, the image processing devices 10, 200, and 300 are image processing devices that process the recorded image so that it can be displayed on the display unit 26, and also include a display unit 26 that displays the composite image acquired by the processing. Functions as a display device. However, in the image processing device according to the present invention, the display unit 26 may be provided separately from the image processing devices 10, 200, 300 and the recording device 100. As a result, the image processing devices 10, 200, and 300 function only as an image processing device that processes the recorded image so that it can be displayed on the display unit 26. In this case, the processing of S302, S304, and S306 of the display processing is executed by the image processing apparatus, and the processing of S308 is executed by the display unit. When the display unit 26 is provided separately, the image processing device determines in the control unit 20 what format the display unit 26 outputs, and the image is in a format according to the determination result. May be processed.

(6) The image processing apparatus according to the present invention may be configured so that the display processing according to each of the above-described embodiments can be selectively executed. Further, in the above embodiment, the transmittance and the coverage are changed linearly (that is, continuously) in the conversion table, but they may be changed stepwise.

The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or device via a network or storage medium, and one or more processors in the computer of the system or device reads and executes the program. It can also be realized by the processing to be performed. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

10, 200, 300 Image processing device 20 Control unit 26 Display unit

Claims (15)

A preview image is displayed on the display device based on image data for recording a color metallic image including a color metallic region formed by superimposing a metallic ink containing metal particles and a color ink containing a coloring material. A generation means for generating preview image data for
A control means that controls the display device to display the preview image based on the preview image data generated by the generation means, and a control means.
It is an image processing device having
An image processing apparatus characterized in that the color representing the color metallic region in the preview image data is different from the color constituting the color metallic region in the image data. Claim 1 is characterized in that the difference in the amount of metallic luster in the color metallic region in the image data is represented by at least one of a difference in lightness and a difference in saturation in the same hue in the preview image data. The image processing apparatus according to. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the color constituting the color metallic region is the color ink applied to record the color metallic region. The image data is characterized by including color metallic image data for recording the color metallic region and color image data for recording a color image having no metallic luster using the color ink. The image processing apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 3. The generation means acquires the amount of the metallic ink given to record the color metallic region based on the color metallic image data, and in the preview image data based on the acquired amount of the metallic ink. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the preview image data is generated by determining a color representing the color metallic region. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the relationship between the gradation of the color representing the color metallic region determined by the generation means and the amount of the metallic ink is linear. The generation means is characterized in that the preview image data is generated by replacing the color of the pixel corresponding to the color metallic region in the color image data with a color representing the determined color metallic region. The image processing apparatus according to 5. The image processing according to claim 1, wherein the difference in the amount of metallic luster in the color metallic region in the image data is expressed by the difference in transmittance or the difference in coverage in the preview image data. Device. The image according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the reflectance of the specularly reflected light is higher than the reflectance of the diffusely reflected light in the image in which the metallic ink is applied on the recording medium. Processing equipment. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the image data is data for recording using the color inks of a plurality of colors. The metallic ink has a metal particle content of 0.1% by mass or more and 30.0% by mass or less.
The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the metal particles are any of gold, silver, and copper, and the particle size is 1 nm or more and 200 nm or less. A preview image is displayed on the display device based on image data for recording a color metallic image including a color metallic region formed by superimposing a metallic ink containing metal particles and a color ink containing a coloring material. Generation process to generate preview image data for
An image processing method including a display step of displaying the preview image on the display device based on the preview image data generated in the generation step.
An image processing method characterized in that the color representing the color metallic region in the preview image data is different from the color constituting the color metallic region in the image data. A preview image is displayed on the display means based on image data for recording a color metallic image including a color metallic region formed by superimposing a metallic ink containing metal particles and a color ink containing a coloring material. An image processing device that generates preview image data for
It has a display means capable of displaying the preview image based on the preview image data generated by the image processing apparatus.
A display device characterized in that the color representing the color metallic region in the preview image data is different from the color constituting the color metallic region in the image data. The image data includes color metallic image data for recording the color metallic region and color image data for recording a color image having no metallic luster using the color ink.
The display device according to claim 13, wherein the display means switches and displays a color image based on the color image data and the preview image based on the preview image data. A program for operating a computer as the image processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

Images