JPH1198375A - Process for characteristic print and printed matter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a preparation method for characteristic print for processing a stamp or an art object being a high grade characteristic printed matter and the printed matter by using a characteristic decomposition picture processing system. SOLUTION: In this characteristic decomposition picture processing system, black components including gray components in a certain level are preliminarily removed before characteristic decomposition for an original in which the overlap of characteristic is largely generated, a characteristic decomposition processing is operated to picture data constituted of remaining chromatic color 3 components, and the black components including the gray components are added to the characteristic decomposed picture data for operating characteristic preparation. Thus, a clear printed matter in which the overlap of colors and the impurity of a color can be reduced can be obtained. Also, not only complete black but also black including the chromatic color components, for example, bluish black or reddish black can be used as black components to be preliminarily removed according to the color tone. Thus, the merits of the characteristic print can be emphasized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plate making method for special color printing for producing stamps and fine arts, which are high-quality special color prints, using a special color separation apparatus, and a printed material thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A general color print is a process printing method using three colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow generated from a color original through three primary color separations, and four colors of ink with black added thereto. It is printed by. On the other hand, high-quality printed materials such as stamps and artworks are printed using several types of special color inks that match the original image, and advanced printing is performed, such as reproducing subtle shades and color ranges that can not be reproduced by process printing. .

In the process printing method, color separation can be easily performed by using a color scanner. On the other hand, the color separation for special color printing is performed by a skilled person having a long-standing traditional technology accumulated up to now. Performs color separation of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black by camera photography or a color scanner using a filter, and uses the color separation image as a negative and prints on photographic paper, based on the one with the most similar hue. , Each of which requires separation of any special color and manual preparation of plates, requires many years of experience, requires a lot of plate making time, and multi-color printing requires high-precision printing. In addition, since the selection of the ink density of each arbitrary color is determined by a skilled person, the perfection of the product depends on the ability of the skilled person.

[0004] At present, computer image processing technology has been rapidly developed, and it has become possible to perform special color separation using a computer. As a special color separation device currently being developed, for example, there is a special color separation device of BARCO. Special color separation can be easily performed by designating a special color in advance and inputting the data of the superposition of the colors of the special colors to a computer. In the spot color separation by the spot color separation apparatus, an underlay production (manual operation) by a conventional method is performed on a computer, and accurate color classification can be realized. However, there are some difficulties in producing an actual product only by the special color separation of this device. For example, a stamp is not just a product in which a manuscript is reduced to a stamp size, but a piece or a good-looking piece when the stamp size is reached.

[0005] For an original with little overlap between spot colors or an original with no gray component (achromatic color), a sufficient separation can be obtained by spot color separation with the current spot color separation software. Documents with components (achromatic)
There is a need for improvements such as increased color overlap, turbidity in the color of printed matter, and sharpness. In this way, computer-based spot color separation does not incorporate the handicraft techniques of skilled people with many years of traditional technology, so that it is not inferior to the quality compared to spot color prints by skilled workers. Had not been reached.

[0006]

An image represented by four-component ink color characteristics of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, or an image represented by three-component spectral characteristics of R, G, and B is used by a computer. In the case of special color separation, for example, if a special color ink used for printing is subjected to a special color separation process that includes an achromatic color (black color), the achromatic color will of course be separated by the achromatic ink color. Achromatic components are mixed into the special color ink. If the special color ink other than achromatic contains an achromatic component, it causes the drying of the printed matter to be delayed as the chromatic color ink film thickness increases, and the overlapping portion of the chromatic ink increases, so that the There is a problem that color reproduction becomes unstable due to a decrease in saturation and a printing position shift. In addition, the amount of chromatic ink used during printing is increased, and the cost of the ink itself is increased. Furthermore, since an image composed of four components of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black contains an achromatic color, the achromatic color interferes when selecting a special color ink,
There was a problem that it was difficult to select an accurate special color ink.

In any case, in the conventional production of a special color printing plate,
First, it is necessary to select a basic plate from the image, which is often an achromatic color that can express the most gradation in the image, so to speak, it is like a coloring plate template. It is no exaggeration to say that the degree of perfection of a printed matter is determined by the degree of perfection, but in the special color separation using a computer, the achromatic color is merely an addition with another special color ink.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention incorporates manual special color plate making technology cultivated by many years of traditional technology into a special color separation process performed by a computer, thereby enabling better special color separation. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to perform stable special color separation even by non-experts, which has conventionally depended on the skill of an expert.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an original input unit using a scanner, an image processing unit for performing processing for decomposing into a specified special color component, color tone correction, image synthesis, and the like. In spot color separation using a spot color separation image processing system consisting of a spot color data output unit that performs color calibration of spot colors using an inkjet printer, of the color separation components of the chromatic color components of cyan, magenta, and yellow and the black component that have been processed , Under color removal (hereinafter, UCR
This is a plate making method for special color printing, characterized in that only the chromatic components after processing are separated into special colors into an arbitrary number of colors.
It is a special color printed material characterized in that printing is performed using an original plate that has been subjected to plate making by the plate making method.

In the spot color separation using the spot color separation image processing system, among the color separation components of the cyan, magenta, and yellow chromatic components and the black component subjected to the process separation, the chromatic color components after the UCR process are further processed. A plate making method for special color printing characterized by adding a part of an arbitrary chromatic color component to a black component after UCR processing, and decomposing the remaining chromatic color components into an arbitrary number of special colors. This is a special color printed material characterized by being printed using an original plate that has undergone plate making.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the present invention, a special color separation image processing system removes a black component including a certain gray component in advance from a document with many overlapping special colors before the special color separation, and removes the remaining chromatic color 3 components. For the image data composed of the components, a special color separation process is performed based on the special color specified in advance, and the special color plate making is performed by adding the black component including the gray component to the color data, so that the color overlap is small and the color is turbid. And a clear printed matter with less color can be obtained. In addition, the black component to be removed in advance is not necessarily completely black, and the advantage of special color printing is emphasized by using black containing a chromatic component, such as bluish black or reddish black, according to the color tone of the document. You can also.

The plate making method for spot color printing according to the present invention is used when a spot color separation using a computer is performed on an original having many overlapping spot colors or an original having a gray component (achromatic color). By removing the gray component in the chromatic components in advance before performing the color separation, the image data of the chromatic components of cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) excluding the achromatic color can be obtained. Obtained, by performing special color separation based on this image data, a skilled person can perform color separation comparable to that of a special color separation plate manufactured by hand-made color separation, and because achromatic components are removed. Relatively bright ink can be selected.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a special color separation image processing system used in the present invention, in which a scanner (1) serving as a document input unit;
An image processing unit (2) that performs processing for decomposing into a specified special color component, color tone correction, image synthesis, and the like; a special color data output unit (3) that performs color correction of a special color using an inkjet printer; a film recorder, a scanner, or It comprises an output machine (4) such as a direct plate making machine.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 2 is a flowchart for preparing a plate-making master for special color printing according to the present invention. When performing special color separation using the special color separation image processing system as shown in FIG. 1, first, color image information of an original is read by a scanner (1), and an image represented by three components of R, G, and B is read. Create data. Next, the image data is subjected to process decomposition by the image processing function of the image processing unit (2), and the densities of the obtained four components of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (BL) are determined. The first density value data (C,
M, Y, BL).

Next, the first density value data (C, M,
Y, BL) to remove the gray component
Density obtained by subtracting a fixed percentage of the smallest density value among the chromatic color component density value data (C, M, Y) of the first density value data from each of the chromatic color component density values using the R method. Value data (C ^* , M ^* , Y ^* ) and density value data (BL ^* ) obtained by adding the subtracted data to the black (BL) of the first density value data. The density value data is synthesized and the second density value data (C ^* ,
M ^* , Y ^* , BL ^* ). The second density value data (C ^* , M ^* , Y ^* , BL ^* ) is converted into an image A composed of density value data of three chromatic components (C ^* , M ^* , Y ^* ) and a density of a black component. The image is divided into an image B composed of value data (BL ^* ), and an image A is used as a spot color separation document.

In the image processing section (2), a special color separation process is performed on the basis of a special color specified in advance, and the image A obtained by the special color separation is converted into third density value data (T ¹ , T ² ,...).
T ⁿ ). The black component density value data (BL ^* ) in the second density value data is added to the third density value data (T ¹ , T ² ,..., T ⁿ ), and the special color separation density value data (T ¹ , T ² ,... T ⁿ , BL ^* )
Get.

Next, in the special color data output section (3), the obtained special color separation density value data (T ¹ , T ² ,... T ⁿ , B
L ^* ), the color of the image D is calibrated, the colors are compared,
If adjustment is necessary again, the spot color is changed or the number of spot colors is changed, and the same operation is repeated thereafter to produce an appropriate spot color printing image.

Based on the special color separation density value data (T ¹ , T ² ,..., T ⁿ , BL ^* ) for which final color proofing has been completed, an output machine such as a film recorder, a scanner, or a direct plate making machine is used. Then, a color separation plate for each special color is prepared and used as a master, and the master is used for special color printing to obtain a special color printed object of the present invention.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 shows a case where a black containing a chromatic component, for example, a reddish black or a bluish black is used among black components when producing an original plate for special color printing of the present invention. It is a flowchart. When performing special color separation using the special color separation image processing system as shown in FIG. 1, first, color image information of an original is read by a scanner (1), and an image represented by three components of R, G, and B is read. Create data. Next, the image data is subjected to process decomposition by the image processing function of the image processing section (2), and the obtained densities of the four components of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (BL) are determined by 1 density value data (C,
M, Y, BL).

Next, in order to remove gray components from the first density value data, the chromatic component density value data (C,
M, Y), when a certain percentage of the smallest density value is subtracted from the chromatic component density values, an arbitrary chromatic component, for example, a part (c, m, y) of a reddish component is also subtracted at the same time. Density data (C ^# -c, M ^# -m, Y ^# -y)
And density value data (BL ^# + c + m + y) obtained by adding the subtracted value to black (BL) of the first density value data.
By doing so, the second density value data (C ^# −c, M ^#
-M, Y ^# -y, BL ^# + c + m + y). The second density value data (C ^# -c, M ^# -m, Y ^# -y, BL ^# + c
+ M + y) is converted to density value data (C ^# −
c, M ^# -m, Y ^# -y) and density value data (BL ^# + c + m +) of black components including chromatic components.
y), and the image A 'is used as a special color separation document.

In the image processing section (2), a special color separation process is performed on the basis of a special color specified in advance, and the image obtained by separating the special color of the image A 'into third density value data (T ^{# 1} , T ^{# 2} ,
.. T ^{# n} ). Third concentration value data ^{(T # 1, T # 2} , ... T #n) to the second density value density value data of the black component in the data ^{(BL # + c + m +} y) was added, featured exploded density value data ( T ^{# 1} , T ^{# 2} , ... T ^#n , BL ^#
+ C + m + y).

Next, in the spot color data output section (3), the obtained spot color separation density value data (T ^{# 1} , T ^{# 2} ,... T ^#n , B
L ^# + c + m + y) is calibrated, the colors are compared, the colors are compared, and if adjustment is necessary again, the spot color or the number of spot colors is changed. Create special spot color printing images.

The spot color separation density value data (T ^{# 1} , T ^{# 2} ,..., T ^#n , BL ^# + c + m +
On the basis of y), a color separation plate for each special color is prepared as an original by using an output machine (4) such as a film recorder, a scanner or a direct plate making machine, and the special color is printed using the original. Obtain the target spot color print.

[0024]

As described in detail above, the conventional special color printing plate preparation required a high level of skill, but in the present invention, a special color printing plate which has been cultivated through many years of traditional techniques utilizing a computer. By incorporating the below fabrication technology into the special color separation process performed by computer, better special color separation becomes possible,
It is possible to accurately and easily perform a special color separation having a quality comparable to that of a special color composition prepared by a skilled composition creator. The gray component of the obtained special color print is included in the density value (BL ^* ) where the black density value (BL) is increased by the under color removal method, and the special color component is excluded because the achromatic component is excluded. Vivid inks can be selected, resulting in a smaller amount of ink, improving ink drying properties during printing, and reducing color turbidity by minimizing the necessity of superimposition of spot colors on the obtained printed matter. High saturation can be obtained.

Further, when the original of the image data represented by the three components of R, G, and B is processed and converted into cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (BL), By changing the value of the component conversion table, it is possible to correspond to black containing chromatic components in addition to fixed black (BL), and obtain printed matter as close to the original as possible without increasing the number of special colors Thus, it is possible to quickly perform the spot color separation for printing a spot color such as a stamp using the spot color separation image processing system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a special color separation image processing system.

FIG. 2 is a process diagram of a spot color separation method showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a process diagram of a spot color separation method showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Scanner 2 Image processing part 3 Special color data output part 4 Output machine

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification symbol FI // B41C 1/00 H04N 1/46 Z

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An original input unit using a scanner, an image processing unit that performs processing for decomposing into a specified special color component, color tone correction, image synthesis, and the like, and a special color data output unit that performs color calibration of a special color using an inkjet printer. In the special color separation using the special color separation image processing system, of the color separation components of cyan, magenta, and yellow and the black component after the process separation, only the chromatic color component after the under color removal processing has an arbitrary number of colors. A plate making method for spot color printing, characterized in that spot color separation is performed. 2. In the spot color separation using the spot color separation image processing system according to claim 1, after under color removal processing of the color separation components of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black components processed and separated, Of the chromatic color components of the above, further adds a part of an arbitrary chromatic color component to the black component after the under color removal processing, and decomposes the remaining chromatic color components into an arbitrary number of special colors. Plate making method. 3. A special color printed matter, wherein printing is performed using an original plate that has been subjected to plate making by the plate making method for special color printing according to claim 1 or 2.