Spot Meets Dot (Halftone Proofing)

Improved spot color capabilities render digital halftone proofing a viable choice for package printers.

by Jessica Millward, Associate Editor

The brand-heralding nature of today's packaging mandates the use of signature colors and spot-color savvy in its proofers. Historically, this has been the rub in digital halftone technology's relationship with package printing. But with a new supplier commitment to R&D for the packaging market, halftone proofing's presence is definitely on the rise.

In with insiders

Suppliers in general report a greater percentage of sales to tradeshops than printers. CreoScitex Marketing Director, Digital Proofing Mark Vanover notes his company's sales split "[is] somewhat dominated by sales to tradeshops and prepress providers." Likewise, at Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Product Manager Ken Theodos states over 90 percent of systems sold into packaging applications are made to prepress providers.

Why the gap? Perhaps printers have held fast to the one non-packaging-friendly trait of earlier models. As Don Schroeder, senior product development manager, color proofing, Fuji Graphic Systems Division, relates, "Reservations have been based on the device's inability to accurately simulate or create PMS spot colors."

With an invigorated interest in the packaging sector, suppliers are actively seeking to rectify that problem. Fuji, according to Schroeder, has been actively pursuing the packaging market for the last year or two, and has already inked a deal with Pantone to produce color libraries for its FINALPROOF halftone device, enabling Pantone-certified PMS builds.

CreoScitex confronts spot colors with its Color Combiner software package within the Prinergy DFE workflow. Vanover asserts the software, when used with the Proofsetter Spectrum, represents special colors through the creation of AM screens with FM spots. This technology, he maintains, "allows the user to better represent spot colors while preserving the integrity of screen angles and trapping information."

For the Approval XP System, Kodak launched Recipe Color technology at drupa 2000. (See below.) This software can define and create millions of spot colors, without the need for extra donors in inventory.

Color faithful

Proponents often cite verifiability as a chief benefit of digital halftone proofing. Because the CMYK colorant sets match the process colors used on press, color control is fairly simple. In a pira-sponsored presentation regarding the value of digital halftone proofing, Kodak's Worldwide Product Line Manager William DeMarco contends, "Other technologies…process the image through four-dimensional look-up tables that cannot be verified by measuring the proof."

DeMarco also firmly supports the utility of the dot structure in the proof. He attests: "By looking at the proof with a loupe, the reviewer of color showing proofs to a customer can instruct the prepress operator to adjust a specific dot area of the tone scale by a specific amount. This precision communication … reduces proof cycles."

While some package printers might argue that the proof's focus should lie in color fidelity, rather than dot structure, Vanover questions, "Why sacrifice one over the other when you can have both?…[Printers] will find that both color fidelity and dot structure can be achieved in large format digital halftone proofing."

Polaroid Graphics Imaging Marketing Communications Manager Kevin Hooper concurs, stating, "Color fidelity and dot structures are directly linked." He argues a non-halftone proof is only a simulation, and not really an accurate representation of what the customer will see on press.

The burgeoning credibility halftone systems gain with package printers promises a steady flow of product improvements. Schroeder reveals Fuji is in the early testing phases of four new color donors for the FINALPROOF system—red, blue, green, and orange are in the development cycle. Polaroid recently introduced SpotOn software, to enable proofing of spot color separations with CMYK ink sheets on the company's PolaProof and Prediction halftone devices. To capitalize on Color Combiner's capabilities, CreoScitex plans to port the software to its other DFEs, so any workflow can make use of its benefits.

Remote control

To supplement the hard proof process, both traditional proofing suppliers, and relatively new, specialty companies have been developing remote proofing solutions. In one case, they're doing it together: Imation and RealTimeProof recently announced their collaboration on MatchPrint Virtual, intended to create MatchPrint-quality proofs on a monitor.

The RealTimeProof product, manufactured by parent company RealTimeImage, allows the various players in a print job to view and approve proofs online, in real time. Chris Gulker, VP, marketing, says the suite supports graphics formats common to packaging, and handles custom colors and some metallics.

One of its chief assets, Gulker remarks, is accessibility: "The ASP allows users to start immediately, without investing in, or having to maintain, hardware and software."

Software developer Group Logic offers two remote proofing products for the print media industry: MassTransit Enterprise, for physical proofs at remote devices within customer locations; and Imagexpo, softproofing software enabling customer and printer to simultaneously view a proof and annotate it.

Group Logic VP, Marketing/Sales Andy Lewis says many of his customers find the software-based solution more cost-effective than an ASP. For those who do prefer the ASP model, Group Logic suggests the Service Providers Edition of its MassTransit software.

Schawk's color Recipe

Though his background is in the commercial printing industry, Bob James quickly learned the critical value color accuracy takes when it comes to product packaging. As director of operations for packaging prepress provider Schawk, Kalamazoo, James recognizes any deviation from signature color can translate into disaster for product sales. As he contends, "If the color looks faded or it doesn't match the customer's expectation, the consumer is going to think the product is old or aged. If the color is too dark, they'll think it is a knock-off by some off-brand company."

Add substrate concerns to the mix and color precision becomes even tougher to achieve. To maximize its range of colors available on proof, Schawk invested in Kodak Polychrome Graphics' Recipe Color software for the Approval XP proofer. Winner of a 2000 GATF Intertech Award, Kodak's Recipe Color creates exact matches of Pantone colors using up to eight process colors, plus metallic gold, silver, and bronze. The Approval XP is a digital halftone proofing device showing color traps, halftone dot structures, and the effect of dot gain.

With this equipment, Schawk's proofing technician creates target color parameters and inputs them into the application. The software then generates a series of color chips approximating color the proofer has specified. The chips provide tints and shades of the color in lighter, darker, and less saturated tones.

Recipe Color's ability with metallics has proven especially useful to Schawk. James reports, "If the substrate is metallized, we can put the proof on silver using Recipe Color, lay down white over that, and then proof on top of it." That level of color accuracy, he says, allows the customer to see what their finished product will really look like.

With the Approval/Recipe Color system, Schawk was able to eliminate a costly and time-consuming element of one customer's workflow. James explains Schawk produced proofs for a six-color offset carton, in which two of the colors were corporation-specific. "We had always press proofed the carton on their stock instead of providing a digital proof," he notes. "Now we are able to go completely digital. This saved them money, and saved us a lot of time in the schedule."