Reflections on the Application of High-fidelity Color Printing Technology (I)

Introduction

Modern printing technology should start with John Gutenberg's first complete printing system, which has a history of more than 500 years. For a long period of time since the beginning of modern printing, printing houses were only able to print text and lines of a single color. Experts called the printing technology featuring this first-generation printing technology.

In the history of modern printing, there are three changes that can be called epoch-making technological advancement.

The first change began in the middle of the 18th century. Due to the use of photo technology, the exposure of the printing plate formed different shades of different parts, which could carry inks of different thicknesses, achieving a continuous change of tone similar to the effect of the photo. Image printing (see Figure 1).

Photographic technology has been introduced into the process of printing plate making. The continuity of printed image tone has become the main content of technological advancement. Therefore, as the mark of the epoch-making printing technology, the printing technology represented by it is the second generation.

The second change began in the early 20th century. With the help of the development of optical and chemical technologies, the photographic color separation technology created a color print production process and realized the full-color image printing and copying. Computer technology and laser technology made electrical extensions in the 1970s, allowing the printing industry to apply analog circuits and later-implemented digital circuits to control color separation printing (see Figure 2).

The screening and four-color separation technologies necessary for printing full-color images have become typical technical innovations. Therefore, the printing technology represented by the company is the third generation, and it is believed that it has since entered the era of modern printing technology.

The third change is the research and application of high-fidelity color printing technology that began at the end of the 20th century. It completely broke through the limitations of the conventional four-color printing color gamut, and made the printing color effect closer to the natural spectrum color visual effect. It mainly benefits from the popularization of high-speed and large-capacity computers and the theoretical research and technical application of colorimetry.

The color separation technology has undergone a revolutionary change, and high-fidelity color printing technology has begun to enter printing production applications. High-definition screening technologies and equipment have also been featured in printing companies. Marked by the high fidelity of printed copy images, the printing industry began its fourth-generation printing technology (see Figure 3).

(to be continued)