Print Experts Asia Pacific

Blogs are time consuming

2011-12-23T10:16:00.001+05:30

It's true that blogs take up a lot of time. And that's why some of the graphic arts sites pay people to write blogs. I have considered this as well and it's not a bad idea but if we did implement this the price per entry would have to be something that corresponded with our economy -- with the price of things in India. Since blogs work across boundaries our Indian rates and Indian currency may be deemed a very small reward or even motivator for people from across the world to share their ideas.

Maybe we could get into some other kind of currency such as 'bitcoins' which I read about in a magazine a few months ago. Bitcoins are a kind of eCurrency and are being traded in United States and I suppose you could look it up on google and figure it out and even get rich. I do think that we Indians have a talent for this kind of stuff and we seem to have the time assets and mental assets to conjure value out of nothing. Even our companies have done well with carbon credits which are an environment currency that is tradable.

While the above comment has turned into a bit of an aside or tangential early morning contemplation, the real purpose of this blog is to inform and update the printing community about technology in general and standardisation in particular. There is a bit of news on this front.

Dr Rajendrakumar Anayath, Venkataramana Rotti and I have been talking to some of the faculty at RIT and one of the students there about a survey they want to do to asses the Indian printing industry's interest and knowledge in colour process printing standards and certification. We have decided to help this student Lekha Lokhande, in her project, which will also hopefully yield a serious and objective idea about where our leading printers are, and how they see the future in respect to colour print standardisation and certification.

The survey will take place largely in January 2012 and we should have results by March. I encourage the Indian technical experts to encourage the leaders of the print community to take part in this exercise. Taking part does not mean you agree or approve -- the survey questions I think have room to reflect your views even if your view is that standardisation is unnecessary or too expensive or simply a pipe dream.

On the other hand, for those of you who see the need for standardisation and certification this is a chance to revive your knowledge and to show your interest by taking this survey. We at IPP with our two magazines and with IppStar plan to revive the discussion with articles in the magazines and on our websites. By the way, I meet young second and third generation printers every week who seem to very excited by ideas that take the industry forward in a scientific and objective way. They are keen to build processes in the plants and to educate their human resources. And this is why I am optimistic about the colour standards movement and discussion that has been slow to take root in our printing industry.

As some of you know, we conducted the Monsoon Summits on the 12647-2 standard in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in July 2009 -- during the monsoon rains. Then we held a meeting during the Pamex exhibition in January 2010 when some of us decided that we had to build a technical advisory group so that we could begin talking to the Bureau of Indian Standards and this would allow us to participate in the TC130 group of the ISO which is working on the standard and developing it further.

The idea was 'to get inside the tent' instead of criticising the standard from outside. It took us a while and with the efforts of Parshav Jain and Venkataramana Rotti we were able to participate in the BIS meetings on the print industry. I confess that I went to very few meetings even after roping Tarun Chopra into attending some of them. Rajendranath Anayath also attended at least one meeting. Parshav went abroad to study further, but Tarun and Venkat have attended some of the BIS meetings. The attitude of the BIS is very friendly and emphathetic but the printing industry by and large apart from these individuals, has been too busy to take part. I am of course putting this more politely than I normally do.

In the meantime, Venkataramana Rotti has attended several of TC130 meetings which take place around the world. He has done this at his own cost without any financial support from anyone so now one Indian technical person takes part on behalf of all of us, in this important activity. I won't say anymore. In any case, now this standards survey is taking place driven by an Indian student at RIT and the RIT faculty. This could be a time to revive our standardisation movement. As a first step let's take part in the survey and then, let us keep our thinking caps on and take our industry forward not in the little steps and struggles that we are individually making and have to make every day, but also toward some collective action and goals. End of sermon and Merry Christmas.

Naresh Khanna editor@ippgroup.in

How can the Indian packaging industry be greener?

2011-12-07T19:38:00.000+05:30

“Change management is always difficult, but industry has to lead, especially if there is no law that insists on change for the better.” – Vijay Gupta of Siegwerk India

Mostly, most of us do not think. We tend to repeat cliches and slogans that put us in a helpless situation in which we are always waiting for the other guy (or the government) to do something. Thus it was refreshing to talk to Vijay Gupta who admitted that industry has to lead on environment, health and safety issues. Well some of you might say Gupta or the ink company he leads has a ‘vested interest’ in talking about environment – that he wants to sell more expensive ink. Well you would be wrong.

First of all, many of you already happily buy his ink and indeed inks from the other excellent ink companies who have state of the art plants within India – DIC, Sakata, Huber-Micro, Flint, Toyo and others. All of these companies manufacture safer and more environment friendly inks than we generally buy in India. Unfortunately neither packaging buyers are insisting on greener and safer inks, nor is the government able to go into the entire gamut of complex technical, social and administrative issues which it needs to address to come up with a total cradle to grave packaging life-cycle program. The industry associations are also on the defensive about issues which are indefensible instead of coming up with a plan or a solution in which the end-users, the packaging converters, the suppliers of equipment and consumables and the government can apply their creativity and their extensive assets.

Secondly, come out of your denial of facts. Stop denying that what we do every day has intense environmental, health and safety implications. Packaging uses the overwhelming majority of paper, paperboard, plastics and films consumed in India. Fact – The Indian packaging industry will use more than 7.5 million tonnes of paper and paperboard and more than 5 million tonnes of plastics and films in the 2011-2012 financial year (Source: IppStar Indian Print Industry Survey 2011; www.ippstar.org). In comparison to the rest of the world this is not a huge amount in per capita terms. This is precisely why we could be one of the greenest packaging industries and countries in the world. But take a look at the garbage strewn everywhere; at the lack of separation of various waste materials; at the almost total absence of collection and waste recycling systems.

Thirdly, act now. Use sustainable materials as much as you can. Convince your customers to lightweight and to use materials that can be separated for recycling. When environment-friendly fountain solution concentrates and recycling systems are available in India why not use them? When process-less or low chemistry plates are available, why not use them? When low-chemistry processing and recycling systems are available why not use them? When low solvent inks are available in India why not use them? When solvent recovery systems are available why not use them? When sustainable forest sourced paper and paperboard is available why not offer to use these at least for customers who can be persuaded? And then no matter what materials you are using right from the oil for the lubrication of your machines to your film and plate chemistry to the water for dampening solutions – these are the wastes in your factory and it is your responsibility to reuse, recycle and reduce these – to treat and ultimately dispose these not in some drain or nala but responsibly. There is a lot you can do and are already doing. Speak out and send me an email about what you are doing at editor@ippgroup.in.

Naresh Khanna

The colour management movement in India needs to accelerate

2011-12-05T12:18:00.000+05:30

Over the past few years IppStar has tried to focus the Indian print industry's attention on colour management and standardisation. As some of you recall we together with Satish Nayak and Gretag-Macbeth (which later became part of X-Rite) did the colour management certificate course in Delhi and Chennai for which the main faculty was Paul Lindstrom of Digital Dots.

Then in July 2009 we conducted the Monsoon Summits in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to discuss ISO 12647 colour process standardisation. Other organisations such as Kiran Priyagi's GATE and the Heidelberg Print Media Academy have also been doing work in this area. However, as of now I only of four organisations in India that have actually achieved 12647 certification. Of these two are in prepress including Color Dot and Hemanshu Desai's organisation in Mumbai. The other two that I know of are in packaging -- Janus in Baddi and Sai Packaging in Bengaluru. I do know of one more ogranisation which is trying but met ran into some temporary technical challenges.

One achievement of sorts is that the Indians are finally at least taking part in the TC130 meetings. First a few of us got involved with the Brueau of Indian Standards because that is essential if we want to attend international meetings such as the TC130. Although I confess that I have missed all of the recent BIS meetings but the most persistent of all us has been Venkat who is now with HT-Burda. He has at considerable cost taken part in the BIS meetings and has also attended several of the TC130 meeting abroad.

Thus one could say the movement for colour standardisation is slow, sporadic and still dependent on extreme efforts by a few individuals. Our group including IppStar is planning to help RIT to do a survey soon on the colour standardisation issue. So, friends, let's see if we can get this going.

Best Practice Guide for Web Offset Printers 2

2011-09-14T18:03:00.000+05:30

Indian Printer and Publisher has beenserialising chapters from the Best Practice Guide for Web OffsetPrinters since February 2010. This is a well-illustrated how tomanual produced by the Web Offset Champion Group for both heatset andcoldset web offset printers. Meant for the pressroom, the guide hasbeen dealing with paper grades, roll handling, auto-paster andsplicer characteristics, splice patterns, and splicer and make ready.The Web Offset Champion Group consists of Aylesford Newsprint, Kodak,manroland, Megtec, Muller Martini, Nitto Denko, QuadTech, SCA, SunChemical and Trelleborg.

The first chapter that we had carriedin 13 installments was Roll to Web Processing. From March 2011 wehave been printing the second chapter from this guide — Web BreakPrevention and Diagnosis. So far we have carried the sections onEconomic impact of web breaks, Web break analysis, Web break, webwander and shift, Creases and wrinkles, Detection and control, Webbreaks in relation to production system and Web tension. The presentissue carries the section on Ambient press environment. Oursubsequent issues would carry the sections on Web breaks andmis-splices related to paster/splicer, infeed and web guide, Ink anddampening, Printing units, Heatset drying system and air turns, Chillroll stand, Folder, and Roll and paper diagnosis.

This guide developed with the help ofIFRA, aims at achieving a splice efficiency of over 99%. A valuabletool to reduce wastage in the reel room and the press room, the guidealso discusses reel storage and runnability issues. Make sure yoursubscription is up to date so that you do not miss any of thesubsequent instalments of the Web Break Prevention and DiagnosisGuide. You can order multiple copies of Indian Printer and Publisherat special rates by writing to subscribe@ippgroup.in.

Standardisation -- Getting inside the tent

2010-04-13T16:09:00.004+05:30

IPPStar has made attempts in the past year such as the Monsoon Summit in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai (July 2009) and the first proposed Technical Advisory Group meeting on January 2010 in Delhi to create awareness and discuss with Indian printers about the implementation of (ISO-12647-2) standards in multi-colour offset printing in India. During the Monsoon Summit, Alan Dresch said that “Indians need to get inside the tent” instead of loose discussion or criticism of the standards as they are still under development. It was seen as mildly shocking that one of the largest printing industries in the world is not involved in contributing to the colour printing standard.

IppStar is trying to initiate a discussion with the Bureau of Indian Standards on the need to get inside the tent or get involved in the international printing standards movement by initially attending the ISO/TC 130 meetings. Since India is an observer member of ISO/TC130 attending these meetings requires a representation from the BIS. IppStar has nominated experts from the industry to be made part of the BIS panel on printing technology. We are optimistic that at least two participants of the proposed Indian TAG meeting held in Delhi in January will attend the next ISO/TC 130 meeting to be held in St. Gallen in Switzerland from 19 to 24 April 2010. Lots more needs to be done and industry support is needed to get inside the tent on a continuous and serious basis -- to take print standardisation activities further, faster.

First Indian TAG meeting on standardisation

2010-02-01T10:52:00.004+05:30

The first Indian Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting to discuss print standardisation with a view to participation in international ISO standardisation efforts was held on the morning of 22 January at the Heidelberg stand at Pragati Maidan in the course of the Pamex exhibition. The 75 minute meeting was attended by a diverse group of print professionals and experts. It included two of the Indians who are UGRA certified for process standardisation 12647-2, and others who have been working in this area. The Amar Ujala newspaper group was also represented.

The discussion centred on the need to evolve standards and best practices locally and to participate in the International Standards Organisation’s technical committees such as the TC-130 responsible for graphic technologies. It was suggested and agreed by those present that standardisation efforts must go forward on several levels and on a widespread basis, even to the extent of developing a set of standard best practices for the majority of printers who are unable to follow or invest in the ISO 12647 standard at this time. It was also discussed and agreed that there is a need to participate in the currently evolving 12647 standards discussion by attending the TC-130 meetings that are held around the world.

Minutes of the meeting:
1. The different international committees and their role in development of printing related standards were discussed in the meeting.

2. It was agreed that more effort must be made to formally involve the Bureau of Indian Standards in these discussions and meetings which should be held at least once or twice a year in various cities around India. The BIS must also be encouraged to take part in the international discussion via Indian TAG involvement in TC-130.

3. It was agreed to make an effort to formally involve the AIFMP and other printing associations to discuss and support the standardisation activities. Suppliers of consumables and equipment must also be involved and invited to these meetings.

4. It was agreed that there should be some data gathering as to standardisation activities and compliance in the Indian print industries. Ground work should be done to invite representation and support from consumables suppliers and manufacturers.

5. A suggestion was made to create a set of basic best practices and standards with particular attention to local substrates and conditions.

6. The discussion concluded that representation is required for the next spring meeting of TC 130 meeting as observers which will be held in St. Gallen, Switzerland, from 20 – 24 April. It was agreed to encourage the widest attendance from the Indian print community and those present with a view to sharing the discussion of issues and developing a local attitude and consensus. To this end, it was suggested to formally establish an Indian TAG, define its scope, and to send out an invitation to a broad section of the industry.

7. Heidelberg PMA in Chennai volunteered to host the next meeting. However it was also suggested that it was important to hold the next meeting in Mumbai if possible.

8. The list of attendees included Dr. Rajendrakumar Anayath, Heidelberg PMA; Kiran Priyagi, GATE; Naresh Khanna and Parshav Jain of IppStar; Tarun Chopra and Satish Nayak of Colour Mechanics; R Venkat; Atul Goyal, Amit Arora, Amar Ujala.

2009-12-22T15:43:00.008+05:30

Recently, a former student asked Rajendrakumar Anayath some questions about PPI, DPI, and LPI. The good doctor who is currently head of the Heidelberg Print Academy in Chennai shared his answers with us. Readers are welcome to send us any of their technical or other questions which the IppStar technical staff will get answers for with the help of industry experts.

Most of us generally confuse the terms: PIXELS per inch (PPI) for DOTS per inch (DPI) or even LINES per inch (LPI). PIXELS per inch (PPI) exclusively refers the computer’s digital image representation. It could be how an image is comprised (in Photoshop, on the web, or displayed on a monitor), but no matter how it is depicted, it is always digital (that is -- electronic, computer, binary, etc.) and in any form, it is something you can NOT touch! (You can not pick-up a pixel with your fingers or serve a cup of pixels for breakfast.) The resolution of digital images are defined as ‘PPI’ (with a ‘P’). There is no such thing as a digital image having a ‘DPI’ resolution!

DOTS per inch (DPI) are physical (tangible) marks on media (such as paper) and are the direct results of a laser or inkjet printer. You can TOUCH a DOT (image on paper). You can NOT TOUCH a PIXEL (which is buzzing around inside the computer and bouncing off your computer screen)!
LINES per inch (LPI) is the term for resolution inherent in the offset (commercial and high volume) printing industry and is necessary for the reproduction of tonality in images by breaking down the image into larger and smaller dots using a screen of a particular frequency. Halftone screening is a modern equivalent of earlier image repro techniques such as etching, wood cuts, engraving and other line art methods used widely from the 17th through the early 20th century. These images actually comprised a lot of black lines against a light or white background. The lines that broke up the image could vary in size, thickness and direction although from a distance the human eye resolved the image as continuous and consisting of detail and tonality (shades of grey, white and black).

The more lines that could be fitted within an inch, the more fine detail appeared in the image. Most press runs use between 65 lpi and 200 lpi, depending on the coarseness of the paper (i.e. porous newspaper is 65 lpi to 85 lpi, while gloss enamel can be 133 lpi 155 lpi or higher). One of the big differences between a desktop printer’s DPI and an offset press’s LPI is that the dots (from DPI) are ALWAYS the same round size, while an offset press’s LPI relies on varying the size of each impression, as well as using non circular impressions laid down in specific directions (or degrees).

Nowadays, in the commercial printing field, the division between each is becoming more and more blurred (no pun intended), as commercial digital presses use dots so small, that when clumped together, give the same appearance as a non-concentric LPI impression.

Printing from a computer relies on two distinct and mutually exclusive entities: The computer, which uses binary data to represent, among other things, words and images; then the printer which converts electronic data into a physical product which are marks on paper (often in the form of an image). The computer, as it sends digital data out, could care less where the data is going, just as long as it transfers. (Of course we humans DO care where the data is sent: to monitors, modems, printers, etc.).

By the same token, a hardware printer could care less what information it receives, as long as long as it can convert the information into some type of mark, using ink dots on paper to illustrate an image (probably several hundred dots per inch of paper). (The results are dots on paper are tangible -- they can be touched! But you can not touch or pick-up any of the electronic, binary ‘pixels’ as they stream from the computer to the printer.)

The quality of the digital image and the quality of the physical out put are both exclusively independent of each other and mutually interdependent in optimizing the final result.

Since inkjet printers produce a stochastic image (random dot pattern), Epson recommends a file output size of 1/3 the printer’s resolution (i.e. Printer @ 720 dpi = 240 ppi, Printer @ 1440 dpi = 480 ppi). -- Any more will clog the system and degrade the image. -- Any less are insufficient data.

Also bear in mind, because inkjets (and most other colour desktop printers) rely on creating a ‘stochastic’ or random image pattern (representing each pixel with multiple clumps of ink), images produced by these printers are not conducive to being reproduced on a press or photocopy machine. (A laser printer can produce a structured dot pattern resulting in reasonably good press or photocopy quality.) Further, marketing statements as 720x1440 (or any A x B reference) tend to be misleading. The only number of true relevance is the first, lower number. The second is a synthetic interpolation used primarily by the marketing folks to try and impress us mortals and sell their product. Finally, using the appropriate and accurate terms when referring to various resolutions promotes effective communication. (Conversely, improper use of these terms merely advertises our ignorance.)

The relationship between LPI (lines per inch) and PPI (pixel per inch). In offset printing to print an 100 LPI, the input resolution what we need for the image is 200 PPI (always double the amount of LPI). For grayscale images the multiplication factor can be 1.5 times of the LPI– as per GATF documents. But many European systems say it is always better to have double the input resolution.

Relationship between LPI and DPI (dot per inch)
A normal healthy human eye can see only 256 gray levels. Any reproduction done with more than this will not be seen by the human eye, and hence could be described as a waste of time and effort.

The formula below will help us to understand and to decide on the right DPI and / or LPI we should use for our requirement. +1 ≥ 256 (Gray levels)

For example
– To print with 150 LPI we need to have the output as 2400 DPI
– To print with 80 LPI We need to use 1200 DPI. It will save the processing time enormously.
– To know an approximate DPI for a particular LPI see the below table: ( This is from our experience in CtP settings )
– 85 lpi 1024dpi
– 100 to 120 lpi 1693/2032 dpi
– 133 to 150 lpi 2540 dpi
– 175 to 200 lpi 3386 dpi
– 250 lpi and above 5040 dpi

To answer the question in the mail, if I understand it correctly: On an empirical way you can say that ‘multiply the lpi with 16’ to get the minimum resolution of the printer to be used.

For example if you use 55 lpi, the minimum resolution of the printer irrespective of whether it is a laser printer or inkjet printer should be, 55 X 16 = 880 dpi. Similarly, for 75 lpi it must be a minimum of 1200 dpi (75 X 16 = 1200).

Procedure for Complying to the ISO 12647 standards

2009-09-23T12:11:00.003+05:30

Procedure for Complying to the ISO 12647 standards
- By Ron Augustin (IPP - September - 2009)

We have already oultined the prerequisites for the application of the ISO 12647 standard in our previous articles in Indian Printer and Publisher and Packaging South Asia but are still briefly summarising these, before explaining the testing procedures used in the standardisation and certification process.

Before a company registers for ISO 12647 certification, it has to check that it has the required measurement devices and that it is capable of producing proofing and printing results within the tolerances of the standard. Usually, the certification agency (in continental Europe Ugra and Fogra certified partners, in Asia-Pacific several other certifying bodies are also coming up) will discuss and draw up a contract, in which the certification steps and examination tasks are to be described in detail. After a preparation stage, an appointment will be made with an auditor of the certifying agency, who will be present to supervise the final printing process and select both OK sheets and a set of sheets from the printrun. After an appropriate drying time, these will be controlled by the auditor and, depending on the agency, by an additional certifier. ISO 12647 certification has a validity of two years.

Audit and certification costs depend on the agency and on the kind of presses (sheet- and/or webfed) to be included in the process, but should not exceed INR 300,000 including both prepress and print production. A prepress-only certification amounts to roughly INR 150,000.

What will be tested:

Prepress
1) The company has to show that it has standard for file acceptance and communication with customer for print quality and colour managed file exchange.
2) In data processing, it has to show its capability of processing, checking and correcting intake data for faultless print preparation.
3) In colour management, the company has to show that it is capable of handling colour profiles and that it has understood the principles of colour management and its implementation including control of output curves on its platemaking device.
3) In proofing, it has to show that it is capable of performing a print simulation consistent with customer specifications and that it is able to demonstrate its colour consistency metrologically.

Print production
1) In platemaking, the company has to show that it is able to create printing plates that are equipped with adequate control elements to be checked with suitable measurement tools. It also has to show that it is capable of maintaining consistent exposure results over a longer period of time and that it is able to compensate batch variations at any time.
2) In makeready, the company has to show that it can produce an OK sheet in a suitable setup process within the acceptable ISO 12647 tolerances.
3) In print run stability, it has to prove its capability of controlling, monitoring and maintaining a stable print run, keeping variations within the acceptable ISO 12647 tolerances.

How to get involved in the development of the ISO standard

2009-09-11T18:21:00.002+05:30

How to get involved in the development of the ISO standard - By Ron Augustin (IPP - August - 2009)

The next two meetings of ISO’s Technical Committee on Graphic Technologies, TC 130, will be held in September 2009 in Beijing and in February 2010 in Miami. Although there are other Technical Committees concerned with our industry, such as TC 6 (paper, board and pulp), TC 42 (photography) and TC 171 (document management applications), participants at the Monsoon Summit on ISO 12647 recently held in three cities across India stressed the need of Indian involvement in TC 130 for a more balanced representation in global print colour perceptions.
If the Indian printing industry is serious about standardisation, it has to act fast and, if the deadline for September is too close, make sure it will be in the February meeting.
The procedure to get there is as follows:

ISO is a network of ‘national bodies’ (NBs), i.e., the national standards institutes of some 160 countries, of which the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is one. Although participation in ISO is open to all, there is a protocol that must be observed. For each Technical Committee, the NB can choose to be a P (participating) or O (observer) member. TC 130 has around 15 P members and 20 O members. For practical purposes, the TC is divided into working groups (WGs) where most of the standards development work is done and in which there are technical experts participating as individuals nominated by and responsible to their NB. Once an NB has established a relationship with a TC, it identifies the technical experts who will represent it in the various TC and WG activities. The working documents of the various TC projects are made available to these technical experts through the TC Secretariat, usually via access to a secure Internet connection.

As an example, in the USA, ANSI is the official NB in ISO, but has delegated responsibility to various industry groups to monitor US participation in each TC for which the US is either a P or O member. These groups are called Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs). For ISO, each NB is free to manage this process in its own way. The TAGs have the responsibility to recruit technical experts and endorse their participation to the TC Secretariat. Therefore, anyone who wants to participate in the work of a TC must contact the TAG for that TC. The TAG for TC 130 in the US is the Committee for Graphic Arts Technologies Standards, CGATS, which has its Secretariat at the National Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies, NPES. For the Indian industry, it must not be hard to imagine and build a similar structure.

Availability of ISO 12647-2 Standards in India

2009-09-10T17:18:00.005+05:30

Abstract for ISO 12647-2:2004

ISO 12647-2:2004 specifies a number of process parameters and their values to be applied when preparing colour separations for four-colour offset printing or when producing four-colour prints by one of the following methods: heat-set web, sheet-fed or continuous forms process printing, or proofing for one of these processes; or offset proofing for half-tone gravure.

The parameters and values are chosen in view of the complete process covering the process stages colour separation, film setting, making of the printing forme, proof production, production printing and surface finishing.

We enquired Bureau Of Indian Standards(BIS) Delhi to find out availability and Price for ISO 12647-2 Standards in India.
ISO 12647 -- Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints -- Part 2: Offset lithographic processes

Cost of the Standards is mentioned below:
Cost for ISO 12647-2 : Rs. 4410
Procurement Charges : Rs. 441
Postage Charges : Rs. 79

Net Total : Rs. 4930

Interested Professionals can send a Demand Draft of Rs. 4930/- (including Packing & Postage charges) in favour of Bureau of Indian Standards, payable at New Delhi, at the following address.

Bureau of Indian Standards
9,B.S.Z Marg
New Delhi - 110002
P.H No.- 011 23230131,2323375

Book Review - Understanding Color Management

2009-09-02T16:27:00.002+05:30

Title: Understanding Color Management

Author: Dr. Abhay Sharma

Publisher: Thomson Delmar Learning

As the name says “Understanding Color Management”, a topic that has become the need of the hour in today’s printing world. The book starts from the point of view of a beginner in color and color management.

Abhay explains the basics of colour science and colour management, and provides an in-depth look, starting from basic attributes of colour and how the human eye perceives it. Good examples such as the “Airline analogy” (Pg-10) have been used to make the reader understand how CMS works. The book is filled with pictorial representations for nearly all topics which makes it easier to understand colour. Details about the range of measuring instruments and profiling software are also available to the reader.

International Color Consortium (ICC) profiles are discussed in detail and methods for profiling scanners, digital cameras, monitors, inkjet printers, and printing presses are thoroughly explained. After reading this book you will actually feel that colour management is not rocket science. Making this book an ultimate guide to understand color management. We also used this book as the textbook for our Certificate Course on Colour Management conducted in Delhi and Chennai in 2006 by Paul Lindstrom.

About the Author - Dr. Abhay Sharma is currently the chair, school of Graphic Communication Management, Ryerson University and a member of the International Color Consortium.

Trying to build a technical advisory group for TC 130 (ISO 12647)

2009-08-26T15:19:00.004+05:30

Given below is a list of persons and the text of an email that we sent to them. This is essentially the follow up to our earlier post and an effort to convert the usual wishful thinking and talk talk into some kind of community action. To a large extent I see this blog (to which we will invite a team of experts) and the comments as both a byproduct and an inspiration to the overall quality printing and standardisation movement. We have already received two email responses and one phone call over the last three days. This is obviously not good enough or fast enough. Can blogging help? Will you help?

After the recent Monsoon Summit to discuss ISO 12647 standardisation many participants said that it would be good if the Indian experts also get involved in the ISO TC 130 committee. As Alan Dresch said, "Get inside the tent!" instead of complaining about what is good or bad and contribute to the evolution of the discussion and the standard. To this end we have talked about this with some of the senior people who attended and they seem to agree that it would be best to develop a discussion group that would become the technical advisory group for the TC 130. I am listing below some of the people that we thought could take part in these discussion on a regular basis -- by email, or by telephone and also face to face.

The next meeting of the TC 130 in Beijing is 21 to 25 September and our discussion group or the industry should attend and this discussion group should try and make its views and priorities clear so that whoever attends from India is able to listen and speak on our behalf and also to report to us on the issues, discussions and decisions.

I am making an initial list of persons to start this discussion. It is open to amendment and addition. Please give your views and also whether you agree with the idea or not. The idea is that we should have representation. That the persons attending the TC130 meetings from India should represent an Indian technical advisory group. If the persons attending are not self-supporting in their travel or not supported by their companies, we will have to financially support these trips and participants. My view is also that for the Beijing meeting although the issue of grey balance came up and no one seems much against it, we should for the most part listen at the first meeting we attend. That we should bring back the issues for the consideration of the group and reserve the right to give our views at the next meeting.

Here is the initial list of my nominees and this email is being sent to all of the persons on the list over the next day or so. If you are a nominee please agree or disagree about being a part of this group! Also suggest other names if you like. You can also vote against anyone on this list if you like.

1. Ritu Sharma -- Bureau of Indian Standards, Delhi
2. Vilas Gupte -- AGS Mumbai
3. Vishnu Kamat -- AGS Mumbai
4. Professor Madhura Mahajan -- Pune
5. Rasheed Mistry -- Comart Mumbai
6. Amit Navarange -- CondeNast
7. Sobhagayanidhi Sheksaria -- New Jack Mumbai
8. Ramesh Kejriwal -- Parksons Packaging Mumbai
9. Parksons Grahics -- Animesh Kejriwal Mumbai
10. Rajendrakumar Anayath -- Heidelberg PMA Chennai
11. Satish Nayak -- Bodhi Solutions, Bangalore
12. Nikhil Mittal -- Sona Printers Delhi
14. Ravi Shroff -- Nutech Photolithographers Delhi
15. Vivek Sachdev -- NPT Offset Chennai
16. RB Kashyap -- Thomson Press Faridabad
17. Gurjeet Dhingra -- Canon India -- Delhi
18. Parshav Jain -- IppStar - Noida
19. Anil Joshi -- K Joshi and Sons -- Pune
20. Harsha Paruchuri -- Pragati Offset -- Hyderabad
21. Naresh Khanna -- IppStar -- Noida
22. Arindam Sarkar -- TechNova
23. Tarun Chopra -- Color Dots -- Delhi
24. Vasudevan -- Epson -- Bangalore
25. Sambit Mishra -- EFI
26. Vaidyanathan -- Proteck Chennai
27. Debshish Sengupta - DIC

Best Practices, Colour Management and Standardisation

2009-08-20T11:19:00.000+05:30

One of the outcomes of the Monsoon Summit was not only a great indication of interest in standardisation practices and also the need for the Indian print community to "get into the tent." That is, to become a part of the ongoing standards discussion in the TC 130 committee of the ISO. IppStar is initiating with industry help and approval, a local discussion group that will send representatives to the TC 130 committee starting with the meeting in Beijing from 21 to 25 September 2009. This discussion group will also interact with the Bureau of Indian Standards and hopefully evolve into a technical advisory group. If you would like to be part of this discussion please send your email to Parshav Jain at standards@ippgroup.in . In addition we are launching an experts blog on Best Practices, Colour Management, and Standardisation on our website.

We are hoping that this blog will become a how to discussion among experts in India and the Asia Pacific Region that will discuss not only standardisation but other technical issues pertaining to the printing industry. We will also be running two other blogs: the first will be a general and all-inclusive type of discussion called the Print Asia Blog and the second, a publishing blog that takes up some of the professional and 'backroom' issues in publishing' which will be called 'Content and Media -- Asia Pacific.' All the blogs will be team blogs with experts from primarily the Asia Pacific region invited to lead the conversations. If you would like to be invited to be one of the regular team bloggers please write to edit5@ippgroup.in .