Invites manufacturers to join research programme 

Cambridge, UK - How do you achieve the optimum image quality on a high-speed inkjet press? That’s the question posed by Martin Bailey, Global Graphics’ CTO, at the Inkjet Conference, Düsseldorf which opens on 7^thOctober. 

With one inkjet press manufacturer describing droplet placement while inkjet printing at high-speed like “high-level bombing in a gale” the subject is a topic of much debate in the industry with many press manufacturers frustrated in the knowledge that they are not yet able to get the most out of their high-speed presses. 

Which is why for many months, Global Graphics Software has been working with a number of inkjet press manufacturers to develop entirely new half-tone screening technology for presses that can vary the amount of ink delivered in any one location on the media. 

“The partners we are working with have already seen significant improvements to their output and we’re still at the exploratory stage,” says Martin Bailey, Global Graphics’ CTO. “We’ll be sharing some samples at The Inkjet Conference in Düsseldorf (October 7^th and  8^th http://www.theijc.com/ ) and we’d  like to encourage other manufacturers to try it for themselves.”

“Every UV inkjet press vendor we speak to has problems with droplets ‘randomly’ coalescing at some tone values, leading to an uneven or streaky effect,” Bailey continues. “In the same way aqueous inkjet vendors suffer from the loss of extreme highlights in a way that’s reminiscent of flexography. Both are affected significantly by media selection, but most press vendors struggle to prevent their customers from using the most cost effective media at the quality they require and cannot avoid the issues by recommending different media.

“Colour management is very important, but it’s not enough. If you haven’t got the right screening to apply no amount of colour management will give you the image quality you need. If you’re printing graphics, images, graduations and anything else that requires a full range of tonality, the half-tone screening that we’re developing is what you will need to avoid artefacts.  It works hand in hand with good colour management.”

A halftone screen persuades the human eye to see a tone or colour that is not actually there by marking areas that are too small to be resolved individually. The physics of inkjet printing leads to challenges such as losing highlights or pseudo-random coalescing of dots on the media, challenges which can best be addressed with the results of Global Graphics’ development. 

Martin Bailey’s session is titled “Colour management is not enough: achieving maximum inkjet quality with screening” and will take place at The Inkjet Conference on 7^th October.  Watch the video preview http://bit.ly/1JkbqBy