All Process Blacks Are Not The Same?

[leokor]

It looks like there is a great variety of process black inks. I'm particularly interested in the dense kinds, like TTC Premium Dense Black, TC-90 Dense Black, TC-91 Dense Black, and TC-6313 Ultra Dense Black--all of them "process black," apparently (although TC-6313 is reportedly so dense that it's mainly used in pure-black areas without other process inks, like rich black on steroids). If I want something this dense, how should I specify that? InDesign doesn't seem to have a provision for this. Or should I just leave it to the printer, who would know best?

Leo

 

[Ritter]

If the printed piece is CMYK (special K) talk to the printer and make sure they understand your needs. If the work is Black + Pantone color(s) you could design using a pantone process black or the like and once again then communicate to the printer what your needs are. Using a pantone process black is not necessary in either scenario working in process black would suffice just fine. Just make sure everything you intend to be purely K (0-c, 0-m, 0-y) is actually K only.

I think a press proof is necessary for something like this in either circumstance.

 

[leokor]

Thanks!

The job in question actually is MK (CMYK without C and Y), plus potentially some varnish(es). For the most part, magenta and black stay apart, except for (1) some beveled magenta areas, where some of the transparency effect is modeled using black, and (2) one image where solid magenta is painted in strokes over a grayscale background, knocking out of it (so, I imagine, this should be fine). I do worry over the transparency, in case the special black may be too dense for that. So, maybe, not TC-6313, but maybe TC-90 Dense Black.

Leo

 

[Ritter]

This sounds like a neat piece. Please follow up on how things go.

I haven't had the chance to play with the different densities of black. I did however once pre-flight/impose a piece printed on Yupo with waterproof ultra dense black ink (I can't for the life of me remember the ink....kamudra?). It was a plastic explosives instruction card intended for some kind of military amphibious warfare unit. The ink was like tar it was so viscous.

 

[rich apollo]

In my experience the dense blacks are intended for special purposes. To run them with a process set may create dirty looking colors on press. In fact, on the vendor's web site it states, "TC-6313 may be too dense to be used in combination with our other 4-color process inks. It is specially formulated for printing deep and big solids; it provides longer ink mileage."

Your printer is gonna' have a set of inks that they run. They may, or may not, have a dense black on hand. It would be VERY unusual for a printer to order in an ink other than what they're used to running.

Printers' rule #1: DON'T CHANGE NUTHIN'!!
Printers' rule #2: See rule #1.