Large Format Digital GCR

[Qbot]

Anybody out there ever use GCR on a Large Format Digital Press? It's know to save money on ink in the litho world but not sure if it's a good idea for our Vutec press.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

The current Vutec device/output profile may possibly be using higher GCR than you may have thought, however it may not be at the “ink saving” level.


Stephen Marsh

 

[pauly92]

I use GCR but not for ink saving. All my inks are the same price also. Then again i do different type of printing than most people.

 

[arossetti]

I use GCR but not for ink saving. All my inks are the same price also. Then again i do different type of printing than most people.

Still cheaper to use 1 color vs sum of 3 colors. 50k vs 50c, 40m, 40y as a more extreme example.

 

[Qbot]

We had a job on the Vutek yesterday that was run through a GCR profile that caused an issue. The job ran on E-flute and was coming off the press with to much yellow. Press technician tried to do a comp to remove yellow but the fact that there was so much yellow removed in the GCR function is what caused the issue. To solve the problem we opened the file in Photoshop converted the file to RGB than back to CMYK. This got us close and allowed the Press Technician to do his thing on the press with press comps. Lesson learned. GCR good for litho... bad for Vutec

 

[arossetti]

We had a job on the Vutek yesterday that was run through a GCR profile that caused an issue. The job ran on E-flute and was coming off the press with to much yellow. Press technician tried to do a comp to remove yellow but the fact that there was so much yellow removed in the GCR function is what caused the issue. To solve the problem we opened the file in Photoshop converted the file to RGB than back to CMYK. This got us close and allowed the Press Technician to do his thing on the press with press comps. Lesson learned. GCR good for litho... bad for Vutec

That isn't a true statement. You just need to profile the printer.

 

[Qbot]

That isn't a true statement. You just need to profile the printer.

Weather I profile the printer with GCR or the file itself before it goes to the Vutek either way I'm saying it can and did cause an issue. Substrates can have color casts that are not predictable until the job has it's first sheet off. From what I can see sucking the C-M-Y out of a gray image is asking for trouble. At least in the Large Format Digital world

 

[Correct Color]

A little late here, but I'd add that for the most part, I don't much like the term 'GCR' when thinking in terms of profiling for large format inkjet.

I much prefer to think of black generation strategy overall. And it's definitely true that overall black generation strategy is key in affecting many aspects of how large-format profiles reproduce given images in given inksets.

And, I'd add that overall, with some specific exceptions -- notably certain dye-sublimation conditions -- I tend to not be a fan of removing undercolors in large format. To me, they add depth and richness, and I think not having them can lead to some pretty wimpy looking results.

And while it is true that those results may be colorimetrically correct results in whatever lighting condition is specified in a particular profile, it's also true that they may wind up being very susceptible to hue-shifting (what people tend to call metamerism) in other-than-perfect lighting conditions.


Mike Adams
Correct Color

 

[Qbot]

Nice post Mike Thanks!