ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

Evaluating print image quality for

small and large format digital
printing processes

Source: LFP-Designer Guide

Andreas Kraushaar | [email protected] Backup Details 1

ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

Agenda

1. Who and what is Fogra?

2. From ISO 12647-x to ISO 15311-x
3. Digital press categorization
4. The ISO 15311-1 concept [backup]
5. Image appraisal types (for digital printing)
6. The challenges for image quality assessment
7. Measurement Details
8. Der Fogra PSD
9. Ausblick

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

1. The industry needs independent research

¬ In 1951 the german printing industry (small and medium enterprises)

decided to put some money together
¬ Aiming for an “lawyer of the printer” - an manufacturer independent
organization
¬ Fogra stands for “Forschung im grafischen Gewerbe” - research in the
graphic arts
¬ Similar organizations in US (GATF), UK (PIRA), Switzerland (Ugra),
Spain (AIDO), etc
¬ Fogra is “governed/owned” by its members (including the board of
directors) neutrality

¬ Fogra is financed (ca. 5 Mio turnover) by

¬ 1 Mio. membership feeds
¬ 2 Mio. research funds from the country/state/EU (based on extensive application)
¬ In order to compensate for the remaining losses, Fogra provides regular services
such as control wedges, certifications, symposia etc
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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

1. Fogra - the service provider in the

graphic arts industry

Cons
rch ultanc
Resead expery, measurin
An t opin
pmen
t ions g and
develo

Fogra-
Services

Comm
ittee w ion
Stand and
ork minat
Disse and
ardiza g
tion
Trainin

Fogra, active in four fields of activities

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

2. From ISO 12647-x to ISO 15311-x (see Craig)

¬ From technology dependent categorization to uses cases

¬ Providing more quality levels to better reflect industry practices
¬ Providing three types of image appraisal
¬ Identical colours (CIE 1931 match sidy by side)
¬ Media-relative colours (reflect to need to switch of paper simulation by
achieving a similar result small gamut differences

¬ Common Appearance (consistent colour reproduction among different

output gamuts
¬ Straddle between a finally published ISO standard and the industry need
to quickly provide guidelines
¬ It is up to us to help make this happen, if not, we will probably be
unwillingly participating to the decline of the printed media.

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

3. Digital press categorization

A plethora of categorization principles are doable
¬ Imaging process
¬ Inkjet (sled), rarely Toner (e.g. Kip 80)
¬ Colorants (based on size, quality and use case
¬ water-based, solvent, UV, Latex und sublimation
¬ Format
¬ up to 1,5 m [LFP], to 3 m [Wide], > 3 m [Super Wide]
¬ Roll Roll, Sheet/boards
Large Format
Format ¬ Productivity [m2/h]
¬ up to 600 m2/h Quality versus Production

¬ Imaging process
¬ Electrofotography and Inkjet (Single Pass)
¬ Colorant
¬ Toner (liquid and dry), ink
¬ black/white, colour
Small Format
¬ Format
¬ Sheet: max. 364 x 521 mm (iGen 4)
¬ Roll to Roll: max. Width 60 cm
¬ Productivity
¬ “Lite”, “Middle”, “High” and “Ultra High” Production
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Backup
 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

4. The ISO 15311-1 concept [Backup]

… taken from ISO 15311-1 - Intro

…. The evaluation of perceived image quality in prints, through the

definition of measurements of print quality attributes that correlate with
visual perception, even when the print samples span across many printing
technologies, i.e., technology-independent measurements is an active
field of research and complex due to the subjectivity and dimensionality. It
is influenced by a number of different quality attributes. It is often difficult
and complicated to evaluate the influence of all attributes on overall
image quality, and their influence on other attributes.

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

4. ISO 15311-1 content and scope

1 Scope 1
2 Normative references 1
3 Terms and definitions 1
4 Requirements 4
4.1 General 4
4.2 Data delivery 5
4.3 Print Quality measures 5
4.3.1Overview 5
4.3.2Colour and surface finish 6
4.3.3Homogeneity 7
4.3.4Resolution 7
4.3.5Artefacts 8
4.4 Permanence requirements 8
4.5 Conformance 9
4.6 Certification 9
5 Test methods 9
5.1 Additional test objects (Test forms) 9
5.2 Determination of the M-Score 10
5.3 Determination of the number of tonal values (P-Score) 10
5.4 Determination of the area inhomogeneity 11

1 Scope
This part of ISO 15311 defines and explains print quality attributes and associated test criteria for ensuring similar visual
characteristics of the printed matter when the same digital image file is printed by a variety of digital printing systems. It
serves as the framework for the following parts, which address particular use cases and provide specific values or
conformance levels if deemed appropriate.

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

4. Laboratory and Practical criteria

Laboratory Practical
4.3.2 Colour and surface finish
4.3.2.1 Requirements of unprinted substrate
4.3.2.2 colour accuracy requirements ? ?
4.3.2.3 Consistent reproduction of tone values
4.3.2.4 Ink Set Gloss
4.3.2.5 Further criteria

4.3.3 Homogeneity
4.3.3.1 Streakiness
4.3.3.2
4.3.3.3
Background Haze
Graininess and Mottle ? ?
4.3.3.4 Fill (caries)
4.3.3.5 Inking variation across the format and within the printing direction
4.3.3.6 Further criteria

4.3.4 Resolution
4.3.4.1 Line Width
4.3.4.2 Native Addressability
4.3.4.3 Effective addressability
4.3.4.4 Raggedness
4.3.4.5
4.3.4.6
Blurriness
MTF (Modulation transfer function)
? ?
4.3.4.7 Register
4.3.4.8 Patterning
4.3.4.9 Further requirements

4.3.5 Artefacts
4.3.5.1
4.3.5.2
Contouring
Spreading (misdirected dots, satellites)
? ?
4.3.5.3 Use case specific criteria

dedicated criteria for systems,

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

4. Typical uses cases versus complex client needs

¬ Workflows that differ in the degree of flexibility can lead to the possibility of
uncertainty or error.
¬ Data and associated information shall be enough/ready for final print production
¬ Try to restrain from paragraphs such as
4.2.4.2 of ISO/DIS 12647-6

“Verification of the accuracy of these values shall be based on agreement

between provider and receiver concerning the measurement system to be
used, including any relevant settings and conditions, for measuring dot area
on the printing forme. This requires that the control patches be exposed
independent of the image content.”

The exchange of data and meta-data (communication) should not

require no prior knowledge of the sending and receiving
environments (“blind” exchange)

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

5. Digital Printing - Types of image appraisal

Being able to reproduce the same but with a much tighter tolerances
colour to replace a part or reprint then expected in 12647-8
after a while

Being able to print without visible

banding (uniform). Resolution is
depending on distance and size

achieving the same colour

on totally different substrates

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

5. Colour Reference concepts

FUTURE GRAPHIC ARTS WORKFLOWS

Printing the Expected

Internet

Tablet PC DVD, Motion

Picture

„Multi Channel Publishing“

Consistent colour rendering

across all media

What is the
expectation?
Printing
Predictability [Consistency] of
the colour results in the ¬ Typical colour gamuts
creation phase ¬ Representing the range of output media
¬ Act as an interchange or exchange space

ISO 15930-7: permit the predictable

Conventional Printing Digital Printing
dissemination of a compound entity Conventional Printing Digital Printing
¬ ISO 12647-2 for Commercial Offset Printing ¬ ISO 15311-2 for Commercial Offset Printing
to one or more locations. ¬ ISO 12647-3 for News Printing
¬ ISO 12647-4 for Gravure Printing
¬ ISO 15311-3 for Large Format Printing
¬ ISO 15311-x for upcoming use cases
¬ ISO 12647-5 for Screen Printing
¬ ISO 12647-6 for Flexo Printing
[Currently under Revision]
Andreas Kraushaar | [email protected] ¬ ISO 12647-7 Requirements for Contract Proofing 12
¬ ISO 12647-8 Requirements for Validation Printing

PSO - Proces-
 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

5. Common appearance in a nutshell

reference actual print

RGB CMYK1 CMYK2

e.g. ISO 12647-2
e.g. ECIV2
FOGRA39 Proof to PT 1/2
Separation Print Match

RGB CMYK1 CMYK2

e.g. IFRA26 ISO
e.g. ECIV2
Proof to 12647-3
Separation Print Match
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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

5. ISO 15311 provides 3 levels of predictability

Identical
colours
media-relative
¬ Proofing [ISO 12647-7] colours
¬ Validation Print [-8]
¬ PSO ISO 12647-2 consistent
¬ PSD ISO 15311-x ¬ PSD ISO 15311-x
¬ small gamut-difference colours
Side-by-Side between ref. and print
¬ PSD ISO 15311-x
Comparison w. memory ¬ “Common
Appearance”
¬ große
Gamutunterschiede

Side-by-Side
Predictability of the final colour upfront

Full Colour Ref - Absolute Full Colour Ref - Media Relative Partial Colour Ref.
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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

6. Challenges for image quality assessment

„When you can measure what you are speaking

about and express it in numbers, you know
something about it“
Lord W. T. Kelvin, Lecture to the Institution of Civil
engineers, London, 3 May 1883

We need objective measures

(if possible based on agred upon standards)

„The ultimate test of any colour reproduction is the

opinion of the person who views it. But opinions differ...“
R. W. G. Hunt. In: The reproduction of color

We need to focus on use cases which provides

(full) reference (contrary to no reference)
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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

6. How is print image quality define so far?

ISO 12647-7/8
1,2,3 - Scope, normative references, terms & definitions

4 - requirements 4.1 data data

halftone
4.2 digital print substrates
coloration
rub resistance
ink set gloss
reproduction limits
tone value repro
vignettes
resolving power
margin info
gamut
5 - Test methods 5.1 control strip
5.2 test objects, measurements, visual
Annexes [A: metal slab | B: Certification]
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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

6. The famous image quality circle

The general definition of image quality modeling is the 1999, Engeldrum, Image
Quality Modeling
creation of a mathematical formula that is capable of
predicting human perceptions of quality

¬ Try to separate to overall image perception

into appropriate “Nesses”
¬ Use cases (advertisers and print buyer
requirements balanced with technical
realizability) customer rating

¬ Use either a comparison to a reference

(e.g. the printing condition such as
FOGRA39) or an absolute assessment
(e.g. the evaluation of graininess or
homogeneity)
¬ An image quality model and the technology
variables are not explicitly needed Image Quality Circle, from http://www.imcotek.com

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

6. Categorization of the “Nesses”

System
Colour
reproduction Uniformity Functional
performance

¬ Productivity
¬ “Memory”
Resolution ¬ on site reliability
Artefacts ¬ one copy vs. light
production

Health, Safety,
Permanence
Environment

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7. Image quality attributes in details

concept: Individual attributes contribute to a recognized overall

image quality. (compare the rating of food)
Quality Level A
Quality Level B
Quality Level C

1
2
3
Colour Homogeneity 4
5
6
...

+ individual
needs
Perceptual Resolution Artefacts

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.1 Evaluation of the colour reproduction

¬ Different tolerances for the three quality levels

¬ Different tolerances for spot colours
¬ Appropriate tolerances for the image appraisal
types (identical and media-relative)
¬ Common appearance to be added later

current candidate of ISO 15311-2

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.1 Colour: Number of visual & technical

discernable tonale steps

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.2 Perceptual resolution - concept

Correct Interpretation Printing

Testchart-Design
(Driving) - “RIP-resolution” - “Imaging-resolution”

Perceptual Print Inspection

Resolution Correlate (visually | measurement
Resolution attributes wise)

¬ native addressability
¬ effective addressability
¬ edge blurriness
¬ edge raggedness
¬ MTF
¬ more to come

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.2 Perceptual resolution - mis-registration

¬ Different tolerances for the pertinent quality levels

¬ edge blurriness and edge raggedness, MTF etc
¬ legibility

ISO 15311-2 candidate

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.2 Correlates tested so far at Fogra

• Edge Sharpness (inverse of blurriness)
– a measure of the average edge profile transition width in the direction perpendicular to the edge
– using the square

• Edge Raggedness
– a measure of the average edge profile variation (50%) in the direction parallel to the edge
– using the rotated squares with 8 degree

JTC1, SC28 WG4 works actively on these measures

¬ Further fine tuning is needed 1

¬ Round robin tests are underway 2

¬ Practical aspects of scanner influence, repeatability and 4

3

reproducibility are yet to be evaluated

5

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.2 blurriness and raggedness in detail

Scan

Kodak Prosper 5000:

Blurriness: 0°: 0.059 mm 90°:0.168 8°: 0.065 mm
Andreas Kraushaar | [email protected] Raggedness: 0°: 0.011 mm 90°:0.013 8°: 0.009 mm 25

ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.3 Evaluation of homogeneity

Homogeneity (uniformity) subjective impression of colour uniformity across

a large image that is intended to have a uniform colour.

Refers to all types of colour variation:

¬ lightness, hue, saturation
¬ derivatives of these measures separately or in combination

Variation geometry:
¬ 1D, 2D, periodic, aperiodic, localized, large-scale, and small-scale
variation, separately or in combination such as streaks, bands, gradients,
mottle, graininess and moiré.

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.3 Evaluation of homogeneity

Development of M-Score: 0 .. 100

1. Compute the CIELAB 2. Sum measurements for 3. Calculate M-Score

colour differences !E00 rows and columns and
between neighbouring patches normalize them.

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.3 M-Score in detail

M-Score Meaning Comments

! 95 Perfect Inkjetprint on proofing substrate showing no

visible inhomogeneities

> 80 Very Good Print with slightly visible inhomogeneities (e.g.

some Mottling). No visible stripes.

> 70 Good Print with visible inhomogeneities (Mottling) but

almost no visible stripes.

> 60 Satisfactory Mottling and stripes visible. Is still accepted by

most observers.

> 50 Adequate Print with clearly visible mottling and/or stripes.

Acceptance is highly dependent on the printed
image.
< 50 Poor (But Clearly visible mottling and stripes. Not accepted
sellable) as high quality print

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.3 How to use M-Score in a standard ….

ISO 15311-2 candidate

based on a evaluation of photo books

(toner based systems)

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.3. Homogeneity: Next steps

¬ M-Score works good for toner based systems (i.e. it correlates

well with absolute (magnitude estimation) and relative scales
(rank order))
¬ It ought to tested how much similar metrics such as ISO 13660
mottle improve the performance
¬ It will be evaluated also for inkjet prints
¬ Streaks will be evaluated by the “Offset method”

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

7.3. Homogeneity: One word about graininess

Rank order experiment

test charts different levels of graininess

¬ We propose three default

viewing distances (50 cm
[reading], 100 cm [POP] and
1,5 m [Large Format]
¬ Simple evaluation of standard
test chart with a standard
scanner
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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

8. Brand-new Fogra PSD

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 ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

8. The PSD-conzept: An overview

1. Output process - 2. Colour Fidelity

control

prepress !

large format

small format !

Consistency Match
3. Workflow
! Preflight ! PDF/X-Output ! Profile-handling

! PDF/X-Creation ! Altona Test Suite V1 & V2 ! Light-Audit

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33

ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

8. The PSD-workflow
Proof to Print Fogra PSD
Match

Colour Rendering Type

FCR-Side by Side
Yes
Print ready
[preprared FCR-MediaRelative Print
for PC?]
PCR

No

Optimize
PSD-Recommendations

PC: Printing Condition

[Output Intend]
FCR: Full Colour Reference
PCR: Partial Colour Reference Yes
Additional
Approval?

No

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

9. Together we can do it

“The best person to decide what research work shall

be done is the man who is doing the research. The next
best is the head of the department. After that you
have the field of best persons and meet increasingly
worse groups. The first of these is the research
director, who is probably wrong more than half the
time. Then comes a committee, which is wrong most of
the time. Finaliy there is the committee of company
vice-presidents, which is wrong all the time.“
Dr. C. E. K. Mees
(Kodak)

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ICC Digital Print Day, June 15th, 2011

The next DPWG meeting will be in wednesday Feb 1st 2012.

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