Virtually all UltraStable printers are using high-resolution
imagesetters to output films. Some have also used the IRIS ink-jet to
produce con-tone type films, but separations made from desk-top printers
have not gained much acceptance due to the poor quality of these
low-resolution devices.
Dot Gain: Dot gain is dependent upon several factors: such as dot
size, dot shape, solid color density, and media characteristic
(glossy,matte,etc). To determine dot gain, first output the Photoshop
B/W Calibration wedge using the selected output device (imagesetter,
desktop printer) on clear film and then print the wedge using each of
the UltraStable films (CMYK). Compare the printed densities with the
file densities and compensate by entering the dot gain data into the
Transfer Function of the Page Set-up.
The following is an example of the dot-gain table for a 400lpi output on
a Scitex Dolev imagestter, to be printed on the matte PhotoSmooth base:
UltraStable : Output Tone Reproduction Curve
Enter these values into a Dot Gain Look-up-Table (DG3):
File Value Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
98 97 97 96 97
95 94 94 91 93
90 87 87 83 84
85 81 80 75 78
80 75 75 67 73
75 68 67 60 69
70 62 62 53 64
65 57 55 48 59
60 51 51 42 55
55 46 45 38 49
50 41 40 34 45
45 35 35 29 41
40 31 30 24 36
35 26 25 20 31
30 22 21 17 26
25 19 18 13 22
20 14 14 10 17
15 10 9 7 4
10 9 6 4 8
8 5 5 3 6
4 3 3 2 3
2 1 1 1 1
Hope this helps.
Charles Berger