Final Thoughts on TAC/ ink limits
Final Thoughts on TAC/ ink limits
- Subject: Final Thoughts on TAC/ ink limits
- From: "William Barrett" <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 10:17:32 -0600
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The correct TAC/ink limit is usually 400%. The printer expects to receive
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that much ink, and it's does it's own ink limiting function along with a
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bunch of other stuff. The actual ink limit of color lasers is quite low,
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I forget exactly what it is, but it's around 200%. Building a color laser
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profile with a 200% TAC will result in a profile with substantially
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inferior performance than a profile using 400%TAC.
I am going to politely disagree with you on this. Each manufacturer has their own special way of limiting TAC via hardware; depending on the data sent to the controller, the limiting feature may or may not be invoked. If you don't know when or at what point this occurs, it's impossible to build a profile that accurately portrays the characteristics of the device.
On top of that, keeping shadow detail stable is critical. At higher lpi settings, it almost makes it impossible to hold a stable shadow detail area depending on when (and if) the TAC limits are invoked on the printer. I don't agree that printers expect to receive 400% TAC info. The only thing the printer knows is to invoke it's own TAC limits, if required. Yes, I know laser printers aren't the most stable devices out there, but I think it's necessary to do as much as possible in creating *predictable* output.
If you are limiting TAC via a profile or via hardware makes no difference, as long as it's only done once. If you fail to disable the controller's limiting feature for TAC, and you are also invoking a TAC/ink limit via a profile, yes, I will agree you will get less then desirable results.
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TAC is irrelevent for this purpose. It won't matter if you build the
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profile with 200% TAC or 400% TAC. The on-screen simulation using this
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profile will be the same.
What then is the difference between a simulation profile create for a laser printer and a simulation profile created for a printing press? Why would we throw out the TAC/limits for a laser printer and not one for a press? I can't agree that the TAC limit for a laser printer is irrelevant. If you are trying to simulate *any* output device, correct TAC/ink limits are necessary.
I didn't get any worthwhile answers on an easy way to determine TAC/ink limits (thanks for those who responded) but if I come up with something easy, I'll share it with the group.
-WB