Re: UCR/GCR revisited
Re: UCR/GCR revisited
- Subject: Re: UCR/GCR revisited
- From: Marco Ugolini <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:09:00 -0700
- Thread-topic: UCR/GCR revisited
In a message dated 6/8/08 6:33 PM, email@hidden wrote:
> Thanks for the historical perspective on UCR and for that insight
> of the term GCR being coined during the days of Analog Scanners.
> In my view, these terms have outlived their usefulness and should
> be replaced by a single term: Black Generation Strategy.
I agree with Harold.
I have worked for several years at the intersection of packaging design and
the world of printing presses, and it strikes me that in all these years I
have heard many definitions of UCR, GCR and UCA, but no two of these seem to
agree with each other. Ask an expert to give you a definition, and they are
likely to hem-and-haw and sound more than a bit unclear.
Myself, I have one minor disagreement with Harold. I think that the new term
should be "Black Generation Policies": to me "strategy" implies something to
be carried into the future as if it were not yet finalized, whereas
"policies" indicates a group of decisions deliberately enacted now and to be
done with from this point on.
But I certainly agree on 2 words out of 3! :-)
> Requirements of smoothness and continuity in all the separations require any
> black generation strategy to be global in scope In our current digital era
> there is no sharp demarcation between UCR and GCR. One affects the other to
> some degree.
I agree completely.
> Sometimes these terms are curiously referred to as though they were
> mutually incompatible.
In the beginning of my involvement in this field, this always confused me,
and I noticed that those whom I asked to clarify it for me were struggling
to provide a clearly-understood distinction -- which I took as an indication
of a more-widespread confusion in the industry itself.
> I¹ve heard the terms GCR and UCR used in an either/or context, as though a
> choice had to be made. The point to remember is that one (UCR) pertains to
> neutral axis K behavior; the other (GCR) pertains to off-axis K behavior, and
> the necessity of smoothness and continuity in all the separations requires
> that the two to be inextricably linked. In short, both terms describe separate
> but linked aspects of a profile.
To me, the distinction Harold is providing here between UCR and GCR rings
true, and it should also be clear to all of us who are involved in 4-color
separations in some capacity that UCR/GCR/UCA can no longer be viewed or
used separately from one another. They must cohere into one larger mechanism
that deals with *all* aspects of black generation at the same time.
This UCR/GCR/UCA hairsplitting has become obsolete, and an obstacle to our
understanding of black generation as it can be performed today.
Our industry has been able to substitute the expression "TVI" (tone value
increase) for "dot gain", and what was previously known as "total ink limit"
is now referred to as "TAC" (total area coverage). Why don't we also try to
rid ourselves of terminology like UCR/GCR/UCA, which has outlived whatever
useful time it had and now causes far more confusion than it sheds light?
> Today's robust Profile Generation Apps give the user complete control
> in defining neutral axis inkings (i. K start; ii) max K; iii) TAC;
> iv. K curve shape) as well as control of off-axis K generation
> (typically a slider between "Light" and "Heavy"). These controls
> completely define and embody an overall Black Generation Strategy.
> There is no need to invoke terms whose days have come and gone.
Ditto.
Marco Ugolini
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