SIST ISO 12647-1:2005

Graphic technology -- Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints -- Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods

ISO 12647-1:2004 specify parameters that define printing conditions for the various processes used in the graphic arts industry. Practitioners wishing to work to common goals may use the values of the parameters specified in the exchange of data to characterize the intended printing condition and/or for the process control of printing.
ISO 12647-1:2004
defines vocabulary and establishes a minimum set of process parameters that uniquely determine a printed four-colour half-tone image (which are also referenced from other parts of ISO 12647). The parameters were selected based on the following process stages "colour separation", "making of the printing forme", "proofing", "production printing" and "surface finishing". These are directly applicable to proofing and printing processes that use colour separation films as input;
is directly applicable to proofing and printing from printing surfaces produced by filmless methods as long as direct analogies to film production systems are maintained;
is applicable to proofing and printing with more than four process colours as long as direct analogies to four-colour printing are maintained, such as for data and screening, for print substrates and printing parameters;
is applicable to line screens and, where relevant, to those that do not have regular screen angles or regular screen rulings.

Technologie graphique -- Maîtrise de procédé pour la production des séparations de couleur en ton tramé, des épreuves et des tirages en production -- Partie 1: Paramètres et méthodes de mesurage

Grafična tehnologija - Vodenje procesa izdelave rastriranih barvnih izvlečkov, preskusnih in proizvodnih odtisov - 1. del: Parametri in merilne metode

General Information

• Status: Withdrawn
• Publication Date: 31-Dec-2004
• Withdrawal Date: 23-Jan-2014
• ICS: 37.100.01 - Graphic technology in general
• Technical Committee: GRT - Graphical technology
• Current Stage: 9900 - Withdrawal (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 15-Jan-2014
• Due Date: 07-Feb-2014
• Completion Date: 24-Jan-2014
• Ref Project: ISO 12647-1:2004 - Graphic technology — Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints — Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods

Relations

• Replaces: SIST ISO 12647-1:1997 - Graphic technology -- Process control for the manufacture of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints -- Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods
• Effective Date: 01-Jan-2005
• Replaced By: SIST ISO 12647-1:2014 - Graphic technology - Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints - Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods
• Effective Date: 01-Mar-2014

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-januar-2005
*UDILþQDWHKQRORJLMD9RGHQMHSURFHVDL]GHODYHUDVWULUDQLKEDUYQLKL]YOHþNRY
SUHVNXVQLKLQSURL]YRGQLKRGWLVRYGHO3DUDPHWULLQPHULOQHPHWRGH
Graphic technology -- Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations,
proof and production prints -- Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods
Technologie graphique -- Maîtrise de procédé pour la production des séparations de
couleur en ton tramé, des épreuves et des tirages en production -- Partie 1: Paramètres
et méthodes de mesurage
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: ISO 12647-1:2004
ICS:
37.100.01 *UDILþQDWHKQRORJLMDQD Graphic technology in
VSORãQR general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 12647-1
Second edition
2004-08-01
Graphic technology — Process control
for the production of half-tone colour
separations, proof and production
prints —
Part 1:
Parameters and measurement methods
Technologie graphique — Maîtrise de procédé pour la production des
séparations de couleur en ton tramé, des épreuves et des tirages en
production —
Partie 1: Paramètres et méthodes de mesurage

Reference number
©
ISO 2004
PDF disclaimer
This PDF file may contain embedded typefaces. In accordance with Adobe's licensing policy, this file may be printed or viewed but
shall not be edited unless the typefaces which are embedded are licensed to and installed on the computer performing the editing. In
downloading this file, parties accept therein the responsibility of not infringing Adobe's licensing policy. The ISO Central Secretariat
accepts no liability in this area.
Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Details of the software products used to create this PDF file can be found in the General Info relative to the file; the PDF-creation
parameters were optimized for printing. Every care has been taken to ensure that the file is suitable for use by ISO member bodies. In
the unlikely event that a problem relating to it is found, please inform the Central Secretariat at the address given below.

©  ISO 2004
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either ISO at the address below or
ISO's member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail [e-mail]
Web www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2004 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword. iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope. 1
2 Normative references. 1
3 Terms and definitions. 2
4 Requirements. 9
4.1 General. 9
4.2 Data file, colour separation films and printing formes . 9
4.3 Proof or production print . 11
5 Test methods. 13
5.1 Screen angles. 13
5.2 Tone value on a colour-separation film or of a data file . 14
5.3 Tone value on the print. 14
5.4 Tone value increase on the print. 15
5.5 Gloss. 15
5.6 Spectral measurement, computation of CIELAB colour co-ordinates and CIELAB colour
differences . 15
Annex A (normative) Reporting . 17
Annex B (informative) Determination of quality parameters of half-tone dots on a colour
separation film. 19
Bibliography . 21

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO 12647-1 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 130, Graphic technology.
This second edition, which has been extensively revised by the introduction of digital data as input, the
addition of several definitions and a general clean up, cancels and replaces the first edition
(ISO 12647-1:1996).
ISO 12647 consists of the following parts, under the general title Graphic technology — Process control for
the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints:
 Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods
 Part 2: Offset lithographic processes
 Part 3: Coldset offset lithography and letterpress on newsprint
 Part 4: Publication gravure printing
 Part 5: Screen printing
 Part 6: Flexographic printing
Part 7: Processes using digital printing or reproductions made on various traditional printing processes from
digital files is in preparation.
iv © ISO 2004 – All rights reserved

Introduction
When producing a colour reproduction, it is important that the persons responsible for colour separation,
proofing and printing operations have previously agreed on a minimum set of parameters that uniquely defines
the visual characteristics and other technical properties of the planned print product. Such an agreement
enables the correct production of suitable separations (without recourse to “trial-and-error”) and subsequent
production of analogue or digital off-press or on-press proof prints from these separations whose purpose is to
simulate the visual characteristics of the finished print product as closely as possible.
It is the purpose of this part of ISO 12647 to list and explain the minimum set of primary process parameters
(see below) required to uniquely define the visual characteristics and related technical properties of a proof or
production print produced directly from digital data or from a set of half-tone separation films. Other parts of
ISO 12647 define specific values for these parameters that are appropriate for specific processes (such as
lithography, gravure, flexography, screen printing). For some processes certain parameters are more
significant than others and may be specified as mandatory while the remainder are optional. However, in this
part of ISO 12647, all parameters are treated equally.
Primary parameters are defined here as having a direct bearing on the visual characteristics of the image;
secondary parameters are defined as those which may influence the image indirectly by changing the values
of primary parameters. Secondary parameters include
 colour separation film thickness;
 image orientation (wrong-reading or right-reading);
 film polarity (negative or positive);
 roughness of the film emulsion surface;
 presence of colour marking or register marks;
 printing sequence.
Where necessary for specific process applications, secondary parameters and further related details may be
specified in addition to primary parameters, but they are not included in this part of ISO 12647 except in the
definitions.
During the process of colour separation for multi-colour printing, a digital data set comprising CMYK tone
values ready for printing is normally produced from digital data that relate to a multi-coloured continuous-tone
original. This usually consists of a photographic transparency or a reflection copy print, although any
multicoloured graphic in analogue or digital form may be used as input.
The majority of printing processes covered by ISO 12647 requires continuous-tone images to be broken up
into half-tone screens before they can be put on a printing forme. However, there are new processes like
inkjet that do not require screening. For these processes, this part of ISO 12647 may be equally applied, with
the exception of the specifications for screen width, screen angle, half-tone dot shape and, of course, film
quality. It should be noted that a number of off-press proofing systems produce images without recourse to
half-toning. In this case, the proof cannot be used to predict artefacts like moiré that may be caused by
interferences between periodic structures of the image and half-tones used in production printing.
The process of colour separation does not provide a unique transformation of the colour values of the original
into those of the production print. For every distinguishable spot of the original, the colour (characterizable by
three colorimetric values, e.g. X, Y, Z or L*, a*, b* or hue, saturation and lightness) has to be separated into
tone values for four or more process colours. However, in most cases, the density range (and, hence, the
colour gamut) of the original is wider than that achievable in printing. As a result, the classical colour
separation process requires some degree of interpretation of the original by the operator and the resultant
transformation may differ from one original to another. With ICC colour management, the mentioned ambiguity
is reduced to vendor-specific options for the user; within a given option set the results are reproducible. A
further source of variation is the degree and manner by which the achromatic component of a colour is
generated with black ink rather than by a suitable mix of the chromatic inks. Here again, a number of options
exist, which may to some degree be vendor-specific.
Whatever freedom exists for the colour separation process, it is important that it take account of the values of
the process parameters of the printing condition to be used for production. This is because the process steps
that follow colour separation, namely output on film (if required), proofing (on- or off-press), the production of
the printing forme (if required), production printing and print surface finishing, are normally carried out with a
rigid set of process parameters which include
 the properties of the print substrate;
 the optical properties of solid prints of the process inks;
 the tone value increase curve.
Maintaining consistent values for the parameters at all steps in the process is important to ensure predictable
reproduction. Any unforeseen variation of these values is usually to the detriment of the visual characteristics
of the image.
The technical background discussed so far shows that the processes of colour separation and proofing
require prior knowledge of the values of the process parameters encountered in production printing. It is
virtually impossible to print all jobs with the same set of process parameters, irrespective of the type of printing
press or digital printing unit, printing forme, printing ink, print substrate, or surface finishing used. Therefore,
there has to be an efficient information exchange between the pre-press service provider, the proof printer and
the production printer which defines the specific parameters for that job.
To facilitate the information interchange, this part of ISO 12647 defines a complete set of parameters whose
values should be specified as a minimum when a pre-press job consisting of a digital file or a set of colou
...

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 12647-1
Second edition
2004-08-01
Graphic technology — Process control
for the production of half-tone colour
separations, proof and production
prints —
Part 1:
Parameters and measurement methods
Technologie graphique — Maîtrise de procédé pour la production des
séparations de couleur en ton tramé, des épreuves et des tirages en
production —
Partie 1: Paramètres et méthodes de mesurage

Reference number
©
ISO 2004
PDF disclaimer
This PDF file may contain embedded typefaces. In accordance with Adobe's licensing policy, this file may be printed or viewed but
shall not be edited unless the typefaces which are embedded are licensed to and installed on the computer performing the editing. In
downloading this file, parties accept therein the responsibility of not infringing Adobe's licensing policy. The ISO Central Secretariat
accepts no liability in this area.
Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Details of the software products used to create this PDF file can be found in the General Info relative to the file; the PDF-creation
parameters were optimized for printing. Every care has been taken to ensure that the file is suitable for use by ISO member bodies. In
the unlikely event that a problem relating to it is found, please inform the Central Secretariat at the address given below.

©  ISO 2004
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either ISO at the address below or
ISO's member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail [e-mail]
Web www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2004 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword. iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope. 1
2 Normative references. 1
3 Terms and definitions. 2
4 Requirements. 9
4.1 General. 9
4.2 Data file, colour separation films and printing formes . 9
4.3 Proof or production print . 11
5 Test methods. 13
5.1 Screen angles. 13
5.2 Tone value on a colour-separation film or of a data file . 14
5.3 Tone value on the print. 14
5.4 Tone value increase on the print. 15
5.5 Gloss. 15
5.6 Spectral measurement, computation of CIELAB colour co-ordinates and CIELAB colour
differences . 15
Annex A (normative) Reporting . 17
Annex B (informative) Determination of quality parameters of half-tone dots on a colour
separation film. 19
Bibliography . 21

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO 12647-1 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 130, Graphic technology.
This second edition, which has been extensively revised by the introduction of digital data as input, the
addition of several definitions and a general clean up, cancels and replaces the first edition
(ISO 12647-1:1996).
ISO 12647 consists of the following parts, under the general title Graphic technology — Process control for
the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints:
 Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods
 Part 2: Offset lithographic processes
 Part 3: Coldset offset lithography and letterpress on newsprint
 Part 4: Publication gravure printing
 Part 5: Screen printing
 Part 6: Flexographic printing
Part 7: Processes using digital printing or reproductions made on various traditional printing processes from
digital files is in preparation.
iv © ISO 2004 – All rights reserved

Introduction
When producing a colour reproduction, it is important that the persons responsible for colour separation,
proofing and printing operations have previously agreed on a minimum set of parameters that uniquely defines
the visual characteristics and other technical properties of the planned print product. Such an agreement
enables the correct production of suitable separations (without recourse to “trial-and-error”) and subsequent
production of analogue or digital off-press or on-press proof prints from these separations whose purpose is to
simulate the visual characteristics of the finished print product as closely as possible.
It is the purpose of this part of ISO 12647 to list and explain the minimum set of primary process parameters
(see below) required to uniquely define the visual characteristics and related technical properties of a proof or
production print produced directly from digital data or from a set of half-tone separation films. Other parts of
ISO 12647 define specific values for these parameters that are appropriate for specific processes (such as
lithography, gravure, flexography, screen printing). For some processes certain parameters are more
significant than others and may be specified as mandatory while the remainder are optional. However, in this
part of ISO 12647, all parameters are treated equally.
Primary parameters are defined here as having a direct bearing on the visual characteristics of the image;
secondary parameters are defined as those which may influence the image indirectly by changing the values
of primary parameters. Secondary parameters include
 colour separation film thickness;
 image orientation (wrong-reading or right-reading);
 film polarity (negative or positive);
 roughness of the film emulsion surface;
 presence of colour marking or register marks;
 printing sequence.
Where necessary for specific process applications, secondary parameters and further related details may be
specified in addition to primary parameters, but they are not included in this part of ISO 12647 except in the
definitions.
During the process of colour separation for multi-colour printing, a digital data set comprising CMYK tone
values ready for printing is normally produced from digital data that relate to a multi-coloured continuous-tone
original. This usually consists of a photographic transparency or a reflection copy print, although any
multicoloured graphic in analogue or digital form may be used as input.
The majority of printing processes covered by ISO 12647 requires continuous-tone images to be broken up
into half-tone screens before they can be put on a printing forme. However, there are new processes like
inkjet that do not require screening. For these processes, this part of ISO 12647 may be equally applied, with
the exception of the specifications for screen width, screen angle, half-tone dot shape and, of course, film
quality. It should be noted that a number of off-press proofing systems produce images without recourse to
half-toning. In this case, the proof cannot be used to predict artefacts like moiré that may be caused by
interferences between periodic structures of the image and half-tones used in production printing.
The process of colour separation does not provide a unique transformation of the colour values of the original
into those of the production print. For every distinguishable spot of the original, the colour (characterizable by
three colorimetric values, e.g. X, Y, Z or L*, a*, b* or hue, saturation and lightness) has to be separated into
tone values for four or more process colours. However, in most cases, the density range (and, hence, the
colour gamut) of the original is wider than that achievable in printing. As a result, the classical colour
separation process requires some degree of interpretation of the original by the operator and the resultant
transformation may differ from one original to another. With ICC colour management, the mentioned ambiguity
is reduced to vendor-specific options for the user; within a given option set the results are reproducible. A
further source of variation is the degree and manner by which the achromatic component of a colour is
generated with black ink rather than by a suitable mix of the chromatic inks. Here again, a number of options
exist, which may to some degree be vendor-specific.
Whatever freedom exists for the colour separation process, it is important that it take account of the values of
the process parameters of the printing condition to be used for production. This is because the process steps
that follow colour separation, namely output on film (if required), proofing (on- or off-press), the production of
the printing forme (if required), production printing and print surface finishing, are normally carried out with a
rigid set of process parameters which include
 the properties of the print substrate;
 the optical properties of solid prints of the process inks;
 the tone value increase curve.
Maintaining consistent values for the parameters at all steps in the process is important to ensure predictable
reproduction. Any unforeseen variation of these values is usually to the detriment of the visual characteristics
of the image.
The technical background discussed so far shows that the processes of colour separation and proofing
require prior knowledge of the values of the process parameters encountered in production printing. It is
virtually impossible to print all jobs with the same set of process parameters, irrespective of the type of printing
press or digital printing unit, printing forme, printing ink, print substrate, or surface finishing used. Therefore,
there has to be an efficient information exchange between the pre-press service provider, the proof printer and
the production printer which defines the specific parameters for that job.
To facilitate the information interchange, this part of ISO 12647 defines a complete set of parameters whose
values should be specified as a minimum when a pre-press job consisting of a digital file or a set of colour-
separation films, both with accompanying proof print, is being ordered. Specific values for each parameter are
assigned in other parts of ISO 12647; this part is only concerned with definitions, principal requirements,
reporting and test methods.
Because the proof print is the principal means of communication between pre-press, print-buyer and printer, it
is important that
 the proof print be made using the best achievable simulation of the intended printing condition, and
 production printing attempt to match the visual characteristics of the approved proof print.
One of the major variations between and within printing processes is between tone-value-increase curves
(formerly “dot gain curves”), examples of which are shown schematically in Figure 1. One such curve, with
appropriate tolerances, may be specified for every process colour, for each specific combination of print
substrate type and printing process.

vi © ISO 2004 – All rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 12647-1:2004(E)

Graphic technology — Process control f
...