A New Method for Assessing Overprint Trapping

In this paper we propose a different way to evaluate the effect of trapping that results in process colors when Red, Green, and Blue are obtained as overprints of Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. We believe that two major factors influence the color of the overprints: the spectral characteristics and opacity of the inks. We propose analytical methods for determining the apparent contribution of individual inks as well as the effect of ink pigment opacity in overprints. These procedures are based on spectral data and differ from the traditional trapping expressions that are derived from densitometric data.