Abstract

Midtone spread (MTS) and chromaticness difference (∆Ch) are synonymous, but differ in metric and test method. Midtone spread measures the departure of C, M, and Y midtone balance in terms of TVI. Chromaticness difference is the colorimetric difference between a printed CMY triplet and its colorimetric aim with approximately the same lightness. Either midtone spread or chromaticness difference can be used to specify tolerance, but do not yield the same outcome. As the printing standards community contemplating the conversion between midtone spread and chromaticness difference, this research is aimed at determining ∆Ch that is equivalent of 5 MTS using a real printing database as opposed to a previous study using a simulated database. Using ∆Ch to communicate visual difference in pictorial images and controlling ∆Ch or TVI during color printing, by varying solid ink density, are also studied.