Discussion on the use of gray replacement in Taiwan newspaper industry

Summary

In the past, the use and research of gray replacement were mostly done on scanners, and few were actually used in the printing industry. In recent years, gray replacement has made a living because of the appearance of PDF gray replacement software. In recent years, a number of newspaper companies have begun to use PDF software for gray replacement to meet the need to save ink costs. This study explores the use of gray replacement in the newspaper industry in Taiwan today. Let's first discuss the ink saving effect that the newspaper owner most cares about, and estimate the cost savings of a single full-page advertisement. In addition, I conducted interviews with the Taiwan newspaper industry to understand the use of gray replacement and the problems that arise, as well as views on gray replacement. The ink saving effect of PDF gray replacement software is estimated to save an average of 24.76% of the ink volume after testing, the highest sample saves 32.6% of the ink volume, and at least 10% of the ink volume. It is estimated that a newspaper full-page advertisement can save the cost of NT $ 0.03. The interview learned that using PDF gray replacement software, most of its printed files can be converted to PDF, which has great compatibility and popularity, and can skip the layout objects such as the manufacturer's LOGO and do not want to convert, and other gray replacement software This is a big advantage, and it is more practical than gray scanners on earlier scanners.

Keywords: newspaper printing, gray replacement

1. Introduction

1. Background and motivation

Regarding the study of gray replacement, check the articles at the TAGA seminar. The number of articles submitted from 1984 to 1990 was the most, with a total of fifteen. Subsequent articles and research on gray replacement have been very few in the future. Not many, but this technology has been re-emphasized and applied to actual printing operations by printing-related software manufacturers and the Taiwan newspaper industry in recent years.

The benefits of gray replacement are known from its principles and related literature, and it has great benefits in reducing the occurrence of printing and other faults, saving ink and saving costs. But in the past, gray replacement in the printing industry in Taiwan, the use of gray replacement ratio is very low. It is inferred that the reason why the gray replacement technology is rarely used in the past may be that the operation of the gray replacement in the past is set on the scanner to perform the gray replacement while scanning the image. The printing factory receives the files from different customers and prints them. It cannot request gray replacement for the customers. The printing company helps the customers' manuscripts to process the gray replacement one by one, which is time-consuming and time-consuming. The practice is more difficult to actually implement. The image processing software Photoshop also has settings for gray replacement, but for general printing, the color control has to be handled very carefully. Most printers are not eager to implement this part, and customers The file sent for printing may not be opened by Photoshop. Some typesetting software also has a conversion setting for gray replacement, but for files of other typesetting software, gray replacement cannot be performed.

After Adobe introduced the PDF file format, because PDF has many advantages, it has become an electronic file format widely used in the printing industry. In recent years, companies such as PROIMAGE and Agfa have launched PDF file gray replacement software. This type of software has been used by many newspapers in Taiwan in recent years. It has been deeply studied in the past but rarely used for actual printing. In the past few years, the gray replacement has been brought back to practical use because of the introduction of PDF gray replacement software.

In the early days, the gray replacement conversion was done on the scanner. The scanners made by different companies used different gray replacement methods, and some were designed to meet specific printing conditions (check TAGA Proceeding 1984, p17) . In the past, the processing structure of the scanner is roughly that after the image sensor of the scanner receives the image, it is converted into CMYK. At this time, K is the basic black plate, and then the gray replacement is performed. The process is consistent. The gray replacement software of PDF is used for gray replacement. After sending the CMYK digital file manuscript to the customer (the CMYK generation of this manuscript may be different), another gray replacement is performed. The process is inconsistent. The results may vary. To sum up the above, there is a need to discuss this new gray replacement process for PDF gray replacement software. There are not many companies that use gray replacement in the printing industry in Taiwan. However, many newspapers have already used and considered to use PDF gray replacement software. The general newspaper industry will use gray replacement mainly to save ink consumption and thus save Printing costs.

2. Research Purpose and Problems

This study discusses the use of gray replacement in the newspaper industry. Mainly concerned with the use of gray replacement software for newspaper owners in the newspaper operation process, the most important thing is the effect of saving ink (also for the main purpose of the newspaper using gray replacement) and the newspaper's view on gray replacement, the actual use situation and the occurrence Questions. Due to the estimation of ink saving efficiency, the program included in the PDF gray replacement software generally relies on the change of the dot area for estimation, but whether the data generated by the ink replacement percentage program in the gray replacement software is reliable. The newspaper industry generally only replaces the gray pages of the advertisements. The PDF gray replacement software currently accepted by the newspaper industry is what is the effect of saving ink on the newspaper advertising pages, and how much cost can be saved by using the PDF gray replacement software. The newspaper industry actually uses gray replacement software, what kind of situations and problems arise. What does the newspaper industry think about the practical application of gray replacement software. From the above issues to be explored by this institute, the following research objectives are obtained:

(1) Understand whether the ink saving calculation included in the PDF gray replacement software is reliable.

(2) Understand the ink-saving effect of PDF gray replacement software on newspaper advertisement layout.

(3) Estimate the cost savings of a single full-page advertisement.

(4) Understand the newspaper's views on the practical application of PDF gray replacement software and traditional gray replacement methods.

(5) Understand the use of the PDF gray replacement software and the problems arising from the newspaper industry. [next]

Two, literature discussion

This research literature discusses mainly to understand the basic principles, introduction, advantages and disadvantages of gray replacement.

1. Gray replacement and subtractive color theory

In the theory of subtractive color method, printing with three primary colors of ink can show various colors, but in fact, due to the relationship between the purity of the ink and so on, it is impossible to achieve the theoretical effect. Therefore, black ink will be added to the printing to enhance the contrast and color richness of the printed image. As a result, many equations for adding black components have been derived. The equation not only considers the separation of black, but also considers whether there will be changes in color, gray balance, and other factors. Therefore, the general printed image will have a basic black plate (Skeleton Black) generation. But in the basic black version, black only affects the dark part, and there are many unnecessary CMY three-color dots in the dark part. This tri-color dot will increase the level of the dark part in some aspects, but in some aspects, the total amount of four-color ink in the dark part will be Too high will also affect the quality of the image, especially newspaper printing, its dot expansion is serious, the amount of ink is too high, and a large number of four-color inks are overprinted. The level of the dark part may not be improved, but the level is blurred, which reduces the image quality , So other methods to remove CMY have been developed, such as: gray replacement and background color?

According to the subtractive color theory, three colors can be overprinted to obtain a variety of colors, two of which mainly determine the chroma, and the other color is to increase the grayscale, but as explained in the previous article, under actual conditions, it is not possible. Let ’s not talk about the actual situation first. In theory, the process of gray replacement does not use the third primary color to make the color gray or black to increase gray, but uses black ink to form the outline of the image and the details of its parts. . And this theory is applied to the actual situation. Such a method not only increases the image quality, but also reduces the original four-color overprinting part to the three-color ink overprinting. The total ink coverage is reduced, and the printing quality is also a problem. It is less likely to occur, and the change of black ink only changes the hue. Therefore, the lower control variables in printing reduce the chance of color change, so increasing black ink has the effect of controlling color stability.

Second, the basic introduction of gray replacement

Gray component replacement (Gray Component Replacement), whose name was proposed by RIT's Franz Sigg (Zhang Zhengtang, 1992), examines the document TAGA Proceeding 1984 (p1), which explains that the gray replacement theory was discussed in the seminar of the current era ( Non-name), this idea was first mentioned by Tobias (1964), but the author of this article thinks it should be Yule (1940). The theory of gray replacement is that as long as there are yellow, magenta and cyan dots in the color, there are gray components in this color. Then from the color, take the least one of the three dot values? 爻 ??? Written barium, dumb? Reef, hand gear, 拖 苁 ?? 爻? True ?? 蚨 ??? 鲆 桓 鲋 行 臨 開 賊 鳳?? 飧 龌 医 銧 鬅 樶 婊 Huaishan's advisory? Resistant? Explained? Welding coarse Po Huan Liu 鎣 厣 ???? Glue naan? 嗌? 0%, magenta 40%, and yellow 55%, using gray replacement Can be copied into a similar color.爻? 嗌? (3) 5% magenta, 45% yellow, and 20% black. In the three-color separation, it requires 125% ink film, and the gray replacement separation requires only 100%.

Gray replacement has different names according to different scanner manufacturers, for example: PIR (Royal Zenith's Programmed lnk Reduction); CCR & PCR (Hell's complementary Color Reduction); PCR (Programmed Color Reduction, Crossfield's).

3. Gray replacement and background color? Yao? / B>

Another way to replace the CMY three colors with K inks is the background color? 爻 ??? 牖 doubt? Not bad Mou 痨? Not swaying Xing Yan Ba ​​Ba Mou Ju 揤? Consultation? 爻? Fear of humiliation? Lie? Ruthenium? Slower ellipsoidal instrument? Ying? Doubt? No spermatozoa strong tip allowed to see Mi Ye? Salary tanned section АΤ 谝 語 Min Tao Di Some are replaced with K ink, and the color richness of the tone of the dark part will be insufficient. Therefore, the method of increasing the color of the dark part by the amount of ink CMY three colors is developed. The under color gain UCA (Undercolor Add Mon) to increase the tone and color of the dark part Richness.

About the introduction and background color of gray replacement? Yao? Nao fan mystery? Jia Mumu juvenile? Hope? Ah? La? That? Gu Xihoro disaster? 5? Straw fur so timid ┣? 簦? Teach Jiaozhijiao ㄖ ? Lai Nan 彑 齑 Γ? Consultation? 爛? 縛 襔 饕? 赜 谥 行 郧? 蛑 机 那 唷 ⒀ 綛 鶛? Jie secretly received ∧? Mo: ⒌ Mo block Kang Chi copy? Block Kang Na? Feng Neon gown eyebrow curled up 5 yo? Miaomu consultation? 爻? ぷ 饕? 笤 诖? 痘 doubt ??? 蛔 阒? Mo Zhao? Miao Na? Knowledge Ji Yong? Suspicious? Suspicious? No fame struck Shunyou: ⒅Mechanical trouble ????? Purple Jing Jing Su meal ?? Ministry of Relief Uranium? Orangutan? Shimu childish?敝校? 爻? Doubt? Sha Zheng? Encourage Kang paddle blocker? Ying? ⑶ 矣 鍔 谔 峊 鳊? Just right; paralyzed 池 八 賓? Doubt? Not Hui Hui coarse coarse Huan Chi? Handy ?? Hammer Sang? Slightly broken Xingya? Huan Zhi? Falcon blow doubt?

4. The percentage of gray replacement

The percentage of gray replacement is related to the third color being 爻? 倌 倭 俊 ＠? Relieve? 绌? Locust? A glance ?? stalker Huai Pu? I kind of? Suspicion? No? 100% GCR) , If the third color is ridiculed? I don't think it is 80% GCR). The percentage of gray replacement to be used depends on individual printing conditions, such as paper, ink, sink liquid, blanket, printing plate, etc. Using 40 to 60% seems to be the optimal parameter. 100% gray replacement may cause some problems, such as if the printed registration is not accurate, there will be obvious white lines around an object. The following figure is a schematic diagram of the gray replacement percentage.

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Five, the advantages and disadvantages of gray replacement

With reference to two related literatures, the study of gray replacement for news printing (Zhang Zhengtang, 1992) and the SNAP newspaper advertising specifications manual illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of gray replacement.

(1) Advantages of gray replacement:

1. Stable printing quality

The darkening of most color shadows is due to black and non-tri-color overprinting, so after gray replacement, the change in dot expansion is usually less critical. When adding black, because black is a neutral color, there is no problem of gray balance. It can neutralize various factors that affect the change of gray balance, so it is easier to control the gray balance of colors. Factors such as the expansion of black ink dots and the amount of overprinting will affect the color saturation, but the effect on the hue is not very obvious, so the control of color is also easier than that of three-color printing. Good reproducible color space. It is better to use a change in black in the tone range to darken the color than to change the tone using the three primary colors, and a hue deviation may occur. And because black dominates and replaces most of the image outline, the problem of registration will be reduced.

2. Increased printability

After gray replacement, it will increase the printability, because the replacement of three colors into one color will reduce the total amount of ink, which reduces the problems of back printing and poor transfer of ink from the printing press cylinder. Many, and due to the reduction in the amount of ink, the ink dries faster, so the printability naturally increases. In addition, after the gray replacement, the reduction of the total ink overprint can avoid the reversal of chromaticity. Generally, because the total amount of ink is too high, the chromatic reversal phenomenon will occur, and the brightness will not increase but rise, so the gray replacement After the ink volume is reduced, this phenomenon can be avoided.

3. Increased brightness and contrast of colors

Printing is the color application of the subtractive color method. After the gray replacement, it can compensate the brightness of the unglazed paper, such as newsprint and molded paper, and the density of the color on the paper is increased due to the increase of black ink. Large, the color contrast of the printed matter has been significantly improved.

4. Shorten printing preparation time after gray replacement

In actual printing, the gray balance can be quickly adjusted to the correct state, and the consumption and time of the most time-consuming ink adjustment and trial printing loss in printing can be reduced a lot.

5. Reduce the use of color inks

Gray replacement replaces three colors of CMY with one K color. The saving of primary color ink can be known, and in general printing, black ink is cheaper than CMY three-color ink alone, so gray replacement also greatly reduces the cost of ink.

(2) Disadvantages of gray replacement:

1. The dot shape is obvious

Due to the four-color printing, under the dot arrangement of AM, the plum pattern arranged by the four-color dots is unavoidable, and the bright parts or the middle tone areas, because of the increase of black, will make the dots more obvious.

2. Paper wool and dirty spots

Because the black printing pattern covers a large range, when black is the first color printing, it is easier to pull up the paper wool, and it is easy to get dirty spots after printing.

3. Color revision

The revision of the printed color plate after the gray replacement is slightly different from the past, and the printing staff may need to be familiar with and recognize those manuscripts after the gray replacement. This is a description of the shortcomings of gray replacement in the literature, but interviewing a newspaper company understands that this issue was originally a bit of a concern for the newspaper industry, but when the gray replacement manuscript was used to actually print the newspaper, it did not inform the relevant personnel who operated the printing machine , But the results are still good.

Participation, research methods

This research is mainly based on the research of real experiments in quantitative research, in order to understand the ink saving effect of PDF gray replacement software, and then supplemented by interviews, interviewing the owner management to understand the relevant views of the owner management on the gray replacement technology, There are actual use cases and problems.

The research steps of this study are divided into four parts, and the four parts are carried out in sequence. First: To discuss the literature of gray replacement first, in order to understand the theory and development history of gray replacement. Second: Carry out test experiments related to ink saving after gray replacement to understand the cost and ink saving effect of newspaper after using gray replacement. Third: Interview the Taiwan newspaper industry on the practical application of gray replacement and related views to understand the actual use of gray replacement. Fourth: draw relevant conclusions for the final summary.

The research experiment is divided into three parts, and these three parts are carried out in sequence. First: verify the ink saving calculation of gray replacement software, second: understand the effect of gray replacement ink saving by experiment, third: conduct experiments and calculations to estimate the average savings of an advertisement. The following describes the experimental steps and design of the three parts of the experiment:

1. Verification of ink saving calculation of gray replacement software

Take two advertising files actually published in the newspaper as samples (the advertising files in the newspaper industry are generally in PDF format), and then use PROIMAGE OnColor ECO software for gray replacement. Then use the program function of the estimated ink volume saving percentage and the total cost saving percentage built in the original software. The principle of this program function is to calculate the proportion of the dot area. Then use a self-made program with the same principle (to report Industry), to analyze the proportion of each color dot, and extend the calculation to calculate the estimated total ink volume savings percentage and total cost savings percentage. Then compare whether the data obtained by the two programs are different. The result is to verify that the ink saving data built into the gray replacement software is reliable.

Generally, the estimation of the amount of ink saved by gray replacement generally depends on the program included in the PDF gray replacement software, so the experiment first checks whether the ink saving calculation included in the gray replacement software is reliable, so as to increase the amount of the following experiment. Credibility, and verify whether the theory of the gray replacement software program and the data it shows are exaggerated and wrong.

In this test part, only two advertisement samples are used for analysis, because as long as the deviation of the results calculated by the two programs in one sample is too large, it can be judged that the ink saving calculation of the PDF gray replacement software does not conform to its principle, and if it is the same, it can be Trust the ink saving calculation of PDF gray replacement software. The two samples are provided for reference to avoid coincidence and probability.

The PDF gray replacement software has a program function with ink saving data, which will explain the percentage of each color of the original file (Original), and the percentage of each color of the converted file (Result), thus calculating the ink save percentage of each color (Ink Save), saving Ink volume percentage, saving ink cost percentage. The calculation of the percentage of the original file's various colors (Original), the principle is based on a color version, in which the portion of all dots in the image is set to 100%, of which 100% is covered by black Where the dots account for 100% of the above, the dots of the other three color versions are estimated based on this, so you can get the data of the percentage of the original file's various colors. The percentage (Result) data is also estimated in this way. Extended calculations can estimate the percentage of total ink volume savings and the percentage of ink cost savings. [next]

2. Ink saving effect of gray replacement

Take eight files actually published in paper ads as samples, and then use PROIMAGE OnColor_ECO software to perform gray replacement. The gray replacement amount and detail settings use the general newspaper industry to process gray replacement. The parameters that are generally selected: the default value of the software . Then use the program functions of the estimated ink volume saving percentage and the total cost saving percentage built in the original software to calculate the estimated ink volume saving percentage and the total cost saving percentage. Finally, the data is statistically analyzed to understand the effect of PDF gray replacement software on ink saving.

The calculation formula of the percentage of ink saving of individual samples in the PDF gray replacement software is as follows: <{(Original C + Original M + Original Y + Original K) 1 (Transform C + Transform M + Transform Y + Transform K)} / (Original C + Original M + Original Y + original K)>) (100%. The calculation formula of the percentage of ink cost savings for individual samples is as follows: [<{(original C + original M + original Y) x3 + original K}-{(turn C + turn M + turn Y) x3 + turn K }> / {(Original C + Original M + Original Y) x3 + Original K}] x100%. The above calculation of the percentage of ink cost savings is based on the price of black ink, which is three times the price of a single color of three-color ink, which is the same as the actual The price of ink is slightly different, but the price of ink is not always fixed, just like the price of paper, but this ratio is close to the current price of ink. The percentage of ink saving and the cost of ink saving are based on the percentage of the original file and the conversion. The data obtained from the percentage of each color of the post-file is obtained.

3. Estimate the average savings of one ad

Take two advertising files actually published in the newspaper as samples (the advertising files in the newspaper industry are generally in PDF format), one full-page advertisement and one half-page advertisement. Then use PROIMAGE OnColor_ECO software for gray replacement. First use the program functions of the estimated ink volume saving percentage and the total cost saving percentage built in the original software to calculate the proportion of the four-color dots before and after the gray replacement of the two samples. Then put one of the files before and after the gray replacement of the advertisement sample (a total of two files, one page of the advertisement is gray-replaced, one is none) into the other pages of the newspaper to form a large version, making two seemingly identical plates , And actually printed into a newspaper on the market, the other pages of the two newspapers are exactly the same, only there is no difference in the gray color of the advertising page. Then we weighed one hundred gray-replaced newspapers, and then averaged the weight of a single newspaper. The same is true for newspapers that have not been replaced by gray. Subtracting the average weight of the two newspapers will give the difference between the newspaper without gray replacement and the newspaper with gray replacement, so you can get the weight of the single ink saved after the gray replacement of this layout. The same is true for the other sample. Finally, the data of the proportion of the four-color dots before and after the gray replacement of the sample, the difference between the weight before and after the gray replacement (the reduced weight of the ink after the gray replacement), plus the price of ink per kilogram, the three data are calculated Estimate the cost savings of the two samples before and after gray replacement, and then estimate the amount of cost savings before and after gray replacement for full-page ads.

Since the owner of the newspaper expects to be able to estimate the possible ink-saving situation of using the gray replacement layout, especially the cost savings, that is to say, it is expected to be able to estimate the average amount of savings for an advertising layout to facilitate cost calculation, so this test experiment is designed. Due to the simple method of measuring weight, we cannot know the proportion and change of the weight of CMYK, so we take the proportion of each color dot (percentage of each color ink before and after conversion) of these two files (before and after gray replacement) to come Suppose the ratio and change of CMYK colors before and after gray replacement. Because this test experiment requires actual machine test printing, it will be difficult for the manufacturer's work, so this test experiment uses only two samples. In addition, the ink currently used in the newspaper industry, the price of CMY ink per kilogram is about 140 NTD, and K is 50 NTD per kg.

1. Data analysis 1. Experimental data analysis

(1) Verification of ink saving calculation by gray replacement software

PDF gray replacement software's ink saving calculation verification uses two files A and B as samples. The verification results are shown in the following table. The built-in part is the result of the gray replacement software analysis and calculation. The self-made software developed by the newspaper industry is calculated. the result of. It can be seen from the table below that the results of the built-in program and the self-made program are very close, and the results such as the estimated total ink saving percentage set in the gray replacement software can be trusted.

(2) Ink-saving effect of gray replacement

The data of the test of the effect of the gray replacement ink saving is shown in the following table. From the table below, the average ink saving percentage of the eight samples is 24.76%, and the average ink saving percentage is 37.29%. That is to say, after each advertisement sample is replaced by gray, it is estimated that it can save nearly a quarter of the ink usage. The cost was saved by an average of 37%. In addition, the original files of the advertising samples used are on average C578.8, M40.3, Y40.2, and K35.9 network coverage. This data is provided as a reference for the sample data. (In a layout, the portion of all dots in the image is set to 100%, and among these 100%, there is a place covering black dots, which accounts for 100% of the above Proportion, other three-color outlets are estimated based on this).

The following figure is the histogram and box graph of the percentage of ink saving of the eight advertising samples. It can be seen from the histogram that five of the eight samples have a saving effect of more than 0.25 (25%), which is four More than one-half. The worst ink-saving effect is 10%, and the best ink-saving effect is 32.6%.

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The following figure is the histogram and box graph of the ink saving percentage of the eight advertising samples. It can be known from the histogram that five of the eight samples have ink saving costs above 0.4 (40%), of which The worst effect saves 20% of the ink cost. The best saves 49.6% ink costs, nearly 50% of the savings.

The following figure is a line graph of the percentage of ink saving (lower) and the percentage of cost (upper) of the eight files. The display is for reference. The estimated ratio of the percentage of ink saved and the percentage of cost saved is 1.54 times the percentage of cost saved.

Taking a single color as an example, the CMYK values ​​of the two color patches are (30.40.50.10) and (50.20.70.30), respectively. In theory, the ink saved after the gray replacement of the former is much, Because if the replacement of 100% gray is the lowest value of CMY, all will be removed and replaced by black, the former will be deleted 30% of cyan first, the latter will be deleted 20% of magenta, other proportions of gray replacement First, the primary color of the lowest value of CMY is multiplied by its proportion to remove, and whether the ink coverage percentage of the entire layout has the same close effect. It is theoretically estimated that the complexity of the image and other factors are very large, so this will not be the case. However, the author here also uses the above eight samples to see if its gray replacement ink-saving effect, whether it is possible to follow the greater the lowest value in CMY, the better the effect.

According to the following table, the order of the minimum value in CMY is not necessarily the same as the percentage of ink saving, but it is also traceable. With the minimum CMY value sample G, the ink saving effect is the worst: on the contrary, The sample C with the lowest CMY value is the highest, and its ink saving effect is the best. To understand the effect of the gray replacement of this file, this method can be used to estimate the quality of the ink saving effect.

(3) Estimate the average savings of one advertisement

The weight difference test result before and after the gray replacement of a single newspaper is that the difference of a full-page advertisement A sample is 0.19 g, and the difference of a half-page advertisement B sample is 0.1 g.

Look at the table below and calculate the sample A. It is found that the original CMY accounts for 93.7% (all full versions are 300%), K is 33%, and CMY accounts for 39.7% and K is 44. 5%. Before and after the CMY shift, the reduction was 54%, and K increased by 11.5%. It was concluded that the ratio of CMY before and after the shift: K increased by 4.69565: 1. Among the reduced 0.19 grams, the weight of CMY will exceed this figure, and K will increase, so the weight of CMY will be deducted from the increase of K, and then it is exactly equal to 0.19 grams, so export 4.69565x-x = O. 19, x = O. In 0514, it was found that CMY decreased by 0.2241356 grams in total, and K increased by 0.0514 grams. And the ink price CMY per gram is 0.14 yuan and K is 0.05 yuan extrapolated from (0.2241356x0.14)-(0.0514x0.05) = 0.03121984, the average sample of A is obtained The ink saving cost is about 0.03122 yuan.

The same calculation method is used for the sample B, and the average ink cost of the sample B is RMB 0.018458. Because the sample A is a full-page advertisement and the sample B is a half-page advertisement, you can understand the results of the two samples. difference. If the sample B repeats the same two half-page advertisements as a full-page advertisement, the saving is about 0.036915 yuan. If a full-page advertisement is used as a benchmark, it can be estimated from two samples that after one page of the full-page advertisement is replaced by gray, the ink cost saved can be about 0.034067 yuan.

According to the website of the American Newspaper Printing Association (http: ///.org), an article in it Technically Speaking, April 7, 2008-By Michael Brady mentioned related issues of ink savings estimation (Anevaluation of different strategies for ink savings on press), the article mentions that under standardized operations and optimized processes, ink cost control in the printing industry is an important focus and purpose, and ink is a core cost in printing. Therefore, the control of ink usage is already a trend, and gray replacement will be a good way. In the past, the printing industry believed that the accurate estimation of the amount of ink used in a single piece of printed matter was less likely to be achieved in the pre-press stage. It can be foreseen that under the standardization and optimization of the printing process, it is still possible to achieve a very accurate and detailed level. This research is only to provide a certain degree of value, and in the future, various methods can be used to implement and verify in detail. [next]

2. Interview with the newspaper industry on the application of gray replacement and related issues

(1) Why do we only use gray replacement today?

Interview with the Taiwan newspaper industry, I learned that due to the current increase in international pulp prices, and the majority of the newspaper industry's circulation has been much less than before, the income is very limited, and must be open source and throttling. It is also a way to save printing ink, which can be saved by gray replacement, which is a good way. And because the traditional gray replacement method needs to be set from the scanner or RIP, the former cannot be used in this method because the current photographic equipment is digital. The latter can be considered. However, after several printing-related software companies have proposed to use PDF as the gray replacement of the newspaper industry, most newspaper industries still prefer to use this type of software for conversion. Many newspapers today have used PDF as a replacement Its digital file format, and the results are good after testing. The advantage of PDF is that you can choose the layout that needs to deal with gray replacement. It is not necessary for R1P to use all layouts. Most of them use PDF input and PDF output, and then go to the big version mode, which is ideal for flexibility.

Today's gray replacement software has been used by many newspapers for several reasons. The first is that the newspapers are printing in large quantities, echoing the explanation in the previous paragraph. The ink saving effect may be very impressive because the accumulation of less is more, so it is possible. Consider the application. Second, the gray replacement software now supports the PDF file format, which has the advantage that it can avoid the LOGO and other vectors of the advertising company, and only converts the image photos or skips the vector pattern, so that the LOGO color that the advertiser pays most attention to will not be gray. Displacement instead of color, this flexibility is difficult to achieve in the past gray replacement, but also difficult to do with PHOTOSHOP image processing software or other typesetting software. Third, the printability of the newspaper industry is not good. The color difference standard for color is generally â–³ E of six. Compared with the generally allowed â–³ E of three, the newspaper has a larger allowable value, so it will be bolder to use gray replacement . I watched newspapers before and after the gray printing provided by newspaper companies and found that the general color deviation after gray replacement, most of the color deviation is acceptable, but for some green colors (such as grass and trees in the image) , There is a large color deviation, which may be the need to pay attention to gray replacement in the future.

(2) What kind of layout uses gray replacement

The content of the newspaper content is the highest in the four-color layout of the advertisement. Although the image of the general layout has a four-color ratio, the borders and some color blocks will be arranged in two colors or single colors. The gray replacement is compared to this. The advertising layout has less ink-saving effect, and the four-color ratio of the advertisement is relatively higher. The effect of saving ink and thus cost will be much better. Therefore, the general newspaper industry uses gray replacement for newspaper advertisements. Especially for real estate related types of advertisements, many of the buildings are gray in color, and the general color separation will be mixed with many CMY three colors. If they are replaced by gray, the effect will be the best. In the advertising of general cosmetics and fashion boutiques, the newspaper industry does not often use gray replacement. Because of this type of advertisement, general customers will have stricter color requirements, and the colors of skin and clothing are likely to be different due to gray replacement. However, the newspaper industry has actually tested the printing effect of the gray color replacement of the face skin color, and its color and other aspects of the performance are not bad. In addition, because the newspaper's news content layout is more immediate, the steps of gray replacement and the complexity of adding operations are also reasons that are not considered.

(3) Software testing

In general, the gray replacement software requires a lot of testing when it is applied, because its equipment conditions may be different in the same factory, not to mention different newspapers. The gray replacement software is designed as a commercial general-purpose software, so it must be tested To purchase the software to see if there are any problems under the printing conditions of this newspaper. There are some differences in the format of the printing industry's printing specifications and international standards. For example, the total ink volume limit of the SNAP specification is up to 240%, and some newspaper specifications have a maximum limit of 260%. This newspaper industry When testing the gray replacement software, the company used the total ink volume limit of 240% in accordance with the specification, and found that its color is not as ideal as 260%. So in the end, the gray replacement limit was 260% for the gray replacement, and Color performance is feasible.

(4) Report to the owner's consideration of PDF gray replacement software

Generally speaking, the owner of the newspaper pays more attention to the ink-saving effect of this software, which is the cost saving part. In theory, gray replacement is better than the ink-saving effect of the background color removal, which explains why the Taiwan newspaper industry does not use it. The reason for the background color removal is to use gray replacement, and the general newspaper industry does not use the background color gain. However, the author checked the SNAP newspaper advertising specifications, there is a mention of the use of the background color? Yao? Nanbei urgently 景 堋 R 晼 菴 芴 芑 Song 踤 跗 suspicion? Did not slow down Mu Mu ?? doubtful? Leech? Are you looking for you? You are looking for you? Few? Suddenly, you ’re going to pay a tomb !: ⒉ 宦? 猓? 岵 辉 敢 飧 斗 选 2 Also? 岵 Exchange 岵 Sun ramification? No locusts? 渚 龆 ɑ故窃谟谀芙谑《嗌儆湍?杀疚?剂浚?浣谑〉某杀拘枰?虑白既返脑す馈６?话愦死嘈?DF灰色置换软体都会附有总节省油墨百分比和预估总成本节省百分比的数据，不过由于此计算程式为一样的软体公司所写，其正确性与否，需要验证。在下段会有其验证结果。

(五)选择灰色置换软体和发生过的问题

目前市面上的灰色置换软体，多支援PDF，且所使用的转换引擎大都相同，只是在介面和PDF支援版本之类会有所差异(查察TAGA Proceeding 1984，p17，得知早期扫描器制造商对灰色置换有不同的名称，且置换的方式也有些许不同，其灰色置换细部结果也就因各家制造商的不同有差异)。所以现今灰色置软体的结果应该会是相同。有关于节墨的计算，如果广告客户来的稿件当中包含RBG格式的图档，其节墨的预估会较不准确。也有碰过广告客户拿来的PDF档案版本较高，软体所支援的版本较低，发生了转换出来后的渐层色块跑掉的情形，不过软体公司已经改善为支援较高版本的PDF。所以报业对于灰色置换后的档案，会在RIP后再经过喷墨打样确认一次。 [next]

伍、研究结论和建议

一、研究结论

根据以上测试之数据与访谈，我们可以得到以下的结论：

(一)灰色置换软体中以版面网点百分比来分析节墨的程度，以相同的理论，另做出一个程式验证，两者结果接近相同，可以信任灰色置换软体所提供的结果。

(二)测试灰色置换的节省油墨效果得知(参数设定使用软体的预设值)，平均一个版面可以节省24．76%的油墨，平均节省油墨成本百分比为37．29%·最小的样本节省10%的油墨量(油墨成本节省20%)，最多的样本节省32．6%(油墨成本节省49．6%)，且样本的节墨效果呈现M型化，适当的版面，可以节省将近一半的油墨成本。以上数据提供做为是否使用灰色置换的参考。

(三)经由实验测试统计和计算之后，我们得知预估一个报纸广告全版样本使用灰色置换(使用软体预设值)后，使用两个样本预估平均约可节省0．034元新台币，其大量和长期下来节省油墨的成本效果相当惊人。

(四)相较于以往的灰色置换方式，目前报业接受的有两种方式，都同为PDF输入，一个为PDF输出，一个为直接组成大版。以往在扫描器上使用灰色置换旧有的方式已经不能符合作业要求。

(五)转换PDF档案，可以跳过厂商LOGO等不想转换的版面物件。报业使用灰色置换对于色彩影响的疑虑，可透过此来避开重要且色彩要求较高的版面物件，因此可以较放心，且对于客户对于广告色彩要求较严格的版面，可以不使用。对于房地产广告，则可以考虑使用灰色置换，其节墨效果在实务上会有较佳表现。

(六)现行报业考虑是否会使用灰色置换，第一个考量为灰色置换的节墨效果，尤其是成本节省的预估会很注重。在标准化作业和优化流程下，印刷业油墨成本的控制是重要的焦点和目的，并且油墨是印刷中的一个核心成本。所以油墨使用量的控制，已经是个趋势，而灰色置换会是个不错的方式，可待各报业评估后使用。

二、研究建议

根据我们研究，我们可以归纳出下列的建议事项：

(一)本研究对于报业使用灰色置换最关注的节省油墨方面，其节省油墨效率是以网点面积和测量报纸完成品重量的方式做预估，以学理来说应该会接近实际节省油墨的效率。不过建议报业在使用灰色置换后一段时间，能追踪并分析其油墨的节省情形，以了解真正的节省效率，并且验证和比较与预测值间的差异。

(二)目前PDF灰色置换软体的制造商推广的对象都为报业，在台湾印刷业微利的市场状况下，建议可以发展延伸到商业印刷上。且灰色置换其节省油墨使用的效果，符合近年来环境保护和资源减少使用的意识和潮流。

(三)由访谈报业得知报业对于灰色置换的参数设定，都以保守的方式使用软体制造商所设定的预设值仿为设定，建议往后的研究可以针对不同的参数做不同的变动，对其所印刷出来的各项结果(印刷品质、油墨节省效率等)做探讨。

references

中文文献

张正棠(2001)。灰色置换用于新闻印刷之研究。中国文化大学造纸印刷研究所印刷组硕士论文，台北市。

张景行(2006)。灰色平衡在彩色打样机与UV印刷机色彩复制应用之研究。世新大学图文传播暨数位出版学系硕士论文，台北市。

骆美月(1988)。灰分置换的分色方式在台湾平版印刷厂的可行性研究。中国文化大学造纸印刷研究所印刷组硕士论文，台北市。

英文文献

Johnson，T.(1984)．Polychromatic Colour Removel - Revolution or Evolution．Paperpresented at the TAGA Proceeding．

Johnson，T.(1988)．The Application of Printing Specifications to Grey Component Replacement．Paper presented at the TAGA Proceeding．

Kipphan，H．(Ed)．(2001)．Handbook of print media． NewYork：Springer

Schwartz，M.，Holub，R.，& Gilbert，J．(1984)． Measurements of Gray Component Reduction in Neutrals and Saturated Colors． Paper presentedattheTAGAProceeding．

Snap，specifications for newsprint advertising production(2006)．A1exandria，USA： newspaper association of America．网路文献

Michael Brady(2008)，Technically Speaking，April 7，2008，from：http：//．org/Resources/Publications/Technically-Speaking/Technically-Speaking-2008-April/Technically-Speaking-2008-April-7/Technically-Speaking-2008-April-7．aspx

About the Author

杨忠颖(Chung-YingYung)，世新大学图文传播暨数位出版学系毕业，现就读于台湾艺术大学图文传播艺术学系研究所。

郝宗瑜(Tsung-Yu Hao)，世新大学图文传播暨数位出版学系副教授，曾担任世新大学出版中心电拼组长，世界新专三专印刷摄影科毕，纽约理工学院电脑科学硕士，北爱荷华大学工业科技博士。

陈昌郎(Chang-Lang Chen)，曾任印刷相关行业业务经理、厂长、总经理，顾问及中国文化大学印刷传播系系主任等职；现任国立台湾艺术大学图文传播艺术学系所专任副教授，世新大学兼任副教授：中华印刷科技学会理事长、中国印刷学会常务理事，台湾印刷人协会常务理事，印刷技术士命题及监评委员，考选部命题暨审查委员，智慧局专利审查委员，印刷标准审查委员等职。主要著作为《卷筒轮转平版印刷工学》、《印刷成本分析》与《印刷生产管理》等。

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