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High-fidelity color in theory

High-fidelity color, or hi-fi color, as it is commonly called, refers generally to processes that involve printing in more than 4 colors. It is not a single technology, but a whole series of attempts to discover a way to print a larger gamut of colors than is possible using the traditional 4 process colors (C, M, Y and K). Pantone's Hexachrome is one such attempt.

The objective in printing with more than 4 colors is to increase the value of a printed piece, be it a publication, a package, a billboard or something else, by improving the color. Hi-fi color achieves that by supporting a wider color gamut than is possible with the four process colors alone.

There have been many different efforts to broaden the achievable color gamut, including the use of multiple densities of CMY inks, as is common with large-format, ink-jet printers. (Among the companies widening their color gamuts using multidensity cyan and magenta inks are ColorSpan and Raster Graphics, the two main players, each of which claims to reach around 85% of the PMS gamut.) Other attempts, which were aimed at conventional printing markets, have included the Crosfield HyperColor technology, which used additional amounts of C, M and Y inks; the Scitex CMYK+RGB technology; and the VSF seven-ink set adopted by Linotype-Hell. As noted above, the seven-ink methods haven't gained much market support. But Pantone's Hexachrome technology has fared better.

Some vendors, such as HP, Encad and Tektronix, are adopting the wait-and-see-what-the-market-wants approach.

Hexachrome

Pantone announced its Hexachrome color technology in April 1994, which was followed by a worldwide launch at Drupa in 1995. Just last month Pantone was awarded a U.S. patent for its Hexachrome technology.

Hexachrome is a six-color technology, utilizing cyan, magenta, yellow, black, orange and green inks in a manner that is able to reproduce 90% of the Pantone Matching System colors. Traditional CMYK printing, on the other hand, can achieve only about half of the Pantone colors.

Generally speaking, Hexachrome produces better purples, greens and flesh tones than standard CMYK inks. The 10% that Hexachrome can't reproduce includes an assortment of dark blues, which aren't aided very much by the orange and green fifth and sixth colors.

According to the company, Hexachrome is being used in packaging, corporate brochures and even in a web offset-produced catalog.

First demonstrations. It was at the Seybold Seminars in Boston in 1996 that Hexachrome printing marked perhaps its first turning point. At the time, it was being touted as a "technology demonstration" orchestrated by Lexmark, the printer manufacturer, and Colossal Graphics, the supplier of bulk-ink systems and RIPs. Hosted by Colossal, the demonstration was very much technology, very little product.

Called the C6 Hi-Fi Digital Color System, the "system" was little more than a souped-up, letter-size Lexmark 2070 JetPrinter, which housed two print cartridges-one containing cyan, magenta and yellow and the other black, orange and green.

That system never became a product. (A Lexmark representative told us recently that the company isn't developing any Hexachrome products. Instead it has elected to continue its development of 4 color printing using its Photo cartridge, which houses multidensity CM inks.) New interest. Despite that inauspicious start, Hexachrome printing has not gone away. It has been building slowly since then, culminating in San Francisco with two vendors' announcements of support for Hexachrome's CMYK+green and orange: Roland and Mimaki are incorporating versions of the technology in their printers. These efforts bring Hexachrome technology down-market, closer to the mainstream, with greater mainstream acceptance than it has had previously. In that respect, though, it is clear that, when it comes to Hexachrome printing, the mainstream market is largely unexposed to it; perhaps the vendors are a bit ahead of the market demand.

Challenges. To take advantage of Hexachrome printing, existing RIPs have to be modified to support the technology, ink sets have to be developed, and ink and media profiling has to be done. To date, only a handful of RIP developers are able to support the devices; most ink suppliers have either the pigment-based or the dye-based ink sets ready, but not both; and the options for media are limited.

These limitations are to be expected in the life of a new technology, but they also indicate that those vendors out of the gate early will have to initiate some concerted market education about the benefits of the technology if they want the technology, and their investment in it, to thrive.

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