Digital textile printing currently covers various market segments, which differ mainly in the application, the selection of natural or synthetic textiles and the matching inkjet dye classes.
The colour communication workflow in digital textile production is facing major challenges. This starts with the selection of a suitable RGB exchange colour space.
The creation of the designs from typical Adobe programs results in digital assets, which are usually created in sRGB or AdobeRGB colour space. They are much too large compared to typical textile sample fans or common digital printing colour gamuts. This leads to time and cost-intensive, mostly iterative colour adjustments for the predominantly small and medium-sized print service providers.
Solution steps
The first focus is a systematic and metrological recording of the colour appearance, i.e. the colour as well as the surface or fibre structure of typical print samples. The determined appearance properties are to be examined with regard to their compatibility with established 3-channel workflows. A spectral workflow based on the new iccMAX specification including the possible spectral characterization will be developed, implemented and tested.
The second focus is the development of a RGB working color space for digital textile printing.
The third focus of this project is the production of proofs for paper and textile proofs. In summary, a standardization concept is to be designed, which will lead to a new ISO standard (ISO 15311-4) and a separate chapter in the freely available ProcessStandard Digital (PSD).
Results
This research project created working tools that improve colour communication in digital textile printing. This is an RGB-based test form for RGB process control and quality assurance. This free test form enables the analysis of print-related characteristics in digital textile printing processes and the validation of profiling accuracy and proof printing accuracy of textile prints. For the instrumental evaluation, an Excel spread sheet has been developed that is available free
of charge on the project website. With FOGRA58, the proposed RGB workflow enables accurate colour reproductionof D65/10°-based textile originals for the first time. For pictorial originals,
FOGRA58 improves both the colour prediction for the customer and the utilisation of the available machinery in terms of colour gamut. The practical method developed for determining
visually plausible colour measurements enables a rapid assessment of new media with regard to their colourtreatment using established colour management methods.
Publications and results
| Title | Description/abstract | Version | Date | File type | File size | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Improving textile colour communication | Fogra-Research report 13.006 in english: Improving textile colour communication | V1 | 28.09.2022 | 5 MB | Download | |
| Fogra Extra 42 english | Fogra Extra 42: Investigation of colour transformation for substrates with different amounts of optical brightening agents (OBA) | V1 | 02.12.2021 | 1 MB | Download | |
| TextileRGB - FOGRA58 (Beta) ICC Profile | TextileRGB Workspace | V1 | 28.10.2022 | icc | 3 MB | Download |
| TextileRGB - FOGRA58 (Beta) Char. Data | Characterization data (D65/10°) - Basis for TextileRGB_FOGRA58(beta1).icc | V1 | 26.08.2020 | txt | 30 KB | Download |
| Improving textile colour communication | Presentation at the ICC GASIC Meeting, 2020-10-21 | V1.0 | 28.10.2022 | 4 MB | Download | |
| Colour management for digital textile printing | Recording of Fogra Colour Management Café 24 | V1 | 04.11.2020 | youtube | 11 B | Download |
| Digital Textile Working Space Profile | Presentation from Joe Tschudi at the Fogra Color Management Symposium, 2020-03-12 | V1 | 28.10.2022 | 2 MB | Download | |
| Getting prepared for digital textile production – 3D | Presentation from Joe Tschudi and Andreas Kraushaar at the Fogra Color Management Symposium, 2022-07-07 | V1 | 25.08.2022 | 6 MB | Download | |
| Textile RGB - Final Results | Final presentation | V1 | 28.10.2022 | 4 MB | Download | |
| TextileRGB_FOGRA58.icc | Final ICC profile | 02.06.2024 | icc | 3 MB | Download |
Testform colour reproduction (FOGRA58)
| Title | Description/abstract | Version | Date | File type | File size | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test form RGB evaluation | RGB testform for colour evaluation of FOGRA58 simulations. PDF/X-4 file with "TextileRGB_FOGRA58(beta1).icc" as output profile. | 2 | 11.10.2022 | 6 MB | Download |
Testforms char. (CMYK, ECG)
| Title | Description/abstract | Version | Date | File type | File size | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fogra ECG-7C test form | The four-page Fogra ECG-7C test form contains the characterisation chart for CMYKOGV-like systems as well as test elements for the analysis of essential process parameters. | 3 | 08.07.2021 | zip | 1 MB | Download |
| Universal IT8.7/4 Test Chart for Large Format Printing (LFP), Version 1.0 | The test form includes all 1617 tone value combinations of the IT.8/7-.4 on 12 pages. The large fields enable error-free measurement when large screening is used, which is particularly relevant in large-format printing. | V1.0 | 25.08.2015 | 1 MB | Download |
Photoshop colormanagement settings - textile
| Title | Description/abstract | Version | Date | File type | File size | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photoshop Settings Textile | Beta Version - recommended settings for textile printing (FOGRA58), Adobe Photoshop | V1 | 28.10.2022 | csf | 5 MB | Download |
MediaWedge Textile RGB
The MediaWedge Textile RGB is now available in our shop. For test purposes, please use the test form for colour reproduction.