Article 82 Ijaet Volii Issue IV Oct Dec 2011

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology
E-ISSN 0976-3945
Research Article
SCREEN ANGLE COMBINATIONS AND EFFECT ON

PRINT QUALITY PARAMETERS
Mr. Sameer S. Deshpande
Address for Correspondence

B.E. (Printing), MBA, MPhil, Lecturer (Printing Technology), Government Polytechnic, Beed, Maharashtra
ABSTRACT
This paper deals with study of color deviation caused due to changing screen angle combinations in process color lithographic
offset printing. The printing test chart comprises of conventional and customized angles for process colors.
KEYWORDS- Halftone, Screen angle, Moire, Process Color
I. INTRODUCTION
Human vision perceives colors due to presence of cones
on fovea of the eye; the rods help to adjust the vision in
varying conditions of illumination. All the printing
processes are based on subtractive color theory and they
use cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks which are
necessarily transparent (process) in nature so that
number of color combinations can be obtained by
superimposing and/or just a positioning them. For
printing halftones, the process colors are imparted with
screen angles and rulings. A screen is a geometric shape
comprising of dots which are available in various
shapes. It causes generation of Moir pattern during
printing. [1]
Lithographic offset is an indirect printing process which
uses metal image carrier and polymer blanket to transfer
the image over the substrate. The process uses plate,
blanket and impression cylinder and it has feeding,
dampening, inking, printing and delivery as the main
units.
The moir is an undesired interference pattern
experienced due to improper screen angles. The U.S.
Government Printing Office's Color Tolerance and
Specification defines Moir as follows: "Moir is
defined as objectionable patterns that are created when
halftone screens are printed over one another at
incorrect screen angles. Moir may also appear when
rescreening a single-color halftone or screening an
original halftone that contains patterned objects (e.g.,
fabrics)."
II. SCREEN ANGLES
A human eye experiences moir pattern maximum at
900 and minimum at 450; hence lightest possible i.e.
yellow color is kept at 900 and darkest color is
maintained at 450. The conventional screen angles for
four process colors are yellow 90, magenta 75, black
45and cyan at 15. The difference between 2 dark
colors is kept at 300 to avoid moir pattern. Early
printing with CMY devices achieved best results when
the screens were offset from each other at 45, with the
yellow screen at 0. With the introduction of CMYK
four-color printing, the screens could no longer be
rotated in 30 increments because four rotations of 30
exceeded a total of 90 and a 0 screen would give the
IJAET/Vol.II/ Issue IV/October-December, 2011/480-482
same results as the 90 screen. A compromise was

achieved by offsetting three of the screens by 30 and
the fourth by 15.
In process color prepress and printing, the angle at
which the rows of halftone dots run in relation to the
horizontal. In order to eliminate undesirable moir
patterns when the four color separation halftones are
overprinted in multi-color printing, each screen needs to
be placed at a different angle, as the dots of one color
interfere with those of another color, creating the
distinct moir patterns. Ideally, moir is kept minimal
when screens are 30 from each other. However, since
there is only a total of 90 (at least for perfectly round
dots) in which to rotate the screens, each screen can't be
30 from each other when printing four colors (30 x 4 =
120). Experience, though, has resulted in a standard set
of default screen angles which work very well in a wide
variety of applications. The screen angle of the yellow
separation is 0, or perfectly horizontal. The magenta
separation is 15 from the horizontal. The black
separation is 45 from the horizontal, and the cyan
separation is 75 from horizontal. Generally speaking,
the further a separation is from either the horizontal or
vertical axis, the less intrusive it tends to be. (Even in
black-and-white halftone production, a perfectly
horizontal screen angle results in more of a visual
discernment of the individual dots than does a 45
angle.) Therefore, yellow, which is the lightest color, is
best left along one of these axes, while black, the
darkest color, is best kept as far from both as possible
(or 45, the midway point between vertical and
horizontal). Depending on the application, these angles
may be varied. [2]
Screen angles are offset so that the moir pattern can be
avoided; however, when you combine the four-color
separations, the slightest misalignment of the
separations can lead to moir. This can also result in
color shifting because misalignment of the halftone dots
can result in a change of dot density. To correct this
problem, the screen frequency or angle must be
modified.
Screen Angle Because each halftone screen consists
of a regular pattern of shapes, it creates a pattern on the
printed image. When the separations are combined, the

patterns created by each separate halftone screen
interact. This interaction can create an undesirable
effect called a moir pattern that can be eliminated by
changing the screen angle of each color separation.
Table 1. Screen angle combinations to be used
Colour
Combn1
Combn2
Combn3
Cyan
15
45
90
Magenta
75
45
90
Yellow
90
45
90
Black
45
45
90
Screen Frequency The halftone-screen frequency

determines the number of dots used to create the image.
The screen frequency is measured in lpi. This
measurement refers to the number of rows of dots per
inch. A thumb-rule is - the higher the screen frequency,
the sharper the image. However, there are limits to
screen frequency that are determined by the type of
printing press on which you are printing and the type of
paper you are using. In general, a screen frequency of
85 lpi works on uncoated newsprint, and a frequency of
133 lpi works on coated substrates.
The RGB to CMYK separation technique

The printing method being used - i.e. sheetfed
offset flexography, gravure, etc.
III. EXPERIMENT OVERVIEW
A. Problem statement
No discernible moir pattern is observed when printed
using same screen angles for the process colors. There
exists a color deviation (delta E) between the prints
obtained by using conventional screen angles and same
screen angles.
B. Experimental set up
A test chart consisting of print quality assurance
standards is printed using angle combinations in table 1.
Table 2. Set up
No.
1
2
Parameters
Machine
Printing Seq.
Paper
4
5
6
CTP
Dot shape
Screen ruling
Screen
angles
Ink
Software
10
Instruments
Figure 1. Conventional Screen Angles
Figure 2. Moir Pattern in multicolor printing

Printing always involves a level of compromise and
there are several notable factors to consider namely [3]:
Conformance to an industry standard. ISO
12647-2:2004 for process control in offset
lithography standardizes the chromatic ink
sequence to CMY however, black is
acceptable as either first or last down.
Ink tack - the stickiness of the ink that allows
an over-printing ink to stick to an already
printed layer of ink.
Paper absorption - both smoothness and
tightness of the surface affects ink tack
Time - wet ink sticks/traps to dry ink better than
wet ink traps to wet ink.
Ink opacity - opaque inks hide underlying inks.
Ink transparency - transparent inks combine
with underlying inks.
Ink coverage - the higher the coverage of an ink
the less following inks are able to trap efficiently
with it.
E-ISSN 0976-3945
Detail
Heidelberg SM 74 offset press
KCMY
80 gsm maplitho & 130 gsm coated
(BILT)
Technova Plates
Round
133 lpi
As stated in table 1 i.e. 3 combinations
Siegwerk Tempomax
MS Excel for calculations &
CorelDraw for design
Xrite i1pro spectrophotometer with
Profile Maker
Test chart elements:

IT8 7/3 color patches, Customized dot patterns, Gray
balance elements, Visual element
Evaluation:
Qualitative Discernible moir pattern, Color variation,
Print defects
Quantitative Dot Gain, Hue Error, Contrast, Trapping,
Grayness, Color Variation Delta E, Vivacity
Figure 3. Test chart

C. Analysis
The dot gain at 25%, 50%, 75% and 87% value for
cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks for all three
combinations of angles are calculated using following
equation Dot Gain4 = (100*(1-(10^-Dt))/ (1-(10^-Ds))) dot %
Where Dt = Density of tone, Ds = Density of solid
Trap
A90
A45
45p130
cp130
40
30
20
10
0
2c
Contrast at 75%
90p130
50
T rap %
The graph is also plotted. Similarly hue error, vivacity,

contrast, traps, greyness is calculated and graphs are
plotted. Moir pattern occurrence was critically
observed by asking about 10 different persons to rate
the difference amongst sheets printed with 3 angle
combinations. The rating was from A to E with A as
Best and E as worth rejecting. Two factors ANOVA
with replication test were employed.
E-ISSN 0976-3945
3c
4c
-10
AC
-20
42
Unit
41
40
Graph 5. Trapping (wet on wet)
39
Con. %
38
Vivacity
37
36
A90
AC
A45
82
35
81
34
80
33
Vivacity %
32
31
y
Colors
Graph 1. Contrast
79
78
77
76
75
Hue error
A90
AC
A45
74
y
40
Col.s
35
Graph 6. Vivacity
D. Conclusion
Angle combination does not have significant
effect on colour gamut.
Angle combination & substrate have
significant effect on dot gain, hue error,
grayness, vivacity, contrast, trapping.
Colour variation (dE) is observed when
angle combination is changed.
Angle combination (used here) does not
show discernible moir.
Optical dot gain appears to be more in same
angle combinations.
APPLICATIONS:
Speciality printing applications such as Opal tone
technique, Heptatone printing
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am thankful to Prof.
R. G. Kaduskar (Electronics Dept.), PVGs COET,
Pune for his timely guidance and encouragement.
REFERENCES
Error %
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
y
Col.s
Graph 2. Hue error

Greyness
A90
AC
A45
7
6
Grey%
5
4
3
2
1
0
y
Col.s
Graph 3. Greyness
1.
Dot gain P130
35
30
2.
gain %
25
20
15
10
3.
5
0
25a90
50a90
75a90
87a90
25a45
50a45
75a45
87a45
25ac
50ac
75ac
87ac
dot %
Graph 4. Dot gain on 130 gsm paper
4.
Amidror, R.Hersch Spectral Analysis and

Minimization of Moir Patterns in Colour
Separation, Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(3),
pages 295-317, 1994.
X.Liu Analysis and Reduction of Moire Patterns
in Scanned Halftone Pictures Doctoral Thesis
submitted to the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University
H. Kipphan, Handbook of Print Media Chapter
3, pp. 129-153
K. Triton, Color control in lithography PIRA, Ch.5.
Graph 4. Dot gain on 130gsm paper

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

SCREEN ANGLE COMBINATIONS AND EFFECT ON

Address for Correspondence

same results as the 90 screen. A compromise was

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

Screen Frequency The halftone-screen frequency

The RGB to CMYK separation technique

Figure 1. Conventional Screen Angles

Figure 2. Moir Pattern in multicolor printing

Test chart elements:

Figure 3. Test chart

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

The graph is also plotted. Similarly hue error, vivacity,

Graph 5. Trapping (wet on wet)

Graph 2. Hue error

Graph 4. Dot gain on 130 gsm paper

IJAET/Vol.II/ Issue IV/October-December, 2011/480-482

Amidror, R.Hersch Spectral Analysis and

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