Colour and spectral simulation of textile samples onto paper: a feasibility study

Abstract

This study has investigated how the growing technology of multichannel printing and the area of spectral printing in the graphic arts could help the textile industry to communicate accurate colour. In order to reduce the cost, printed samples that serve for colour judgment and decision making in the design process are required. With the increased colour gamut of multichannel printing systems we are expecting to include most of the colours of textile samples. The results show that with careful control of ink limits and with bypassing the colour management limitations imposed on printing system; we are able to include more than 90% of colour textile samples within the multichannel printer colour gamut. Also we evaluated how much textile colours spectra we can print with multichannel printers. This gives a basis for further work in the area of spectral printing, and particularly for the application area discussed in this study. By comparison of spectral gamuts, we also conclude here that it is possible to print around 75% of all reflectance from textile colours.