ISO/TC 130 - Graphic technology

This document specifies the set of metadata to be used to communicate the approval status, proof preparation and viewing parameters for images and documents that are used in the graphic arts print production workflow.

This document defines procedures to measure and compare the colour gamuts of RGB and CMYK printing processes. It is not applicable to other printing processes.

This document applies to processless lithographic plates and specifies evaluation methods for lithographic plate characteristics, on-press development performance, usability and print image quality. It specifies measurement conditions for materials and equipment and provides guidelines for the selection of suitable processless lithographic plates by a printing organization and requirements for comparative assessment tests. The assessment of waterless lithographic plates is out of scope of this document.

This document specifies an extensible file format in conformity with W3C Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0, for the exchange of print quality requirements data and metadata between print quality control applications including, but not limited to, print quality management systems. This document is not intended for automating the loading of print requirement goals into the quality control systems employed by print quality service providers.

This document defines a data set of ink value combinations that can be used to characterize four-colour process printing. This data set is not optimized for any printing process or application area but is robust enough for all general applications. While it is primarily aimed at process colour printing with CMYK inks, it can also be used with any combination of three chromatic inks and a dark ink. This document is an alternative to the ISO 12642‑2 data set where more neutral scale data are desired. It is not designed as a replacement for ISO 12642-2.

This document specifies requirements for a security printing management system for security printers. This document specifies a minimum set of security printing management system requirements. Organizations ensure that customer security requirements are met as appropriate, provided these do not conflict with the requirements of this document.

This document specifies requirements for systems that are used to produce offset prints for process colour reproduction on metallic substrates, which have been printed with a white coating. It is intended for flat printed sheet metal applications. It does not cover shaped or pre-formed metal such as pre-formed cans. Recommendations are provided with regard to appropriate test methods associated with these requirements. This document differs from the method used to produce an offset print on paper or board in ISO 12647-2 in that it considers the colour values of a typical white coated metal substrate intended for metal decoration, using offset lithography and substrates that are independent of backing colour.

This document describes a laboratory test method, using an IGT1-type or a prüfbau2-type printability tester, for the preparation of specimens to evaluate the absorption rate of an ink on a substrate in offset lithography by setting-off the printed surface to an unprinted surface. This method describes testing with an amount of ink simulating either single colour or multi-colour printing. The print and the set-off print (counter print) are made with interval times, between print and set-off, common for the target process. This method evaluates a particular ink and substrate combination. 1These materials are available from IGT Testing Systems, www.igt.nl. This information is given for the convenience of the users of this document and does not constitute an endorsement by ISO of the products. Equivalent products may be used if they can be shown to lead to the same results. 2These materials are available from prüfbau, Dr.-Ing. H. Dürner GmbH, www.pruefbau.de. This information is given for the convenience of the users of this document and does not constitute an endorsement by ISO of the products. Equivalent products may be used if they can be shown to lead to the same results.

This document specifies the width, length and thickness of metal lithographic printing plates (referred to hereafter as “plates”). For plates to be used in computer to plate (CtP) applications, flatness, edge straightness and burr requirements are also included. These requirements are applicable to unprocessed plates.

This document specifies methods of assessing the resistance of printed materials to liquid and solid agents, solvents, varnishes and acids. It applies to printing on all substrates by any of the traditional printing process (offset, screen, gravure, flexo) as well as the newer digital processes (inkjet, electrophotography). Aspects of food safety and consumer protection for food contact materials are not covered.

This document specifies requirements that can be used for determining the conformance of systems that produce a hard-copy validation print, directly from digital data, which is intended to simulate the expected appearance of material printed in accordance with a characterized printing condition. It is not intended for use in determining the conformance of production printing systems (digital or conventional) since many aspects of production printing are not covered in this document.

This document specifies offset ink related properties which are intended to be communicated between ink supplier and the printer, and which are essential for the optimized print production planning and the intended use of the final product. NOTE The final product is not necessarily the finished print product. Aspects related to food safety and other safety requirements like children's toys safety are not part of the scope of this document.

This document specifies the Contrast?Resolution test chart, the requirements on the printing process needed to reproduce this test chart, the required characteristics of a high resolution scanner needed to digitize the information reproduced on printed test charts, and the requirements on the interpretation of this digitized data. It also specifies the resolution-score method for evaluating the perceptual resolution of printed material using the Contrast?Resolution test chart. The procedure specified in this document is intended for a characterization of the perceived resolution of a graphic arts production printing system using the Contrast?Resolution test chart.

This document defines print quality metrics, measurement methods and reporting requirements for printed sheets that are suitable for all classes of printed products. Guidance as to which of these metrics to apply to any given product category along with acceptable conformance criteria is provided in subsequent parts of ISO/TS 15311. Although this document is expected to be used primarily to measure prints from digital printing systems, the metrics are general and can be applied to other kinds of print.

This document provides guidance for representatives of the paper value chain for the design of printed paper products, with a view to deinkability contributing to recyclability in support of the circular economy. It describes relevant deinking processes, and the deinking performance of printed paper products produced with different printing, finishing and converting technologies in those deinking processes. It provides a list of relevant quality characteristics of industrial deinked pulps and a list of their possible usages based on those characteristics. This document does not include guidance for paper-based products which are not intended to be deinked.

This document defines the PDF/VT-3 document format and methods to enable reliable document exchange for variable data and transactional (VT) printing. It uses the Portable Document Format (PDF) Version 2.0, as restricted by PDF/X-6, for the representation of such documents. It allows the specification of document structure and layout, content data, and interaction of graphics objects in a graphics model that supports transparency and both device-dependent and device-independent colour spaces. All elements are either included or provision is made for unique identification of externally supplied ICC profiles. PDF/VT-3 is designed to enable variable data and transactional printing in a variety of environments from desktop printers to digital production presses. This includes hybrid workflows involving both conventional and digital printing.

This document specifies the use of ISO 32000‑2 (PDF 2.0) for the complete and partial exchange of digital data intended for print reproduction.

This document defines a measurement method for the evaluation of distortions in the macroscopic uniformity of printed areas that are oriented in the horizontal and vertical direction, such as streaks and bands. It provides requirements for the layout of the test form, the use of a colour measurement device taking measurements in a 2D sampling grid, and the formula to compute the Macro-Uniformity-Score. This document does not cover any non-adjacent or non-horizontal nor vertical patterns. Due to the used spatial frequency, the Macro-Uniformity-Score does not measure high frequency (fine) patterns such as missing nozzles.

This document specifies a test procedure for the preparation of test prints on paper, board, metals, foils and other suitable substrates using paste inks, such as for offset and letterpress printing, using electrically driven IGT-type and prüfbau-type printability testers. This document describes the procedure for reference optical density and reference ink film thickness. This document describes the method as used on the current models of testers. Most of the described procedures are also applicable in analogy to the older models but can require additional steps to be executed or recalculation of the settings to make them conform to this document

This document specifies a method of measuring the visual opacity of printed specimens of white ink. It is applicable to printing opaque white ink on transparent and white or coloured opaque substrates.

This document provides recommended guidelines for the evaluation of colour reproduction capability in the printing of packaging materials. It provides a basis for the development of colour certification schemes by individual brand owners and/or industry associations and for the evaluation of printed results against those schemes. Because the package printing supply chain involves multiple partners, both the potential impact of each partner on the overall colour control and the individual responsibilities of each partner are identified in this document. The unique requirements of the individual reproduction processes and their impact on colour reproduction are also identified.

This document specifies the requirements for the exchange of data and information necessary for the definition of the aims for four-colour flexographic printing of packaging and publication materials, including newsprint. It is based on the use of colour characterization data to define the colourimetric printing aims and includes appropriate assignment of responsibility for and recommended tolerances on critical parameters of the flexographic printing process. This document is directly applicable to: — publication flexographic printing including magazines, catalogues and commercial materials and packaging flexographic printing including labels, boxes, and flexible packages; — half-tone and continuous tone proofing processes that predict the colourimetric results of flexographic printing. Guidance is also provided concerning the definition of spot colours used in flexographic printing.

This document describes procedures for the assessment and validation of the performance of an optical spectrometer intended for use in capturing the spectral reflectance factor or the spectral radiance factor of printed areas comprised of non-fluorescent or fluorescent materials, respectively. While it does not describe the application to transmitting materials directly, many of the procedures can be applied to transmitting systems by backing them with a reflective white backing material. This document does not address spectral measurements appropriate to other specific application needs, such as those used during the production of materials (e.g. printing paper and proofing media), which are well described by ISO standards under the jurisdiction of ISO/TC 6. It does not describe the special requirements for testing instruments that make in-process or online colour measurements.

This document specifies an extensible file format in conformity with W3C Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0, for the exchange of print quality data and metadata between quality control applications including but not limited to colour measurement, process control and quality management systems.

This document provides a framework that organisations can follow, and that can be used as the structure for market or sector specific schemes. It is intended to be a process certification. The goal of this document is to have comparable attestations or certifications worldwide.

This document describes procedures for evaluating the accuracy of colorimetric rendering intents in ICC profiles. It applies to v4 ICC profiles made according to ISO 15076-1. It does not apply to subjective tests of ICC profiles, such as for perceptual or saturation rendering intents, and it does not apply to high dynamic range colour media or spaces.

This document defines a framework for advanced reflective and transmissive layouts and colorimetric values of targets for use in the calibration and characterization of image capturing devices. This document defines a framework for target creation and data reporting. This framework can be used for both ISO defined and custom targets for both reflective and transmissive use. Self-emissive targets are not covered by this document.

The document part metadata in a PDF file that conforms to this document can be used to communicate the intended appearance of print products and their components. Examples of intended use are: direct interpretation within a production process, creation of job tickets such as XJDF, or populating records in an MIS. This document builds on the DPart syntax as specified in ISO 16612‑2 (PDF/VT) and ISO 32000‑2 (PDF 2.0) which is designed for encoding metadata related to pages or groups of pages in PDF files. NOTE The document part metadata provided in this document applies to individual document parts, whereas XMP metadata typically applies to the scope of the entire document. XMP can apply to the scope of an individual page or part of a page but this usage is very uncommon. Thus, XMP is not applicable for the case where metadata is required for sets of pages such as multiple recipients or binding information. For example, XMP is used within PDF/X for file conformance identification and is also used for additional file level information such as author. This document defines standardized metadata to: — provide product intent specifications such as paper media selection and binding information; — identify the type of product that the content pages are intended to represent (e.g. a brochure, letter or postcard); — identify the intended recipient of each of the content pages for variable document printing applications. This document defines a base conformance level that includes the syntax of the metadata framework and the semantics of a core set of metadata.

This document is based on ISO 15076-1, and describes an expanded profile specification and profile connections that permit greater flexibility and functionality than ISO 15076-1. All definitions and requirements in ISO 15076-1 are therefore in force unless otherwise specified by this document. This document defines minimum structural and operational requirements for writing and reading ICC profiles. Additional workflow requirements and restrictions are defined in domain-specific interoperability conformance specification (ICS) documents approved and registered by the ICC. In this document, some ISO 15076-1 types have been removed, and others have been added. A colour management module (CMM) compatible with profiles conforming to this document will have backwards compatibility with profiles conforming to ISO 15076-1. Where the name of a type in this document is the same as a type in ISO 15076-1, the type definition is based on the ISO 15076-1 definition. The exception is the definition of the MPE type, which has been expanded. Where the extensions described in this document are not required in a particular workflow, ISO 15076-1 is used as the basis for colour management profiles and architectures.

This document defines the requirements of printing workflows and evaluation methods for their tone and colour reproduction. It applies to any printing process using any colourant, such as CMYK, CMYK with spot, non-CMYK, spot only or multicolour. This document refers and points to international or national standards and can be used to define, evaluate and audit any printing workflow in whole or in part.

This document provides directions for measuring and calculating the electricity consumption of any format of digital production press, whose modes, other than production printing mode, play a significant role in the comprehensive energy consumption. It excludes digital presses designed to print substrates other than paper or plastic and conventional printing presses fitted with digital inkjet printing heads. It can be used to compare the energy efficiency figures for different machine combinations: best-quality (slowest), highest-productivity (fastest) or other alternative combinations.

This document specifies the requirements for quantifying the carbon footprint of those processes, materials and technologies within the user's knowledge and control that are necessary for the delivery and use of e-media. It covers requirements to account for e-media archiving, distribution, use and storage. It is based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, using defined system boundaries and a specified functional unit as the basis for complete or partial carbon footprinting studies. These data can be referenced throughout supply chains for individual e-media products. This document is applicable to a carbon footprint of a product (CFP) study of e-media regarding contents and e-media devices. This document provides a framework for carbon calculators that organisations can follow and that can be used as the structure for market- or sector-specific carbon footprinting tools. Studies and tools constructed within this framework methodology provide carbon footprint quantifications of e-media that can be validated, verified and provide reference for future studies. This document does not assess any social or economic aspects or impacts, or any other environmental aspects and related impacts potentially arising from the life cycle of a product.

This document gives guidance to print buyers and other users of print for assessing printed products on isotropic substrates that are typically held at a viewing distance of 30 to 50 cm. It specifies the proper application of required, recommended and optional metrics, measurement methods and, where appropriate, reporting requirements in the general commercial market. Although this document is expected to be used primarily to measure prints from digital printing systems the metrics are general and may be applied to other kinds of print. This document does not provide process control aims or tolerances as these differ widely for different types of commercial applications.

This document specifies a procedure, including computation, for extending the method described in ISO 18619:2015 to n-colour ICC profiles specifically for the xCLR cases where the colourants are either CMYK plus combinations from the set of red, orange, green, blue and violet or where, for the 3CLR case, the colourants are CMY-like chromatic colourants with widely-spaced hue angles. Other types of colour spaces which are otherwise permitted by 15076-1, such as 2CLR (two-device colourants), are not addressed by this document.

This document describes a method for storing data in a PDF file that correspond to the processing steps of printed products. This method has three parts: 1) metadata identifying processing steps; 2) limitations on the interaction between PDF graphics objects that are part of a processing step and other PDF graphics objects; 3) limitations on PDF graphics objects in processing steps. This method is intended to be generic, i.e. not specific to packaging and labels. In addition, this document defines the following packaging- and label-specific groups of processing-steps data: — data corresponding to finishing steps, such as cutting, folding or glueing; — Braille; — information panels; — indications of physical dimensions; — indications of intended positions of graphical elements; — printed white, for example on transparent or metallic surfaces; — printed varnish.

ISO 20690:2018 provides requirements and recommendations for measuring the electricity consumption of small-format and wide-format digital production presses printing in different modes of operation. It is intended for use on equipment that has been declared by the manufacturer to be suitable for use as a digital production printing press. ISO 20690:2018 provides a means to compare the energy efficiency figures according to two or more characteristic machine combinations: Best Quality (BQ), Best Productivity (BP) or other combinations. ISO 20690:2018 is not suitable for determining the power consumption of individual device components such as servos, fans, compressors, control boards and so on. It excludes digital presses designed to print textiles intended for clothing or machines, which similarly depend on additional processes to produce the printed product, such as ceramics.

ISO 17972-4:2018 defines an exchange format for spectral measurement data of inks to provide a means to characterise spot colour inks to allow reliable printing and proofing of products that have been designed using these inks. Only isotropic (paper-like) substrates are within the scope of this document, which is limited to application areas where the same ink and paper combination that has been characterised is used when printing. ISO 17972-4:2018 describes the use of a CustomResource element within the CxF framework to define a minimum and recommended set of data for exchange.

ISO 12636:2017 defines vocabulary and specifies test methods, characteristics, ordering and labelling information for blankets for offset printing. This document does not apply to un-tensioned or unclamped blankets for offset printing, nor offset printing sleeves used on gapless presses.

ISO 12634 specifies the test procedure for determining the tack value of neat paste inks and vehicles which have low volatility and are unreactive under normal room conditions during the timespan required for testing. ISO 12634 contains a basic description of Inkometer® and Inkomat® (Geometry A) and TackOscope® and TackTester® (Geometry B).

ISO 17972-3 defines an exchange format for target input values, colour and process control data relating output targets for printers of all types (and the associated metadata necessary for its proper interpretation) in electronic form. ISO 17972-3 includes the use of a CustomResource element within the CXF framework to define a minimum set of data for exchange and identify the data as being part of the ISO 12642 series. If this same framework is used for another defined target, provision is made for that use as well.

ISO 16613-1:2017 enables variable data printing applications using PDF template-based variable content substitution where - a PDF template file containing pages with variable content substitution fields (placeholders) is delivered ahead of a print production run and may be reused across multiple print production runs, and - PDF-based variable data substitution content is provided during print production and merged with the PDF template to produce final form variable content page output. ISO 16613-1:2017 defines PDF/VCR (PDF for variable content replacement), a set of base technical requirements for a PDF template file format, a PDF-based variable data substitution content format and a framework for in-RIP variable content merging. The PDF/VCR base technical requirements do not include writer and processor conformance. ISO 16613-1:2017 also defines the PDF/VCR-1 conformance level which is based on the PDF/VCR base technical requirements and defines conformance requirements for: - the PDF/VCR-1 template file format; - the PDF/VCR-1 data sequence format, a variable data substitution content format; - a PDF/VCR-1 writer, a software application which can generate PDF/VCR-1 template files; - a PDF/VCR-1 data provider, a software application which can generate PDF/VCR-1 data sequences; - a PDF/VCR-1 processor, a software application which can perform substitution (replacement) of PDF/VCR-1 template placeholder objects with substitution content provided within a PDF/VCR-1 data sequence. NOTE 1 Additional conformance levels can be added at a later time based on the same PDF/VCR base technical requirements. NOTE 2 A conforming PDF/VCR-1 template file contains all necessary information for variable content printing by adding matching substitution content. Generating the substitution content usually requires additional information not present in the template file. The template file format defined in this document is based on the ISO 15930 (PDF/X) family of standard formats for the representation of a single or multiple page template containing both static content and stylized variable content placeholders. The variable data format defined in this document is based on the CSV file format defined in RFC 4180. It supports the representation of substitution content data that can be merged into the template's variable content placeholders to produce complete page content utilizing the full PDF graphics model.

ISO 2846-1:2017 specifies the colour and transparency characteristics that are to be met by each ink in a process colour ink set intended for proof and production printing using offset lithography. The specified printing conditions (which use a laboratory printability tester), the defined substrate and a method for testing to ensure conformance are also defined. Characteristics are specified for inks used for sheet-fed, heat-set web and radiation-curing processes. ISO 2846-1:2017 does not apply to fluorescent inks and it does not specify pigments (or spectral characteristics ? except informatively) in order not to preclude developments which may enable different pigment combinations to be used advantageously while still achieving the colorimetric requirements specified in this document.

ISO 20654:2017 defines a metric for assessing intermediate tones of a spot ink. This method for the calculation of Spot Colour Tone Value (SCTV) produces approximately uniform visual spacing of tones between substrate and solid. It can be calculated from spectral reflectance or colorimetric measurements of the solid ink, substrate and one or more patches of intermediate tones to be measured.

ISO 13655:2017 specifies procedures for the measurements and colorimetric computations appropriate to objects that reflect, transmit and emit light, such as flat-panel displays. It also specifies procedures for computation of colorimetric parameters for graphic arts images. Graphic arts include, but are not limited to, the preparation of material for, and volume production by, production printing processes that include offset lithography, letterpress, flexography, gravure, screen and digital printing. ISO 13655:2017 does not address spectral measurements appropriate to other specific application needs, such as those used during the production of materials, for example, printing paper and proofing media.

ISO/TR 17321-3:2017 provides guidelines for user controls and readouts employed in scene-referred capture processing modes implemented in digital cameras and camera raw processing software.

ISO 19594:2017 specifies a test method for the determination of the binding strength of perfect-bound products by pulling out single sheets from the book block in an upward direction.

ISO 16762:2016 specifies the requirements for the handling, storage and transfer of printed products between printing and post-press. It also identifies information that may be necessary for successful completion of post-press operations (job ticket). In addition, the handling of materials used within the post-press operation is specified.

ISO 12647-7:2016 specifies requirements for systems that are used to produce hard-copy digital proof prints intended to simulate a printing condition defined by a set of characterization data. Recommendations are provided with regard to appropriate test methods associated with these requirements.

ISO 17972-2:2016 defines an exchange format for target input values, colour and process control data relating to scanner targets (and the associated metadata necessary for its proper interpretation) in electronic form. This part of ISO 17972 includes the use of a CustomResource element within the CxF framework to define a minimum set of data for exchange and identify the data as being part of ISO 12641.