Knowledge

Trap (printing)

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309:, traps are usually between 1/150 and 1/300 inch (0.48 pt and 0.24 pt, 0.16 mm and 0.08 mm). These values are usually multiplied by 1.5 or 2 when one of the colors is black. The trap is not visible since the lighter color is spread underneath the—almost—opaque black. For the same reason, in many cases, black ink is set to "overprint" colors in the background, eliminating the more complex process of spreading or choking. Since black is a dark color, white gaps caused by misregistration are more visible. On top of that, in wet-in-wet offset printing, black is the first color to be printed, causing relatively more distortion, thus increasing the risk of visible misregistration. 137: 321:-like colors, this might result in a trap that is perceived as too visible. In this case, reducing the amount of color in the trap may help. However, the trap should never be lighter than the darkest color since this would have the same effect as misregistration—creating a light colored ‘gap’ between the two colors. Trap color reduction is not recommended when solid spot colors are used. In that case, reduction would cause the spot color in the trap to be printed, not as a solid, but as a screened tint. 298: 40: 232:
Manual traps can be applied at several stages in the workflow, using vector-based or raster-based adjustments. The choice depends on the type of output (packaging applications including flexo-printing have other requirements than commercial printing on offset systems) and the degree of interactivity
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software, the term came to refer to compensation for misregistration (when two layers of ink are not perfectly aligned) that was traditionally known as "chokes and spreads". Misregistration causes gaps or white-space on the final printed work. Correcting this involves creating overlaps (spreads) or
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Blends or ‘vignettes’ offer special challenges to trapping. The lighter part of a blend needs to spread into the background, while the darker part needs to be choked. If a trap over the full length of the blend is needed, this produces a visible ‘staircase’ effect. The solution is to use a sliding
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A major exception to this is the case when opaque (colors that completely obscure colors printed beneath them) spot colors are used. Other colors, regardless of their relative luminance, are always trapped to (spread under) these spot colors. If several of these spot colors are used (a common
286:. The lighter (higher luminance) color is spread into the darker. This responds to the way the human eye perceives color: darker colors define shapes, therefore distortion of the lighter color results in less visible distortion overall. The lightness or darkness of a color is defined as its 329:
trap: a trap that gradually changes both color and position. The trap can slide all the way. This might unacceptably distort the original artwork. Often, the sliding factor is set to a point where the neutral densities of blend and background reach an appropriate difference.
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Misregistration in the graphical workflow may be caused by human error, inaccuracies in the image setter, the film-to-plate or film-to-film copying steps or instability of the image carrier (e.g., stretch in film or plate), the press or the final medium.
256:, trapping is always needed: from the moment the artwork is imaged on film or plate, the colors are handled separately and are printed on two different printing units. The same approach applies if one of the colors is a spot color and the other a 324:
Trapping towards a rich black (a black with a support screen of another color added to it to give it a ‘deeper’ look and making it more opaque—often called "undercolor"), follows the same rules as trapping to a ‘normal’ black.
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When a trap between two colors is created, it contains the sum of the two colors in question when at least one of them is a spot color. When the two colors are process colors, the trap contains the highest value of each of the
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These issues can be minimized, but not eliminated, given that any mechanical process produces some degree of error. However, the resulting gaps can be hidden by creating overlaps between two adjacent colors.
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Thinner traps are less visible. Therefore, the trap width is set to a strict minimum, dictated by the maximum amount of misregistration of the entire workflow up to the press. When printing at 150
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Another factor that influences the visibility of the traps is the direction of the trap. The decision as to which color should be spread or choked is usually based upon their relative
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expresses the degree to which ink already printed on a substrate accepts another layer printed on top of it compared to how well the substrate (e.g., paper) accepts that ink.
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practice in the packaging market), the order of printing layers rather than luminance is the decisive element: the first color to be printed is spread under the next color.
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Trapping becomes more difficult if both colors are process colors and each is to be printed as a combination of the basic printing colors
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In general, prepress software provides some level of trapping, via application default values. Additional trapping may be necessary.
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components. This trap color is always darker than the two abutting colors. In some cases, more specifically when the two colors are
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to allow different rules for different areas, or to disable trapping for areas already manually trapped.
369: 50: 345: 240:(RIP) trapping at the last moment. The process is automatic, although it is possible to set up 237: 211: 167: 97: 8: 314: 287: 136: 306: 279:. In this case, the trapping decision depends on the amount of ‘common’ color. 358: 297: 163: 180:
Perfect registration (some monitors nonetheless show slight imperfection)
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Comparison of a knock-out with and without trapping, and
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underlaps (chokes) of objects during the print process.
64:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 356: 236:In-RIP trapping moves the trapping to the 124:Learn how and when to remove this message 296: 156: 151: 146: 135: 14: 357: 247: 252:When the two colors in question are 62:adding citations to reliable sources 33: 24: 25: 386: 38: 205: 49:needs additional citations for 338: 13: 1: 332: 140: 7: 177:The magenta (darker) plate, 10: 391: 375:Quality issues in printing 346:"Screen printing software" 224: 209: 166:for perfect and imperfect 26: 174:The cyan (lighter) plate, 143: 27:Not to be confused with 197:However, in the era of 170:. Rows are as follows: 302: 301:Example use of a trap. 238:raster image processor 187: 183:Imperfect registration 300: 212:printing registration 139: 18:Spreading and choking 365:Printing terminology 73:"Trap" printing 58:improve this article 303: 248:Trapping decisions 188: 161: 160: 149:without trapping 134: 133: 126: 108: 16:(Redirected from 382: 370:Print production 350: 349: 342: 141: 129: 122: 118: 115: 109: 107: 66: 42: 34: 21: 390: 389: 385: 384: 383: 381: 380: 379: 355: 354: 353: 344: 343: 339: 335: 288:neutral density 250: 233:or automation. 227: 214: 208: 186: 153: 148: 130: 119: 113: 110: 67: 65: 55: 43: 32: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 388: 378: 377: 372: 367: 352: 351: 336: 334: 331: 249: 246: 226: 223: 210:Main article: 207: 204: 185: 184: 181: 178: 175: 171: 159: 158: 155: 154:with trapping 150: 145: 132: 131: 46: 44: 37: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 387: 376: 373: 371: 368: 366: 363: 362: 360: 347: 341: 337: 330: 326: 322: 320: 316: 310: 308: 299: 295: 291: 289: 285: 280: 278: 274: 270: 266: 261: 259: 258:process color 255: 245: 243: 239: 234: 230: 222: 218: 213: 203: 200: 195: 193: 190:In printing, 182: 179: 176: 173: 172: 169: 165: 157:Overprinting 142: 138: 128: 125: 117: 106: 103: 99: 96: 92: 89: 85: 82: 78: 75: –  74: 70: 69:Find sources: 63: 59: 53: 52: 47:This article 45: 41: 36: 35: 30: 19: 340: 327: 323: 311: 304: 292: 281: 262: 251: 241: 235: 231: 228: 219: 215: 206:Registration 196: 191: 189: 168:registration 164:overprinting 120: 111: 101: 94: 87: 80: 68: 56:Please help 51:verification 48: 254:spot colors 359:Categories 333:References 84:newspapers 284:luminance 152:Knock-out 147:Knock-out 199:prepress 114:May 2018 29:ink trap 269:magenta 225:Methods 144:  98:scholar 319:pastel 273:yellow 100:  93:  86:  79:  71:  277:black 242:zones 105:JSTOR 91:books 315:CMYK 275:and 265:cyan 192:trap 77:news 307:lpi 60:by 361:: 290:. 271:, 267:, 260:. 348:. 127:) 121:( 116:) 112:( 102:· 95:· 88:· 81:· 54:. 31:. 20:)

Index

Spreading and choking
ink trap

verification
improve this article
adding citations to reliable sources
"Trap" printing
news
newspapers
books
scholar
JSTOR
Learn how and when to remove this message

overprinting
registration
prepress
printing registration
raster image processor
spot colors
process color
cyan
magenta
yellow
black
luminance
neutral density

lpi
CMYK

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