INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* is a computer-supported quality assurance system for professional offset printing which enhances process mastery and monitors, evaluates, controls and regulates all worksteps from digital prepress through to printing.
INSTRUMENT FLIGHT*secures and evaluates the color conformity of print results based on the defined color space EUROSTANDARD/GLOBALSTANDARD
SYSTEM BRUNNER*.
As a result INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* provides the basis for properly-functioning Color Management.
Color matching in offset printing can be done visually or with the aid of instruments. System Brunner has chosen INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* as a registered trademark for a technique which primarily uses software, measuring instruments and regulation systems to control the manufacturing process.
INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* is more than just a simple color control tool, it is a complete standardization and process mastering solution that provides the user with a high surplus-value.
INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* automates the decision a printer has to make to comply with the optimal print conditions (Print Standard), and optimally controls the color balances, tonal value increases, gradation, and solid tone inking in accordance with Eurostandard, a defined house standard, or the “visual OK”.
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The findings of System Brunner picture analysis is the basis for INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* control strategy
The picture analysis findings form the basis of the unique control strategy that is compatible with human color perception in 4-C illustration printing.
The prerequisite for controlling a certain technology is knowledge of its variables. With INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* technology, more than 30 variables that influence the color of a printed picture are metrologically recorded and evaluated in every ink key zone and used to calculate the optimal color correction in makeready and production run.
Picture observation and process influence
| Perception |
Technical term |
Process influence |
| Hue |
Color balances |
1. Diverging TVI
2. Diverging SID |
| Lighter or darker |
Picture gradation |
Converging changes to TVI |
| High or low contrast |
Total contrast, Gamut |
ΔPaper white/ Mean of SID (solid ink densities) |
Human color perception: Priority on color balance changes
The human eye finds numerically smaller deviations in color balance several times more disturbing than greater differences in the other influencing variables.
Control and regulation according to solid ink densities is insufficient for 4-C illustration printing
With a halftone picture, the behavior and control of the color balance and tonal value increases is primarily decisive for the overall color perception – and not the solid ink densities or the hue of the ink according to the Norm definition.
The relationship between tonal value increase and solid ink density is not a static value but instead subject to the permanent changes in the dynamic printing process. Therefore printing constant solid ink densities is no guarantee for constant results, and a solid ink density value (whether densitometrically or colorimetrically measured) is far from being a print standard.
INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* control strategy
However, checking the color balance in the mid-tones e.g. on a three-color gray patch, is not sufficient. With INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* technology, more than 30 variables are recorded and weighted in every ink key zone and used to calculate the optimal regulation recommendation for the picture.
- Four color balances representing key areas in the picture
- Tonal value increases for all individual colors (CMYK)
- Solid ink densities for all individual colors (CMYK)
- Behavior of CMY in 3-color overprint in the mid-tones
- Behavior of CMY in 3-color overprint in the solids
- Conformities (relationship between solid ink densities and tone value increases)
- Picture gradation
- Overall contrast
- Appearance of the colors CMY in solids and mid-tones compared to the standard
Quality evaluation with the exclusive System Brunner star rating system
System Brunner was very early to recognize that colorimetrical evaluation using Delta E*ab as a gauge for perceived color differences in the 4-C picture is obsolete. This is why the exclusive star rating system was developed. With the aid of stars, all influencing variables are grouped together and visualized. The highest quality level is rated with 5 stars (
) which indicates total conformity to the defined print standard or the visually achieved OK-sheet.
INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* process diagnosis
INSTRUMENT FLIGHT* users are also supported by a comprehensive diagnostics tool that, with every sheet measured, provides a detailed insight into the weaknesses of their printing process, or provides proof that their printing process is well optimized.
Some problems can only be detected at all with this diagnosis. The information obtained about the behavior of the user’s printing process are the basis for implementing optimization measures.
BALANCE NAVIGATOR*
The printing result does not always automatically match the proof. Sometimes the customer wants to make some last-minute color corrections… "a bit more red" or "a bit brighter overall", and so on. But with which color is it best to make the correction?
The BALANCE NAVIGATOR* relieves the printer of this decision. The color balance is simply shifted in the desired direction, or the contrast is slightly increased, on the display screen and the BALANCE NAVIGATOR* software module takes care of the rest automatically – safer and faster than the printer can normally do this.
