Consumables
Toyo Ink Unveils Wide-Gamut, Zero-VOC UV Kaleido Ink
Thursday 17. April 2008 - Expands CMYK to Nearly Full Adobe RGB Gamut
Toyo Ink America, LLC announced today the launch of UV Kaleido Ink, the new zero-VOC, ultraviolet-curable system in the Kaleido Ink series of wide-gamut inks. Kaleido Ink formulations expand the CMYK gamut to nearly the full Adobe RGB gamut, resulting in inks that offer richer, deeper colors than conventional four-color process inks.
Near Adobe RGB Gamut Reproduction via 4- Color Process Printing
Digital printing data is currently using the RGB color space as seen in picture files, prepress monitors and digital photography. Since the CMYK color gamut is narrower than that of RGB, it is impossible to reach the original RGB color range. Reproducing a picture which included colors beyond the CMYK color space requires a printing process using six to seven colors as well as a costly investment in sophisticated equipment.
Toyos Kaleido Ink series has been engineered to resolve narrow-gamut issues related to four-color process printing by expanding the gamut to the equivalent of that to six or seven. This allows designers and print professionals to produce a wider spectrum of colors that offer vibrant, true-to-life reproduction with the use of fast and affordable fourcolor process.
How Kaleido Ink Works
Leveraging its pigment production expertise, Toyo Ink completely reengineered the four CMYK process colors by developing dedicated pigments with substantially more brilliance relative to existing inks. The new pigments enhance the chromogenic properties of secondary and tertiary colors, thereby improving the transparency of yellow, magenta and cyan. As a result, magenta and pink hues appear vivid, and blue and red tones are notably improved.
Other benefits are superior gloss and vibrant gradations from yellow to red. In addition to demonstrating cutting-edge color reproduction capabilities, UV Kaleido Ink dries instantly and contains zero-VOC for an environmentally safe formulation.
For proofing, the Kaleido Ink lineup offers a wider color gamut than inkjet printers and even high-end direct digital color proofers. It also has its own ICC (International Color Consortium) color profile for efficient color matching.
The UV Kaleido Ink series is now available in the US market, following the successful introduction of the soy-based, sheetfed version at Graph Expo 2006.