Printing method and printing system

Abstract

This invention provides a printing method and system that can create printed materials that exhibit special color changes depending on the viewing angle. [Solution] The printing method according to the present invention includes a foil stamping step of pressing foil onto a printing object using a foil plate having at least a surface on which lines are engraved, and an image printing step of printing an image on the foil pressed onto the printing object so as to correspond to the lines that make up the foil.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing system.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a method for forming a fine line pattern has been disclosed that produces a changing effect in which reflected light from each part of a line drawing changes by varying the viewing angle or direction (Patent Document 1).

[0003] In the method for forming a fine line pattern disclosed in Patent Document 1, after a fine line pattern composed of a plurality of fine lines with a fine line pitch is formed as an uneven ink layer by printing on the surface of a printing film, when the printing film is placed with the ink layer forming the uneven fine line pattern facing the inside of the cavity of a mold that forms the outer shape of a molded article, the printing film is placed in the mold in a flat state and the mold is clamped, then molten resin is injected into the mold, so that the printing film is thermally deformed into a three-dimensional shape according to the shape of the cavity in the mold while forming the molded article, an uneven pattern corresponding to the fine line pattern of the printing film is formed on the surface of this molded article, after the molded article is solidified, the mold is opened and the molded article is taken out, and the printing film left in the mold is reused for the next molding, whereby the fine line pattern is formed on the surfaces of a plurality of molded articles using the same printing film.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] The fine line patterns formed by the molding method described above in Patent Document 1 produce printed materials in which a changing effect is exhibited, where the reflected light of each part of the line drawing changes depending on the viewing angle and direction. However, there is no mention of causing special color changes depending on the viewing angle.

[0006] This invention has been made in view of the circumstances described above, and aims to provide a printing method and printing system that can create printed materials that exhibit special color changes depending on the viewing angle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] To solve the above problems, the printing method according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a foil stamping step of pressing foil onto a printing object using a foil plate having at least a surface on which lines are engraved, and an image printing step of printing an image on the foil pressed onto the printing object so as to correspond to the lines constituting the foil. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to create printed materials that can exhibit special color changes depending on the viewing angle. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a flowchart of a printing method according to an embodiment of this disclosure. [Figure 2] Figure 2(A) is a plan view showing an example of a foil plate used in a printing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 2(B) is a side view of the foil plate viewed from the direction of arrow Y in Figure 2(A); and Figure 2(C) is an enlarged view of the portion enclosed by the dashed line S in Figure 2(A). [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of a wire pattern in an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the state when foil is applied to the printing object using a foil plate in the foil stamping process shown in the flowchart of Figure 1. [Figure 5]Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing a printing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a flowchart showing the foil data generation process according to the present disclosure. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the image data generation process according to an embodiment of this disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the drawings are schematic or conceptual, and the dimensions of each component, the ratios of sizes between components, etc., are not necessarily the same as those of actual objects. Furthermore, even when representing the same component, the dimensions and ratios may be depicted differently in the drawings. In addition, in the drawings attached to this specification, the shape, scale, and aspect ratios of each part may be altered or exaggerated from those of actual objects in order to facilitate understanding.

[0011] [Regarding the printing method in this embodiment] Figure 1 is a flowchart of a printing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The printing method in this embodiment basically includes the following two steps. The first step is a foil stamping step in which foil is printed onto a printing object using a foil plate having at least a surface on which lines are engraved (step S1). The second step is an image printing step in which an image is printed on the foil stamped onto the printing object so as to correspond to the lines that make up the foil (step S2).

[0012] Here, "stripes" refers to the fine relief patterns set in the image printing process described above, corresponding to each area that makes up the image to be printed. Furthermore, "each area that makes up the image" refers to, for example, in the case of an image of a person's face, the areas corresponding to each part of the face such as the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, cheeks, and hair, or areas that differ from each other depending on the lighting, such as bright and dark areas expressed by light and shadow, or areas of different colors, such as the skin-colored areas of the face and the black areas of the hair.

[0013] Furthermore, "printing an image to correspond to the lines" can mean not only printing an image to match the raised and recessed patterns (lines) of each region that make up the foil after it has been applied to the object to be printed, but also printing a pre-prepared line image that corresponds to each raised and recessed pattern (line) to match the lines of the foil. The image includes a line image composed of lines and a dot image composed of dots, and by mixing these, a special color change may be partially expressed in the printed image. As a result of many years of creative activity and diligent research, the inventor of this invention has gained knowledge about this color change and has found that this knowledge can be incorporated into the printing method in this embodiment.

[0014] According to the printing method of this embodiment, a printed material with a desired image can be obtained by going through only two steps: a foil stamping step and an image printing step. Furthermore, the image printed on the material exhibits a special color change never before seen. This special color change refers to a color change that appears, for example, when the viewing angle of the printed material is changed. As a result, it is possible to create printed materials with images that can exhibit a special color change, which was not possible with conventional printing methods.

[0015] [Regarding the foil plate in this embodiment] Figure 2(A) is a plan view showing an example of a foil plate used in a printing method according to an embodiment of this disclosure; Figure 2(B) is a side view of the foil plate viewed from the direction of arrow Y in Figure 2(A); and Figure 2(C) is an enlarged view of the portion enclosed by the dashed line S in Figure 2(A). The foil plate 10 used in the printing method in this embodiment consists of a convex portion 11 having a surface on which a fine line is engraved on its upper surface, and a concave portion 12 that is stepped down to a desired height relative to the convex portion 11 (see Figures 2(A) and 2(B)).

[0016] As shown in Fig. 2(C), the parallel lines engraved on the upper surface (surface) of the convex portion 11 can be represented by lines in which the vertices of angles formed by two sides with different angles from each other are continuous in the depth direction. By making the angles different from each other, such as the angle N (for example, 45 degrees) formed between the side L and the virtual line V, and the angle W (for example, 60 degrees) formed between the side R and the virtual line V, when viewing the foil pressed onto the printing object by the foil stamping plate 10 having this parallel line pattern, an effect that the light shimmers and moves depending on the viewing angle can be produced. Note that the parallel line pattern in the foil stamping plate 10 shown in Fig. 2 is an example, and the form of the parallel lines in the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0017] [Regarding the parallel line pattern in the present embodiment] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the parallel line pattern in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Although the outer contour of each parallel line pattern is represented by a circle, this merely adopts a circle as a surrounding frame for the sample of each parallel line pattern, and does not limit the outer shape of each parallel line pattern.

[0018] FIG. 3(A) shows a pattern in which circles with a larger diameter than the inner circle are continuously arranged to surround outward from a small central circle at a constant line width. FIG. 3(B) shows the example of the parallel line pattern shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3(C) shows a pattern formed by a plurality of lines connecting two mutually opposing points on the circumference so as to pass through the center of the circle. In each of these parallel line patterns, similarly to that shown in FIG. 2(C), when each adjacent line is taken as a vertex, by making the angles between the mutually adjacent sides forming each vertex and the virtual line V different, when viewing the printed matter on which the foil has been pressed by such a foil stamping plate, an effect that the light shimmers and moves depending on the viewing angle can be produced.

[0019] [Regarding the foil stamping step in the present embodiment] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state when foil is pressed onto a printing target using a foil plate in the foil stamping step in the flowchart of Figure 1. Here, the foil plate 10 is depicted with the upper surface of the convex portion 11 formed by engraved lines facing downward (see Figure 4). The foil R is pressed (transferred) onto the printing target S by the foil plate 10 being pressed against a foil roll conveyed from a foil roll conveying unit (not shown).

[0020] As a preliminary preparation before pressing the foil R onto the printing target S using the foil plate 10, a base layer made of pigment foil may be prepared in advance. This base layer can be generated by pressing the foil R against the pigment foil. A line pattern pressed by the foil R is formed on the base layer. By using this base layer as the foundation of the printing target S, an effect is achieved that the line pattern on the pressed foil is finished more beautifully than in the case where foil stamping is performed using only the foil plate 10.

[0021] [Regarding the printing system in the present embodiment] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing a printing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The printing system in the present embodiment is configured to include an image forming apparatus 100, a foil stamping apparatus 200, and a printing apparatus 300 (see Figure 5).

[0022] The image forming apparatus 100 includes at least an image data generation unit that generates image data which will be the basis for the image to be printed on the object S, and a foil data generation unit that generates foil data including line data set to correspond to each region constituting the image. The image forming apparatus 100 is implemented by a personal computer (PC) or the like, and the hardware configuration for realizing the functions of the image data generation unit and the foil data generation unit includes at least a CPU (Computer Processing Unit), ROM (Read On Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), HDD (Hard disk Drive), communication interface, and input / output interface. The image data handled by the image forming apparatus 100 may be stored in the HDD, but it may also utilize image data stored in an external storage device or a cloud server.

[0023] The foil stamping apparatus 200 applies foil to the object to be printed S using a foil plate having at least a surface on which lines are engraved based on the foil data generated by the foil data generation unit described above. As described above, the foil stamping apparatus 200 has at least a foil roll transport unit that transports the foil plate 10 and the foil roll, and an object transport unit that transports the object to be printed.

[0024] The printing apparatus 300 prints an image, which has been plated based on image data generated by the image generation unit described above, onto the foil-stamped print target FS, which has been stamped with foil by the foil stamping apparatus 200, so as to correspond to the lines that make up the foil. In this embodiment, a conventional offset printing apparatus may be used as the printing apparatus 300. This allows the desired printed material IFS to be output. The printed material IFS finally output by the printing system in this embodiment can be described as a printed material with special color changes.

[0025] [Regarding the foil data generation process in this embodiment] Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating the foil data generation process according to the embodiment of this disclosure. The generation of foil data and the image data described later can be achieved by the functions (image data generation unit and foil data generation unit) of the image forming apparatus 100 in the printing system described above. In the following description, the image forming apparatus 100 will be the main component of the operation.

[0026] First, the image forming apparatus 100 acquires image data that will form the basis of the printed material to be produced (step S11). At this time, the image forming apparatus 100 determines the data format of the image data to be acquired. Various data formats can be used, such as jpg, png, and ai, but the format of the image data to be acquired is not limited to these.

[0027] Next, the image forming apparatus 100 specifies the area to be foiled (foil area) in the acquired image data (step S12). The foil area (sometimes called a path) is specified using existing graphic design application software (hereinafter referred to as "image app"). For example, if the acquired image data is in JPEG format, the foil area is specified by converting it to vector data. On the other hand, if the acquired image data is vector data, the path for the foil area is prepared. This makes the acquired vector data selectable in the image app mentioned above. In the printing method of this embodiment, it is necessary to apply a special color change to the final printed image, and in order to achieve this special color change, it is necessary to finely divide the foil area (path). Therefore, the above-described technology is important for realizing the printing method of this embodiment.

[0028] Subsequently, the image forming apparatus 100 sets line data for each designated foil area (step S13). This makes it possible to design the desired light on the foil that is pressed during the foil stamping process.

[0029] Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 100 generates line data and step-down data (step S14). This is a necessary step in the plate-making process for foil plates to perform two-stage etching. In order to perform two-stage etching, line (etching) data for shallow etching and step-down data in which the entire foil area for deep etching is converted to black are generated.

[0030] [Regarding the image data generation process in this embodiment] Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the image data generation process according to the embodiment of this disclosure. The image forming apparatus 100 first extracts white plate data based on the image data acquired initially (step S21). White plate data is used when printing white on the base of a printed material. Foil plate data is used to adjust the presence or absence of foil, and white plate data is used because it is difficult to adjust, for example, the intensity of light. By using white plate data, it is possible to add gradations (0% to 100%) to the brightness of the foil, or to conceal the foil in areas where the foil is too fine to remove. Specifically, for example, for image data where it is desired to weaken the intensity of light overall, processing such as adding 20-30% white plate data is performed. This makes it possible to suppress the degree of light reflection. By skillfully utilizing white plate data, it is possible to express, for example, clouds or steam in a desired image as if they were real.

[0031] Next, the image forming apparatus 100 extracts an area to be color-changed based on the acquired image data and sets the desired line data in that area (step S22). By setting line data in the target area to be color-changed, the line data and the line data of the foil interfere with each other in the printed material, thereby achieving the desired color change. The desired color change refers to a special color change, such as when the foil changes from blue to red depending on the viewing angle of the printed material.

[0032] The image forming apparatus 100 generates a solid white area (concealing mask) in the original image data to conceal the original color of the area corresponding to the area to be color-changed (step S23).

[0033] The image forming apparatus 100 adjusts the thickness of the lines (etching data) in the area to be color-changed to an arbitrary color (step S24).

[0034] The image forming apparatus 100 places a white opacity mask on the print data for each color to be color-changed (step S25), and then places line data (etching data) on top of that (step S26). The printed material printed on the object to be printed using the image data generated in this way can be a printed material in which the intensity of light can be controlled by changing the viewing angle, and a special color change can be applied.

[0035] The embodiments described above are provided to facilitate understanding of the present invention and are not intended to limit it. Accordingly, each element disclosed in the above embodiments is intended to include all design modifications and equivalents that fall within the technical scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1…Printing system 10… Foil print 100…Image forming apparatus 200… Foil stamping machine 300...Printing device

Claims

1. A foil stamping process involves applying foil to a printing object using a foil plate having at least one surface on which lines are engraved, A printing method comprising an image printing step of printing an image on the foil pressed onto the object to be printed, so as to correspond to the lines constituting the foil.

2. The aforementioned lines are fine relief patterns set to correspond to each region constituting the image that is printed in the image printing process. The printing method according to claim 1.

3. In the foil stamping process, when applying the foil to the object to be printed, a base material is used that is positioned opposite the foil plate and placed through the object to be printed. The printing method according to claim 1 or 2.

4. In the image printing process described above, the image data that forms the basis of the image printed on the object to be printed may include dot image data composed of points and line image data composed of lines. The printing method according to claim 1.

5. The image data may include white plate data of a desired density. The printing method according to claim 4.

6. An image generation apparatus having at least an image data generation unit that generates image data which will be the basis of an image to be printed on a printable object, and a foil data generation unit that generates foil data including line data set corresponding to each region constituting the image, A foil stamping apparatus that uses a foil plate having at least one surface on which lines are engraved based on the foil data generated by the foil data generation unit to press foil onto a printing object, A printing apparatus that prints an image, which is made based on image data generated by the image generation unit, onto the foil that has been pressed onto the object to be printed by the foil stamping apparatus, so as to correspond to the lines that make up the foil, A printing system equipped with the following features.

Images