An Exploration of the Pantone® Hexachrome™ Six-Color System Reproduced by Stochastic Screens

Abstract

The Pantone® Hexachrome™ color mixing system is a Hi Fi device-dependent space consisting of five chromatic colors and one achromatic color. These six primaries produce a larger gamut of colors than those available from the cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) device-dependent space of conventional printer's inks. Most images produced by scanners originate in red, green, and blue (RGB) video device space before transformation to Hexachrome space. The Hexachrome color system is described in relation to a typical CMYK device-dependent space and RGB video space. In general the Hexachrome system, like most device—dependent spaces, is non-linear and device dependent.The reproduction of Hexachrome colors using Ice-fields® stochastic screens is press-tested and an analysis is made. There are inherent reproduction differences between conventional halftone screens and stochastic screens. This paper assumes that the capability of stochastic screens to improve CMYK reproduction also improves Hi Fi reproduction. A description of the advantages of stochastic reproduction of the Hexachrome Hi Fi color system is given.