Digital BW, The Print

Yes, Clayton is right. Depending on where you set the density for the
darkest gray (next to black) for your particular inkset, there is a
large amount of blending between black and various levels of gray.
These grays "enhance" by hiding the appearance of dots but inevitably
change the black tone to a certain extent. If you look at the plotted
curves for a typical quadtone inkset you'd find nowhere is black 
rendered alone ... well almost.

But of course with QTR you can design curves such that black is pushed
further toward the brighter region of the grayscale.

--nick

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Clayton Jones"
<cj@c...> wrote:
> 
> Hello Jeff,
> 
> >That's an interesting observation, and I trust your knowledge of 
> >these things. But, I am nevertheless surprised to hear this. In a 
> >b/w print from QTR, isn't the printed black tone primarily rendered 
> >with K, while the other inks simply "enhance" it? Are you saying 
> >that most of the black rendering is actually created with M, C, and 
> >Y? You can tell I'm quite new at this...
> 
> I can't say about QTR because I don't use it.  My understanding is
> that with QTR and the curves you can do anything you want.  However,
> your description reminded me of my observations using UT7 with
> sliders, so I just wanted to pass it along as food for thought, a
> possible explanation of what may be happening and a clue for your own
> investigations.  
> 
> Perhaps some experienced QTR users will jump in here and shed
> some more light...
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Clayton
> 
> 
> Info on black and white digital printing at    
> http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm