Total Ink Coverage Area Limit Check

Audit actual CMYK separations for summed total-ink coverage against caller substrate/press ceiling; not an invented universal ink limit, automatic black replacement or print-profile conversion.

Description

Total ink coverage sums all four process separations.

Total ink coverage sums all four process separations. A press/substrate-specific ceiling must come from the caller.^[1]

Enter nonempty four-column CMYK rows with each percentage 0–100 and ceiling 0–400. Return totals, clipped excesses and indexes strictly above ceiling.

When to use Total Ink Coverage Area Limit Check

Use Total Ink Coverage Area Limit Check when you need to evaluate the supplied records under the calculation and evidence rules below. No universal ink limit, automatic black replacement or print-profile conversion is supplied.

Prepare colors in the stated color space and scale. Use encoded RGB fractions, linear RGB, Lab, xy, byte values or ink percentages exactly as requested; supply caller tolerances and reference conditions.

How to use Total Ink Coverage Area Limit Check and understand its results

Prepare colors in the stated color space and scale. Use encoded RGB fractions, linear RGB, Lab, xy, byte values or ink percentages exactly as requested; supply caller tolerances and reference conditions.
Enter processInkPercentRows, callerTotalInkCoverageCeilingPercent using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read totalInkCoveragePercents, excessCoveragePercentagePoints, overCallerInkLimitRowIndices. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
processInkPercentRows	Process ink percent rows	list of list of number	Required
callerTotalInkCoverageCeilingPercent	Caller total ink coverage ceiling percent	number	Required

Enter nonempty four-column CMYK rows with each percentage 0–100 and ceiling 0–400. Return totals, clipped excesses and indexes strictly above ceiling.

TAC=C+M+Y+K; excess=max(0,TAC−ceiling)

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
totalInkCoveragePercents	Total ink coverage percents	list of number
excessCoveragePercentagePoints	Excess coverage percentage points	list of number
overCallerInkLimitRowIndices	Over caller ink limit row indices	list of number

json

{
  "input": {
    "processInkPercentRows": [
      [
        100,
        100,
        100,
        100
      ],
      [
        20,
        30,
        40,
        50
      ]
    ],
    "callerTotalInkCoverageCeilingPercent": 300
  },
  "output": {
    "totalInkCoveragePercents": [
      400,
      140
    ],
    "excessCoveragePercentagePoints": [
      100,
      0
    ],
    "overCallerInkLimitRowIndices": [
      0
    ]
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

No universal ink limit, automatic black replacement or print-profile conversion is supplied.

Numeric inputs, where present, must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Matrices are limited to 128 rows and 128 entries per row. Numeric lists are limited to 10,000 entries; string lists to 128 strings of at most 128 characters each. The rules above may impose smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Registration Mark CMYK 100% All Check: A registration mark can use full coverage in every process separation. The check is specific to marks rather than ordinary artwork. For a complementary task, use HEX to CMYK Conversion: A naive RGB-to-CMYK decomposition maximizes black using the darkest common component. Printed appearance depends on profiles.

References

Total Ink Coverage Area Limit Check — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Registration Mark CMYK 100% All Check
A registration mark can use full coverage in every process separation. The check is specific to marks rather than ordinary artwork.
HEX to CMYK Conversion
A naive RGB-to-CMYK decomposition maximizes black using the darkest common component. Printed appearance depends on profiles.