Minimum printing dot adjustments

In Flexo printing processes, there is a physical minimum dot that can be held on the printing plate as well as a production minimum dot. In combination with process related dot gain and ink drying, this can result in a noticeable edge.

The MinDot Preview highlights image areas that might be affected by this problem in the color of the respective separation (C, M, Y, K, or spot color) so they are easy to locate and fix. Unprinted areas, which cannot be affected by this problem, are shown in white color. Very light image areas are shown in a gray tone so that they can be easily distinguished from unprinted areas.

How to check and adjust minimum dot problems

1. Open a CMYK (plus spot) image in Adobe Photoshop.
2. Click MinDot Preview in the plugin panel.
3. Set the range you want to check (in the example all below 3% Cyan) and click OK.
   
   All problematic areas below (and including) 3% Cyan are highlighted in Cyan color.
   (To see whether the MinDot Preview is currently active or not, just check the image title for the "GMG_MinDot" suffix.)
   
4. Click MinDot Adjust in the plugin panel.
5. Decide whether to remove all color values below the threshold or to set a specific minimum dot value. If you set a specific value, you have the additional option to keep the paper tint or equally set it to the defined threshold value. In our example, we remove Cyan below 3%.
   
6. Click OK. The minimum dot of Cyan has been adjusted.
7. Deactivate the minimum dot preview again by clicking the Preview Off button in the plugin panel.