Spectral analysis of output devices, from printing to predicting

The focus of this thesis is to develop and introduce algorithms that extend traditional colour reproduction from three dimensions to higher dimensions in order to minimize metamerism. The thesis introduces models that can accurately predict interactions between the primaries for non-linear output devices in spectral colour space. Experiments were designed and performed to aid in understanding how optimized the spectral characteristics of existing printer inks and display primaries are, and how the inks and primaries should be designed so that the accuracy of the reproduction is optimized. The time and space computational complexity of the reproduction algorithms grows exponentially with the number of input dimensions. The algorithms for finding the best combinations of inks or primaries matching a given input reflectance become more challenging when the inks interact with each other non-linearly, as is usually the case in printers. A number of different methods are introduced in this thesis to handle gamut mapping and the colour reproduction process in higher dimensions. An ink-separation algorithm is introduced to find the ink combination yielding a chosen gamut-mapped spectral reflectance. Experiments with real inks for spectral colour reproduction were performed to compare the results of the reproduction against trichromatic colour reproduction on a 9-ink printer system. Finally, a new application of reflectance analysis in higher dimensions is introduced.