Claims
- 1. A method of reproducing a master, comprising the steps of masking said master, the masking step including generating a mask which represents a negative of said master; and copying the masked master on photosensitive material, at least one of the masking and copying steps being performed in such a manner that said mask has low resolution, or said mask is used in an unsharp manner to yield a low resolution image of the mask on the photosensitive material, or both, wherein low resolution means a resolution of about 0.1 to about 2 line pairs per millimeter in the plane of the master being masked.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said mask has low resolution and the copying step comprises sharply focusing said mask on said photosensitive material.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said mask is black-and-white.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said mask has high resolution and is used in an unsharp manner to generate a low resolution mask image on the photosensitive material.
- 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said mask is black-and-white.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein both said mask and said copying step are performed to yield low resolution.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein said mask is black-and-white.
- 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of scanning said master to generate density values, at least one of the masking and copying steps being performed using said density values.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said mask generating is performed electronically.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the copying step comprises exposing said photosensitive material pointwise.
- 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of processing said mask so that a region of said mask having a predetermined intensity is imaged on said photosensitive material on a reduced scale.
- 12. The method of claim 9, wherein said master is transparent and the copying step comprises transmitting copy light to said photosensitive material through said master.
- 13. The method of claim 1, wherein said exposing is performed using a cathode ray tube or a laser.
- 14. The method of claim 1, wherein said master is transparent and said mask generating is performed using a phototropic masking element, the copying step comprising transmitting copy light to said photosensitive material through said master and said phototropic masking element.
- 15. The method of claim 14, wherein said phototropic masking element comprises glass or a foil.
- 16. The method of claim 1, wherein said master is transparent and said mask generating is performed using an electronically adjustable masking element, the copying step comprising transmitting copy light to said photosensitive material through said master.
- 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said electronically adjustable masking element comprises an electrooptical component.
- 18. The method of claim 16, wherein said electronically adjustable masking element comprises a light valve.
- 19. The method of claim 16, wherein said electronically adjustable masking element comprises a liquid crystal display or a plasma display.
- 20. The method of claim 1, wherein said mask generating is performed using a reflector.
- 21. The method of claim 1, wherein said mask generating is performed in such a manner that said mask has a region of maximum brightness corresponding to a predetermined zone of said photosensitive material, the copying step including limiting darkening of said predetermined zone to that resulting from the characteristics of said material.
- 22. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of determining density values for the masked master, and calculating an amount of copy light for the copying step using said density values.
- 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the copying step comprises automatically controlling exposure of said photosensitive material.
- 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the determining step comprises scanning said master to obtain first density values, and deriving second density values for said mask from said first density values, the calculating step being performed using said first and second density values.
- 25. The method of claim 22, further comprising the steps of scanning said master to obtain first density values, and deriving second density values for said mask from said first density values; and wherein the masking step comprises generating said mask using said second density values and the determining step comprises scanning said master once the latter has been masked with the thus-generated mask.
- 26. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of scanning said master to obtain density values, and automatically determining the degree of masking using said density values.
- 27. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of displaying a first image of said master while unmasked, displaying a second image of said master while masked, and evaluating said images.
- 28. The method of claim 27, wherein at least one of said images is in color.
- 29. The method of claim 27, wherein at least one of said images is black-and-white.
- 30. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of adjusting said second image by changing the degree of masking.
- 31. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of adjusting the density and color of each of said images.
- 32. The method of claim 1, wherein said master is a photographic master.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/804,844, filed Dec. 6, 1991, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (20)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
3141263 |
Jun 1983 |
DEX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
804844 |
Dec 1991 |
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