Inkjet print planning method
Methods of controlling an inkjet printer are disclosed. The methods include defining shape information using a design graphics system. The shape information includes fill colors for shapes, and may include colors for edges. The colors are interpreted as one or more attributes, such as film thickness or material, for a film to be formed on a substrate.
1 . A method of controlling an inkjet printer, comprising:
receiving digital shape information including shape definitions of user-defined shapes and user-selected fill colors that define portions of a film to be formed on a substrate using the inkjet printer;
defining pixels from the shape information;
assigning a different thickness change operation to each fill color, at least one thickness change operation being a reduction in thickness relative to a base thickness; and
applying the thickness change operation assigned to the color of each pixel.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein three fill colors are used, a first fill color to denote adding a prescribed thickness, a second fill color to denote no thickness change, and a third fill color to denote subtracting the prescribed thickness.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the shape information is vector graphic information.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the shape information includes layer information.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the shape information includes edge color information.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the thickness change operation assigned to the color of each pixel comprises applying the thickness change operation to a base thickness value.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital shape information is a bitmap.
8 . A method of controlling an inkjet printer, comprising:
receiving digital shape information including shape definitions of user-defined shapes, user-selected fill colors, and user-defined edge information that define portions of a film to be formed on a substrate using the inkjet printer;
defining pixels from the shape information;
assigning a different thickness change operation to each fill color, at least one thickness change operation being a reduction in thickness relative to a base thickness;
applying the thickness change operation assigned to the color of each pixel; and
mapping the edge information to one or more edge thickness profiles of the film.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein three fill colors are used, a first fill color to denote adding a prescribed thickness, a second color to denote no thickness change, and a third color to denote subtracting the prescribed thickness.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the shape information is vector graphic information.
11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the shape information includes layer information.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the layer information comprises shape information for a plurality of layers, and the shape information for the plurality of layers is processed sequentially, layer by layer, to define the thickness information for the film.
13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the edge information includes edge color information.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the edge color information is mapped to one or more edge thickness profiles of the film.
15 . The method of claim 8 , wherein applying the thickness change operation assigned to the color of each pixel comprises applying the thickness change operation to a base thickness value.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the shape information includes layer information defining layers, each layer having shape information, and the assigning is performed for each layer to define the thickness information for the film.
17 . A method of controlling an inkjet printer, comprising:
receiving digital shape information including shape definitions of user-defined shapes, user-selected fill colors, and user-defined edge information including one or more edge colors that define portions of a film to be formed on a substrate using the inkjet printer;
defining pixels from the shape information;
assigning a different thickness change operation to each fill color, at least one thickness change operation being a reduction in thickness relative to a base thickness;
applying the thickness change operation assigned to the color of each pixel; and
mapping the edge information to one or more edge thickness profiles of the film.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the digital shape information is a bitmap or a vector graphic file.