#23: TVI is a better term than Dot Gain

This is Part 1 of a 5 part series from Jim Raffel’s TVI notebook.

Part 1: Tone Value Increase (TVI) really is a better term than Dot Gain: My short answer for this is that a densitometer (or spectrophotometer acting as a densitometer) does not actually measure dots, so how can we really call it Dot Gain? Add to this the fact that some systems being used for proofing result in continuous tone images with no dots and my position becomes a bit clearer. Those on the SWOP committee that spearheaded the initiative to change this misleading term (which I resisted early one) should be commended. After all, when a 50% patch of a color increases to an apparent 65% patch of that color the tone value has in fact increased regardless of whether that patch is made up of dots or not.

Coming next…Part 2: GRACoL 7 & TVI