DocForensic

Ink Coverage Calculator

Measure how much cyan, magenta, yellow, black and spot ink every page will use, find areas over your total ink limit, and estimate the print cost.

Each page is rendered to real printing separations - one plate per ink, spot colours included - and measured pixel by pixel. You get coverage per channel for every page, the highest total area coverage (TAC) on each page, and a heat map showing where ink piles up, with any area over your limit outlined in red.

Switch the page view to a single separation to see exactly where each ink lands, sort the coverage table to find the heaviest pages, and enter your ink and paper prices for a cost estimate across the whole print run. A report is available as PDF, CSV or Excel, along with the heat-map images.

Simple workflow

How it works

  1. 1

    Add PDFs

    Add your print-ready PDFs and pick the print type and your TAC limit.

  2. 2

    Calculate coverage

    Every page is separated into its inks and measured; check the heat maps, separations and coverage table.

  3. 3

    Download the report

    Download the coverage report and heat maps, with a cost estimate if you entered pricing.

Frequently asked questions

What is total area coverage (TAC)?

TAC is the sum of cyan, magenta, yellow and black at a single spot on the page - four solid inks on top of each other is 400%. Presses and papers can only hold so much ink before it smears or dries badly, so print shops set a limit: around 300-320% for coated paper, 260-280% for uncoated and about 240% for newsprint. Spot inks are measured separately and not counted toward TAC.

How accurate is the cost estimate?

The coverage figures are measured precisely from the rendered separations, but the cost depends on the ink prices and laydown you enter. The laydown presets for each print type are rough starting points - replace them with your press or supplier's figures for a dependable quote. Paper cost is per sheet and assumes one page per sheet.

Why is the coverage of my RGB images different from what I expected?

Ink is only defined for CMYK, so RGB content has to be converted first, and the result depends on the ICC profile used. Turn on "Convert RGB with an ICC profile" and choose the profile your printer uses to match their conversion; otherwise Ghostscript's default CMYK profile is used. CMYK content is always measured as it is.

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