The present invention addresses the quantification of a printed 
tone scale for each individual color in a printing 
system, developing a linear 
tone scale derived in an independent 
color space and referenced from the shade of the unprinted substrate. The present invention determines the threshold for excessive ink coverage of a printing 
system on a specified substrate. This determination is based on a subjective evaluation of acceptable thresholds for bleed, cockle, show through, and 
image density. The method works in conjunction with a predefined test pattern printed on the specified substrate at fixed printing parameters, such as speed, dryer temperature, and web tension. This invention also includes an ability to limit the ink of each independent color in the 
system as a fraction of the total upper ink limit. Furthermore, this invention allows calibration of the 
tone scale of each color in the system using the color of the paper as a reference point. In addition, this invention facilitates the generation of separate sets of tone scale transformations for both 
graphics and text for each color in the system.