TRAPPING

TRAPPING

 Trapping is a term most commonly used in the prepress industry to describe the compensation for misregistration between printing units on a multicolor press. This misregistration causes unsightly gaps or white-space on the final printed work. Trapping involves creating overlaps (spreads) or underlaps (chokes) of objects during the print production process to eliminate misregistration on the press.

Trapping Directions

It is important to know that the darker color always keeps its shape. The neutral density of a color is used to determine its darkness.^[2]
The lighter color can trap the darker color in the following directions:

• Choke: The yellow square makes the cyan circle in the middle smaller.

• Spread: The yellow circle becomes bigger.

• Centerline: Both Spread and Choke are applied (rarely used).