Printable Foils - New options for packaging designs

Presentation by Ray Verderberger, Eckart America.

Ray starts with an outline of the manufacturing of printable foils and the fact that they are useful for creating nice effects.
What interests me is that they are using the term brilliance to describe the metallic gloss. The bigger the particle (flexo) the higher the brilliance due to less light scattering from the edges of the particle, the less the opacity. Conventional metallic pigments for offset are exactly the opposite, having the constrain of the ink film thickness that goes through the press. However, the VMP pigments, in comparison to conventional pigments, are even finer but, can be applied in a high concentration and moreover be aligned... in this way they can achieve both high gloss and good opacity. They work excellent with flexo and gravure, but not as good with offset printing processes. The smoothness of the substrate is another factor (the smoother the better). An interesting point is made that since printable foils are applied as inks, they have much less waste than hot foil stamping, where you throw away the foil that doesn't remain on the product. I guess from an economical standpoint, they are a sub mostly for foils and not conventional inks. I might be wrong.
Another term that Eckart is coming up with is leafing, referring to where the metallic pigments fall within the ink layer.