digital offset printing?
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- leftwave
i'm new to the world of print, so please go easy on me with this question...
i have a pretty good understanding of offset printing as well as digital printing, but what exactly is digital offset printing??
specifically, i got some invitation print samples from www.tinyprints.com and i really like the print quality. i'm trying to figure out how this is done and so I read about their "Digital Press" here:
http://www.tinyprints.com/printi…
can someone please explain what this is and how/where i could print my own custom stationery like this? thanks!
- airey0
i sublease from a digital printer that does exactly this. they use this model:
- airey0
it's basically a multi-pass printer that uses plates but the whole process is digital - so electrically charged. good info at the link below:
- ETM0
Biggest advantage.. no printing plates. Means small runs are possible and each print can be unique if need be.
- No printing plates in the traditional sense that is.ETM
- yep. +5airey
- Wrong. All offset presses have plates. Digital ones don't have film, that's the difference.Scotch_Roman
- The imaging is done directly from computer to plate.Scotch_Roman
- airey0
it's perfect for small to medium run jobs and can print on almost any stock (you coat non-traditional digital stock with a sapphire coating to make it usable but doens't always work) as well as PMS printing (although that'd be cost prohibitive for small runs). it's amazing for variable print runs. i'm loving using it.
- leftwave0
thanks for the great info. can you guys recommend any online printers (in the USA) that do a good and not too expensive job with this??
- airey0
you can get it to do multi-hits on specific colours - even specific regions of the colour grade. awesomeness™
- leftwave0
recommendations anyone???
- mtgentry0
but digital offset still isn't as good as traditional offset, right?
- digital plates are actually better i believe... 1 less step in the processinkpink
- my high-end printer for premium jobs goes direct to plates digital, and i absolutely trust their attention to qualityinkpink
- think I'm confusing digital printing (cafepress crap) with digital offsetmtgentry
- yes you areinkpink
- oh wait link below proves me wrong.. i didn't realize people were calling indigo "offset"inkpink
- monospaced0
Juddly said s/he printed PMS 877 U (metallic) on a digital offset press. They allow spot colors with this process? I thought it was just cmyk. I guess I could learn more myself.
- can be any color, it be be used even for hexachrome. You just submit the job as you normally would.SoulFly
- johndiggity0
our local printer here just got a new indigo that does this. i have yet to run anything off it though. here's their site (it sucks) but gives a description of how it works, pros/cons, etc...
http://www.intandem.com/intandem…
- inkpink0
i find this a bit misleading these companies are calling Indigo machines "digital offset"... if there are no plates the printing is not "offset".
did learn something new though. thanks.
- johndiggity0
i guess these are newer indigo's? i've done digital from an indigo at the printer i posted above and it was typical digital print problems, but this 6 color process and liquid toner looks interesting for smaller runs. also interesting is the 6 color build form rgb files. but i don't see how you would run match colors (like the pms metallic in the above post) on one of these.
- capn_ron0
you should look locally. There are shops in town that use those indigo machines. I use one locally called Partner Press. A really good smaller shop. Ask for Tim Reeves if you are interested. He is a really good rep.
- leftwave0
perfect capn_ron - I live in san diego too. i will check them out. thank you!
- Scotch_Roman0
OK here's the deal. This has been discussed here many times before, by the way.
Offset printing by definition uses plates which are then inked—and through a blanket which acts as a sort of filter and transfer device—make an impression on paper. Thus the name offset, which means setting off the ink through a transfer device. Lithography is another term for the same thing (sometimes called offset lithography). Offset printing is done using either web (large rolls of paper) or sheetfed (pre-cut sheets fed one at a time) presses, but the ink transfer system is essentially the same. Most sizable print companies have both web and sheetfed presses. Web presses are most often used for high-quantity catalogs and magazines, etc.; sheetfed presses tend to run smaller quantity jobs, such as stationery, annual reports, folders, and almost any job run on cover weights.
The original offset presses, which are becoming increasingly rare, used photographic images which were taken of the artwork; the film, when developed, is burned using light and chemicals (much like a photographic print) onto the printing plate.
Digital offset presses cut out the photo/film step entirely. The art is directly imaged from a computer onto the plate. Everything else from that point until the finished printed piece is basically the same as old-fashioned offset printing.
Digital printing, whether it's done with an Epson, Xerox, HP Indigo or Nexpress, does not use plates of any sort. All of them use CMYK cartridges of one kind or another with direct imaging. Indigo presses are unique in that they use CMYK + GO (green and orange) for six-color process simulation. A good Indigo press can come very close in quality to a six-color (hex) offset print job.
Case closed.
- great info, thank you! for the record, i did extensive searches here and could'nt find thisleftwave
- NP. Check your mail.Scotch_Roman
- ********0
I don't think it's possible to use PMS (pantones like gold, metallic, etc) using digital offset.
- ********0
bump.
- Scotch_Roman0
Juan_Dumplo, that's incorrect. As I said, digital offset is the same exact printing process as old-fashioned offset printing, except for the way art is transferred to plates. Whether digital or traditional, all offset lithography presses use Pantone and other spot colors. Period.