CTP Flexo: A Bright Idea

Dot’s okay

In technical terms, the primary difference between a conventionally imaged flexographic plate and one that is imaged digitally comes down to the size of the dot. The dot on a conventional plate is larger than the dot on the negative and the top of the dot is flat.

In contrast, says Hole, “the shape of a digital dot has a better, stronger, conical top and gets a more precise transfer of ink relative to the size of the dot it prints.” Since the digitally imaged dot does not change size, the plate can hold a much smaller dot than a conventional plate, yielding a printed image that is closer to continuous tone quality than is possible with conventional plates. Because the exact size dot required on the printed substrate has already been produced on the digital plate, press impression is less critical to the size or sharpness of the dot print result, whereas in conventional flexo, fingerprinting of the proof to the press must take into account the higher dot gain.