Plotting Along

Imagesetters stay active in lieu of—or alongside—computer-to-plate.

By Susan Friedman

Make no mistake, the imagesetter is alive and kicking. Aggressive advances in computer-to-plate (CTP) haven't proved fatal to imagesetter usage or upgrades, and suppliers haven't let up on steady releases of both hardware and software improvements.

Hardware, software review

Each basic imagesetter design offers a fit for a certain segment of package printers. "Capstan-driven devices are better for dimensional stability over long images, and drum devices offer superior repeatability," states Pierre Ferland, marketing director, Alan Graphic Systems. Several color separations can be grouped on a single piece of film only in a drum device, he adds.

Peter Kushnieruk, product manager at Agfa, elaborates that higher resolution drum imagesetters are the logical choice for stringent color or brand identification requirements. Capstan imagesetters may be able to run longer images, he notes, but typically two pieces of film will need to be stripped together for larger corrugated jobs.

Advances in imagesetter designs leave them looking ever more chameleon-like. Adaptable, versatile features on Agfa imagesetters include dual cassettes, the ability to handle film, paper or plate media in a variety of thicknesses, and the ability to produce typical flexo and offset screens as well as stochastic screening.

While hardware progressions enable steady hops ahead in efficiency, software's impact is more akin to a whirlwind. "Advances in imagesetter speeds only amount to mere seconds per job, if that," explains Ferland. "The real productivity enhancements come from software, such as Alan Graphic Systems' alanRIP for flexo and Flexo Assistant, that automates repetitive tasks such as step and repeat, distortion, dot gain compensation, and film and file optimization, while offering customizable calibration and high-end screening controls."

Ian Hole, market and business development manager for BARCO, implies that the software and workflow revolution has reached standard procedure status. "Imagesetter technology is ripe, so faster RIPping has become something the industry expects and relies upon, as well as the collection of data and ability to change it, without any time penalty, just as you RIP," he comments. "Advanced screening, dot gain compensation control and quality shaped dots have become the norm for BARCO output, whether you are going to flexo or offset."

For a technology that could be called mature, established, or even proven, the imagesetter is not without its challenges.

Agfa's Kushnieruk relates the most tenacious imagesetting issues reside in network design. "A printer formerly using a smaller imagesetter and stripping up work that makes the switch to a larger format imagesetter will have to reorganize the department's infrastructure to handle larger files and additional colors that typically accompany such an upgrade," he says. New network needs might include digital archiving, additional server space, improved back-up mechanisms, and/or faster retrieval mechanisms.

Ferland emphasizes the problem of increasing regulations on environmental controls for film processing, but sees an emerging solution in thermal imaging technology, which involves neither emissions nor chemicals. "It is unfortunately only in its adolescence," he observes, "although it is conceivable that we will see thermal imaging devices on the market in time for Drupa 2000."

CTP's impact on direct-to-film

CTP's development has actually served, in part, to highlight remaining areas of need for imagesetters. Take the experience of Philadelphia flexo trade shop Cage Graphic Arts. The shop first installed BARCO's Megasetter in 1996, and saw plotting productivity shoot up ten-fold.

For the past two and a half years, Cage has enjoyed the advantages of the Megasetter's 47" x 63" format, which fits the shop's wide-web and corrugated work needs, as well as its ability to handle special flexo requirements such as multiple line screens, angles and dot shapes on the same separation without sacrificing speed, reports Prepress Manager Mike DeAngelis. Further efficiencies stem from four workstations running BARCO's FastLane workflow with PackLine and FastRIP software.

When the shop bit the CTP bullet and recently invested in the twin-beam Cyrel Digital Imager, its upgraded imagesetting capabilities were not relegated to a cobweb-filled corner. Though Cage's CTP workload is growing, DeAngelis estimates 80 percent of customers still require film.

Suppliers agree that imagesetter business should remain reasonably brisk into the near future, even among full-fledged CTP converts.

"Imagesetter sales to the packaging market are quite higher than last year," relates Sheila Nysko, segment manager, packaging, at Agfa. In the largely flexo realm of flexible packaging, direct-to-film is hot because CTP economics "aren't quite there," she says. Among printers offering both flexo and offset, Nysko credits the continued growth of matte films for flexo with keeping imagesetter buying interest high. In addition, she notes customers' hard-to-shake dependence on analog proofs has kept package printers and trade shops with all-out CTP continuing to invest in direct-to-film.

Like Nysko, Ferland sees imagesetters remaining particularly fixed in the flexo segment. "CTP is gaining ground in the offset world with volume of sales pushing prices downward, but CTP in the flexo world is a different story," he states. "There are few devices to start, and those available are for wide format output. They are priced in a way that only some large prepress departments and trade shops can cost-justify them with increased quality, productivity and reduced make-ready times."

"Imagesetters will be around for a while yet," concurs Hole. "CTP is, for some, a nervous step forward and for others, convinced of the future, a step they take while keeping an imagesetter for back-up."

Hole cites data workflow and management as critical factors that can delay leaving the imagesetter behind, but he remains optimistic. "Many see the purchase of an imagesetter in 1999 or 2000 as their last film device, which they will pay off and then go for CTP," he remarks.

Transitional solutions which image both plates and film, such as Agfa's Antares, are drawing interest from smaller tag and label and folding carton printers, but the do-everything-on-one-machine approach may compromise efficiency, Nysko asserts. Imagesetters are most productive for film, and platesetters are most productive for plates, she maintains.

Dave Brown, vice president, business strategy, at Creo Products, believes film and plate imagers provide "a single solution preparing a printer for the inevitable shift to plate imaging. Direct-to-plate is a more stable, controlled process, with greater repeatability and accuracy."

Creo's offerings include the VLF Trendsetter, which images offset plates and thermal film up to 58" x 80", and the ThermoFlex, which images flexo plates and thermal film up to 52" x 80".

Citing declining sales of larger format imagesetters in the past year, Brown believes higher-end package printers are not going ahead with a new imagesetter purchase without also evaluating the CTP option. "It's not a sensible business decision to make a purchase without that forward path in mind," he contends. An imagesetter bought today may not have time to amortize if a CTP investment is made within the next few years, he notes.