Screens are Screaming for Attention

Working with each of these screening methods is not mutually exclusive and recent product innovations have come from combination approaches to get the best out of each technique. Let's take a look at some of the recent developments screening-technology suppliers have to offer.

Agfa (Wilmington, Mass.) can lay claim to development of the first FM screening product in the early 1990s, called :CristalRaster. The objective of this new approach was to address various drawbacks with existing AM screening technology. According to Frances Cicogna, Agfa's product marketing manager for packaging, the new FM technology was very good at delivering fine detail and addressed other AM screening limitations, but it also tended to appear grainy or sandy, especially in areas of flat tints. "Over the course of the next decade," says Cicogna, "both technologies had their best fit—FM for greater detail and AM for smoother flat tints."