Creo

Effective color management may require thinking outside the lines. by Terri McConnell, Prepress Editor One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. Remember that Seuss classic? Numbers, colors, and shapes are our first adjectives; the first ways in which we are taught to differentiate the objects of our world. A perusal of the World Book reveals color to be a remarkable physical phenomenon. Light is made up of multiple colors. When a light wave is refracted, or bent, it separates into distinct color wavelengths. Light-sensing cells in the human eye are each tuned to react to different wavelengths between 400 to 700 nanometers.

Scan volume may be down at prepress and printing firms, but scanners aren't by any means out of the production picture. by Susan Friedman, Editor Decline, yes. Demise, no. Or is the picture that simple for the use of scans in graphic file production? A recent study conducted by TrendWatch/Cahners Inc. stated the percentage of creative professionals intending to purchase scanners is at its lowest level in years, primarily because of the rising use of digital cameras, digital file storage, and digital file transmission. Dave Watson, VP/packaging at prepress trade shop American Color, reports a reduction in scan use that echoes the tone of

With the Facilities Management approach to customer service, prepress providers and printers can forge mutually beneficial cohabitation arrangements. By Terri McConnell, Prepress Editor What's the best way to serve your customer? Up close and personal. That's the concept behind Facilities Management. It's a business model that extends service to the point of dedicating your own resources to meet your customer's needs—often by relocating them to your customer's site. According to Kevin Karstedt, a New York-based graphics industry workflow consultant, Facilities Management (FM) plays out in our industry in several ways. • Printers and converters provide FM services to consumer product companies (CPCs) by

Implementing CTP may be viewed as a technological journey whose length and destination depend on your operation's starting point. by Terri McConnell Since its phenomenal debut at DRUPA in 1995, computer-to-plate (CTP) technology has been integrated into the daily routines of printers across nearly every commercial and packaging application. Why? Because the benefits of imaging directly to the printing plate surface from digital data are irrefutable. Digitally imaged plates carry sharper dots and are capable of delivering a wider color gamut. They register better on press. They are free of pinholes and the effects of light diffusion associated with analog film-based plate production. CTP

Package printers are just now beginning to see the light at the end of a long tunnel of confusing, and often ill-fitting file formats. by Terri McConnell Even dynamite could not have changed the face manufacturing infrastructure of the printing industry more than the advent of desktop publishing and the subsequent adoption of PostScript. Up to that point, prepress automation was directed by a handful of highly-specialized equipment suppliers who built color electronic prepress systems (CEPS) around laser-powered film output devices. CEPS were, for the most part, closed, proprietary environments—not a big problem as long as the origin and form of printing content were

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,

Digital proofers can produce packaging's custom colors in minutes, but can converters afford the technology they need? By Susan Friedman Digital proofing's transformation of proof production cycle time is bound to help package printers over any separation anxiety for film. To hear Neil Potter, business manager for the packaging market at Imation tell it, digital proofing's productivity benefits can't get much clearer. Printers can trade analog proofing's half-day to two-day cycle times, or on-press proofing's two-day to one-week cycle times, in favor of a digital proof produced in minutes, he says. Presstek Product Manager Sandy Fuhs adds that digital proofing can remove the majority

Shopping for and finding digital output devices to enhance workflow productivity is a matter of education in relation to your needs. By Marie Ranoia Alonso SHOPPING THE output odyssey is not a simple task for package printers looking to expand in a digital direction. So many solutions in the platesetting segment, so much to consider. Thermal or non-thermal platesetter? Small or large format? Semi- or fully-automated? What is the ROI? Pay close attention to new OEM agreements, such as the recently struck Agfa agreement to market Krause America's LaserStar 140 and LaserStar 170 platesetters, bringing a great deal of PDF power to the Krause

Understanding digital workflow concepts, power and capabilities is essential for success for progressive package printers. By Marie Ranoia Alonso Digital prepress environments are fast moving into the realm of the package printer. This is not news. What is news is the robust capabilities of the growing field of digital workflow enablers, the emergence of PDF and PostScript 3 and their impact on the way digitally savvy package printers do business—not to mention the digital workflow power, now more than ever before, of packaging's front end. So much technology, in so little time. Or is it? For several years, packaging's graphically complex and deadline