Digital printing technology is developing rapidly

- With the advent of new equipment, new substrates and inks, the digital fine print market has further expanded

The current “artists” and artists in the traditional sense (such as painters painting by hand on the wall, watercolor artists dyeing paper, and printmakers who print on the board and print) are It is very different, because artists with traditional meanings generally have to go through hard work and work to make a work. Now, everyone can become an “artist” and use computers to create works that they find incredible.

What we mean by "artists" is actually a so-called "digital artist" using computers and related equipment as tools. In simple terms, neither the digital artist nor the print worker personally “makes” the product by hand, and thus does not realize the kind of physical and mental pleasure that is achieved by hand when completing a work. Digital artists can design artwork simply by sliding the mouse and operating Painter software on a computer screen. Digital artists and co-existence printers also have similar places, that is, they all pay special attention to the medium they use (equipment, substrate, and ink).

When digital artists and printers talk about media means, they usually focus on equipment, inks, and substrates. With these devices, inks, and substrates, people can use computers, inks, and substrates to make computers on the computer. The "digital dream world" made in China is transformed into a "simulated world" in reality. It is rare to hear digital artists bragging about how their workstations are capable or how screen resolutions are. Often their emotions focus on the capabilities of the output device, the quality of the substrate and the ink.

When it comes to output devices, high-end digital printing was difficult to achieve in the past. People think that Iris Graphics' Iris printer is the savior of the digital image output industry. However, the original design of the Iris printer was not developed as a high-end printer device. Twenty years ago, the Iris printer was used as a prepress proofing device. Its fine continuous output capability caused the digital high-end output pioneers such as Graham Nash to pay attention, and eventually produced the digital high-end printing market.

At the beginning, the conversion of pre-press proofers into high-end printers attracted Iris’s interest. But until today, although Iris Graphics' high-end digital printer market has accounted for more than 20% of the market, the company is still committed to some basic research to maintain its brand position in the digital product market.

Most of Iris Graphics's development work focused on the GPrint printer, which was used as an updated replacement for the earlier 3047 printer. Unlike 3047, Gprin was designed specifically for the high-end printing market, and should be Iris. At the request of a large number of users, many details have been modified. The main improvements are: Adjustable position printheads - it will allow thicker print substrates.

Interestingly, Iris' competitor, Epson, developed the Stylus Pro5000 digital proofer based on the MicroPiezo printhead technology.

Like the 3047, the Epson Stylus 5000 was originally developed as a prepress proofer. However, people have begun to use equipment worth about 10,000 U.S. dollars to produce small prints, even up to 13 x 19 inches. The key to producing high-grade prints with Stylus 5000 or other Epson high-resolution devices such as the Stylus Color 3000 is to replace proofing inks with inks that do not fade, and to replace proofing papers with copper.

Two potential competitors for Iris' large format printing are Roland's Hi-Fi Jet printer based on Epson's MicroPiezo printhead technology and Minaki's JV2-130 printer.

Roland's Hi-Fi Jet is a 1440 x 720 dpi resolution inkjet printer. Its printable ink is Pantone's six-color ink system. In addition to its high resolution and this enhanced color system, the printer has many fascinating features that appeal to digital high-end printers. Hi-Fi Jet printers can use pigment inks and dye-based inks with adjustable print head positions to accommodate thicker substrates for printing on coated paper and canvas. The most attractive is its moderate price.

And Minaki's JV2-130 printer is a seven-color printer - six colors plus a spot color, 52-inch wide JV2-130 print head with adjustable position, can use two types of pigment ink and dye type, Print a variety of substrates, including watercolors and canvases.

In addition to Roland, Mimaki, and Epson, Iris's most notable challenger in the high-end digital printer market is Color Span's Giclee PrintMaker FA printer, which is eight colors (CMYK plus light, medium and light blue, middle Blue Color, based on Color Span's DesignWinder product, which has a true resolution of 600 dpi on a 35.5 x 47.5-inch web, but the company says it uses an eight-color print color system and RIP technology. Its continuous tone image quality is equivalent to 1800dpi. (Note: On the Iris printer, the true resolution is up to 300dpi, but the impression is accurate because it is printed accurately.) Some people pointed out that the Giclec series may soon develop low-price, high-resolution products. While Iris also has to launch high-end photo graphis printers, the production of high-end digital photographic prints requires specialized inks, software, and NT RIP. This machine is called Digital platinum and it will have 512 gray levels in the RGB or L*a*b* color space, and it will have 100 gray levels in Iris' standard CMYK space.

Digital Platinum is positioned in the high-end monochrome market. It will open up another new financial source for Iris.

Substrates In the early 1990s, Iris's printers required the use of an archival, a textile that was able to absorb water-derived dyes. This type of paper, called Arches, was used in watercolor painting (fillers for paper towels). It absorbs water. Its surface is free of paint and is very suitable for printing.

Because Arches paper is commonly used in early digital printing experiments, its use status in the printing market is higher than that of coated paper, and it is currently used most widely.

The reason why Arches Paper is so popular is because it matches the printers of Iris Graphics very well. Iris also sells ultra-autonomous Arches papers with Iris watermarks and a variety of quantitative specifications. There are also several Arches papers for high-end digital printing produced by several companies, including single sheets and webs.

In the digital high-end printing market, Arches Paper's main competitor is Somerset paper produced in the United Kingdom, which can be purchased from Cone Edition and Legien Paper or other suppliers.
Substrates for high-end digital printing should be non-acidic, 100% cotton fibers, with calcium carbonate to adjust the weakening paper.

In the acid-free high-end digital printing market, two papers, Arches and Somerset, dominate most of the market. Some people use other products, such as Rives (an Arches paper brand), and various handmade paper products, such as Mexico, India, and Japan. Handsheets.

A newly emerging high-end printing paper is a transfer paper. The transfer paper is first placed in an inkjet printer, and then the image is placed face down on an already wet substrate (the substrate can be paper or plastic). Then roll the back of the transfer paper, when the transfer paper is opened, the imprint remains on the substrate.

Just as in the traditional painting and printing market, canvas plays an important role in high-end digital printing. Unlike paper products used in watercolor painting, canvas does not absorb aqueous inkjet inks, so traditional canvases must be modified to be used for inkjet printing.

There are two major types of ink ink for high-end digital printing, one is a pigment type, the other is a dye type. There are many varieties of pigments and dyes available, but experts believe that these pigments and dyes are not perfect. For example, the color retention of the pigment is longer, but the color of the dye is brighter. This is not absolute, but when choosing ink for printing, you must consider the characteristics of this color.

However, pigment inks cannot be used for digital high-grade printing in Iris printers. The opening of the print head of the Iris printer is very small, may be blocked, even if the pigment ink particle size is small, does not produce a clogging nozzle, Iris printer can not print like a dye-based ink , continuous tone.

Lyson's FA series inks account for most of the digital high-end printing market. For the British company, which is only eight years old, this is unusual. More unusually, more than 85% of products are sold under the names of other company products.

Lyson's next product line is the CMYO series, which uses orange instead of black channels. The company believes that in black ink printing, black pigments are not really used to produce prints. Therefore, other methods can be used to achieve black effects. Using orange instead of ink channels can increase color gamut and reduce color mixing. The magenta ingredients improve print life (lightfastness), and magenta is not lightfast. If orange is used as a red ingredient, magenta is not pure magenta but purple. With the CMYO series, the increase in the color space and the extension of the color retention life are improved.

Printed product life (color retention)
In the early products, the vivid color of high-end digital prints and the life of color retention were always contradictory: the colors were bright but faded fast, or vice versa. The color retention of ink must be observed through long-term experiments to have more objective conclusions.