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The plate-setter is the newest technology which is used to produce the plate which it is used in offset printing
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What are the types of output devices used in pre-press?
The most popular output device has two names: the CTP device and the Platesetter. CTP means Computer to Plate. It's a machine that exposes printing plates from data sent to it by a digital front end. These are huge. There's also a special paper you can get for a tabloid-size laser printer that lets you make plates on the laserwriter. There have been paper plates for decades--the quick-print industry revolves around their existence--and the laser printer ones aren't any worse than the traditional Itek plates. I've always run imagesetters, which expose film from data sent to it by a digital front end--usually the SAME DFE you'd use with a platesetter. A few companies make Direct Imaging presses. Heidelberg is the leader in this arena. In those, the plate exposing units are mounted on the press and the DFE is connected to them...very slick technology for short runs. Heidelberg has sold a lot of these to quick-print shops. I forgot one, mainly because the rotogravure process isn't all that common anymore. Rotogravure is good for two things: insanely long publication runs--the average gravure run is probably two million impressions--and huge label orders, especially ones that need a lot of color laid down. It has four advantages: very high speed--gravure presses run well in excess of 3000 feet per minute; very wide webs--three-meter webs are fairly common on gravure presses, which allows you to do things like run a 64-page magazine sig on one press sheet; total freedom from color change caused by wearing out the plates; and the ability to just pack a sheet with color. Gravure uses solvent-based ink. The print from unit one is completely dry before the job reaches unit two, so all the "total ink coverage" calculations we do in offset to make sure you're not going to plug up the sheet just go out the window--if you want to run 95-percent screens on every unit on your press, be my guest. Gravure prints using a copper-covered cylinder. They polish it to a mirror finish, then engrave little pits into its surface. The cylinder is coated with ink, which is then scraped off the surface. The pits retain the ink, which is then transferred to the sheet. Cylinders are engraved in a cylinder-engraving machine called a Helioklischograph. Heidelberg makes them--maybe one a year. Heidelberg has always made them. Heidelberg hasn't ever made gravure presses. Go figure.
What are the electrical devices used in printing and their functions?
Printing press -- puts ink on paper Press control console -- adjusts press color balance and registration Wide-format or grand-format inkjet printers -- prints vinyl for vehicle wraps, scrim banner, mesh banner and large sheets of paper. Wide-format printers have carriages from 36" to 84" wide; grand-format are wider. Some of the widest grand-format printers are the Gandinnovations Jeti 5024 and the EFI VUTEk 5330, which take media 204 inches wide. (Fun facts about the big VUTEk: it's 28 feet wide. It weighs nearly three tons. It uses 50 amps of 220v power, which is the same as your kitchen range. The ink for it comes in gallon jugs, and you pour it into jars behind the printer. You need to file an environmental impact statement with the state when you buy a 5330 because the ink contains petroleum-based solvents--actually, YOU don't file the statement, EFI does it for you; they have lawyers who write these all the time. They give you a "roll lifter" when you buy the machine, and most people move the media around with a forklift. It takes four people to load media into the printer--two behind the machine to put the media in, the other two to catch it and pull it down. When you get it they send you a cabinet full of spare parts; if the machine breaks you call the 24/7 hotline (they supposedly have a person there on Christmas night, which may be tested soon because with my workflow I'll probably be printing on my VUTEk 3360 on Christmas night) and they tell you what part to replace. It comes with an engineer from the company who sets it up for you. It prints 2237 square feet per hour, and it probably costs about $700,000--based on the fact that a 3360 is $300,000 and the 3360 only uses 126" media.) Cutter -- cuts paper to programmed-in sizes Folder -- folds printed pieces as required by the job Collator and stitcher -- creates saddle-stitched booklets Perfect binder -- creates perfect-bound documents Pocket folder gluer -- converts diecut pocket folder blanks into finished folders Laminator -- encases printed pieces in a tough plastic shield Inspection booth -- produces light of the correct color and intensity to inspect work by Densitometer -- measures ink density to assure color accuracy Reach truck -- moves pallets of paper around the pressroom Platesetter -- makes plates in a "computer to plate" workflow Imagesetter -- makes film for plates in "computer to film" workflow Digital front end (also known as a RIP) -- controls platesetters and imagesetters Automatic imposition processor -- creates layouts on plates Light table -- used to hand-strip films Vacuum frame -- exposes plates and proofs Stat camera -- takes pictures of printed pieces so you can print more of them. This is a REALLY outdated piece of equipment, but in a lot of cases--such as when a letterhead someone's been using for 50 years comes in with the instruction "make the new ones EXACTLY like this" it's quicker to shoot the letterhead, strip it and plate it than it is to use your computer. Film processor -- develops film Plate processor -- develops plates Computer -- does too many things to mention Drum scanner -- produces better images than any of those "just as good as a drum scanner" flatbeds ever dreamed of. Air compressor -- source of compressed air for many printing machines Vacuum pump -- source of vacuum for many printing machines (note: all 40-inch and larger presses and many smaller presses use both compressed air and vacuum; really small presses usually only use vacuum) Diecutter -- cuts printing into special shapes like circles, credit cards, suitcases... Coffeepot -- keeps pressman awake when he has to work a double shift to get a job out before the last Friday of the month Those are just a few of the electrical devices used in printing.
Why is a Mac better for graphic design?
I've been on PCs all my life, used Macs all through school, and now own a macBook which I dual boot between Mac OS Lion & Windows 7. I can honestly say that they both do the exact same things. Whichever you get used to is what you'll prefer.If you can't get a mac or a PC to do what you require, it either can't be done on a computer, or you haven't bothered to look it up.Smaller software selection on the mac (mentioned in an answer below) is not due Apple just being pickier; it's due to more people programming for windows because more people have windows machines. Less choice is never a better thing, except when it comes to viruses.As for the "easier renaming" thing mentioned below, to me this puts the person's entire answer into question. If you want to rename a file on the PC, you hit F2. It's that easy. The person didn't know this and didn't bother to research it. People like this should not be answering questions as if they know something.HONESTLY, and in closing, If you're not into shopping around and finding the very best item to suit your needs, just get a mac. The hardware is great, and you can boot to windows if you have software that needs to run in it.If you know what you're looking for and have specific hardware or software needs, you already know you need a PC. They're both good at what they do.AnswerITS NOT! apple has a wonderful MARKETING PROGRAM TO MAKE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO LEARN ABOUT COMPUTERS THINK MAC COMPUTERS ARE BETTER. THAT'S WHY IF YOU WALK INTO A STUDIO, ART OR MUSIC AND SEE MACS ITS NOT BECAUSE THEY'RE BETTER IT'S THAT PEOPLE MAKING MUSIC AND DOING ART WORK DON'T BOTHER TO INVESTIGATE THE HARDWARE OR OPERATING SYSTEM OF THERE COMPUTERS THEY JUST DIVE INTO WHATEVER IS POPULAR.Answer:At my job I have both a Mac and a Windows machine. I swear by the Mac and AT the Windows machine--and I am very, very proficient in Windows.Why I think the Mac is better for graphic design:1. It's better with large files and folders containing a lot of large files, especially the ones I deal with--I regularly deal with 1.5GB Photoshop files. That's not a typo--a gig and a half for ONE file, and sometimes I have a folder with 20 copies of that file in it. This much traffic will choke any PC I have ever seen. The Mac just whips right through it.2. A lot of programs on the PC--CorelDraw comes to mind quickly--keep all their data internally as RGB and convert to CMYK when you print. That's an okay workflow fifteen years ago, when everything was sent to imagesetters separated. Nowadays, all workflows are composite and if you dump an RGB file into a composite workflow the colors will come out really strange. I did an experiment with my workflow--I took two copies of a file, converted one to RGB and one to CMYK, and ran them side-by-side on cheap vinyl. You'd have sworn they were completely different files.3. It's easier to rename a file in the Mac Finder than it is in the Windows Explorer. It sounds petty, but when you've got 500 files in a job and they've all got weird names, being able to rename them quickly is a godsend. On a Mac I can hit down-arrow, press Return and type in the filename I want. If I press down-arrow and hit Return on a PC, the file opens.4. Only the best software finds its way to the Mac. I was in an electronics store one day and looked at the "graphics" software. They had six different greeting card programs, nine different fake page layout programs, a whole slew of digital camera photo editors... Right now you're saying, so what? Well, the "so what" is that there are freelancers out there attempting to make a living with this garbage. They'll get a job that should be set in something real, like InDesign, and attempt to set the thing in MyPageCreator or whatever. Then they dump the files it creates on production and tell them, "here you are, you make it work." And you've got your boss, and HIS boss, and the person who's paying for you to print the magazine, drumming their fingers on the lid of your half-million-dollar platesetter which isn't running because every time you send a MyPageCreator file to print it crashes the whole machine. And you can't get it out into something like Illustrator because the one time you tried it, it managed to shove ALL the type on the page into a column one letter wide. Yes, I'm production-centric here but the point is clear: you can't select the wrong tools if you run a Mac because they don't make them for the Mac. There are advantages to not having quite as wide a selection of software.5. Macs handle type better.6. It's easier to find graphics-specific tech support if you've got a Mac. It is EXTREMELY rare to find a Windows IT guy who knows anything about this very complex software. If you find someone who really knows graphics, he's probably running a Mac.7. Macs produce cleaner PostScript than Windows machines do. All high-end graphics output devices run the PostScript page description language. Windows PostScript can totally hang a RIP; Mac PostScript runs much more cleanly.ANSWER:I am close friends with a graphic designer who bought a mac only because his school uses macs and he needed to have his work in mac formats. For serious work he used his custom made PC running similar software at much faster speeds than any mac for a fraction of the price.MAC = HYPE! do your homework. Musicians and Artists spend little time researching what they buy. There too busy making wonderful art.MACs don't get viruses and are less likely to get hacked because most hackers and virus makers live in emerging nations just joining the information age and because macs are ridiculously overpriced. A PC is a much more cost effective medium for victimizing unsuspecting computer users in the western world. As these foreign nations develop their middle class and Macs become more cost effective Apple will lose this major selling point.Answer:I have worked as a production artist for over 15 years at ad agencies and production houses. Started doing graphics in a hybrid PC/Mac environment and even back then on a Performa Mac running some version of OS 9 the Mac was smoother running Adobe products.Over the years as my career progressed, I found myself in only Mac environments where I couldn't compare against the PC until now.I worked in print production my whole career and only recently was hired to do production at an entirely web based design company. They have us working only on a PC. We are running XP. I have no idea how anyone can say this is a superior work environment. I have to restart my computer at least once a day. It gets choked up working on simple 72 dpi images. I would cry if I had to open a 1.5 gig file like I used to do in my print production days as the 2nd answer described.I have to keep multiple programs open at a time. On my Mac that was never an issue. I could run photoshop, illustrator, InDesign, Quark, Word, Excel and a web browser all at the same time, constantly get back to my desktop and work happily all day without interruption. Not now on the PC. It is infuriating. If I keep half of these programs open and try to work back and forth between them all it cannot handle it. Plus, now I am not even running as many graphics programs. Usually I only have photoshop open along with excel and a web browser. It is amazing to me how often Excel will shut down the whole system. Excel! A program that was made by a windows based company. Excel kills my PC more than anything. Photoshop is so clunky and unnatural in a PC environment. It just feels wrong. Retouching is a joke on a PC. Photoshop is this wonderful intuitive program that is so smooth and easy to work with on a Mac. You put it on a PC and it looses all its wonderful benefits. I would cry if I had to do major high end retouching on the PC. I would quit my job if they asked me to do it.Macs superiority for graphic design is a no brainer. PCs should just stick with business and get out of the graphic design industry completely. Course if you need excel in your business you may want to get a Mac too. Apparently excel is much too complicated for a PC to handle either.ANSWER:Short answer: They aren't. There are no significant differences between Macs and PCs at this point, the hardware is largely identical, and frankly, the same amount of money will buy you more PC than a Mac. Answer: Here is the deal. Myself a Im a graphic artist. They are BOTH equal Maybe before in the cavemen days MAC were different, better. Now with the processors PC have they are EQUAL to MAC. If you like MAC then get a MAC or PC get a PC, but to say one is better for this or what NO!. I had old PC for 10 years and it run Photoshop NO PROBLEM at all!. Now I have a MAC why? Because I got a newer ADOBE software. Like someone said before up top. You can get MORE PC than a MAC for the money. We have Both at my work MAC and PC both run the programs great, also both has issues. Now let me say this. LOOKS no question MAC wins every time! If you like a better looking computer get a MAC!
