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From this point of view, so far people have not reached a consensus on the definition of digital printing. Here, according to their own understanding, the next definition of digital printing. Digital printing is a simulation of the traditional offset printing process, but digital printing is directly imaged through the data without the use of a sheet or a plate.
This article does not look at digital printing from the point of view of the desktop printer's output file. Instead, it discusses how to purchase digital printing services from professional companies, and it focuses on digital color printing.
First, the birth of digital printing machines due to the growth of short-run printing needs The developers have seen a huge, unexcavated short-run color printing market. Some people may ask: Is there such a market? That is because people do not have a clear idea of ​​how many short-run color prints are printed. The same question was asked to five individuals. Five different answers were still heard. Some say 100, some say 500, and some even think that there are only 10.
If you purchase a traditional printing service, you must know that it is not cost-effective to print less than a certain amount. This number is usually 5000 copies, and it may be as low as 3,000 copies, which is called the print volume.
Short-run printing on conventional offset presses is not economical. The reason is that regardless of the amount of press, pre-press preparation must be done, and its workload will not be reduced by a small number of prints. Such as plate making, printing, ink transfer, ink, paper, calibration, etc. The cost of these prepress preparation work is fixed. If the print volume is large, the unit cost of change for each product will be small, and vice versa.
However, for most digital presses, prepress preparation is almost negligible. In fact, it is not that there is no prepress preparation, but it is much less than traditional offset printing. Therefore, the lower limit of digital press printing is much lower than traditional offset printing. Many digital presses can even print one copy, and even if there are some large-volume short prints, the upper limit is generally no more than 2,000 copies. You can also ask for 5000 copies, but in this case it is obviously more cost-effective to choose traditional offset printing.
Direct-imaging presses and small offset presses are good choices for short-run printing, with print volumes ranging from 500 to 5,000 copies. Larger presses (pages 4 to 8) can print up to 10,000 copies. So for different print jobs, the choice of printing service is more clear.
Second, the choice of color Speaking of the number of colors that can be provided by the digital printing machine, it must be stressed that for the digital printing, the preparation of the basic documents is still essential. This means that all colors and images must be in CMYK mode, not Pantone or other spot colors (unless the digital printers used can print them exclusively), and RGB colors are not allowed.
The Indigo press model can print 6 to 7 colors, so it is possible to print the Patone color outside the CMYK. However, this Indigo printing mode is not a common pattern for most printing companies. They mainly serve packaging applications. So if you want to print more than 4 colors, it's best to choose a direct imaging printer. They can usually print in more than 4 colors.
Printing with less than 4 colors is one of the biggest differences from traditional offset printing: Digital press printing Two-color printing jobs are done on a toner-based system. People who have purchased conventional offset printing know that when printing two colors, it would be much cheaper to superimpose a spot color with a black than with CMYK. The toner-based system (digital printing) is different. No matter how many jobs are printed, CMYK four-color toners are overprinted.
Third, the paper problem Most of the machines developed by Xeikon company are printed on the web, not printed on a single sheet of paper. The products of other companies are basically sheet-fed printing equipment.
Some color copiers and Indigo machines can print 8.5 x 11-inch format sheets, but they are usually not printed so large, so they are limited to printing small format materials. If you want to use digital printing materials such as larger magazines, it is best to choose a company with a direct imaging press. For example, printing commercial cards and other small promotional materials is best for companies that have Indigo or Xeikon equipment, and printing a magazine like “Seybold Show Paily†is best to use QM-DI direct imaging printing from Heidelberg. machine.
Some digital presses can print on a variety of different substrates, such as Indigo, which can print on film and plastic in addition to a variety of papers. Many paper suppliers also specialize in the development of digital printing special papers, even special papers that serve a particular type of printer. Therefore, special attention should be paid when selecting the paper, in particular check the sample books provided by the supplier.
Another issue to be noted about substrates is that if the final print is to be output by a laser printer, it is best to avoid the use of some toner-based devices, such as Xeikon-driven printing equipment, because the toner used in these devices is usually Can not withstand the test of the laser printing process, so that the color is destroyed.
Fourth, "one to one" printing people often call digital printing custom personalized printing, variable data printing, database-based printing and one-on-one printing, in fact, no matter what kind of name is similar. Digitally printed products can each have different content, because the printed content is based on the data in the database, and the content of data changes accordingly. This feature of digital printing determines that digital printing can be used for some "one to one" special purposes. Such as mailing customers' promotional materials, according to the characteristics of the customer's consumption, to provide some of the most relevant information.
It can be seen that the key to this "one to one" service is to have a detailed database, which is not difficult to achieve. For example, if a supermarket sends a consumer's membership card, it will record the consumer's time, content, and amount of consumer personal data. If we analyze these information and materials, we can use it to judge consumers' purchasing habits, demand tendencies and other consumer characteristics. These are the best basis for providing "one-to-one" promotional materials. The digital printing of these customized materials is often more expensive than traditional printing, but the personalized content is highly targeted and appealing to customers. It will not be thrown away by customers as easily as popular materials in the past. In terms of effectiveness, it will be much better than using traditional printing.
V. Conclusion In fact, the issues to be considered when selecting digital printing and selecting traditional printing are similar. It is necessary to consider the nature and characteristics of the products they need, what kind of printing press is suitable, and how they are most economical. To choose among the same type of printers, it is necessary to analyze various factors such as their own equipment, production capacity, management ability, quotation and after-sales service.
In the early days of digital printing development, quality and continuity have always been a major problem for digital printing. However, these problems have now been basically solved. Digital printing has become more mature and stable. Usually, the printer will provide customers with various samples printed by their own machines. These samples should be carefully checked and compared because the level of printing can be seen from the above, which is a key criterion for choosing a printer.
The last point to be pointed out is that digital printing has never been a substitute for traditional offset printing. Instead, it is a good complement to offset printing. It is the gap left by traditional offset printing that is not suitable for short-run printing. And its variable data printing feature can meet customers' special needs
How to choose digital printing service
If you randomly select 5 printing industry people and ask them how to define digital printing, you will be surprised to find that their answers are different. Some people think that digital printing is simply to print through a desktop laser or ink jet printer; while others believe that digital printing equipment includes any digital output devices, from desktop printers to “digital presses†such as Indigo and Xeikon. It is a "wide-format inkjet printer" that goes directly to plate offset presses, direct imaging presses, and other equipment. Some people think that its scope should only include digital devices produced by Indigo and Xeikon.