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Digital printing is a modern printing technique that produces prints directly from a computer file rather than a slide or a photograph, without going through some intermediate medium such as a film negative, a colour proof or a plate. Digital printing is used for many commercial printing needs in both black and white and full colour. Some specialist commercial digital printing companies can also offer: • large format printing such as posters, signage, canvas and acrylic prints • extra wide printing for large scale external applications such as banners, advertising billboards, hoardings and building wraps. Today digital printing is being increasingly used in place of older forms of printing such as litho. It is easy to understand why when you look at the many advantages digital printing offers: Advantages of digital printing Digital printing has many advantages, the main ones being faster turnaround and lower production cost. It is often used for on-demand or short-run colour printing. It is very cost-effective on short print runs owing to the low set up costs and the fact that there are no minimum volume restrictions. Other advantages include: • Choice of processes some of which can be used for high definition printing applications • Printing can be done on many different substrates • Waterproof and fade resistant inks can be used • Suitable for printing materials for interior or outdoor use • Any size can be printed including large format and extra wide format Digital printing processes There are various processes which can be used for Digital printing, the choice of which is determined by the application and intended use. Among them are: INKJET PRINTING produces photo-realistic graphics with brilliant colour intensity. Its versatility makes it a good choice for large format display graphics. Inkjet printers use CMYK inks to produce full colour and can print onto a wide range of media so this process is suitable for both indoor use and outdoor use. UV PRINTING is a high quality and cost effective large format full colour printing process. The process uses environmentally friendly UV inks which are cured with UV light, making it very resistant to fading, water resistant and abrasion. It is ideally suited for outdoor graphics as it can cope with all weather conditions. There are two types of UV full colour printing: • roll fed - where graphics are printed onto a roll of media such as PVC or fabric • Flatbed - printed directly to rigid or flexible, flat surfaced substrates, often PVC Foamex boards or ACM (aluminium composite material). LAMBDA PRINTING uses laser technology to produces the highest resolution display graphics for top quality photographic prints on photographic paper, film or Duratrans. It is ideally suited for large format display graphics as it gives sharp photographic images, continuous tone and high-impact colour prints. Wide range of substrates Digital printing produces very high definition images on a wide range of materials of different thicknesses, weights and finishes including photo paper, vinyl, film, mesh, canvas, and various textiles. Digital flatbed printers can also print directly onto most flat surfaced rigid or flexible substrates including: PVC Foamex, ACM (aluminium composite material), acrylic, corrugated board, polycarbonate, polyboard and card.
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