Traditional and digital copywriting

Although Hong Kong is still in its infancy in adopting digital manuscripts, some printing companies have only printed digitally written manuscripts that are satisfactory to customers. This proves that digital manuscripts are not as difficult to grasp as rumors. This article begins with the analysis of the elements of the drafting, summarizes the advantages and limitations of digital writing, so that readers have a reference in the application.

The relation between scripting and printing
From the production point of view, color printing is a process based on the principle of dot color rendering, and production requires strict precision and stable repeatability. However, there are many factors that affect printing color, such as the characteristics of paper, ink thickness, printing pressure, air humidity, and even the quality of the plate. Some factors will influence each other, and the increase or decrease of each factor will cause other factors to change, which will affect the quality of printed color. Therefore, there is a need to estimate the combined effects of various factors on the prints before production so as to make adjustments. The drafting is a production simulation before actual printing.

In general, the manuscript provides the following three functions: First, it is used to check the effect of color separation and plate-making to determine whether the color of the picture is processed correctly and provide a basis for revision. Second, it is used to check the technical requirements of film registration and dot gain, as a reference for actual printing. Third, as a communication tool, the customer should sign and confirm before printing, and it is the standard for receiving goods in the future.

Ink-printing color quality
Due to the importance of the drafting process in the printing process, a strict printing factory is required. In addition to the establishment of data to control production, the conditions for drafting will also be adjusted to very close to actual printing conditions. For example, the paper used for each manuscript is the same batch of paper used for actual printing. The wet ink is used for wet printing and the press pressure of the manuscript is also adjusted to the pressure used for actual printing. In this arrangement, the printing properties of the paper and the dot enlargement are reflected. The reference role of the produced draft in actual printing is of course of very high value.

However, it is necessary to pay a certain cost to print such high-quality prints. In addition to investing in additional space for stacking paper, investing in additional equipment to control humidity, there are also technical specifications for the process of writing the draft itself. One of the most important ones is the density of the groundwork in the drafting. It is required to be the same every time.

The copywriting service on the market generally uses a monochrome flat sheeting machine. The supply of ink and pressure adjustment is decided by the master according to the situation, and the objective of the writing is pleasing to the eye. However, this practice often sacrifices the stability of the color of the manuscript, and less takes into account the printing requirements, resulting in the same set of film, twice the draft, they will get two different results, but also make the actual printing and writing color There are often considerable differences. Between the printing house and the buyer, disputes often occur.

Because of the way manuscripts are manuscripted, there are serious shortcomings in color instability. Therefore, in the 1980s, foreign printers gave up ink printing and replaced them with more stable chemical writing. The most commonly used ones are ColorArt. , Cromelin, MatchPrint, etc. However, chemical drafting only produces one draft at a time, and there is no stacking draft. This is unwelcome for the masters of monochrome and two-color machines. It is therefore unwelcome and the materials used are not welcome. More expensive, chemical drafting has never been popularized in Hong Kong, and the formation of master printers in Hong Kong generally lacks experience in handling non-ink drafting.

Breakthrough process: look at the manuscript, after the film
Digital copying is something that happens after the emergence of large-scale electronic imposition systems. As the technology of image data becomes more and more mature, the manuscript has also begun to develop in the direction of digital. It is divided into soft-scripting and hard-copying. The so-called soft-printing, that is, on the screen to see color, the main purpose is to facilitate the process of color separation, generally only for internal control purposes. However, with the popularization of color management and network technology, some 4A advertisers have used remote soft-writing to communicate with the corpse.

Hard-pressing is represented by the Iris2044 inkjet printer, which won the GATF Printed Technology Award. Due to the advantages of color stability and very close to the printing effect, Iris printed drafts, many foreign print buyers are willing to use Iris draft as the receiving standard. However, the aircraft must be operated in conjunction with the Scitex color system. In Hong Kong, there are only a few printing houses that print foreign books.

One of the most important contributions of digital copying is to improve communication with customers. In the absence of digital writing, it is necessary to export the film first, and then there is a manuscript, if you are not satisfied with the color of the customer, you have to re-find the film and then draft, often resulting in a lot of money and time wasted. With the digital copying, you can let the customer read the sample first, and output the film only when they are satisfied. This not only saves costs, but also enhances communication, and can even print on one side, which is an important breakthrough in the printing process.

Color simulation, each method
At present, there are more commonly used digital copying technologies, such as inkjet printing technology, sublimation printing technology, and hot wax printing technology. How can these different materials and printing methods achieve the effect of analog printing? In addition to the constant improvement of pigments for printing materials, developers are trying to be close to the hue of inks. In the area of ​​color simulation, they are all devoted to the development of exclusive color gamut compression technology. The so-called color gamut refers to the full range of colors that a device can express. Theoretically, if the digital gamut is exactly the same as the color gamut of the printing, it can completely simulate all the color effects of the printing. Although developers have made a lot of research on color gamut compression, it is a pity that there is still not a set of recognized best solutions, in particular: spot color simulation, simulation of different paper printing effects, dot structure and printing density, etc. There is considerable room for development. Therefore, color gamut compression is a special test item when digital copying is selected.

Printing plant technology is the key
According to the digital printing to obtain the expected printing effect, the printing technology and printing stability of the printing factory are very important. In foreign countries, there have been people who have experimented and exported 16 sets of the same film to 16 factories for printing. If there is no draft, these factories are to be produced according to the daily standards. Among them, 8 technologies are good, the colors printed are very close, and the other 8 technologies are weak, but the effect is very uneven. Since digital manuscripts are more stable than manual manuscripts, if the technical strength of the selected printing plant is insufficient, it will take more time each time for trial printing adjustment before it can be consistent with digital manuscripts, and it may be possible to charge extra for this. Additional fee. (Not to be surprised, because it is very difficult for a printer to achieve the stability of the code-drawing machine. As long as you understand the difference between the two in terms of automation and production speed, it is easy to understand.)

In foreign countries, it is currently a combination of chemical drafting and digital writing. In Hong Kong, ink drafting is also believed to be a period of time. However, with the popularity of computer-to-plate, ROOM (RipOnceOutputMany) output technology has matured, and the use of printing outlets in the price of the drafting machine continues to decline, digital drafting will gradually become the mainstream. When readers adopt digital drafting, they only need to pay attention to the gamut compression of digital copying. In advance consultation with the printing factory, it is absolutely possible to print satisfactory prints based on digital copywriting.