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Information about Offset Printing

Offset printing is a widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a film of water, keeping the non-printing areas ink-free.

Offset printing advantages

Advantages of offset printing compared to other printing methods include:
  • Consistent high image quality. Offset printing produces sharper and cleaner images and type than letterpress printing because the rubber blanket conforms to the texture of the printing surface.
  • Quick and easy production of printing plates.
  • Longer printing plate life than on direct litho presses because there is no direct contact between the plate and the printing surface.

Photo offset

The most common kind of offset printing is derived from the photo offset process, which involves using light-sensitive chemicals and photographic techniques to transfer images and type from original materials to printing plates.

In current use, original materials may be an actual photographic print and typeset text. However, it's more common -- with the prevalence of computers and digital images -- that the source material exists only as data in a digital publishing system.

Offset litho printing on to a web (reel) of paper. Commonly used for printing of newspapers and magazines for high speed production.

Sheet-fed litho

Offset litho printing on to single sheets of paper or board. Commonly used for printing of short run magazines, brochures, letter headings, general commercial (jobbing) printing.

Present day

Offset printing is the most common form of high-volume commercial printing, due to advantages in quality and efficiency in high-volume jobs. While modern digital presses (Indigo Digital Press, for example) are getting closer to the cost/benefit of offset for high-quality work, they have not yet been able to compete with the sheer volume of product that an offset press can produce. Furthermore, many modern offset presses are using computer to plate systems as opposed to the older computer to film workflows, which further increases their quality.

In the last two decades, flexography has become the dominant form of printing in packaging due to lower quality expectations and the significantly lower costs in comparison to other forms of printing.

References

External links

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lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface. It can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or another suitable material. It can also refer to photolithography, a microfabrication technique used to make integrated circuits and microelectromechanical systems.
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An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an image or text. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen or brush or quill. Thicker inks, in paste form, are used extensively in letterpress and lithographic printing.
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Letterpress printing is a term for printing text with movable type, in which the raised surface of the type is inked and then pressed against a smooth substance to obtain an image in reverse.
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IMAGE (from Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration), or Explorer 78, was a NASA MIDEX mission that studied the global response of the Earth's magnetosphere to changes in the solar wind.
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Typography is the art and techniques of type design, modifying type glyphs, and arranging type. Type glyphs (characters) are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques.
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A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), representing numbers or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous range of values (ie, as in an analog system).
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Introduction

Indigo is the name given to a series of Digital Offset Printing Presses made by Hewlett-Packard in Israel.

The main uses for the Indigo Presses include general commercial printing, Industrial, or Packaging Print, Direct Mail, Personalisation / Versioning, and
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Computer to plate (CTP) is an imaging technology used in modern printing processes. In this technology, an image created in a Desktop Publishing (DTP) application is output directly to a printing plate.
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Computer to Film (CTF) is a print workflow involving the printing from a computer, straight to film. This film is then burned onto a lithographic plate, using a plate burner. The plate is then put on an offset printing press to make a product (usually thousands of copies).
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Flexo redirects here.


Flexography (also called surface printing), often abbreviated to flexo, is a method of printing most commonly used for packaging (Labels, Tape, Bags, Boxes, Banners, Etc).
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