HOW'D WE PRINT THIS?: Digital Print: Orangey and Fuzzy

Matching apricot, peach and other orangish colors poses frequent problems for many printers. Consider one end-user’s lament, excerpted from an online forum:

“I can’t get my [digital printer] to print red correctly,” he writes. “I’ve been through all the diagnostics, troubleshooting, web-surfing, phone-calling and general expletive-filled tirades with no satisfaction.... It can’t even print Pantone Red on the start-up and diagnostic sheets right.”

Yet the latest NexPress used for this front cover simulates orange shades just fine. Supporting a gamut wider than SWOP, the Kodak-manufactured device adeptly handles red, orange and other hues on the first quadrant of CIELAB space—colors that many digital and offset presses struggle to hit with CMYK process mixes.

Like most toner-based devices, Kodak’s “dry ink” handles solid coverage well. NexPresses are Pantone-licensed for both 4- and 5-color configurations. The 5-color set successfully simulates 86% of PMS colors. The firm says its dry ink features exceptional light stability, resisting fading better than the photographic print standard.

The cover was printed on a NexPress S3000 digital production color press, which made its debut last fall at Graph Expo. Kodak says the 100-ppm printer is the fastest digital cut-sheet press on the market, delivering 3,000 tabloid (11.7×16.5´´), 5/0 sheets per hour on a wide range of more than 600 substrates—both digital and offset papers—at rated speed. The image details are revealed thanks, in part, to 600×600 dpi output and high-capacity, eight-bit writer heads. (See TechWatch, p.16.) With a maximum sheet capacity of 11,000 and monthly print volumes of up to 2.2 million pages, the S3000 is suited for large commercial printers.

Duplex print production is enhanced by the NexQ same-edge “perfector,” which flips the sheet while keeping the same edge as lead edge for paper transport. This method makes the NexPress’s front-to-back register superior to every other sheetfed digital press/printer, Kodak says.

The 5-unit press configuration used on this month’s cover allowed for a dual gloss coating applied inline. First, a proprietary inverse-masking technology, used for the main application on the background, filled in relief areas to ensure even coverage. The clear dry ink leaves the paper fully recyclable and de-inkable, according to Kodak, and is even approved in Europe for food-contact packaging.

Second, a textured pattern overlaid on top of the apricot creates the tactile effect that subtly simulates fuzz. Kodak prepress gurus created the pattern within Photoshop software. They worked with the original digital photograph, taking advantage of the NexPress V Front End that incorporates Adobe’s native PDF Print Engine. (Kodak was among the first to partner with Adobe last year.) This first-generation “ripping” eliminates flattening problems and other transparency issues, so that the rendered image appears exactly as it did in design set-up.

The coated paper is the popular Sterling Ultra (100-lb. gloss text) from NewPage, a C/2/S No. 2 sheet. With 10% post-consumer fibers, the stock earned FSC green certification in mid-2007.

Anne LoCascio, Graphic Arts Monthly senior art director, designed the cover and provided a high-resolution PDF file to Kodak, along with the original image file for the Photoshop manipulation.