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Desktop Color Primer
Printing techniques
Until recently, most color printing was done on printing presses using one of several
printing techniques—offset lithography, flexography, and gravure, to name a few.
All traditional printing techniques require lengthy preparation before a print run can
take place. Short-run color printing, including Fiery 3850C printing, eliminates most
of this preparation. By streamlining the process of color printing, the Fiery 3850C
makes short print runs economically feasible.
In contemporary offset lithographic printing, digital files from desktop computers are
output to an imagesetter, which creates film separations. The film is used to make a
prepress proof, which is an accurate predictor of the final print job and allows you to
make corrections before going to press. Once the proof is approved, the printer makes
plates from the film and runs the print job on the press.
With a Fiery 3850C, you simply print the file. The Fiery 3850C processes the
PostScript information in the file and sends four bitmaps (one each for cyan,
magenta, yellow, and black) to the print engine. The ease of Fiery 3850C printing
makes possible experimentation that would be too costly on press, allowing unlimited
fine-tuning of color and design elements.
Imagesetter
Film
Proof
Press
Desktop
Print run
computer
Desktop
computer
Print device
Color prints