{"id":505,"date":"2018-06-23T05:34:35","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T05:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/?p=505"},"modified":"2018-07-04T01:21:10","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T01:21:10","slug":"digital-printing-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/digital-printing-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Printing\u2014A Brief Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">In this article we cover the key issues in Digital Printing including<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Is screen printing or digital printing better?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">How does digital fabric printing work?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">What is the difference between digital and offset printing?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">How does digital printing work?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Digital printing on fabric<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Digital printing t shirts<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Digital printing machines<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Digital printing is where a digital image is printed on some sort of medium or material.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">When digital printing is being discussed, it normally refers to printing digital images with large-format or (and as well as) high-volume<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Laser printers or<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Inkjet printers by professionals in small businesses or medium-sized businesses.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The whole world is turning digital, not least because of the cost savings associated with digital devices or processes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Interestingly though, digital printing costs more per page than traditional offset and screen printing methods.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">But the benefit is that you will be avoiding all the cost and hassles associated with making printing plates. That right there is a huge cost advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The advantages are<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Short delivery time<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">On-demand printing<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Image modification<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Just as with everything else in the digital revolution, the technology improves in leaps and bounds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">And going forward, this ongoing savings in labor costs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">More importantly it means that digital printing processes can not only equal offset printing technology to produce large runs at low cost\u2014it can be even cheaper!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">At Jaeger our digital printing technology is inkjet. We print directly from a digital image file to a very powerful and sophisticated inkjet printer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The background is interesting. It evolved from digital advances by big companies such as Kodak and 3M . . . remembering that Kodak basically invented digital photography.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The IRIS printer was the original here. But manufacturers including Epson and HP that use fade-resistant, archival inks (pigment-based, as well as newer solvent-based inks) have since evolved to large-format printers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Is screen printing or digital printing better?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">It really depends on what printing outcome you are looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">If you are printing on fabrics\u2014and the best one is probably cotton\u2014screen printing comes out on top. So if you are looking to get into the global t-shirt market (which will be worth $3 billion by 2025), then screen printing is the way to go.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">If you have really large volumes then screen printing is preferred. You will also get greater color virbrancy on t-shirts. Ink is applied more thickly in screen printing, which will give the slightly brighter colors\u2014on the darker shirts at any rate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Digital printing on shirts (or Direct To Garment \u201cDTG\u201d) is best done on lighter colored shirts. So, if you do have a lighter colored design then the much greater precision that digital printing affords will result in a much better outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Generally speaking, if you are looking for smaller print runs and very high degree of detail and precision, then digital printing is appropriate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Products that are much more exclusive, less mass-market are very suitable for this purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">What is the difference between digital and offset printing?(h2)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Offset printing utilizes plates, normally made from aluminum. An image contained on the plate is transferred onto a rubber sheet. Then that image is rolled onto a medium of some sort.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">This is the reason why it is called offset. The ink does not directly get transferred to the medium where it will be \u201cprinted\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Rather there is this intermediate stage, or \u201cbuffer\u201d between the design or image being transferred and the medium onto which it is to be transferred. Therefore we say it is \u201coffset\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>How does digital fabric printing work?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Digital Fabric Printing has not been around all that long.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">It is mostly done as Rotary Screen Printing in very large runs. The issue here is as with screen printing generally: there are costs involving the materials and time it takes to prepare the unique set of screens that is required. And each color in a design will need its own screen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Again, digital printing overcomes these limitations. You have unlimited colors at your disposal. And you are not required to prepare any screens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The digital printing method here is inkjet printing. The technology has been with us since 1968\u2014which many will surprised to learn. You will be familiar with its use as a cheap printing solution in the personal computer revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Inkjet technology has advanced a lot over the years. We now have specific-use wide-format inkjet printers that can process a whole number of materials including vinyl and canvas as well as a variety of fabrics.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What is digital printing on fabric?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The inks used for printing on fabric are created specifically for the type of fiber\u2014silk, polyester, vinyl etc\u2014that will be used in the printing substrate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">As with paper through a standard inkjet printer, fabric is fed through the unit with the ink being applied in thousands of droplets. Once this is done, the ink needs to be \u201ccured\u201d on the fabric by heating it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Be aware that the color on the screen will not necessarily be the color that is reproduced on the fabric. Very deep, and rich, shades of red are included amongst some colors that dont transfer over from the digital environment very well. Broader areas of color, or blocks of color, may diplay with zones of lighter or darker tones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">A fabric\u2019s color or texture, will likely have an affect on the printing. A shiny fabric will reflect the light. The result is that the print appears lighter than it really is. Silk is an example of the type of fabric that can have this effect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Thinner fabrics are characteristically translucent. The result is you may well get a print that appears washed out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">One of the great advantages of using digital printing for fabrics is that you can do small test runs. Add to this ability to produce samples cost-effectively the ability to be as creative as you like\u2014no restrictions there\u2014then you have a powerful tool at your disposal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">You can also get designs to print so much faster than with screen printing. Getting ready for a new season means being prepared up to a year in advance. What if you got it wrong? With digital you are much more \u201cagile\u201d and reduce production time to a matter of weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Digital Printing T Shirts?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The beauty of digitally printing t-shirts is that you can customize them in low quantities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Either one of these qualities by itself is a win. Putting the two together is a \u2026. win-win.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">But the further advantage of flexibility of design with digital, then a whole new range of possibilites for T-Shirt printing is opened up.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this article we cover the key issues in Digital Prin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"content-boxed-container","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalprintingzone.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}