Staccato
PRINTACTION April 2004
32
ing the technology into his shop (see Impossible
Staccato). His goal with the Impossible Poster was to
push the limit to where it could go and then come back
from there. This is clearly a philosophy for today's sto-
chastic printer.
"The ability to do work at more lines per inch than
conventional screening and still charge the same price
rests solely on the new stability of the workflow and the
ability of applying it into a set of defined procedures,"
says Kallas. "The more the process is defined, the easier
it is and, therefore, the more profitable it can be."
Kallas strongly believes that the abil-
ity to properly define a process comes
from actually doing the work on a reg-
ular basis. No matter if you are a
pizza-flyer printer, you will learn
something from running stochastic
and get better at it. "You definitely
need to go up to 300 line to be able to
compete in today's market," he says.
"We have spent over a quarter of a
million dollars to be where we are
today with 10-micron. Print is turning
into such a commodity. We have to
change that trend somehow and it
takes pioneers like ourselves and other
companies to do that."
Currently, Lowe-Martin produces
up to 60 per cent of its colour work
using 10-micron screens. But over the
last four months they have experi-
enced a 30 per cent growth in the
amount of Staccato being applied to
their work. This is a sign that the
painstaking set-up by Lowe-Martin is
beginning to provide huge payback.
Moodie does not expect it to take
much longer for 10-micron to reach
the 100 per cent production level
although he says on-demand jobs will
not allow for the complete adoption.
"We are taking this process to our
Toronto office," says Moodie. "We just
put a platesetter in there a few weeks
ago. Over the next month we will have
the ability to load balance from our
presses to there. They will be running
the same plates, the same solutions
and inks and also skill sets and calibra-
tion techniques. All of that has been
documented and will be passed on to
the Toronto office."
Lowe-Martin's sheetfed move into
the Toronto market is largely possible because of the
ability for the company to differentiate itself with 10-
micron screening. The marketplace is just too full of
sheetfed printers and trade printers for a new guy come
in without such a strategy. The ability to leverage 10-
micron also led Lowe-Martin sheetfed capabilities into
areas of the United States.
Lowe-Martin, of course, is headquartered in Ottawa,
where Moodie says there may be one trade printer serv-
ing the entire market. "We're in Silicon Valley North
and many of our clients are high-tech, so it's wise for
them to be associated with other pioneers and early
adopters because what we come up with may help
shape product pay-out or vice versa. Now we have gone
beyond that because we are technically confident and
strong and continue to invest in our company."
Lowe-Martin first started using imposition software
in 1993, which is quite early in the game, just as it was
with two Scitex Dolev 800s. The company also started
using the Macintosh computer for electronic prepress
in 1989. The Mac was only five years old.
"This is the culture that we have developed. Get into
it early. So what if it doesn't work? We will pay our dues.
We'll figure it out and fix it, live with it until it gets per-
fected and then watch the competition try and catch
us," says Moodie, who continues to explain that eventu-
ally competitors naturally start eating into those pio-
neering efforts, including 10-micron. "I would say we
have a 2-year window on this technology."
M
etropolitan Fine Printers' Impossible Poster
may be three years old, but its screen of 1,697
lines per inch remains an unmatched feat in the
world of print. The company used this project as
its introduction to 10-micron screening, from
where they would scale back their commercial
work. Although, it is impossible to measure, the
project was probably produced at an unheard of
resolution level of between three and five microns.
"I know one thing and that is that 10 micron is
equivalent to about 500 line screen," says George
Kallas, president and co-founder of Metropolitan
Fine Printers. "Now if we are talking about 1,700
line, it has to be at least half of 10 microns.
Because we do work all over the place, we need
to show something that is different.
Obviously, this was a one-time project involv-
ing a lot of engineers from outside the company.
The image was produced in 4-colour process at
more than 11.5-million halftone dots per square
inch. In comparing the 1,697-lpi level, the aver-
age newspaper is typically printed at 85 lines per
inch, while the finest art books are printed at 200
lpi and conventional commercial screening
works between 150 and 175 lines per inch. The
project won Met the Best Emerging Technology
Award in the 2001 Gallery of Superb Printing
competition. One judge remarked, "I have no
idea how they did that."
Impossible
Staccato
Alternatives to Staccato
The following quickly describes three recently
released screening processes into the market.
Fuji Co-Res Screening
Introduced in September of 2003, this technique
employs digital proofing and platemaking at 300 lpi
with 2,400-dpi output resolution. Co-Res screening at
2,400 dpi and 300 lpi is said to not need an increase in
image data amounts, which keeps RIP speeds constant.
The combination of Co-Res screening and Fuji's
FinalProof 5600 is said to let a user output the same
data at 2,400 dpi and 300 lpi.
Heidelberg Satin Screening
Introduced in August of 2003, this technique of fre-
quency modulated screening technology integrates
with Delta Technology, MetaDimension and the Prinect
Printready System. Satin Screening features are said to
include high smoothness in the mid-tones, as well as
smooth vignettes and high process and colour stability.
The established screening methods I.S (Irrational
Screening), HQS (High Quality Screening), MegaDot
and Diamond Screening will remain in the Heidelberg
portfolio.
Agfa Sublima Screening
In 1993, Agfa introduced one of the industry's first FM
screening solutions in CristalRaster. Sublima, intro-
duced in September of 2003, is the cross-modulation of
FM and AM screening into one. In the midtones,
Sublima uses AM technology and in the highlights and
shadows, Sublima uses FM technology. This is being
called XM, or cross-modulation, and is said generate
line screens of 210, 240, 280 and 340 lpi. Sublima RIPs
at 2,400 dpi to produce 340 screen ruling.
T
he most-recent projects from Metropolitan
Fine Printers are proudly displayed in the
company's lobby. Metropolitan is one of the
only printers in the world that is printing 100
per cent of its work at 10-micron.
Lobby Staccato
