Future trends in CTcP
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First, Background of CTcP
Since the advent of the desktop publishing system (DTP), the printing industry has been looking for a fast, high-volume printing method. One solution is the direct plate-making technology for offset printing, which eliminates the need for film development and fixing processes such as film processing. Digital graphic information is copied onto the plate. This is the computer-to-plate (CTP).
Many CTP manufacturers' direct plate-making equipment uses complex laser exposure technology, so it is necessary to develop a new printing plate to work with, which is CTP plate material, which is a major shortcoming of CTP technology. CTP users have to give up the already familiar PS plates, instead of buying expensive CTP plates, and giving up on familiar workflows and material properties to accommodate a new workflow and material performance.
Computer To Conventional Plate (CTcP) is a new computer-to-plate technology developed by a foreign company. The difference between CTP and CTP technology is that the plates are different. The plates used by CTcP are traditional PS plates. Its emergence is a leap in direct plate making technology, with epoch-making significance. Currently, this system has sold 350 sets worldwide.
In the traditional prepress process, the ordinary PS plate and the film negative are in close contact with each other. After UV exposure and rinsing, a PS plate that can be printed on the machine is obtained. The PS version can work under bright room conditions, and the plate technology is mature and cheap, with good printability and high print durability when printing on the machine.
Compared with the ordinary PS plate in the CTcP process, the CTP plate in the CTP process is expensive, and the domestic market has always relied on importing CTP plates from abroad, so the price has become an obstacle for domestic printers to adopt CTP. The CTcP process is characterized by the use of inexpensive conventional PS plates for computer-to-plate, which combines the advantages of traditional PS platemaking with the advantages of digital platemaking, and the emergence of a new direct-plate technology CTcP.
Second, How CTcP works
In the prepress process, digital imagery is directly digitally imaged on conventional printing plates that sense UV light, and is still an emerging field.
So, can the plate material using the simulated imaging process on the printing machine be able to achieve digital direct imaging like CTP? The answer is yes. DSI (Digital Screening Imaging) developed by the German basysPrint company can achieve this goal. At the same time, DLP technology developed by Texas Instruments is required in the process.
CTcP works as follows: In the CTcP process, UV is irradiated onto the DMD (Digital Micromirror Element) with more than 1 million micromirrors on it, each of which is digitally controlled to illuminate the UV light on its surface. There are two outcomes: UV is accepted by the optical lens system through the micromirror; or the micromirror deflects UV light to make the lens unacceptable for UV light. This way of working shows that the micromirror is like a pixel (Pixel), forming a screened image on the plate. Due to the limited number of micromirrors on the DMD, the first exposure can only perform digital imaging of the exposure of some images. After several exposures, the full exposure imaging of the image is completed. The exposure of each exposure is about 0.8x 6.3cm. But it is closely related to the resolution of the choice. The CTcP system's exposure head is extremely accurate, ensuring seamless image stitching after several exposures with an accuracy of 2 microns and an exposure speed of 10 exposures per second.
Third, CTcP imaging features
Another feature of CTcP is that it uses a very small square dot (pixel). The size of the dot is between 10 and 28 microns. The specific size is related to the resolution. The edge of the dot obtained by the plate is excellent. In addition, the circular dots of laser exposure imaging will appear on each other, and this will not occur between square dots and dots. This is a clear advantage of CTcP technology for square dot imaging. Even with lower resolution, CTcP can be used to obtain high quality images. For users, the benefits of using low resolution in the work are many, such as the RIP time is significantly shortened; the amount of data processed is reduced; the memory of the computer system is saved; the exposure speed is faster. For example, a number of high-end commercial print jobs have a screen line of 200 lpi, 256 gray scales, and a resolution of 1500 dpi, so the square dot is only 17 microns.
Fourth, CTcP advantages
CTcP has many advantages, most notably increased productivity, time savings and lower production costs. However, the extent to which CTcP can demonstrate its strengths is also related to the degree of mastery of digital technology in print companies. The transition from traditional plate making to computer-to-platemaking has many important factors in terms of time and cost.
1. PS plate can be used
There has been a lot of debate about various CTP plates and exposure sources. In various CTP systems, specialized CTP plates are inevitably required, which are very expensive. The plate used in CTcP platemaking is a cheap conventional printing plate, which is the general PS plate used in the current process. With CTcP, film materials and processing materials can be saved, saving manual imposition time.
In the workshop, since the CTcP uses conventional PS plates, there is no need to add new equipment and purchase new chemicals. Everything works according to the traditional PS plate making process. In addition, CTcP's equipment maintenance costs are low, because the CTcP system uses UV light for exposure imaging, and can directly use the light source on a conventional printer.
2. Simple operation
It can be operated in a bright indoor environment, making it easy to get a variety of sizes of plates.
3. Improve print quality
Many users who use CTcP have experience working with film printing. Without the need for film, the print quality of printed matter is significantly improved because the images and dots are not affected by the quality degradation in the traditional prepress process. The printing plate after printing is of better quality, because the influence factors such as dust and scratches on the film no longer exist, and the positioning is more accurate. In short, the network points obtained by CTcP plate-making technology are the first-generation outlets that are directly passed to the printing plate, and the edges are clean and sharp, faithful to the original.
4. Reduce printing commissioning time and material loss
Since there is no need for plate positioning, the quality of the plate is better, and it is not necessary to re-plate due to inaccurate positioning, so as to avoid spending a lot of time on the printing of the plate. As the short version of the entire printing industry is more and more, the change of plate and the commissioning of the machine become a regular work, reducing the printing and debugging time, which can obviously save time and cost. CtcP plate making is more accurate than traditional analog plate making, so the waste of water, paper, ink and other consumables is reduced when debugging.
5. No need to change the current hardware configuration
CTcP utilizes data in 1bit/tiff format and utilizes RIP data to use conventional processor and processing chemicals, eliminating the need for a special network interface to network with existing network environments.
6. Printing customers are more satisfied
Printing customers are more satisfied with the quality of printed materials, and the printing production time is shorter, which means that the delivery is more timely, reducing the operating costs of the factory, and making the printing company take the lead in the fierce market competition.
7. Advantages of UV light direct plate making
Exposure with a UV source from 360nm to 450nm means that the conventional PS version can be used in the direct plate making process. This is a printing plate that has been used by printers for many years. It is familiar with its performance and processing, mature technology, and PS version is more sensitive. CTP plates and purple laser plates are cheaper, and the PS plate is the most widely used printing plate in the printing industry worldwide. There is no need to train printers because they already know the performance of this plate.
Fifth, Principles of CTcP process plate selection
In general, UV photosensitive plates are inexpensive, and many years of use have proven to be a reliable plate with outstanding print quality and high print durability. Compared with the newly developed CTP plate with laser exposure, CTcP means that the prepress process and the on-machine printing do not need to be changed. The only requirement is that the system is equipped with UV-Setter, and everything maintains the original appearance of the traditional process: high quality Low cost and no change in process flow.
Most of the offset printing plates on the market can be imaged with UV-Setter exposure. In the past, users liked to use the negative-pattern conventional PS (N-type PS plate) version for UV light exposure digital imaging. The imaging speed of this plate is very fast, of course, the speed is also related to the image size.
However, if the area of the image on the plate is large, it is recommended to use the positive-image PS version (P-type PS plate) for UV exposure digital imaging. With the CTcP technology platemaking process, users can select the right plate for different print jobs:
1) Offset printing commercial printing uses positive image PS plate material;
2) The negative PS version is suitable for single sheet offset printing machines;
3) The positive PS plate is chemically resistant, so it is suitable for UV ink printing, so it is resistant to UV ink corrosion and has a very high print durability.
For the print job and plate size, there are matching CTcP platesetters, so it is used in a wide range of applications. In newspaper printing, simple embossing and complex commercial printing, CTcP can be used.
Obviously, CTcP goes further than CTP. Will CTcP be the terminator of CTP? It's hard to say that for this interesting topic, we can verify it in the future.