Re: Who does the seperations?
Re: Who does the seperations?
- Subject: Re: Who does the seperations?
- From: Ray Maxwell <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:43:45 -0800
Hi Group,
I started this thread and I believe that it has been a very interesting
discussion. I also think it is a very important discussion and one that
is very overdue. I want to thank everyone for participating.
We have reached the digital age. Every part of the process can be
specified, toleranced, and measured using numbers. The technology
exists. Europe is ahead of North America in using the technology.
In-line inking problems are still with us. In this high tech age, are
you telling me that no one on earth can spread an even coat of ink on a
offset plate?
If the creative person does not understand how to specify and tolerance
the manufacturing process then we are off to a bad start. If the
photographer does not know the press characteristics, ink, and paper,
then how can they make a good separation? If the printer does not know
how to keep his system constant and print to a standard or at least make
a consistent proof, how can anyone up stream work consistently? If the
printer cannot characterize his press and keep it constant how can he
communicate how to separate with an ICC profile?
Go to any other modern manufacturing industry and imagine how this would
sound. Can you imagine a client not being able to tell an architect how
many cars will be parking on the roof of the building he wants built?
Can you imagine the architect not communicating the specifications of a
beam to be used in the roof of the building? Can you imagine the
contractor not having exact specifications and tolerances to build the
building? Everyone would call those people incompetent. And yet many
(not all), accept all of this in the printing industry as standard
practice.
The bottom line is that printing, in many cases (not all), is still
practiced as high craft and art and done by trial and error. It is not
using modern manufacturing methods. It needs International standards
for measurements and tolerancing. It needs statistical process control
on everything connected with the press. We have all of the tools. The
entire front end is digital and is ready to be used in a modern way.
Thanks to CTP, we can make consistant plates. We have instruments that
are reasonable in price. I am referring to spectrophotometers and not
densitometers.
Things are changing. When I was still working in the industry, I served
on the technical committee for SWOP, tried for years to get them to move
to colormetric standards. The good news is that my efforts were not in
vane. They are moving to colormeteric methods as we speak. This is a
great first step.
The printing industry needs to enter the modern digital, manufacturing
world.
We just lost one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on this
subject. His name was Bruce Fraser. Bruce knew the very complicated
theory behind color science and I am sure that he has read Mark
Fairchild. However, he brought all of this knowledge to the "Real
World" where he applied it to Photography, prepress, and the pressroom.
I think that Bruce contributed more to this industry than any one else
on earth. I hope we can all pick up the torch and move forward to
realizing his dream of making the end to end process a true
deterministic manufacturing process.
Thanks for you attention,
Ray Maxwell
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