Many companies have to find a way to print very concise images. Old methods of printing are just not suitable since the larger an image gets, the fuzzier it becomes. Even colors tend to bleed into the surrounding areas and this is not really a good look to have. With this in mind, an imagesetter, a computer controlled device (COD), and screen platesetters, a raster image processor (RIP), has stopped this problem to some extent and clean and crisp images is the outcome.

When using the COD film provides an image by being exposed to a kind of bromide paper. This then results in a monochrome image which is what is used in the printing process. Although the image can be quite large, as tall as a man in fact, the image is still crisp around the edges. However, this has been superseded by the RIP which can produce a lithographic plate which is used in an offset printer style set up. This is obviously excellent at producing masses of images one after the other.

Both of these methods are used in the newspaper industry since so many copies can be produced from one plate. Colored photos can also be produced in the same fashion and this is why color supplements have become so popular these days.

Before the process begins, each plate has to be inspected carefully. Checking is now not that difficult since computers are used. In the past, each page of the newspaper had to be put onto a block. Each block would have to be read by a human and then inked and pressed onto paper just one sheet at a go. This is what compositors did but nowadays, and with the aid of computers, this process is much faster and more economical.

Even in this day and age though, for a newspaper to let through any kind of mistake or misprint the consequences can be quite horrendous. Misspelling the name of someone very important would be frowned upon and some spelling mistakes can be quite embarrassing so mistakes have to be checked well before the printing stage is reached.

Even captions which have to be matched up to the photos are also checked since this is also another source of embarrassment if the newspaper is to keep its reputation. Proof readers are the ones which check all the spellings and if they get anything wrong, heads do tend to roll. Indeed, a proof reader gets the finished copy of the paper much as a buyer would get it.

The processes that a newspaper or magazine has to go through are many and varied, but what this does is to give the reader something which is very professional looking and right up to date. Although the process is complicated, with color photos having several plates to make just one photo, the results are bound to be reflected in the amount of copies that the publication sells. Without these sales, no one would know what is going on in the world and this covers everything from politics to fashion trends.

Author Bio: Stewart Wrighter recently reviewed printing equipment and was impressed with the technology used today in the imagesetter. He replaced his screen platesetters in his office.

Category: Business
Keywords: imagesetter,screen platesetters