Types of barcode readers

• Pen type readers
Pen type readers consist of a light source and photodiodes, which are located side by side on the tip of a pen or wand. If you want to read the bar code, the tip of the pen moves across the bars in constant motion. Photodiode measuring intensity of light reflected from the light source and creates a wave that is used to measure the width of bars and spaces in the barcode. Dark bars in the bar code absorb light and white spaces reflect light so that the wave of tension created by photo diode is a representation of the structure of space bar and bar code. This course is decoded by the scanner in a similar way as the way Morse code dots and stripes are decoded.
• Laser Scanner
Laser scanners work the same way as pen type readers except that using a laser as a light source and typically use either an alternative or a rotating mirror prism scanning laser beam back and forth across the bar code. As with the pen type reader, photodiodes used to measure the intensity of light reflected in the barcode. In both pen readers, laser scanners, light emitted by the reader meets a certain frequency and a photodiode is designed to detect only this modulated light at the same frequency.
• CCD Readers
CCD readers (also known as LED scanner) uses a variety of hundreds of tiny light sensors lined up behind him after the reader. Each sensor measures the intensity of light immediately before him. Each individual light sensor in the CCD reader is extremely small and therefore, there are hundreds of sensors lined up in a row, the voltage pattern identical to the model of the bar code is generated in the reader gradually through the measurement of voltage, each sensor "line. The main difference between the CCD reader and a pen or laser scanner is that the CCD reader is measuring ambient light emission bar code whereas pen or laser scanners are measuring reflected light of specific frequencies from the scanner itself.
• The camera Readers
2D imaging scanners are the fourth and last type of bar code readers currently available. They use a small video camera to capture images of bar code. Then, the reader uses sophisticated digital image processing techniques for decoding bar codes. Video cameras use CCD technology in CCD bar code reader except that instead of one set of sensors, video camera has hundreds of sensors arranged in a series of two-dimensional array so that they can create an image.
There are several open source libraries to read barcode images. These include ZXing project, which is one-and two-dimensional bar codes use the Android operating system and Java JJIL project that contains code for reading bar code EAN-13 camera phone using J2ME, Zebra (ZBAR name change?), Which reads some two -dimensional bar codes VCI integration site, and either reads the image (eg, Folke Ashberg: EAN-13-scan imaging tools and code creation), or with connectors (eg Barcodepedia uses Flash and a Web Cam to see database applications), which options are taken to address the challenges.
• Omni-Directional Barcode Scanners
Omni-directional scanning using "a number of lines or curves to examine the different addresses in the form of bursting, Lissajous figure, or other device, the angles are a symbol and one or more of them will be able through all bars and spaces of the symbol, regardless of orientation."
Omni-directional Almost all laser scanners. Unlike simple single-line laser scanners, which produce a model beams from different directions, which can read bar codes, which are presented at different angles. Most of them use a single rotating polygon mirror and a few of the fixed mirror to generate intricate patterns of their survey.
Omni-directional scanners are more familiar means of horizontal sensors in supermarkets, where the package slipped through the glass or sapphire glass. There are a wide variety of omni-directional units available, which can be used for various test applications, from commercial applications to read barcode scanner a few inches from the industrial belt, where the drive scan can be several meters or more from your code.
Omni-directional scanners are also better at reading poorly printed bar codes or wrinkled Ripped.

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Types of barcode readers

Methods

Exploration methods are distinguished by the amount of operator manipulation required to:

* Pen or wand type readers: requires the operator to pass the device over the code.
* Semi-portable readers: The operator must not once, but must at least position the reader near the label
* Fix assembly for automatic reading readers' reading is performed laterally passing the label reader. The operator is not required, but the position of the target code must match the images allow the reader.
* Gates Reader for automatic scanning: The position of the code should be just below the door for a short time, allowing you to clean the scanner to capture the code target successfully.

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Barcode Scanner

A barcode reader ( is an electronic device for reading printed barcodes. As a flatbed scanner is composed of a light source, optical lens and light sensor transfer of electrical impulses. Additionally, nearly all barcode readers contain decoder circuits analyze the image data of the barcode is available from the sensor and sending the content to produce a barcode scanner port.

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Scanner Types

Flatbed Scanners

Flatbed scanners will take up some desktop space but provide a lot of bang for the buck. They look like miniature printers with a flip-up cover protecting the glass platen. Depending on its size, a flatbed scanner can fit standard or legal-sized documents, and the flexible cover allows you to scan large items such as books. These scanners are great for scanning the occasional newspaper article, book chapter, or photograph; or for those who may need to scan or bulky items such as the cover of a DVD. Flatbed scanners are often built into multifunction printers (MFPs). You can find a decent flatbed scanner for $100 or less.

Photo Scanners
Scanning documents doesn’t require high resolution or color depth; but scanning photos does. Many all-purpose scanners can also scan photos, meaning that you don’t need a separate device to handle your photographs. But if you need a scanner primarily to digitize film negatives or slides, a photo scanner might be better deal (even if it is considerably more expensive than an all-purpose scanner). Photo scanners include specialized technology so that they can deal with slides and negatives; they also have built-in software to clean up old photos. Decent photo scanners will start at about $130 (and go way up from there). Here are my Top Picks.

Sheetfed Scanners
Sheetfed scanners are smaller than flatbed scanners; as the name implies, you feed a document or photo into the scanner rather than place it on top. You’ll win back some of that desktop space with a sheetfed scanner but you may sacrifice some resolution in the process. If you’re only scanning documents, however, it may be a worthwhile trade, especially if you’ve got a lot of them since you can feed them in bunches. With a flatbed scanner, you’ll have to scan one page at a time (unless it comes with an automatic document feeder). Sheetfed scanners start around $300.

Portable Scanners
Portable scanners are small enough to bring on the road. In fact, some are small enough to put in your pocket; pen scanners are just a bit bigger than fountain pens and can scan the text of a document line by line. Some are as wide as a page and roll easily down the page. They’re not going to give high-resolution scans and so aren’t good for scanning photographs or other applications where you need a high-quality result. Since they’re not cheaper than flatbed scanners, they’re probably only useful if you are a student, a researcher, or a spy. Figure on spending about $150 for one.

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Image Scanner

In computing, a scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop (or flatbed) scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning. Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to 3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test and measurement, orthotics, gaming and other applications. Mechanically driven scanners that move the document are typically used for large-format documents, where a flatbed design would be impractical.

Modern scanners typically use a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a Contact Image Sensor (CIS) as the image sensor, whereas older drum scanners use a photomultiplier tube as the image sensor. A rotary scanner, used for high-speed document scanning, is another type of drum scanner, using a CCD array instead of a photomultiplier. Other types of scanners are planetary scanners, which take photographs of books and documents, and 3D scanners, for producing three-dimensional models of objects.

Another category of scanner is digital camera scanners, which are based on the concept of reprographic cameras. Due to increasing resolution and new features such as anti-shake, digital cameras have become an attractive alternative to regular scanners. While still having disadvantages compared to traditional scanners (such as distortion, reflections, shadows, low contrast), digital cameras offer advantages such as speed, portability, gentle digitizing of thick documents without damaging the book spine. New scanning technologies are combining 3D scanners with digital cameras to create full-color, photo-realistic 3D models of objects.

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Buying Better Computer Hardware

Computers are essential to keep pace with the high speed world. If you don't have a personal computer, you are surely going to lose some amazing opportunities to move ahead in life. But, if you're interested in buying computer
for yourself, it is important to pay attention to few important things.

Although there are many things to take into consideration at the time of buying a PC, you need to make sure you have checked it for hardware configuration. You should also make sure your computer can easily be upgraded after purchase. This is the point where you will have to install new hardware to replace the older one. But, if you don't know how to find right type of computer hardware, you should keep following things in mind.

* It doesn't matter if you want a Hard Disk, Floppy Drive, Power Supply or any other type of computer hardware, you should consider shopping over the internet. The reason is that it will help you make a choice form the wider range of options and you will be able to upgrade your computer in the right way.

* Another important thing to keep in mind is that you should always shop from an authentic site. This is one big issue associated with the option of buying hardware over the internet. There are many sites selling substandard parts and these are the sites that should be avoided at all cost.

* While shopping for computer hardware, you should always try to shop around. It means you should try to find few popular sites to make a comparison for price and variety. First check for the available variety of hardware. This is important to get everything from one single site. Then, compare these sites for price and available discounts to proceed with your shopping.

* In case you don't have enough money to upgrade your PC, you should consider the option of buying used hardware. This is the option that helps you get a faster PC without spending a fortune on hardware. But, as mentioned earlier, always shop from an authentic site for used hardware to get the better bang for the buck.

* At the time of buying computer hardware, it is essential to pay attention to compatibility. Yes, it seems like all hard drives will work for your PC, but that's not the case. You should read the manual before searching for computer hardware over the internet.

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Multi-core processor

A multi-coreprocessor is a processing system, that from two exists or more independent cores. The cores are on individual integrated circuit die (well-known as splinter multiprocessor system or CMP) usually integrated, or they can be integrated on repeated cubes in individual splinter package. A many core processor is one, in which the number cores is enough large that traditional multiprocessor system techniques are no longer efficient - this threshold is somewhere in the distance of some 10 cores - and probably a net on splinter require. A double core processor contains two cores, and a Viererkabelkern processor contains four cores. A multi-core processor inserts parallel processing in individual physical package.

Cores in a multi-core device can be connected together firmly or loosely. E.G. cores can or know buffer memories possibly not divide, and them methods of report exceeding can would bring in or the divided memory Zwischen-kern communication. Topologies of the general net to the linkage cores cover: Ring, measure into one another 2 and lateral ripple seizes bus. All cores are identical in the homogeneous multi-core systems and them are identical not in the heterogeneous multi-coresystems. Straight ones as with particular processor systems, know cores in the multi-coresystems architecture as superscalar, VLIW, which, SIMD would bring processing vector in or multithreading.

Multi-core processors are used over many areas of application inclusively at most: universally, embedded, net, digital signal processing and diagrams. The quantity of the achievement won with use of a multi-core processor depends strongly on the software algorithms and - implementation. In particular the possible profits are limited by the break of the software, which can be made parallel, in order to run on repeated cores at the same time; this effect becomes by Amdahl' described; S-law. In the best case embarrassingly parallel problems so called can realise Speedupfaktoren close of the number cores. Many typical applications however realise not such large Speed up faktoren and therefore, are the Paralellisierung of software an important current topic of the research.

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Types of Computer Hardware

Computer Hardware computer hardware within the physical part of the show. It has several computer software or data that can be changed often or to destroy computer has changed. Computer hardware and has not changed frequently, such as reading hardware units, is stored in memory only (Rome), where it is not easily changed. Most computer hardware and therefore does not appear embedded normal users. Different types of computer hardware is found below.

Motherboard: This is the central or primary circuit, a complex system like a computer that is electronically. Main Committee a one motherboard, logic board or system board is known as.

CPU: A CPU in a digital computer, the computer program instructions and data interpretation process is the main component. Random access memory: a RAM stored data will be received in any order allows. Ram used to work in a computer that is considered indicative of the central memory and manipulating data.

Understanding output system: BIOS program, computer load, makes software for implementation and management.

Power supply: power supply production of electrical energy supplied to load or load group.

Video Display Controller: It is an indication that a display can be used as an investment in visual information is converted logical representation. Computer bus: The data or a computer or between computer components inside a computer is used to bring the power.

CD-ROM drive: This is data that are available through a computer disk includes: a data storage device, Zip drive: it a removable magnetic disk storage system capacity is moderate.

Hard Disk: This is a permanent data storage system, data is a magnetic surface, which is charged on Festplattenservierplatten stored on.

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Microprocessor

Most include a microprocessor or central processing unit (CPU), an integrated function of all circuit (IC) on. The first microprocessors emerged in the early seventies and for 4 Bitwörtern binary coded decimal (BCD) using the computer for math has been used. Use other embedded 4 - and 8 terminals, printers, etc.
Various types of automation as Bitmikroprozessoren, not that quickly followed. Affordable 8 Bitwenden also with 70 per cent year-Bitmikroprozessoren 16 between the first micro computers under universal. Computer processor is a long time, who was out for the construction of small and medium size of the IC from several hundred transistors.
Integration of the entire CPU on one chip, consequently reducing the high cost of processing capacity. Humble beginning, other types of computers increases in microprocessor capacity have continued almost entirely obsolete (rechnenhardware see history), the large and small embedded systems to mainframes and everything from handheld devices as the processing elem

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Dot matrix printer

A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer is a type of computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth, or in an up and down motion, on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like a typewriter. Unlike a typewriter or daisy wheel printer, letters are drawn out of a dot matrix, and thus, varied fonts and arbitrary graphics can be produced. Because the printing involves mechanical pressure, these printers can create carbon copies and carbonless copies.
Each dot is produced by a tiny metal rod, also called a "wire" or "pin", which is driven forward by the power of a tiny electromagnet or solenoid, either directly or through small levers (pawls). Facing the ribbon and the paper is a small guide plate (often made of an artificial jewel such as sapphire or ruby) pierced with holes to serve as guides for the pins. The moving portion of the printer is called the print head, and when running the printer as a generic text device generally prints one line of text at a time. Most dot matrix printers have a single vertical line of dot-making equipment on their print heads; others have a few interleaved rows in order to improve dot density.
These machines can be highly durable. When they do wear out, it is generally due to ink invading the guide plate of the print head, causing grit to adhere to it; this grit slowly causes the channels in the guide plate to wear from circles into ovals or slots, providing less and less accurate guidance to the printing wires. Eventually, even with tungsten blocks and titanium pawls, the printing becomes too unclear to read.
Although nearly all inkjet, thermal, and laser printers print closely-spaced dots rather than continuous lines or characters, it is not customary to call them dot matrix printers.

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Label printer

A label printer is a computer printer that prints on self-adhesive label material and/or card-stock (tags). Label printers with built-in keyboards and displays, for stand-alone use (without a computer), are often called label makers. Label printers are different from ordinary printers because they need to have special feed mechanisms to handle rolled stock, or tear sheet (fanfold) stock. Common connectivity for label printers include RS-232 serial, Universal Serial Bus, parallel, Ethernet and various kinds of wireless.
Label printers have a wide variety of applications, including supply chain management, retail price marking, packaging labels, blood and laboratory specimen marking, and fixed assets management.

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Applications of Dye-sublimation printer

Dye-sub photo printing has been used in medical imaging, graphic arts proofing, security, and broadcast related applications.
Alps Electric produced the first quality dye-sub printers for home consumers in the $500-$1,000 price range, bringing dye-sublimation technology within the reach of a wider audience. Now there are many dye-sublimation printers on the market starting from as low as $100 marketed by corporations such as Canon, Sony, Sagem, HiTi Digital Inc., Mitsubishi Electric and Kodak (among others), especially postcard-sized mobile photo printers.
The ability to produce instant photo prints inexpensively from a small printer has led to dye sublimation solutions supplanting traditional instant photos in some applications, such as ID photography.
Several corporations, including Fuji, ICI, Kodak, Mitsubishi, and Sony, market desktop size units as stand-alone printers and for print kiosk and photo booth applications. Some of these units are based on generic printers produced by manufacturers such as Shinko. ICI ImageData, Copal, Shinko and Fuji, amongst others, offer software development kits with their printers, suggesting that these companies hope to attract system integrators as a potential market. Some units from manufacturers such as HiTi Digital Inc. and Sony incorporate kiosk features such as display screens and card slots directly into the unit.
Desktop size stand-alone dye-sub photo printers are also being applied by social photographers in event photography. The units' instant print ability allows photographers to produce and sell lab quality prints immediately during the event they are attending, with a minimal amount of hardware.
Dye-sublimation printing process is primarily used to print on polyester or other synthetic fabrics. It is used for many applications such as trade show banners or table covers, t-shirts, bike uniforms, competitive swimwear, soccer jerseys and flags. The original printers were an electrostatic technology using toners but now are generally large format inkjet printers using specially formulated inks. The dye sublimation inks are a pigment suspended in a liquid solvent, like water. The images are initially printed on coated transfer paper as a reverse image of the final design, which is then transferred onto polyester fabric in a heat press operating at a temperature around 180 to 210 C (375 F). Under high temperature and pressure, the dye turns into a gas and permeates the fabric and then solidifies into its fibers. The fabric is permanently dyed so it can be washed without damaging the quality of the image.
Dye-sublimation can also be used as an indirect printing process. Standard black and white laser printers are capable of printing on plain paper using a special "transfer toner" containing sublimation dyes which can then be permanently heat transferred to T-shirts, hats, mugs, metals, puzzles and other surfaces.

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Dye-sublimation printer

A dye-sublimation printer (or dye-sub printer) is a computer printer which employs a printing process that uses heat to transfer dye to a medium such as a plastic card, paper, or fabric. The process is usually to lay one color at a time using a ribbon that has color panels. Most dye-sublimation printers use CMYO colors which differs from the more recognized CMYK colors in that the black dye is eliminated in favour of a clear overcoating. This overcoating (which has numerous names depending on the manufacturer) is effectively a thin laminate which protects the print from discoloration from UV light and the air while also rendering the print water-resistant. Many consumer and professional dye-sublimation printers are designed and used for producing photographic prints.

Sublimation is when a substance transitions between the solid and gas states without going through a liquid stage; the action of dry ice exposed to room temperature is a common example. In a dye-sublimation printer the printing dye is heated up until it turns into a gas, at which point it diffuses onto the printing media and solidifies. Prior to printing, the dye is stored on a cellophane ribbon. The ribbon is made up of three colored panels (cyan, magenta, and yellow) and one clear panel which holds the lamination material for the overcoating. Each colored panel is the size of the media that is being printed on; for example, a 6" by 4" dye sub printer would have four 6" by 4" panels. During the printing cycle, the printer rollers will move the media and one of the colored panels together under a thermal printing head, which is usually the same width as the shorter dimension of the print media. Tiny heating elements on the head change temperature rapidly, laying different amounts of dye depending on the amount of heat applied. After the printer finishes covering the media in one color, it winds the ribbon on to the next color panel and partially ejects the media from the printer to prepare for the next cycle. The entire process is repeated four times in total: the first three lay the colors onto the media to form a complete image, while the last one lays the laminate over top. This layer protects the dye from resublimating when handled or exposed to warm conditions.

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Types of Label Printers

Types of Label Printers
• Desktop label printers are generally designed for light- to medium-duty usage with a roll of stock up to 4" wide. They are quiet and inexpensive.
• Commercial label printers can typically hold a larger roll of stock (up to 8" wide) and are geared for medium-volume printing.
• Industrial label printers are designed for heavy-duty, continuous operation in warehouses, distribution centers and factories.
• Industrial portable label printers are designed for heavy-duty operation on location. Examples of applications are labeling for electrical installations, construction sites, production floors where there are no computers.
• RFID readers are specialized label printers that print and encode at the same time on RFID transponders (tags) enclosed in paper or printable synthetic materials. RFID tags need to have printed information for backwards compatibility with barcode systems, so humans can identify the tag.
• Label printer applicators are designed to automate the labeling process. These systems are common in manufacturing and warehousing facilities that require cases and pallets to be labeled for shipping.
• Label software is computer software which runs on a general-purpose personal computer, and is designed to create and/or format labels for printing. The software can use native OS printer drivers, or embed drivers in the software, bypassing the OS print subsystem. It may work with dedicated label printers as described in this article, or use sheet-fed labels in a general-purpose computer printer.

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Pad printing cycle

1. From the home position, the sealed ink cup (an inverted cup containing ink) sits over the etched artwork area of the printing plate, covering the image and filling it with ink.
2. The sealed ink cup moves away from the etched artwork area, taking all excess ink and exposing the etched image, which is filled with ink. The top layer of ink becomes tacky as soon as it is exposed to the air, that is how the ink adheres to the transfer pad and later to the substrate.
3. The transfer pad presses down onto the printing plate momentarily. As the pad is compressed, it pushes air outward and causes the ink to lift (transfer) from the etched artwork area onto the pad.
4. As the transfer pad lifts away, the tacky ink film inside the etched artwork area is picked up on the pad. A small amount of ink remains in the printing plate.
5. As the transfer pad moves forward, the ink cup also moves to cover the etched artwork area on the printing plate. The ink cup again fills the etched artwork image on the plate with ink in preparation for the next cycle.
6. The transfer pad compresses down onto the substrate, transferring the ink layer picked up from the printing plate to the substrate surface. Then, it lifts off the substrate, returning to the home position, which completes one print cycle.

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Pad printing

Pad printing is a printing process that can transfer a 2-D image onto a 3-D object. This is accomplished using an indirect offset (gravure) printing process that involves an image being transferred from the printing plate (cliché) via a silicone pad onto a substrate (surface to be printed). Pad printing is used for printing on otherwise impossible products in many industries including medical, automotive, promotional, apparel, electronics, appliances, sports equipment and toys. It can also be used to deposit functional materials such as conductive inks, adhesives, dyes and lubricants.

Physical changes within the ink film both on the cliché and on the pad allow it leave the etched image area in favor of adhering to the pad, and to subsequently release from the pad in favor of adhering to the substrate (material being printed).
The unique properties of the silicone pad enable it to pick the image up from a flat plane and transfer it to a variety of surface

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Printing pad

Printing pad
Pads are three dimensional objects typically molded of silicone rubber. They function as a transfer vehicle, picking up ink from the printing plate, and transferring it to the part (substrate). They vary in shape and durometer depending on the application.
There are three main shape groups: "round pads", long narrow pads called "bar pads", and miscellaneous shapes (square, rectangular, etc.) called "loaf pads". Within each group there are three size categories: small, medium, and large size pads. It is also possible to engineer custom-shaped pads to meet special application requirements.
Image plate
Image plates are used to contain the desired artwork "image" etched in its surface. Their function is to hold ink in this etched cavity, allowing the pad to pick up this ink as a film in the shape of the artwork, which is then transferred to the substrate.
There are two main types of printing plate materials: photopolymer and steel. Photopolymer plates are the most popular, providing a good do-it-yourself option. These are typically used in short to medium production runs. Steel plates come in two choices: thin steel for medium to long runs, and thick steel for very long runs. Both steel plate types are generally processed by the plate supplier as it involves the use of specialized equipment.
Printing ink
Ink is used to mark or decorate parts. It come in different chemical families to match the type of material to be printed (please consult the substrate compatibility chart for selection).
Pad printing inks are "solvent-based" and require mixing with additives at the time of use. They typically dry to the touch in seconds although complete drying (cure) might take a substantially longer period of time.
Climatic conditions will significantly affect the performance of any pad printing ink, please bear this in mind when planning the location of your pad printer. Always consult Federal, State and local regulations regarding proper handling, storage and disposal of inks.

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Perrotine printing

The perrotine is a block-printing machine invented by Perrot of Rouen in 1834, and practically speaking is the only successful mechanical device ever introduced for this purpose. For some reason or other it has rarely been used in England, but its value was almost immediately recognized on the Continent, and although block printing of all sorts has been replaced to such an enormous extent by roller printing, the perrotine is still largely employed in French, German and Italian works.

The construction of this ingenious machine is too complex to describe here without the aid of several detailed drawings, but its mode of action is roughly as follows: Three large blocks (3 ft. long by 3 to 5 in. wide), with the pattern cut or cast on them in relief, are brought to bear successively on the three faces of a specially constructed printing table over which the cloth passes (together with its backing of printers blanket) after each impression. The faces of the table are arranged at right angles to each other, and the blocks work in slides similarly placed, so that their engraved faces are perfectly parallel to the tables. Each block is moreover provided with its own particular colour trough, distributing brush, and woolen colour pad or sieve, and is supplied automatically with colour by these appliances during the whole time that the machine is in motion. The first effect of starting the machine is to cause the colour sieves, which have a reciprocating motion, to pass over, and receive a charge of colour from, the rollers, fixed to revolve, in the colour troughs. They then return to their original position between the tables and the printing blocks, coming in contact on the way with the distributing brushes, which spread the colour evenly over their entire surfaces. At this point the blocks advance and are gently pressed twice against the colour pads (or sieves) which then retreat once more towards the colour troughs. During this last movement the cloth to be printed is drawn forward over the first table, and, immediately the colour pads are sufficiently out of the way, the block advances and, with some force, stamps the first impression on it. The second block is now put into gear and the foregoing operations are repeated for both blocks, the cloth advancing, after each impression, a distance exactly equal to the width of the blocks. After the second block has made its impression the third comes into play in precisely the same way, so that as the cloth leaves the machines it's fully printed in three separate colours, each fitting into its proper place and completing the pattern. If necessary the forward movement of the cloth can be arrested without in any way interfering with the motion of the block, san arrangement which allows any insufficiently printed impression to be repeated in exactly the same place with a precision practically impossible in hand printing.

For certain classes of work the perrotine possesses great advantages over the hand-block; for not only is the rate of production greatly increased, but the joining up of the various impressions to each other is much more exacting fact, as a rule, no sign of a break in continuity of line can be noticed in well-executed work. On the other hand, however, the perrotine can only be applied to the production of patterns containing not more than three colours nor exceeding five inches in vertical repeat, whereas hand block printing can cope with patterns of almost any scale and continuing any number of colours. All things considered, therefore, the two processes cannot be compared on the same basis: the perrotine is best for work of a utilitarian character and the hand-block for decorative work in which the design only repeats every 15 to 20 in. and contains colours varying in number from one to a dozen

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Hand Block printing

This process, though considered by some to be the most artistic, is the earliest, simplest and slowest of all methods of printing.

In this process, a design is drawn upon, or transferred to, a prepared wooden block. A separate block is required for each distinct colour in the design.

A blockcutter carves out the wood around the heavier masses first, leaving the finer and more delicate work until the last so as to avoid any risk of injuring it during the cutting of the coarser parts. When finished, the block presents the appearance of flat relief carving, with the design standing out.

Fine details are very difficult to cut in wood, and, even when successfully cut, wear down very rapidly or break off in printing. They are therefore almost invariably built up in strips of brass or copper, bent to shape and driven edgewise into the flat surface of the block. This method is known as coppering.

To print the design on the fabric, the printer applies color to the block and presses it firmly and steadily on the cloth, ensuring a good impression by striking it smartly on the back with a wooden mallet. The second impression is made in the same way, the printer taking care to see that it fits exactly to the first, a point which he can make sure of by means of the pins with which the blocks are provided at each corner and which are arranged in such a way that when those at the right side or at the top of the block fall upon those at the left side or the bottom of the previous impression the two printings join up exactly and continue the pattern without a break. Each succeeding impression is made in precisely the same manner until the length of cloth is fully printed. When this is done it is wound over the drying rollers, thus bringing forward a fresh length to be treated similarly.

If the pattern contains several colours the cloth is usually first printed throughout with one, then dried, and printed with the second, the same operations being repeated until all the colours are printed.

Block printing by hand is a slow process it is, however, capable of yielding highly artistic results, some of which are unobtainable by any other method.

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Types of Printing

Often the first important factor is finding and using a printing with a strong reputation in the printing field. This printer should be able to help you or give advice on many of the decisions you might need to make while getting a printing job done. Ask around and do research on the internet if possible, compare services and prices between one printer and another.

Digital printing is a new and extremely effective form of printing. This form of printing eliminates the use of film and plates, and sends a digital file directly from a computer to the press. Digital printing is relatively fast compared to other printing methods, making it a convenient method for meeting deadlines and time restraints.

Electrostatic printing is a method similar to photocopying where colour sticks to a drum and is fused by heat to paper. Electrostatic printing is similar to digital printing in that both processes are useful and effective for short printing runs.

The most popular printing process used by most printers is Offset Lithography. This is a method where ink is used economically and set up time for the press is limited. This process is where ink is offset from metal plates to a rubber cylinder onto the paper. It is an affordable and most common method of printing.

One of the first and original printing methods is the Letterpress, which was developed by Gutenberg is 1440. This is where relief printing was first developed; the printed image is slightly raised from the surface of the plate - similar to a rubber stamp. This is a process performed by fewer printers as new technology takes over the printing world.

For the sharpest image, Engraving is a printing method where the image feels indented. This type of printing process is used for fine or expensive stationery, such as Law firm letterheads etc.

Thermography is a process which produces a raised image. This is a special powder or dust which adheres to wet ink. Then heat is applied, which makes the powder and the ink fuse to form a raised surface. This method is effective for stationery.

Reprographics is a general term which includes copying and duplicating. Most, if not all, printing companies offer a reprographics service, where they can take your original file or document and make duplicates of them.

Screen printing is a process where ink is forced through a silk screen. This is often used on non flat goods e.g. clothing, mugs, etc. This is a popular method for large scale billboards and signage.

Flexography is a printing process used for packaging products. This process uses rubber plates with printed areas raised in relief, the plates are flexible, making printing on many different materials possible, eg plastic bags, bottle labels, cardboard boxes, etc.

Gravure printing is an expensive high quality printing process which uses copper plates. This process is commonly used to print high quality large volume materials such as magazines, newspaper, catalogues and more.
The best methods to ensure you get the printing results you require are to ask questions of your printer. It is important that the printing process will deliver required results. Generally if you have chosen a good printer your products will look great.

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Textile printing

Textile printing is the process of applying colour to fabric in definite patterns or designs. In properly printed fabrics the colour is bonded with the fiber, so as to resist washing and friction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but, whereas in dyeing proper the whole fabric is uniformly covered with one colour, in printing one or more colours are applied to it in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns.
In printing, wooden blocks, stencils, engraved plates, rollers, or silkscreens are used to place colours on the fabric. Colourants used in printing contain dyes thickened to prevent the colour from spreading by capillary attraction beyond the limits of the pattern or design.
Traditional textile printing techniques may be broadly categorised into four styles:
• Direct printing, in which colourants containing dyes, thickeners, and the mordants or substances necessary for fixing the colour on the cloth are printed in the desired pattern.
• The printing of a mordant in the desired pattern prior to dyeing cloth; the color adheres only where the mordant was printed.
• Resist dyeing, in which a wax or other substance is printed onto fabric which is subsequently dyed. The waxed areas do not accept the dye, leaving uncoloured patterns against a coloured ground.
• Discharge printing, in which a bleaching agent is printed onto previously dyed fabrics to remove some or all of the colour.
Resist and discharge techniques were particularly fashionable in the 19th century, as were combination techniques in which indigo resist was used to create blue backgrounds prior to block-printing of other colours. Most modern industrialised printing uses direct printing techniques.

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Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for http://comprintdesigns.blogspot.com/
If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at kkumarartist@gmail.com.
At http://comprintdesigns.blogspot.com/, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by http://comprintdesigns.blogspot.com/ and how it is used.

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Cookies and Web Beacons:

http://comprintdesigns.blogspot.com/ does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.
Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include Google Adsense, .
These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on http://comprintdesigns.blogspot.com/ send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

http://comprintdesigns.blogspot.com/ has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. http://comprintdesigns.blogspot.com/’s privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.
If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers’ respective websites.

DoubleClick DART cookies
We also may use DART cookies for ad serving through Google’s DoubleClick, which places a cookie on your computer when you are browsing the web and visit a site using DoubleClick advertising (including some Google AdSense advertisements). This cookie is used to serve ads specific to you and your interests (”interest based targeting”). The ads served will be targeted based on your previous browsing history (For example, if you have been viewing sites about visiting Las Vegas, you may see Las Vegas hotel advertisements when viewing a non-related site, such as on a site about hockey). DART uses “non personally identifiable information”. It does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, telephone number, social security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card numbers. You can opt-out of this ad serving on all sites using this advertising by visiting http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/dart_adserving.aspx

Yours Sincerely
kkumarartist@gmail.com

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Brochure Printing

Not everyone has a big budget for brochure printing. Printing prices may vary at times depending on the brochure printer, but one thing is for certain, it will cost a reasonable some of money. High quality brochures, especially full colour brochures require investments in graphic design, paper materials and of course cutting and folding. If you are new to brochure printing and are still unsure where to get the best savings for printing brochures then you are in luck.



Your text should be straight to the point.

The best way to save money on brochure printing is to manage your content well. Focus your attention especially on the written text. Can these long paragraphs be shortened? Is the writer of the brochure using too many flowery words to describe what he is saying? Sometimes the brochures content may be too longer than what is necessary. You can save money by writing brochure content that is concise and direct to the point, thus saving un-needed pages. It is that simple. So always review the whole content of the brochure and determine if there are paragraphs are sections that you could do without. You'll be surprised; maybe you can cut on several pages of printing because of this.



In relation to this, you should also review the images and the overall layout. Try to keep them as tight as possible to keep the pages of the brochure to the least amount that is necessary. Again you'll save pages, and money that way.



Different qualities

Some people also find that they can save money by printing parts of the brochure using different paper and color qualities. The common technique is to have the front and back pages (or the cover pages) printed in high quality paper with full color images and text. The inside pages are then printed with medium to lower quality paper, with the images and text that use bare colors, or they might even be printed in simple black and white. This saving technique still gives you an impressive brochure cover with all its marketing capabilities while still minimising the cost of printing the inside pages.



Choose the right printer with best value

The last way to save money in brochure printing is to search for a brochure printing service that gives you the best value for printing. This involves searching extensively on the Internet. Look for brochure printers that offer the best quality brochure printing with the least price. Chances are, if you look hard enough, you can reach a balance of price and quality with one printing company. Remember to exhaust every possible printing company that you can search for so that you can maximize your options.

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Commercial Printing Methods

Let's start with the different types of presses that are used for printing catalogs.

Web Press: This is the most commonly used type of press for printing catalogs. It uses a roll of paper to make the catalog printing process faster. There are two types of web press. The Heat-Set Web Press and the Cold-Set Web Press.

Heat-Set Web Press: The heat-set web press has a built-in heating unit that dries the ink. This gives the press the ability to produce a high volume of catalogs quickly. Another advantage it has is It can handle printing your catalog on coated and high-gloss paper. A heat-set web press is also the best choice if your catalog needs to have high quality photographs and images.

Heat-set web presses are good for large catalog printing jobs or where the cost of setup is irrelevant. It is a huge press and takes a staff of people to set it up for one catalog printing job. This is where you run into setup fees from your printer. On a large run, say 10,000 copies or more, the setup fee when divided by the number of catalogs is not too bad. If you were to apply those same setup fees to a run of only 1000 copies, the cost per catalog printed might be out of your budget requirements.

Cold-Set Web Press: This type of web press does not have a heating unit. The ink must be air-dried. The cold-set web press is used with text stock paper where the ink will absorb into the paper of your catalog. It will not print on coated and glossy paper. In addition to that, the photos and images for your catalog will not be quite as sharp as those printed on a heat-set web press.

However, if you are printing less than 10,000 catalogs or your primary needs are not the sharpness of the images, a cold-set web press might be the right choice for you. It will save you money over the heat-set method.

Sheet-Fed Press: Another good choice if you are not printing a high volume of catalogs is the sheet-fed press. The paper for your catalog is cut to size before the print run. One of the advantages a sheet-fed press has over the cold-set web press is that your images and photos will come out a much higher quality. Both are good for small runs, so if you are only going to print less than 10,000 catalogs and your artwork is important to you, the sheet-fed press might be the best way to go.

The sheet-fed press can also use various weights of paper, giving it another advantage over a cold-set web press. The downside is that sheet-fed presses run much slower. That is why they are usually only selected for a small run of catalogs or catalogs that require high quality graphics.

Digital Printing: This is much newer than the other methods described in this article, but it will become mainstream. This is where the images for printing your catalog are sent directly from the computer to the press. There is no film involved. All of the images are digital. This also eliminates the need for plates. Finding a printer for your catalog that uses this method might be difficult though since it has not been widely adopted yet.

The advantages of digital printing are fast-turnaround time and for producing high quality full color catalogs. The downside is that you may be limited in your choice of paper types.

Electrostatic printing: Only good for very short runs of catalog printing jobs. This is similar to photocopying documents in that it uses toner from a drum to thermally fuse your text and images to the paper.

Embossing: This catalog printing method uses a die your printer makes according to your design. It makes an impression or raises the image or letters onto the page.

Engraving: This is the catalog printing method that produces the highest quality images. You would only use this on the covers unless cost is not a factor. With engraved images, you can run your finger along the edge and fell that it has been indented or raised.

Gravure: This method of printing is used to produce a high volume of quality catalogs. It is much more expensive than other methods, but it is the best way to produce high quality catalogs.

Letterpress: This method of catalog printing goes back to the 15th century. It uses a rubber stamp like process. The images or text are raised on the stamp and ink is applied and the pages are stamped.

Offset lithography: This is a common catalog printing method with little setup time and one that is very cost effective. It's also good for printing on textured paper. It uses less ink than other methods as well.

I hope this has been a helpful guide to the different printing methods you can choose for your catalog. Keep in mind that every printer you go to will not be able to offer you all of these methods. Each printer buys the equipment best suited to his or her business. So if you are set on a particular type of catalog printing you may have to shop around to find a printer who uses your method.

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Modern Computer Aided Design Works

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of a wide range of computer-based tools that support architects, engineers and other design professionals in their design activities. It is the main geometry authoring tool within the Product Lifecycle Management process and involves both software and occasionally special purpose hardware. Current packages range from 2D vector based drafting systems to 3D parametric surface and solid design modellers.

CAD is used to develop and design products, these can be goods used by end consumers or middle goods used in other products. CAD is also extensively used in the design of tools and machinery used in the manufacture of components. CAD is used throughout the engineering process from conceptual design and layout, through detailed engineering and analysis of components to definition of manufacturing methods.

Computer aided design is used in the design of tools and machinery used in the manufacture of components, and in the drafting and design of all types of buildings, from small residential types (house) to the largest commercial and industrial structures (factories and malls).

CAD is most of used for detailed engineering of 3D models and/or 2D drawings of physical components, but it is also used throughout the engineering process from conceptual design and layout of products, through strength and dynamic analysis of assemblies to definition of manufacturing methods of components.

CAD has become an especially important technology within the scope of computer-aided technologies, with benefits such as lower product development costs and a greatly shortened design cycle. CAD enables designers to layout and develops work on screen, print it out and save it for future editing, saving time on their drawings.

In short, with the increasing usage of computers, CAD began to be used extensively for construction related work and activities. CAD, which started with 2D services, went on and on. Now there are a range of CAD based products available in the market.

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Action-Packed CD Jackets

In the present scenario, 4 panel cd jacket printing is playing a very vital role to present your business identity worldwide in a proficient manner. They are being broadly exercised by young children all over the world. You can get the best quality products with four-color printing method. However, you will only need to look for the best printing company to fulfill your modern day business needs in style. We are presenting cheap 4 panel cd jacket printing to our valued customers not only in the UK but also worldwide!

One of the stunning features of these printed covers is that they capture the attention of general public immediately. They are shaped by inspired and creative designers so that you might be able to get your likely masterpiece in style. Besides, the designers will not only offer you free designing services but also present you free unlimited revisions according to your provisions. We are making available elegant 4 panel cd jackets printing designs to our trustworthy customers worldwide.

This is not a wrong idea to say that they are chic and gaudy products because of their Full Color CMYK/PMS printing process. Furthermore, they contain the impression of glossy as well as matte finishing beyond your accepted wisdom. As a result, you will be able to get the finest quality products in style. We are bringing about full color 4 panel cd jackets printing to our worthy customers in tandem with free lamination worldwide. What's more, we are presenting discounted 4 panel cd jackets printing services to our respected customers not only in the UK but also worldwide.

Today, 4 panel cd jackets printing are providing ample amount of advantage to the masses. It includes a wide range of actors, such as fashion industries, media hypes, music companies, film industries, humanitarian organization, educational institutes, political actors and many more. Then, you can customize your order according to your needs. We are making available custom size 4 panel cd jackets printing to our appreciated customers worldwide.

Last but not least, they are creating a huge amount of interest among young boys and girls in the western countries. Therefore, the young people are exercising 4 panel cd jackets printing to get the best enjoyment and happiness beyond the imagination. Besides, they are playing a very vital role to provide the businesses a competitive edge all over the place. We are bringing four-color 4 panel cd jackets printing to our young children worldwide!

Again, we are presenting free shipment to our valued customers with the intention that they won't have to pay valued added tax (VAT)! More to the point, we are offering cheap sticker printing to our commendable customers with 10% 4 panel cd jackets printing sale including online printing service. So if you are interested in our products quality, feel free to contact us! We will provide you the best 4 panel cd jackets printing worldwide.

In short, we can say that 4 panel cd jackets printing are the best tools to promote your company's logo worldwide in an efficient manner! Nowadays, stacks of companies are getting full advantage from this printing method. However you will only need to find the best printing company to accomplish your requirements successfully. We are offering customized 4 panel cd jackets printing to our commendable customers worldwide.

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The Effect of Digital Printing on the Printing Industry

As much of an impact as digital printing has made in recent years it has not been a overnight success. The start for the sake of argument started with the Xerox Docutech and black toner to compete on the very low end of the print market. Because of that most printers did not view it as a threat. Thus a new business model was able to be established, quick printers or franchise printers saw dramatic growth early on. Although very reliable now, the machines were prone to problems early in the technology. The joke was that you bought a technician when you bought the early machines. They became more and more effective and those printers that did not adopt the technology saw there black and white business decline. Most successful printing companies either purchased a Docutech or gravitated towards more color printing which the Docutech did not do. This drove the printing business into more of a retail quick print location or a manufacturing custom job shop for more complicated jobs. Established printers as a whole had a hard time grasping that the lower quality of the toner based machines were acceptable for many jobs and certain customers and the turn time was much better digitally. The total number of printing companies increased during this time if you counted total # of printing establishments.

Then came color copiers, direct imaging presses and the digital press. These did away with the need for expensive plates and makeready time and waste. You sent the file directly to the machine and the first couple of copies were what you were going to get. Again at the very early stages the quality was very questionable and the machines were less than super dependable. Quantities ordered were lower than what commercial printers could get excited about and they could not grasp the lower quantity and lower cost opportunites and quick trun times that quick printers had really started to embrace. The quality continued to improve and the machines became more reliable. The number of retail or franchise printers increased and the number of independent quick printers and commercial printers started to dramatically decrease. There are of course exceptions to this generalization.

This is about the time that quality improved enough and commercial printers started grasping what was happening that they embraced this new found digital color. Now many commercial printers have both offset and digital machines and can service their customers no matter what quantities they need.

The business will change again. It always has and the successful printers are the ones that focus on their customers needs and balance that with making enough return to support a very capital intensive business.

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Variable Print Programming

Variable printing by definition is where either image or text changes from one impression to the next in digital printing. It is not available in offset printing in line. Variable printing varies in difficulty from a simple name change on the low end to full text and image changes on the more difficult end.

For the most part the variable print programming comes from applying a database to artwork that has been modified to show where the variable part comes in. This is done by digital printing company that takes your artwork and will apply your database to the cell or area that you designate.

Factors that need to be considered are length or size of the variable part. Since it is software that is applying these rules it does not know the difference between say 2 lines or 3 where the text can be wrapped wierd or dropped. All picture sizes would need to be the same as that could also affect your piece from one impression to the next.

The best rule of thumb is to involve your printer early in the design process when he/she can still help guide you on what would be successful and what would not.

The variable print programming is actually done in a different software that helps marry your database and the software that the design is done in(Quark, InDesign, etc.) then when the file is ripped it prepares the job to change the variable cells on each copy.

It is a very effective way to market your company and has a historically much higher rate of return than static direct mail.

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The offset lithography

The offset lithography process works by first transferring an image photographically to thin metal, paper, or plastic printing plates. Unlike other forms of printing, in offset lithography the image on the printing plate is not recessed or raised. Rollers apply oil-based ink and water to the plates. Since oil and water don't mix, the oil-based ink won't adhere to the non-image areas. Only the inked image portion is then transferred to a rubber blanket (cylinder) that then transfers the image onto the paper as it passes between it and another cylinder beneath the paper. The term offset refers to the fact that the image isn't printed directly to the paper from the plates, but is offset or transferred to another surface that then makes contact with the paper.

Examples: Offset lithography is the most commonly used commercial printing process for the bulk of desktop publishing on paper. Offset lithography is used on both sheet-fed and web offset presses.

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Digital Printing vs. Offset printing

The controversy on digital versus offset printing has been going on for a while now with no definite conclusion on which of the two technologies is better in absolute terms. Before digging deep into the issue let’s first know what is offset printing and digital printing and how each of the services differ.

Offset printing is a printing technique where images are offseted (transmitted) from a plate to a rubber blanket to the surface of an item by using ink and other chemicals. Offset printing is characterized by the high color quality but one major drawback for offset printing is the time it takes to produce the printed materials. In offset printing, the same design, layout, images and content is printed to all printed impressions.

Digital printing is an on demand printing technique where images can be directly transformed to the printing surface without the need for expensive plates, machines or chemicals. Digital Printing was a breakthrough in the printing industry due to the speed of production and ease of use. With the advancement in the printing technology, digital printing can produce the same high color quality as in offset printing.



Both offset printing and digital printing techniques have their supporters elaborating why business owners should use one technique over the other when engaged in implementing their direct mail marketing campaigns. Well, in my opinion, the nature of the direct mail marketing campaign and the marketing message you need to transmit to the client is the determinant factor on the decision in whether to use digital or offset printing.

If your direct mail marketing campaign is focused on delivering the same exact message to all recipients to a high volume of customers, then offset printing should be utilized.

But if your direct mail marketing campaign is focused on delivering a personal message to this customer, targeting certain needs of this client or creating a customized marketing campaign, then your best bet is digital printing. Digital variable printing delivers a quick, custom marketing message. Variable data printing enables you to print different marketing messages, variable pictures, and data fields. Digital variable print enables you to target specific categories.

Both digital printing and offset printing are considered to be cost effective, depending on the target and the nature of the direct mail marketing campaign. Offset printing is perfect economic solution if you plan to have mass printing marketing campaign .Eventually the costs will be reduced due to the huge number postcards or flyers. In the same manner, if you decide to have small mailings with a variable marketing campaign, digital printing is cost effective due to the on demand nature of the variable printing. You decide on the content to be printed, how targeted you want the mailing and the number of people to target. With digital printing, it would be key to adding a very specific targeted mailing list to your product, using the variables of income, age, home value, or other very specific information.

We at Postcard Pros understand the basis of success of any business and provide digital and variable data printing services to contribute to the on going success of our business partners. At Postcard Pros, we take the printing business seriously and we can take you to the next step in your one to one marketing efforts. We specialize in marketing materials: postcards, letters, flyers, brochures, invitations, books, booklets, posters – you name it, we can do it. Ink on paper, it is what we do. Don’t waste any time, give us a call at 1-877-492-9848 or email us at support@postcardpros.com and let our professional team design, print and distribute your marketing materials at a highly competitive price. Your success is our success.

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HP Inkjet Technology Delivers Dialysis

Hewlett Packard has licensed Home Dialysis Plus (HD+) to use HP’s inkjet technology to mix water and concentrated dialysate, a mixture of chemicals used to remove toxins and deliver electrolytes to blood in human body.

HP states mixing the solution helps filter toxins over a longer period, and HP’s smart memory-chip technology will secure the correct dialysate prescription is being delivered consistently to conduct dialysis while the patient is at sleep.

The deal between the two companies came out of HP’s intellectual-property licensing program, and HD+ expects to get its machine onto the market by the end of 2010.

HP says there are many technologies available for licensing that lend themselves well to the health and life-sciences industry, and the company will continue to look for opportunities within a variety of markets so that people can further benefit from HP inventions.

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The Effect of Digital Printing on the Printing Industry

As much of an impact as digital printing has made in recent years it has not been a overnight success. The start for the sake of argument started with the Xerox Docutech and black toner to compete on the very low end of the print market. Because of that most printers did not view it as a threat. Thus a new business model was able to be established, quick printers or franchise printers saw dramatic growth early on. Although very reliable now, the machines were prone to problems early in the technology. The joke was that you bought a technician when you bought the early machines. They became more and more effective and those printers that did not adopt the technology saw there black and white business decline. Most successful printing companies either purchased a Docutech or gravitated towards more color printing which the Docutech did not do. This drove the printing business into more of a retail quick print location or a manufacturing custom job shop for more complicated jobs. Established printers as a whole had a hard time grasping that the lower quality of the toner based machines were acceptable for many jobs and certain customers and the turn time was much better digitally. The total number of printing companies increased during this time if you counted total # of printing establishments.

Then came color copiers, direct imaging presses and the digital press. These did away with the need for expensive plates and makeready time and waste. You sent the file directly to the machine and the first couple of copies were what you were going to get. Again at the very early stages the quality was very questionable and the machines were less than super dependable. Quantities ordered were lower than what commercial printers could get excited about and they could not grasp the lower quantity and lower cost opportunites and quick trun times that quick printers had really started to embrace. The quality continued to improve and the machines became more reliable. The number of retail or franchise printers increased and the number of independent quick printers and commercial printers started to dramatically decrease. There are of course exceptions to this generalization.

This is about the time that quality improved enough and commercial printers started grasping what was happening that they embraced this new found digital color. Now many commercial printers have both offset and digital machines and can service their customers no matter what quantities they need.

The business will change again. It always has and the successful printers are the ones that focus on their customers needs and balance that with making enough return to support a very capital intensive business.

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Toshiba Recycles Your Toner Right on the Spot

If you own a laser printer and ever did an online shopping for printer toner cartridges, you, probably, noticed here and there a waste bottles being sold along with consumables. These very bottles are where unused tone is utilized when not applied to form image. That happens because of mechanism of laser printing is not perfect and yet to be optimized.

Toshiba intends to eliminate this embarrassing flaw. The company is implementing its recyclable toner technology into more MFP machines. The technology allows collecting waste toner that is not applied to the page and feeding it back into printer cartridge, so it can be used over again.

The technology is supposed to solve environmental problems caused by disposing of waste toner. On the other hand, it would increase cost-effectiveness of toner cartridge, since more pages per cartridge could be printed.

For now, the system works only with mono printers, however “it will take a bit longer to introduce it to colour machines as it needs a different mechanical approach, but ultimately we aim to introduce it there too,” says Jamie Mackenzie, Product Manager at Toshiba.

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The Five Big No's When You Print Posters

If you are planning to print posters, it is important not to look amateurish when you make them. People can spot an amateur poster print quickly just by looking at its design and print quality. If that amateurish poster is going to promote your business, then you will be in big trouble. To prevent this from happening, all you have to do is to remember the Five Big No's when your print posters.

No to letter size!:
The biggest mark of a poster printing novice is the letter sized posters. Letter sized posters may be cheap and all, but it hardly counts as a true promotional tool. You are not a grade school or high school student advertising the local bake sale. You care promoting a business through posters. A letter sized poster is not going to cut it. Worse, people might think that your business is not serious enough with those kinds of color posters. So say NO to letter sized posters okay? Invest in larger more professional sizes.

No to block texts!:
Another big NO for a poster design are groups or blocks of informational text. Never do this on your business poster. Yes you may want to give all the details, and printing it all up seems like the best option. But trust us, this is not. Block text will bore the reader, making it harder for them to read the total message of the poster. Always aim for a nice image that virtually tells the whole message of your poster. Just add a small descriptive tag line and you should be all set. Always keep your other details and block text, printed small enough so as not to destroy the aesthetic value of the poster.

No to "photoshopped" collages!:
Next to block text in the list of big No's for poster design are the badly made Photoshop collages. With the advent of advanced photograph retouching and enhancements, you should already be aware of the thousands of "photoshopped" poster images out there. The problem is, most of them are obviously "photoshopped". It is clear in most designs where one person was just pasted over the other, and what background was forced into the scene. It is a bit hard to explain, but it is all about the resolution and the blending of the images together. The result is a badly made color poster with obviously patched together images. It is very amateur looking and will never or should never be really shown for the public. You can prevent this from happening by just using one good photograph or image as your main poster design, no other image should be forcefully placed with it. It is easier, cheaper and it looks significantly better.

No to mass logos!:
Now, for a lot of posters out there, sponsors are really a big thing. However, if you have a lot of sponsors demanding their share of the poster space, you may have a problem. One of the worst things that can happen in this situation is if you are forced to design a poster with lots and lots of company logos. Yes you may owe some of these sponsors their loyalty and support, but if their numerous logos are impeding a good poster design, then there will be no use for the posters anyway. Try to always achieve a balance between the sponsor logos and the poster design. If necessary reserve a small spot for the logos, and be adamant that every company logo must be place on that part only. This certifies your poster as a true work of art, and not just a piece of nameless marketing trash.

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Laser-comparable inkjet text printing

The HP Deskjet 1200C printer achieves laser quality by means of pigmented black ink and precise, mode dependent control of drop volume. Contributing to laser printing speed are an intelligent print mode forecaster, a large memory capacity, heated drying, improved media handling, a larger printhead, and a high firing rate made possible by careful attention to refill dynamics.

The mission of the HP Deskjet 1200C print cartridge and product development team was to deliver text quality and speed that meets the expectations of the office printer market. The office standard for text printing has been set by the HP LaserJet series of printers. To be a general-purpose office printer, a printer must provide text quality, output speed and connectivity comparable to LaserJet printers, along with LaserJet language compatibility. This article discusses how two of those objectives--text quality and speed--were achieved. The article on page 85 discusses the compatibility and connectivity solutions.
Text Quality Fundamentals

Several attributes define the text quality of a printed page, regardless of whether its source is a serial impact dot matrix printer, a thermal inkjet printer, a laser printer, or a printing press. The fundamental characteristics that define print quality are:

* Character hue and darkness

* Edge smoothness or roughness

* Character edge contrast

* Presence of artifacts

* Uniformity of area fills.

Character darkness, or optical density, is a measure of the blackness (lack of lightness) of the printed image. In general, most surveys indicate that customers prefer darker characters over lighter characters. Hue refers to the tone of the color used to print the character. Even black characters can be slightly cold (bluish) or warm (brownish). The ability of the eye to distinguish small differences in hue diminishes at high optical densities.

In text printing, edge roughness is determined by several factors including printer resolution (often measured in dots per inch), dot placement accuracy, rendering algorithms, and the interactions between the colorant (e.g., the laser toner or the inkjet ink) and the paper. In general, higher resolutions produce smoother edges because they allow smaller changes in dot placement and the individual picture elements (pixels) correspond to smaller areas. Fig. 1 illustrates the improvement obtained by increasing resolution from 150 to 300 dpi with a binary printer. Firmware and hardware-based algorithms can be used to enhance edge smoothness further by judiciously placing dots between the basic grid points or by changing the dot size.

The contrast between the printed character and the background paper is affected by the optical density of the ink and toner, the color and brightness of the paper, and the edge transition sharpness of the printed area. For high-quality, high-contrast printing, the dark printed zones must transition sharply into unprinted zones. If the printed area slowly fades into unprinted paper, the characters appear fuzzy and soft.

Unwanted artifacts, such as inkjet spray and laser background scatter, can also make characters appear fuzzy. Inkjet spray is the presence of small, unwanted dots near the printed zones. In laser printing a similar phenomenon, called scarcer, sometimes occurs, leaving undesirable toner particles near the printed zones.

Solid area fills, used for graphics and large font rendition, should be uniform and dark. Nonuniformity of area fills can occur in a variety of ways, such as the mottle (light and dark areas) caused by the uneven penetration of an inkjet ink, the uneven gloss seen on many laser prints, banding, and density gradients.

Text Speed

Typical inkjet printers have text throughput ratings of one to three pages per minute. Laser print engines deliver four pages per minute in their low-end designs, 8 to lO pages per minute in the midrange designs, and as much as 16 to 20 pages per minute in the relatively expensive shared network devices. Our market target matched the low-end to midrange lasers, so we made our minimum throughput goal for high-quality text a true four pages per minute as measured by industry analysts' latest printer text benchmarks.

Comparing the Technologies

HP LaserJet printers and HP thermal inkjet printers use significantly different printing technologies. Each process has inherent advantages and engineering challenges. Fig. 2 illustrates the electrophotographic printing process and Fig. 3 shows the inkjet drop generation process. The basics of the thermal inkjet printing engine are described in "An Inside View of the Drop Generation Process" on page 11.

Laser printing has several high-value attributes. It provides a high degree of media independence, it is a high-speed page printing process, it is a dry process that doesn't wet the paper so physical distortions of the media are minimized, and it produces durable print unaffected by water and highlighters. Excellent character edge smoothness is achieved by the fusing process and the small toner particle size. Dot size can be adjusted, and customers perceive the process to be highly reliable.

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Scanning Paper Prints to Digital Photos On your Hard Disk

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation when you have to scan paper prints, negatives or slides and store them as digital photos on your computer
. Although the reason for doing that can vary there are some common considerations to scanning paper prints. In this article we will go over some of them and try to make your scanning experience easier.

There are three types of prints that you might be scanning:

# Paper prints: the most common, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7.

# Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which paper prints are made.

# Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.

Scanning paper photos prints.

Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include www.digmypics.com, www.digitalpickle.com, www.britepix.com and many more)

There are pros and cons to both scanning at home and using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money.
When scanning at home consider the following:

# Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.

# Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans - for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you're going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you're going to use).

# Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.

Scanning negatives and slides

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service (such services include www.slidescanning.com, www.myspecialphotos.com, www.pixmonix.com and many more). If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.

The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you're going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.

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Scanner Technology

A scanner is a implement with the intention of has been innovated to glance at the printed material, which can be an picture or on paper textbook and in seizure digitally transfers, as look into a computer structure for additional managing out by the user.

Every scanner uses optical or carefree receptors to read texts and visual written on paper or on any other objects and decodes the in a row interested in a make up that can be second-hand by the computer. It optically scans image, in print text, handwritten documents and converts them into a digital image. Scanner moving parts on the attitude of digitalizing a vision by isolating it addicted to a small lattice of boxes.

Contemporary scanners normally use a Contact Image feeler (CIS) as the icon sensor. A gyratory scanner, old for high-speed verify scanning, is a caring of scanner that uses a CCD array. Further types of scanners are planetary scanners, which buy photographs of ID and 3D scanners, for delivering three-dimensional models of stuff. Scanners usually translate red, jade and downcast color (RGB) data commencing the array. This numbers is afterward worked upon for out of the ordinary exposure conditions.

Little selecting a scanner we should get about its Color depth. It varies depending upon the scanning array characteristics, but it is generally not less than 24 bits. Lofty quality models enjoy 48 bits or supplementary of dye deepness. The other focal parameters for selecting a scanner are its resolution. Resolution is measured in pixels per inch (ppi), at times more accurately referred to as Samples per inch (spi). Another vital significance for a scanner is its density range. A high-density reach channel with the intention of the scanner is able to give shadow details and brightness details in a single scan.

The enormity of the file shaped increases by the cube of the resolution. In simpler words, we can say with the purpose of the doubling of the resolution quadruples the size of the respective file. A resolution have got to be special that is within the capabilities of the machine, which can reservation adequate details, and does not construct a box file of superfluous size.

Enhanced scanners of today’s planet get skin tone resembling summit excellence optical lens, superior dynamic range, lower racket levels, finer steps on the stepping motor, much earlier interfaces, and better-bundled software. Therefore, we can say that scanner is the indispensable innovation of the expertise in the earth of notebook that has reduced a lot of workload in offices.

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Tips to Save on Your Printer Ink Cartridges

Buying a printer is a one time cost, but since printer ink cartridges need to be bought on a regular basis, the cost of operating the printer and maintaining it in proper condition can add up. Each ‘print’ command, however small, makes your printer use ink, but with some easy tips, you can actually save a lot of ink and use a cartridge for a longer period than usual.

1) Print only what is necessary

Let’s begin with economising. Most often, we end up making unnecessary printouts and in the process waste precious ink. For instance, you might need to print only a small portion of a web page instead of the whole page. Instead of simply printing the whole page, complete with its heavy graphics etc, be specific on what you want to have in hard copy and print only that portion.

Text always consumes less ink compared to graphics or images. If textual information is all that you need then you can make sure that you don’t print the graphics and images. If it is a web page you need to save in a printed form, check for its print version. If there is no print version, you can copy and paste the text in a word document and take a printout of that.

Also try to do a bit of planning and double check what you are printing before hitting the print button.

2) Go for a quick print preview

Most branded printers such as HP, Canon, Dell, Epson or any other printer come with a printer driver which has a very useful print preview function. With this function, you can have a prior preview of the copy you want to take a print out of.


This function is especially handy when you are directly taking the print out from the Internet. At times, what you see on a site is totally different as compared to the printed version. A quick preview can help to get the printout of the material that you specifically want.

3) Make sure the power is turned off

Just as you never switch off your computer without properly shutting it down, the same rule applies to your printer too. If you don’t shut down the printer properly, the print heads will remain directly exposed to air causing the ink to dry in the nozzles which, in turn, could affect the quality of printing adversely. Make it a habit to check the position of the print heads before cutting off the power.



4) Use good software

There are various ink saving software options available online. These software applications are designed to reduce the consumption of your printer ink. With these applications, you can get good quality printout copies with less ink consumption even during high resolution printing.

5) Use printer ink cartridges smartly

If you don’t do printing regularly, run a small printing test at least once a week, to avoid the ink cartridges from drying up. This little precaution will help you to increase the life of the cartridge.

6) Never expose your printer to extreme temperatures

Too much variation in room temperature is bad for printer ink cartridges. You must avoid keeping your printer in too hot or too cold a temperature as the cartridges can dry up. For lasting printer performance, make sure the room has a normal and stable temperature.



With these small but important tips, your printer ink cartridges will get a longer life. It is easy to buy good quality printer ink cartridges at excellent prices from online shops

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