Have you seen the new Océ Customer Experience Center? It’s now open. The multi-million dollar, 18,000 square-foot facility, is located at the Océ Production Printing Systems Headquarters in Boca Raton, FL. The Customer Experience Center aims to provide Océ customers and prospects with hands-on access to the company’s full line of digital printing hardware and software innovations. Read the rest of this entry »

The Océ Arizona 200 GT UV curable flatbed printer is available for order in the United States.

The Océ Arizona 200 GT printer delivers the same award-winning image quality as the Océ Arizona 250 GT printer but is  configured for light production environments, making it accessible to print shops and sign makers with lower  volume demands.  It produces near-photographic image quality with the flexibility of printing onto both rigid  substrates and roll-based, flexible media.
If you are doing building wraps or other large vinyl installations, this printer is worth a second look.

There’s a good article in Wide-Format Imaging by Neal McChristy.
It talks about how from the beginning of workflow to cutting and finishing, how prints are rasterized can mean the difference between smooth and glitch-free processing or wasted time and media.

In the simplest form, he writes,  raster image processors, or RIPs, convert vector graphics to bitmap images for printing. But complex jobs demand more of them, including color-matching and color management options, variable-data printing, and even cutting options.

Built-in RIPs are the choice of some. HP machines like those at Rapids Reproductions have built-in RIPS, and Greg Tarca, reprographics manager, said they tried RIP software with a 50-inch Encad machine, but it was very slow. “You could only do one thing on that computer—RIP to the printer.”

According to David Reidel, assistant vice president of color graphics at eBlueprint, color management issues are better handled using their RIP software. “Making a profile for each media is a large task—usually about three hours per media, he said. “But once you make the profile, you can pretty much bank on it that the colors are correct,” said Reidel.

Vendors say shops should look for RIP software that eases Pantone spot color-matching, automates color management, does rasterizing for all the shop’s equipment and has a reputable company behind it. And when buying a machine, the choice of RIP software is an important factor in long-term profit.

Click here to read the rest of this article on Wide-Format Imaging.

Looking for a quick primer on how to make a vinyl banner? There’s some fast and dirty instructions at Binkboy’s site. Click here to see the words and pictures that describe the trade.

We have good news for you. The International Reprographic Association (IRgA) offers a  guide to charging for digital services. It includes what digital services typically charge and best practices for reprographers and reprographic customers. You can also read a good article over at Wide-Format Imaging magazine on the topic.

More advertising agencies and Fortune 500 corporations are moving towards city skylines to brand their products and kick off mega marketing campaigns in a more dramatic fashion. As billboards become more the norm, many firms are turning to building wraps and wallscapes to get their messages across to the public. According to I.T. Strategies, the outdoor building wrap market is forecast to grow at a 15 percent clip between 2006 and 2010.

Some building wraps can go beyond ten stories high depending on the size of the building. Custom sizes and shapes are another option that can also be utilized for added dramatic impact. The creative teams at these agencies realize the sky’s the limit when it comes to getting their brand message to the people driving by or walking on the streets below.

Click here to read the rest of this article in Wide-Format Imaging magazine, and be sure to pick up our e-book on megawraps.

The use of large format fabric with digitally-printed or vinyl graphics opens up a world of opportunity to trade show exhibitors, entertainment and set designers, museums, event planners, and more. Fabric output is lightweight, easily portable, suitable for outdoor use, mood enhancing, pliable, and accepts vibrant color graphics. So says Kim Crowley over at Digital Output magazine. She talked with the folks over at Moss for a great take on this topic. Click here to read it for yourself.