HIRA SHAH

127114

PRINTING

PRINTING
Printingis a process for reproducing text and images using a
master form or template

CONT..
The earliest examples includeCylinder sealsand other objects such
as theCyrus Cylinderand theCylinders of Nabonidus. The earliest
known form ofwoodblock printingcame from China dating to
before 220 A.D.
Later developments in printing include themovable type, first
developed byBi Shengin China.Johannes Gutenbergintroduced
mechanical movable type printing to Europe in the 15th century.
Hisprinting pressplayed a key role in the development of the
Renaissance,Reformation, theAge of Enlightenment, and the
scientific revolutionand laid the material basis for the modern
knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the
masses.

CONT.
Modern large-scale printing is typically done using a printing press,
while small-scale printing is done free-form with adigital printer.
Though paper is the most common material, it is also frequently
done on metals, plastics, cloth and composite materials. On paper
it is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process and is an
essential part of publishing and transaction printing.

OTHER PRINTING
TECHNIQUES
The other significant printing techniques include:
Flexography, used for packaging, labels, newspapers
Dye-sublimation printer
Inkjet, used typically to print a small number of books or packaging, and also to print a variety of materials:
from high quality papers simulating offset printing, to floor tiles. Inkjet is also used to apply mailing
addresses to direct mail pieces
Laser printing(toner printing) mainly used in offices and for transactional printing (bills, bank documents).
Laser printing is commonly used by direct mail companies to create variable data letters or coupons.
Pad printing, popular for its unusual ability to print on complex three-dimensional surfaces
Relief print, mainly used forcatalogues
Screen-printingfor a variety of applications ranging from T-shirts to floor tiles, and on uneven surfaces
Intaglio, used mainly for high value documents such as currencies.
Thermal printing, popular in the 1990s for fax printing. Used today for printing labels such as airline
baggage tags and individual price labels in supermarket deli counters.

Fontrefers to a "typeface." Fonts are works of art and they are

typically copyrighted material. For example, the font that we have
used to present this page is called "Arial." The size of a font is
expressed in "points." For example, the point size we have used
here is 12 (not to be confused with "pitch"). The font size denotes
the width and height. A "true" Windows-based program will allow a
user to highlight and change the size of a font. A font is also
categorized as "fixed/ monospace" or "variable."

Pitch, on the other hand, refers to the number of characters printed

per inch (measured horizontally). In other words, pitch defines the
amount of space between each character. For example, a
document printed at 9-pitch, will have more spaces between its
characters than a document printer at 10-pitch. Also, a document
printed at 9-pitch will yield more pages than the same document
printed at 10-pitch.

Apage description language(PDL) is a language that describes

the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual
outputbitmap. An overlapping term isprinter control language,
which includes Hewlett-Packard's PCL.PostScriptis one of the most
noted page description languages. Themarkup language
adaptation of the PDL is thepage description markup language.