Print Making

24 bit color Print Making

General

24-bit color refers to a digital color model that has eight bits provided for the 3 additive colors of blue, green and red.  24-bit color may provide 256 variations of each primary color.  In 24-bit color, there are 24 bits assigned to each pixel; this in turn translates to 16.7 million colors.

8 bit color Print Making

General

8-bit color means that every pixel contains eight bits; this allows for two hundred and fifty-six hues or variations of gray.

Acid Dyes Print Making

Product

An acid dye is a soluble substance that is primarily used to dye material such as nylon, silk or wool.  Acid dyes are relatively cheap, make a color change permanent, and react efficiently.

Addressable Resolution Print Making

General

Addressable resolution is the maximum resolution of a mechanism.  It is the absolute maximum pixel number that an imaging mechanism may create or alter an image. 

Algorithm Print Making

General

An algorithm is a mathematical pattern that works out an equation or problem.  When the term refers to an image, it explains the patterns that create a compression or color-management program, as well as other RIP applications. 

Alpha Channel Print Making

Equipment

An alpha channel is an image-editor channel; individuals use it to hold a mask, partial picture element or color.  It determines the transparency of every color in an image.  It originated in 1997 by Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull at N.Y.I.T.  The alpha channel would be the 4th channel in a 3-color image.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Print Making

General

ANSI is the United States member of the International Standards Organization; it is in charge of overseeing industry standards.

Amplitude Modulated Screening (AM) Print Making

Technical

This is an image screening technique; it uses halftones that are represented by dots that are different sizes, but they are positioned at regular intervals on a grid system.

Analog Print Making

General

An analog involves systems that continually involve different signals or data (not discreet levels or steps of digital data).

Animation Cel Setup Print Making

General

An animation group of cels or single animation cel that is used along with a production background.  A cel setup could involve one or multiple levels of cels layed on an animation background. 

Anti-alias Print Making

Technical

Anti-alias is the technique of smoothing and taking out any aliasing effects through the use of electronic filtering.  It also involves other methods such the blending of crisp edges.

Banding Print Making

Technical

Banding consists of patterns on a print due to a lack of color or gray-scale ranges in the output device’s image processor.  Banding may also be caused by a lack of information in the original scan.  Banding causes crisp changes between varying ranges.

Bar Printer Print Making

Equipment

A bar printer is simply another word used for an inkjet printer.

BAT (bon-a-tirer) Print Making

Product

A BAT is the proof an artist uses to compare any prints created at a later date.  Often a signed BAT is required prior to any future printing being done.

Beziér Curve Print Making

General

Curving segments of lines made by anchor or end points, with a minimum of one node or transient point.  The term was so named after a French engineer whose name was Pierre Beziér.

BIT Print Making

General

BIT stands for Binary Digital T.  It signifies the smallest unit of data in a computer (1 or 0).  The term was so named in 1948 by J.W. Tileu at Bell Labs. 

Bit Depth Print Making

Technical

Bit depth is the most number of bits that define a pixel.  Bit depth measures the brightness level; it is the number of potential colors or variations of gray that may be used in an image.

Bitmap Print Making

General

A bitmap is a rasterized graphic image created from a grid of dots or pixels.

Black (printing) Print Making

General

Black is the fourth color in process 4-color printing.  In CMYK, black is the “K.”

Black Generation Print Making

General

Black generation is the inclusion of black ink with other process colors when dividing an RGB color image to CMYK colors.  Black generation may happen by either switching some of the CMY with K (GCR – Gray Component Replacement), or by using K in solely neutral regions (UCR – Under Color Removal).

Black Point Print Making

General

Black point is color that creates the values of 0,0,0 when scanned by a scanner.  In the best of circumstances, the black point is 0% neutral reflectance or transmittance. 

BMP File Print Making

General

A BMP file is a Windows bitmap file that contains an extension of “bmp.”  It defines an image in dot patterns (one dot = one pixel). 

Brayer Print Making

Equipment

A brayer is a roller that moves, adheres or presses two flat surfaces together.

Brightness Print Making

General

Brightness is the general intensity of an image; if the brightness value of an image is lower, the image is darker.  And if the brightness value of an image is higher, the image is lighter.

Bronzing Print Making

Technical

Bronzing refers to a problem that occurs with some ink/paper combinations.  “Bronzed” (darkened) reflections from the inked regions are side-by-side with regions where there exists no ink or hardly any ink.  The result is that there occurs a full reflection on the paper.  Bronzing is also known as “gloss differential.”

Buffering Print Making

Technical

Buffering is the addition of an alkaline substance (such as calcium carbonate) into the paper pulp of a paper in order to neutralize the acids in the paper.  The buffer acts as a shield from the pollution in the atmosphere, or from the acid in the paper.

Bulk Ink Print Making

Equipment

Bulk ink is simply ink that sits in big containers; it is used for printing in quantity.  It is used to prevent a constant running out of ink while printing items in bulk. 

Burnish Print Making

Technical

To burnish something means to rub it smooth; it also means to transfer or adhere to an alternative surface area.

BYTE Print Making

Technical

BYTE is a unit of digital measurement.  Every 8-bit byte signifies an alphanumeric character.  1 byte = 8 bits.


 

Clean Up Drawing Print Making

General

A drawing completed by using other unfinished animation drawings.  Cels care made from the rough animated drawings.   

CMYK Print Making

General

CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black).  It is a color system that is used by printers to put each color on a separate printing plate in order to create a final full color image.  It is also known as “four color printing.”  It should be noted that the majority of giclee printers print to an inkjet printer in RGB.  This is because there exists a superior color gamut, and images are captured in RGB by scanners. 

 

Color Correction Print Making

Technical

Color correction is the altering of shades, hues, channels, contrast and amounts of separate colors prior to printing in order to prevent any color casts and balancing problems that may result from the scanned image or original.
 
 

Color Management Print Making

Technical

Color management is a process of controlling the output and input devices regarding how they understand the hues they are utilizing.  Frequently this is completed in a software that manipulates images (like Photoshop) prior to printing; RIP software contains color profiles that are designed to pair colors together when printing occurs on various colors of paper.  The term “proofing” refers to the process of working to get a file to the appropriate stage. 

Custom Background Print Making

General

An new animation background made for the express purpose of embellishing a particular animation cel.

Digital Camera Print Making

Equipment

This is a type of camera that intakes information in a digital file format (as opposed to film).  This type of camera removes the film process of reproducing an image.  This creates the opportunity for permitting less color casts.  And since the data is digital, the archive is better.

Digital Print Print Making

Product

A digital print is a print that is made on an inkjet printer; the print comes from a digital file on a computer. Giclees are a type of digital print.

Dots Per Inch / Pixels Per Inch Print Making

General

Dots per inch or pixels per inch are the units of measurement used by the output device quality of print.   It relates to the number of pixels or dots that a printer is capable of printing in each inch. For example, a print at 72dpi will have 5184 dots on one square inch or the paper (72 x 72).  It may also relate to the pixels or the dots per inch of an image that is scanned.

File Formats Print Making

General

A digital file’s information is stored in different kinds of file formats.  Either the formats are based in the application program that first made the file (.doc is a Microsoft Word file for instance) or a standard format that is understood by the majority of imaging programs (like JPG).  Some file formats will take the information and compress it so it makes files smaller.  This in turn helps to save storage space and better facilitates sending e-mails of the digital information.  However, during the compression process information is lost.  Examples of such formats include AI, EPS, JPG PSD, and TIFF. 

Fourdrinier Print Making

Equipment

Fourdrinier paper machines make the Hahnemühle natural paper.  The paper is created by the movement of a wire over many rollers which is applied to the saturated pulp.  Gradually the paper web is created.  Then the paper is removed from the wire and placed in the machine through natural felt rollers that in turn press and dry the paper in different stages.  The paper can be purchased in several surface textures and sizes.  Watercolorists often use the paper to paint on, and several kinds of printing processes use the paper as well. 

Gamut Print Making

General

Gamut is the range of hues that various kinds of ink sets or output devices can process and make particular hues in a particular range. 

Giclée Print Making

Product

A giclée is a digital print that results from a digitalized image exported from a computer to an inkjet printer.  Often a giclée refers to a fine art print or a limited edition printed on archival quality paper that is coated.  The pigment inks used to make the print are UV stable.  In order to be considered a “giclée” a print needs to stand up to Fine Art Trade Guild standards. 

 

Hand Embellished Print Making

Technical

A way of painting onto a printed giclee edition.  An artist needs to decide which areas should be highlighted in order to make the texture of the print as close to the original as possible.  Metallic colors that cannot be reproduced may also be picked out by the artist to paint onto the print. 

Hologram System Print Making

Technical

A system Hahnemühle designed in order to make sure that artists’ prints can be authentically recognized and that the prints are not copied.  The system involves an alphanumeric hologram that is attached to the back of a numbered print.  The same number is also placed on a certificate of authenticity. 

Intaglio Print Making

Technical

Intaglio is a printing process that involves making an image through the use of a metal plate being scratched on its surface or being bitten with acid.  Once the plate is inked, it is worked into the regions or bitten lines – filling them up.  This in turn makes the image be in reverse when it is applied to paper as it rolls through the press.  Intaglio includes a variety of processes such as photo etching, aquatint, dry-point, engraving and mezzotint.

Iris (printing) Print Making

Equipment

An iris is a particular kind of inkjet printer; originally it was used to make reproductions of artwork on fine art papers.

IT8 Print Making

Technical

IT8 refers to a range of color targets for color characterization of various media and devices (like printers and scanners).  It functions as a means to create color profiles in order to achieve consistent color on various types of paper.  IT8 is the standard color reference tool used for calibration input and output devices by the printing industry.

Lightfastness Print Making

Technical

Lightfastness refers to the degree that pigments, dyes and paints alter their color or fade due to exposure to UV or daylight heat, alkalis, or acids.  The estimate lifespan of a print may be found by certain tests, like the Wilhelm Laboratory reports or the Blue Wool Scale.  A print’s lightfastness may be impacted by various factors including the paper and ink used.  Some inks fade much faster than others.

Lithography Print Making

Technical

Lithography is a four-color separation high volume printing process with ink.  It is the most efficient form of photomechanical reproduction.  An art piece is first scanned and then divided in the CMYK color channels on four printing plates.  The printing plates are printed one after the other in order to make a full color image.  At this point individual colors are added on more plates to order to make special effects like a varnished area or gold ink.  These special effects cannot be created from CMYK in the normal Pantone range.  They are known as spot colors.  Nowadays artists may continue to use stone lithography to make their artwork.  However, by hand the process takes much longer.  The main technique for either method involves grease that rejects water.  The grease areas will stay white and the rest of the areas will take on ink (and hence will print). 

Mould Made Paper Print Making

Product

The Hahnemühle mould made papers are ideal for maintaining brightness and the flow of color.  The paper is excellent for watercolor as well as tempers, lavis, gouache, pencil and charcoal drawings.  The paper is made on a cylinder mould-made machine.  Once it is created it is put through natural felt rollers.  The paper has a soft surface texture and may range from 200-600gsm.

Pigment Ink Print Making

Product

Pigment inks are pigments of color that are ground vey finely and then suspended inside a liquid in order to create an ink.  The pigment creates a lightfast material or ink that is more resistant to fading.  Pigment based inks being made today may be over one hundred years lightfast.  However, the lightfastness is determined by various factors such as the paper type, the storage conditions, and the place producing the ink. 

Platemark Print Making

General

A platemark is simply an indentation that occurs at the edge of a printed image.  It results from the plate pushing itself into the paper while it passes through the printing press.  These kinds of impressions are made in etching and intaglio print processes in which that image is on a metal plate.

Profile Print Making

Technical

A profile refers to a particular color setting used with various papers and ink sets.  It is used to make the appropriate color reproduction of an image.  It changes one color space into another color space.

Resolution Print Making

Technical

Resolution refers to the amount of information that a scanned image contains.  Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi).  The dots are the pixels that create the digital image.  A resolution of 72dpi signifies that in each inch of the image there exist 5184 pixels (72 x 72) in every square inch.  Dpi is also known as pixels per inch (ppi) as well as ‘res’ (the metric resolution for each millimeter). 

RGB Print Making

General

RGB stands for red, green and blue.  It is a color system frequently used in digital printing.  This is a color system that may not be used for planographic printing (like lithography).  During the printing process, light magenta, light cyan, an additional black and often green and orange are added as well in order to lend a broader color range and an enhanced tonal gradation.  Light is made up of the primary colors of RGB – they are not the same as the primary colors of the pigments in inks and paint.

RIP Print Making

Equipment

RIP stands for raster image processor.  Raster images are not created from bitmap grids (as opposed to vector grids).  The process of transforming digital and mathematical information to dots through the use of an output device is called rasterisation.  An RIP assists in making images bigger in size while maintaining the pixilation of the image.  For color management reasons, ICC profiles may be joined to the RIP software.

Scanback Print Making

Equipment

A scanback is a professional back for large format studio photography.  The majority of scanbacks can make files of 300 – 500 MB.  They are scanned right onto a computer.  The drawback is that they are very expensive and to make them requires a person to have extensive photographic knowledge.   

Serigraph Print Making

Product

A serigraph is a term describing silkscreen prints or prints that contain flat color that is layered to create an image.  Since each color needs a different screen, serigraph is an expensive process to make a limited edition.

Workflow Print Making

General

Workflow refers to the total system of printer, paper, scanner, monitor, and software that involves each item being set to work with the other items.  Workflow makes for efficient and accurate color management.