"We have been pushing the resolution issue to see how it affects roller settings, inks, plates, blankets, and fountain solutions etc. We were testing which blankets and inks, for example, could hold the dot. We pushed the platesetter, the thermal plates, and the press to their limits.
"We learned a lot from the higher resolutions so that at lower resolutions we can print better and sharper. This benefits everyone, our customers and us."
Wow! Where are the dots?
The poster, which features an artist's palette, paints and brushes, made its first public appearance in May at the 1999 Gutenberg Printing Show in Long Beach, California. Beta Industries used the poster to demonstrate its Video Halftone Analyzer that magnifies to a power of 800 times to enlarge and analyze the four-color process and dot structure.
"For the most part," says Beta's Siebig, "we use a 133-, 150- or a 200-line screen for our demonstration. At those screen rulings, people walking by quickly and easily recognize the four color dots: the yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Usually they say, '… wow, look at those dots.' " "However, when Faust's poster was placed under the Analyzer, it caused quite a disturbance at our booth. It attracted a lot of attention from passersby.
"The image on the monitor was unrecognizable to them. When I went into detail about how it was created and printed, people finally understood what they were looking at.
"I have a photographic background," he continues, "and when I first looked at the poster I thought it was a continuous-tone piece. Upon close examination, I began to realize the exquisite artistry and top quality craftsmanship which was required to produce this printed poster."
Quenzer also had a copy of the poster at their our booth at Gutenberg. "Our sales team was showing this poster to all our customers. Many of them left our booth looking at the poster and shaking their heads in disbelief."
"In all my years of printing, I have never seen anything like this," agrees Bruce Wells, customer business manager for Kodak Polychrome Graphics of Industry, California. "Faust has once again pushed the envelope of high-resolution, high-quality printing with the computer-to-plate system. I showed the poster to some of my printers and they could not believe that this was not some kind of FM screening or waterless printing. Once we got past that they were speechless, like I was.
"At Beta," says Siebig, "we have many roundtable discussions on the topic of quality control and the standards for the best-printed job. I personally must say that my standard has been raised. "I strongly believe Faust has ventured into new and uncharted territory. It might take some time for people to understand that what Faust has accomplished is unparalleled. It is companies like Faust Printing that help lead the technology push for the printers of tomorrow," concludes Kodak's Bruce Wells.
What is Faust's next challenge? "Now we are trying to print high resolution images on synthetics."