Current State of the Art
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What used to be a market limited to signs
and banners that were viewed from a distance and
consequently did not require high resolution, now has
expanded to include color proofing, fine art reproduction,
posters, packaging, and displays (Terra, 1999). Increase in
printing resolution is mostly the cause of this expansion.
Another cause has been the addition of more colors. Top of
the line printers now print with six colors (cyan, magenta,
yellow, black, light cyan, and light magenta) to produce a
wider range of colors and better flesh tones. Some also
offer an option to output a varnish to protect outdoor jobs
(Terra, 1999).
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Industrial printers use wide-form printers with a bed width between 24 inches to 73 inches or more. This gives the designers a much larger surface to work with, although the printers still require some margin to "grab." Most industrial printers use web, or roll, feed although some do use sheet feed in addition or instead of web feed (Terra, 1999).
Even though you can buy an inkjet printer for home use for $100, do not be fooled into thinking industrial printers are cheap. ENCAD sells industrial printers for anywhere between $1,600 and $22,000. Add to the cost of that your inks and substrates. The cost to print on one of their printers runs between $0.30 and $6.11 per square foot depending on the ink and substrate. In some cases you will have to upgrade the memory on your computer to handle the raster image processing (RIP) if it is not included in the printer (ENCAD, 2000).
© 2000, Patricia Watson