Large+Format+Printing

**Large Format Printing**


 * So what exactly //IS// Large Format Printing anyways?**

True to it's name, Large format printing (also known as "wide format printing") is.. printing done at a large scale.

It's done by a printer which can print documents that range from seventeen inches to more than one hundred inches in width. Printers over the hundred inch mark may be called **Super-Wide** or **Grand** format printers. These printers work similarly to desktop printers, but are significantly larger (hence the term "large format" printers).

These printers are used for a variety of project-types; such as black-and-white CAD (Computer Aided Design) printing, colour CAD printing, document scanning as well as specialty print jobs like banners, indoor and outdoor signage, wall murals, wallpaper, window and floor graphics, sandwich boards and vehicle graphics.

There are several advantages to large format printing over traditional press-printing, and among these is the fact that these printers can print on demand rather than by bulk. This can save a lot of money and prevent waste in supplies if you only need a handful of copies printed rather than an entire print run. This works somewhat the opposite of offset printing, where you save more money the larger the number of printouts created. This is mainly a result of the ease of use (and speed) of a Large Format Printer. The images printed on large format digital printers tend to be of a sharper, or higher quality and colour, though individually these prints cost more than other alternatives.


 * Now that we know what it //IS,// what it is //used// for?**

//**Advertising**// Large format printing plays a significant role in the advertising industry because of its high "attention-grabbing" potential. Demand has increased over the years with technological advancements, its high quality, and greater ease of printing. Large format printing allows for many high-impact forms of advertising, as shown below.

> politicians for name recognition in their campaign. Politicians also use yard signs, posters, rally signs and podium signs.
 * **Billboards**: super-sized displays that are normally located in high traffic areas, in order to be viewed by passing drivers and pedestrians. Billboards are very efficient because of its potentially high viewership, which depends on its location. They are also an effective advertising option, as they allow for creative adaptation via custom designs and extensions, for instance.
 * **Signs**: are generally used by businesses and politicians for advertising. Banners are currently the most used option for signs in the market today for both indoor and outdoor advertising, as well as promotion of events. They are also used by
 * **Transit Graphics**: includes advertising found on buses, subways, trains,[[image:http://www.usabuscharter.com/BusWrapTMobile_op_800x600.jpg height="158" align="right"]] taxis, as well as the shelters and terminals for some of the above. Panels are the most common transit graphic, but another form is bus wraps (shown on the right). All of these graphics are exposed to a large audience with a wide range of demographics, and can help build awareness through repetition.
 * **Vehicle Graphics**: can include vehicle wraps, mobile billboards and truck side panels.These are basically travelling billboards, allowing them to reach a large and diverse audience in a similar way that certain transit graphics do.

Large format printing also has many other uses outside of the advertising industry. A primary example is **art**, which can include original graphic designs or reproductions of pieces to decorate public places like libraries. Graphic designers may used large format prints of their works to be displayed at presentations and exhibitions. The high quality prints that large format printers produce exhibit the fine details that normal printers cannot. Hence, it is often used by engineers and architects, primarily for **blueprints**, which can include drawings and diagrams. Many high-scale events often use large format printing. **Backdrops** have numerous uses, such as attracting customers towards a booth at a trade show. They can also be used at concerts for visual appeal, and also in theatrical productions to "set the scene". It is crucial for theatrical backdrops to have the ability to be quickly assembled and disassembled quickly so the show can move in a timely fashion, and the advancements in large format printing allow this to happen.

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 * Technical aspects of Large Format Printing**

Large Format Digital Printing is a technique that produces prints directly from a computer file rather than a slide or a photograph, without going through some intermediate medium such as a film negative, colour proof or plate. It's generally used for smaller print runs due to it's quick setup and turnaround times.

Resolutions for images to be printed in the large-format work best at 150 DPI or more due to the size of the end product. To avoid pixelization, vector based images are preferable to raster based ones.


 * Here are some of the types of Inks used in Large Format Printers:**
 * **Aqueous:** //thermal or Piezo inkjet printers using an ink known as aqueous or water-based. The term water base is a generally accepted misnomer. The pigment is held in a non-reactive carrier solution that is sometimes water and other times a substitute liquid, including a soy based liquid used by Kodak. Aqueous ink generally comes in two flavors, Dye and UV (alternatively known as pigment). Dye ink is high color, low UV-resistant variety that offers the widest color gamut. UV ink is generally duller in color but withstands fading from UV rays. Similar in general principle to desktop inkjet printers. Finished prints using dye inks must be laminated to protect them if they are to be used outdoors while prints using UV inks can be used outdoors un-laminated for a limited time. Various materials are available, including canvases, banners, metabolized plastic and cloth. Aqueous technology requires that all materials be properly coated to accept and hold the ink.//
 * **Solvent**//**:** this term is used to describe any ink that is not water-based. Piezo inkjet printers whose inks use petroleum or a petroleum by-product such as acetone as its carrier liquid. "Eco-solvent" inks usually contain glycol esters or glycol ether esters and are slower drying. The resulting prints are waterproof. May be used to print directly on uncoated vinyl and other media as well as ridged substrates such as Foam Board and PVC.//
 * **Dye sublimation**//**:** inks are diffused into the special print media to produce continuous-tone prints of photographic quality.//
 * **UV**//**:** Piezo inkjet printers whose inks are UV-curable (Dry when cured with UV light). The resulting prints are waterproof, embossed & vibrant. Any media material can be used in this technology, polymer made media are best. Ceramics, glass, metals, and woods are also used with printing with this technology.//
 * **Pen/plotter**//**:** a pen or pens are used to draw on the print substrate. Mainly used for producing CAD drawings. Generally being superseded by digital technologies such as Solvent, Aqueous, and UV.//

//**Textile Large Format Printing**// Technology has made it possible for us to print on textiles using wide-format printers. Because of these developments, textile printing has opened new avenues when it comes to printing, and it is widely used in a variety of different fields. However, since there are many different kinds of fabrics used in textile printing, there are also many different printer inks used in printing on fabrics. These printer inks are meant to bind with the fibers of the textile so that the resulting printout would have a high level of quality as well as durability.


 * These are the common printer inks used for textile printing on wide-format printers:**
 * **Acid dye inks**. //Acid dye printer inks are primarily for fabrics made from animal protein fibers such as wool, mohair and silk. The base for acid dye inks is either acetic acid or citric acid. Acid dye can be toxic and should be used with absolute care.//
 * **Disperse dyes**. //Disperse dyes are used for printing on synthetic fibers such as acrylic fibers, nylon and polyester. Disperse dyes are called such because they require a dispersing agent to spread the dye over the fabric. High temperatures are usually required for disperse dyes to work.//
 * **Pigmented textile inks**. //Pigmented textile printer inks are mostly for printing on cotton fabrics. They are known for their durability even though they are not that good with rendering colors compared to dye inks. However, the newest kinds of pigmented textile inks coming out in the market lately are producing colors that are almost comparable to those produced by dye inks//.
 * **Reactive dye inks**. //Reactive dye inks are used for printing on cellulose or plant-based fabrics like cotton and linen. Heat is an important component in textile printing using reactive dye inks; it releases the colors in the dye and binds the dye to the fabric.//
 * **UV-curable textile inks.** //UV-curable textile works on a variety of fabrics. The printing process involves exposing the ink to ultraviolet light while it is being cured or dried. The UV light brings out the colors in the ink without releasing volatile organic compounds or VOCs into the environment.//
 * **Dye sublimation inks**. //Dye sublimiation inks are popularly used on various printing media, not just fabric. Dye sublimation textile printing works similarly to thermal printing in that heat is used to transform the ink from its solid state before it can be bound to the fibers of the fabric medium. However, the sublimation process bypasses the liquid state; the ink “melts” from the solid to the gaseous state and then solidifies upon the fabric.//

Many Wide-Format Printers are able to switch between textile printing and "regular" printing with merely a change in ink. There are so many different kinds of these printer inks because certain inks work only with certain fabrics or materials (or purposes!), and specific results are usually expected with a certain material-ink combination

Sources;

http://www.myofficeportal.org/who-uses-wide-format-printers-and-why.htm http://www.myofficeportal.org/wide-format-printers-a-beginners-guide-to-wide-format-printers.htm http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=wide-format+printer&i=54454,00.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-format_printer http://www.myofficeportal.org/what-printer-inks-are-used-for-textile-printing-on-wide-format-printers.htm http://tradeshowadvice.org/2011/04/04/what-is-large-format-printing/ http://www.largeformatphotography.info/digital-printing.html http://largeformatprintings.com/large-format-sign-printing/ http://www.oaicorp.com/backdrops.aspx