Gerber SupportGerber Thermal Printing / Spot Color
By adding the Thermal Spot Color printing module to the core Digital Factory product, Gerber users can take advantage of an open and improved digital output workflow. Digital Factory extends connectivity for Omega users while adding additional design and print capabilities.
- Open "native" Gerber™ files and print/cut directly to non-Gerber™ devices
- Print/cut from Corel™, PhotoShop™, Illustrator™ etc. directly to Gerber™ devices
- Spot color design and production tools for the Edge™ not available in Omega™
File Linking
This
is
an
example
of
a
linked
Illustrator
EPS
file,
using
just
two
spot
colors.
The
black
was
output
as
spot
black
and
the
other
spot
colour
was
output
using
a
duotone
colour
made
up
with
a
metallic
foil
on
top
of
a
green
foil.
Omega cannot import this file and print with spot foils.
Printing
complex
PhotoShop
files,
that
contain
special
custom
colors
(i.e.,
Pantone)
and
special
fills,
can
be
easily
done
in
Digital Factory
using
the Link feature.
In
a linked Ai
or EPS file,
you can substitute
your own spot
foils or duotones
(2 foils overprinted),
such that solid
fills and gradients
will print
with the substituted
colors.
Gradient and Bitmap Fills
Multi color gradients and special
fills can be printed in process
or spot colors.
The word HAZARD has been filled using a duotone, spot "square filled" gradient, so it will print using two spot colours (Kumquat and Bright Red).
The word STEEL was created by applying the Chisel Effect feature to the text. Then a bevelled shading effect was created by applying different gradients to the text fill and chisel pieces.
Spot Color Design
The
beauty
of spot
color designing
can be
taken to
the limit
with Digital Factory's
large assortment
of unique
spot color
design
tools.
In this design that uses tints of a single spot color, the "Metamorphosis" tool was used to create the elliptical blend in the background (100% to a 5% tint), with the 5% end colour offset from the center (up and right) to give the effect of lower left lighting.
Multitone Spot Color Bitmaps
A
powerful design tool that saves
time and makes spectacular
graphics.
In this design, the text "Reptile House" is composed of three spot colors. A full-color photographic image of an iguana was then added to the design. Rather than print the iguana using a 4-color process (making for a total of seven spots), the multitone bitmap feature was used to colorize the iguana image using the same three spot colors that were used for the text.
Prime by Object, by Tint, or as Global
Prime
objects color by color or object
by object, and control the
priming color, primer shrinkage
and prime tints with tints
of primer color, making prints
on colored vinyl something
to look forward to.
When printing long gradients (see gradient on right of image) you can make use of Digital Factory's trapping capabilities at the halftone level. To take advantage of this, the user can specify an amount to reduce the size of the priming layer ink dots (say 5%, to reduce the tint by around 5%), which causes the prime colour to be put down at a 5 percent smaller dot than the main foil.