Offline computer-to-plate

On-board direct plate making (computer to printing machine)

Direct printing (computer to paper/printing)

Computer proofing

Community technology preview (community technology preview)

Ordinary PS plate direct plate making technology, namely CTCP (computer-to-plate).

Who put forward CTP and when?

The concept of CTP originated from the idea of 1978, an American, but due to various reasons of technology and plate, CTP really developed in the 1990s. The first large-scale appearance of CTP was at the 1995 DRUPA exhibition in Germany, and it developed rapidly afterwards.

[Edit this paragraph ]CTP (computer-to-plate)

The CTP system discussed here is computer-to-plate system. CTP is a digital printing plate imaging process. CTP direct plate making machine is similar to imagesetter in structure and principle. Plate-making equipment is directly controlled by a computer, and it is scanned and imaged by laser, then developed and fixed to generate a printing plate that can be printed directly on the computer. Computer-to-plate adopts a digital workflow, which directly converts characters and images into numbers and directly generates printing plates, thus eliminating film materials, manual imposition process and semi-automatic or full-automatic printing process.

The classification of CTP (computer-to-plate) system can be divided into four categories: inner drum type, outer drum type, flat plate type and curve type. Among these four types, inner drum type and outer drum type are the most commonly used; Flat plate is mainly used for large format plates such as newspapers; The bending type is the least used.

From the plate variety, it can be divided into: silver salt plate, heat-sensitive plate (ablative heat-sensitive plate, non-ablative heat-sensitive plate), photosensitive resin plate and polyester plate (nonmetallic plate base).

Technically, it can be divided into: thermal sensing technology (ordinary laser imaging), purple laser technology and ultraviolet light source technology;

From the degree of automation, it can be divided into manual stand-alone, semi-automatic, full-automatic and mixed (CTF- computer transfer film and CTP- computer transfer plate).

From the fixing way of printing plate on the cylinder, it can be divided into two types: full adsorption and intermediate adsorption. The first part and the second part are fixed by clips. There is no limit to the size of the plate by total adsorption, but the plate format used for clamping must have a fixed size.

In terms of application, it can be divided into commercial CTP system and newspaper CTP system.

CTP (computer-to-plate) technology appeared in 1980s. This period is the primary stage of direct plate making technology research. Therefore, neither the plate-making technology nor the plate-making quality is very mature during this period. In the 1990s, equipment manufacturers cooperated closely with printing manufacturers to speed up the research and development of this technology, and reached the level of maturity and industrial application during this period. Therefore, 42 CTP systems were exhibited at 1995 Druba Printing Exhibition. At Drupa2000, more than 90 direct plate-making system and material manufacturers from all over the world exhibited nearly 100 kinds of products.

[Edit this paragraph] community technology preview

In fact, the community technology preview also means beta. Before the product is released, people can browse or test it to get technical exchange.