Three Color Printing

Theoretically it is possible to produce an adequate range of colours using just Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. However, three colour printing may also refer to the use of either.

• Three special inks or
• Black combined with two special inks

The Four Colour Printing Process, which is a system rarely used today, uses a black plate to add shade and depth reducing the amount of ink required.

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Four Color Process Printing

Four colour process printing is the most common system for producing full colour print. In fact, the vast majority of magazines and colour books are produced using the four-colour process.

Originally the artwork and originals had been separated using filters and four printing plates were produced.

The four colour process printing consists of four ink colours namely, Cyan (Blue), Magenta (Red), Yellow and Black and is often referred to as CMYK. The inks used for four colour process printing are translucent due to which they can be overprinted and combined in a variety of different proportions to produce a wide range of colours.

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Advantages of Offset Printing

There are many advantages to offset printing namely:

• Economical-It is less expensive, especially when there are large quantities involved.
• Widespread Usability – It can be used on the widest range of printing surfaces, including paper, wood, metal, even leather.
• Ease of creating the printing plates.
• The paper does not have to be rated for the high temperatures and stress of either the copiers or laser printers.

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Offset Printing Process

The process of offset printing:

Offset printing has been the most common form of commercial printing for the last sixty years. The most important element of the offset printing process is a plate manufactured from metalor polyster. This plate carries the copy of the image to be printed. The process of printing takes place as follows:

• The plate is chemically treated so that water may be absorbed only by the non-image areas of the plate.
• The plate is next attached to a plate cylinder, which rolls past the water roller. At this stage, the water on the water rollers is absorbed by the non-image areas of the plate, i.e. the areas not requiring ink.
• The cylinder next rolls over the ink roller. At this stage, the ink on the ink rollers sticks to the areas of the plate that are free of water.
• The rubber surface on the offset cylinder takes the ink from the plate cylinder and presses it onto the paper, as it is being rolled between the offset cylinder and the impression cylinder.

The above steps are repeated for each color of the ink present in the publication, to achieve a crisp and professional print. Though the system of offset printing involves a complex process, the entire system of is extremely efficient and robust in its overall performance and output.

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What is Offset Printing

Offset printing is a printing process in which the inked image is transferred (ie, "offseted") from the plate to an intermediate blanket before being printed on the substrate. Following are the common terms you come across in offset printing.

• Opacity - This refers to the quality of being impenetrable by liquids or light. With paper, it refers to the ability to keep print from showing through to the other side.
• Opaque - In production it refers to a solution or paint used to block out areas on a film negative to keep them from being reproduced on the plate.
• Overprinting - It generally refers to printing an image over another impression. It also refers to printing a secondary color over a primary color in graphic arts work.

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