ID card printers produce printed plastic PVC cards are well known for their high quality photographic results. The printing process used by these printers is the dye sublimation printing process. The direct to card printing process involves the use of a thermal transfer ribbon. It transports the right amount of dye pigments to the card surface. The pigments are heated and bond chemically with the card.
Badge printer systems use a print ribbon consisting of yellow, magenta, cyan, black and clear panels (YMCKO). The YMC panels contain the dyes corresponding to the three colors. By heating a precise amount of each panel and transferring into the correct placement on the plastic card, thousands of different colors can be created and permanently adhered to the card.
The black panel operates a bit differently than the YMC panels. This panel provides a dense black print for text and barcodes. Then the O panel covers all of the printing from the YMCK panels providing a protective overcoat over the entire printed surface.
This printing process is produces by a printhead that contains hundreds of individual heat elements that are independent of each other. The printhead provides a various amount of each of the dyes released from each element so that the needed combination of colors combines to produce a sharp image on the badge. The dye is heated with the printhead so that it turns directly to vapor bypassing the liquid phase. The print process is clean leaving little residue as in other printing processes involving a liquid dye. An example of this is inkjet printing. Inkjet printing results in a tight group of colored dots. When looked at from various angles, it is possible to see the colored dots, called dithering.
The ID card printer process allows gradual gradation at the edge of each pixel so that a hard line is not noticed. The color and card material bond which helps to reduce fading possibilities in the future. Cards printed with this technology are colorfast and do not fade easily. A more important advantage of this printing is the colorful, photo realistic results that a card displays after printing.
When using ID card software to design a custom card, it is important to realize that the picture you see on the monitor is not necessarily the same exact color that is printed on the card. The printer monitor will even display different color than another monitor. The colors printed on the card are also not the same as using a professional printing machine. You can not easily plug in RBG numbers and have that exact print color result. This type of printing can be adjusted through the software or through the printer settings so that a color turns out lighter or darker than the original result. By playing a bit with the settings, you can achieve a color extremely close to the perfect graphic color that you receive from item sent to your professional printing company for your marketing and communication efforts.
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Tue, Jun 22, 2010
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