How is this different from traditional printing methods like offset printing?
Offset printing, or offset lithography, requires extensive equipment and specialized operators. Printing presses are designed for mass production of printed material. As a result, offset printing requires substantial setup and the costs of this setup must be distributed among the quantity of printed materials. For process color printing on 11×17 paper, quantities of 1000 or more must be ordered before the cost per print begins to be linear versus quantity. Larger sized output requires less common and more expensive printing presses and film, driving up minimum order quantities substantially. Digital printing is cost effective in low quantities, with little or no tradeoff in quality.
