What is the difference between offset, digital and silkscreen printing?
Offset printing is a technique whereby ink is spread on a metal plate with etched images, then transferred to an intermediary surface such as a rubber blanket, and finally applied to paper by pressing the paper against the intermediary surface. Offset printing is used to produce large volumes of high-quality documents (150 line screen), often in process color (CMYK), where multiple jobs are printed together in a run. Although the equipment and set-up costs are relatively high, the actual printing process is relatively inexpensive. Films negatives are required to produce the plates required for offset printing. Direct Digital Printing is commercial-quality printing in which electronic source files are processed directly on the printing press or printing system, rather than through analog steps such as film image setting and plate making. Direct digital printing eliminates conventional films and stripping to significantly reduce prepress materials and costs, and allows for significant pr
