December 2010

In the month December 2010 the cover and back page of the UK magazine Digital Printing, were enhanced on the Scodix1200™ DigitalEmbossing™ press. It was an exciting project for all parties involved. The full colour artwork was created in InDesign CS5 and supplied as normal PDFs. The 3,000 B2 covers were printed two-up on B2 offset by May Print in Tel Aviv. The DigitalEmbossing™ layer was then added by Eichut digital print in Rehovot near Tel Aviv. Once the job was finalized they were shipped to the UK were the cut and binding of the magazine was done by UK printing house, Buxton Press.

The inside page of the cover of the december issue of Digital Printer is dedicated to Scodix’ first UK printer who has installed the Scodix1200, RCS in Retford, Nottinghamshire. RCS managing director Michael Todd says he is always on the lookout for the next valueadding innovation. “The Scodix DigitalEmbossing™ press offers our resellers the chance to turn the tables and be the supplier with the unique advantage of an exclusive product which is in high demand”. To read the full story please click here.

The inside of the back cover of the december issue of Digital Printer is dedictated to Scodix’s UK distributor, Image2Output, based in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Mike Warnes, managing director at Image2Output says; “At image2output we concentrate heavily on answering our end users needs, helping them reduce costs and differentiate,” he explains. ‘I believe solutions like the Scodix DigitalEmbossing press are the perfect way for our customers to add real impact and value to their work and buck the recession. The printers we talk to know full well that in order to stay in business nowadays and be profitable, they need to get away from competing just on price, and this can only be done by investing in innovative products such as the Scodix”. To read the full story, please click here.

The digital version of the Digital Printer december issue can be read here. Below you can find some highlights.

Written by Simon Eccles, Editor Digital Printer

The Scodix1200™ DigitalEmbossing™ press is a purpose-built UV inkjet that can create 3D raised clear areas on practically any type of printed or laminated paper up to B2 format, applied to either or both sides. As the name suggests, the effect looks like die embossing, but there’s no need for metal stamping dies, so it’s cost-effective for very short runs, at short notice. Unlike traditional embossing, it supports variable data too.

The new press is a breakthrough that makes it easy and cost effective to apply visual and tactile ‘enhancements’ to almost any printed or laminated surface. ‘Printers are looking for ways to differentiate their services. Now the enhancement can be a differentiator, and that is what Scodix can give a printer.’

New creative ideas will doubtless start to balloon once designers understand the scope of the process. In the meantime obvious early applications will be business and personalised greetings cards, upmarket packaging, and covers for short run books, brochures, magazines and calendars.

Despite the ‘press’ label, the Scodix1200™ is actually a non-contact printer. It’s a sheet-fed inkjet with a moving head that moves from side to side across the sheet, building up the clear ScodInk™ fluid in layers. The maximum height is 70 microns and the standard finish is a very high gloss. However, the height can be varied smoothly between 0 and 70 microns, allowing the creation of multiple layers or texture effects. There are three maximum height settings too: 20, 40 and 70 microns, with full height variability within each. The finish can also be varied from matt to gloss by control of the clear artwork layer.

Creative design is the key to getting maximum impact from the process, he says. ‘One of the things we learned is that in order to give value the embossing has to be in perspective to the whole paper. If you apply the effect to the whole sheet, then it is lost. It is the 3D effect that creates the trigger for the people to be impressed by it.’ Less is more, basically.

https://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=twgprr&spid=-3#/page2/