Here is where we take the film from our imagesetter or your supplied film and "strip" the film onto flats that are 30 inches by 40 inches. Allan and Mark are skilled in camera, combining film, stripping and platemaking.
The computer to film (CTF) process eliminates the stripping steps or hand assembling of film negatives prior to platemaking. The computer to plate (CTP) process completely eliminates both the film output and stripping steps. Both systems employ computers, software, RIP (Raster Image Processor), imagesetter for film or platesetter for plates. In either method, preflighting and film formats are particularly important in dealing with incorrect files, fonts, nested EPS files, missing or incorrect codes prior to output.
However, all material must be furnished or converted to disk otherwise additional negs for art or ads would have to be stripped or assembled on another flat as an overburn for platemaking. This results in making the CTP process unworkable.
Because of this and the vast array of materials supplied to us by customers, we have opted to utilize the computer to film process for now. As more materials are supplied digitally, we will add CTP.
The accuracy of the computer for imposing and placement of images and auto trapping at the RIP stage is superior to hand stripping and can produce digital color proofs enabling correcting/changes prior to film output. Once approved, the exact same file is sent to our film imagesetter. This is very important since it eliminates any possiblity of the proof output not matching the film output for platemaking. Our film output, matching our plate size, is internally punched in the imagesetter and requires it only to be pinned with a matching punched plate. If necessary, to incorporate material not on disk, an overburn would be required for additional film ads assembled on a separate flat and exposed on the same plate.