We output plates for several printers who do not have Computer to Plate devices in-house. We stock several sizes of plate for regular plate customers.
Our plating services may include imposition and trapping as well as proofing, if required.
For regular customers, we set you up with a dedicated FTP account where you upload your files and download your proofs. These regular customers have access to our RIP as they require, 24 hours a day. Rasterized proofs are generated and sent back to them so they may proof they're own jobs. In essence, we create for them a "virtual" RIP (raster image processor) where they can input files and receive proofs, and approve file to proceed to plate. These arrangements can be made with extremely competitive pricing on plates.
We have offered professional prepress services for over 17 years and continue to offer prepress-only services for those who must print elsewhere.
Most of our prepress work comes from publication and media companies who find the large printers too expensive or too inflexible to effectively handle small details. Once you use our retouching services, you will know the difference.
PDFs can be difficult to edit.
We have several PDF editing tools to correct and adjust the most difficult PDF files.
Many of our customers spend hours trying to fix things that take us only minutes to fix. Instead of fixing each page of a multi-page PDF individually, we can build automated actions to correct the same problem throughout the entire PDF saving many hours of work.
We can convert your native InDesign or Quark files into good quality PDFs. We can ensure the PDFs adhere to your specific standards or comply with PDFx standards.
This service is used by publishers to ensure that their files meet printer's standards. In the long run, a professional preflight saves time and money.
As printing becomes more personalized, the need for database integration is increasing. We employ 2 programmers capable of creating, modifying or re-purposing data to accommodate your print requirements. We can even help in the collection of data by creating web interfaces that interact with database servers. We are focused on helping get your custom data printed the way you need it.
If you need a list of numbers or letters to be generated in a specific pattern or randomly generated, we can create custom programs to build number or character lists to your specifications.
Custom list generation projects require 2-3 hours of programming (on average) and can generate millions of numbers very quickly. We could then provide you with those lists in electronic format or printed on your project.
We can print your envelopes in full color AND address them at the same time.
Variable text and images are possible on our digital presses. We have done projects ranging from name tags to invoices to custom book covers.
Our presses are capable of printing many types of coatings:
We routinely meet customer demands for "special" products.
Press Proofing Services are available for those customers who wish to see the most accurate proof possible. We create this type of proof for job that will see very long runs or that will be printed elsewhere. Customers will create a press proof at Imageworks (Canada), then have the actual print job produced in China - our press proofs are sent to China for color matching. While press proofs are somewhat costly, they are inexpensive in comparison to a long run job gone wrong.
Press Proofs are also common when a company is establishing a brand. We have done press tests where color critical choices need to be decided.
Approve your job on press.
We normally print jobs to specific ink densities. When specific tweaking is required, we brink the press to standard color and allow you to come in and make adjustments to suite your needs.
We do not like to "color correct" on press and as a rule, we don't do it. Color correcting jobs on press is difficult to do accurately, is slow, yields poor results and is seldom repeatable. We always advise our customers to perform all color correction in the prepress department and approve a proof before continuing on to press. Making color corrections in prepress allows for finer adjustments and allows selective adjustment versus the overall adjustments made on press. Where color is a concern, we like our customers to involve us in this process as we can usually save them much time and produce excellent results.
A final press approval is good for ensuring the job matches the proof and when fine adjustments need to be made.
