Although 3M, as always, is doing it their way, the Certified Fabricator Starter Kit represents a departure from previous approaches. The latter consists of official stickers and window signs designed to enhance customer confidence in the warrantied graphic. According to Minard, the kit is part of a program that will establish regular educational communications and quality monitoring between fabricators and 3M. Also on display at 3M's PMA booth were graphics printed with the company's pigmented outdoor inks. 3M has been the only pigmented ink manufacturer to claim that their formulation could match the color gamut of dye-based inks. The graphics on display supported that claim.
Any observer can see that the thing is clipping right along.
Encad's newest line of mid-format inkjet printers will include the NovaJet Pro 60e, which the company says will boost printing speeds five to six times over its current models. Also shown, the PRO 42e. PROe series machines incorporate drivers for all three Windows platforms as well as a Power Macintosh print utility, which facilitates direct printing from graphics application software. As with the PROe series, the Chroma 24 accepts output directly from creative software programs. Raster Graphics breaks out a serious production model Also shown for the first time at DPI was the PiezoPrint 5000, Raster Graphics' new high-end piezoelectric printer.