page_title: Dye-sublimation printing
section_title: Applications
hierarchical_section_title: Dye-sublimation printing / Applications
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an example of how dye sublimation printers can pose a security and privacy threat. The used dye sublimation panels contain a residual image of the printed document, and are simply spooled up on the waste roll. Someone digging through trash finding a used cartridge would be able to unroll it and see everything that has been printed. thumb This is a work based on the following GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 Wikimedia image: This derivative work was created by Dale Mahalko. The image was printed with an old Sony UP-D2500 photo printer. The used dye panels were then unrolled and photographed on white typing paper with a Canon PowerShot A630, and the brightness and contrast of the panels adjusted with Corel PhotoPaint to make the residual image in each panel more obvious.
context_page_description: Dye-sublimation printing is a computer printing technique which uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as a plastic, card, paper, or fabric. The sublimation name was first applied because the dye was considered to make the transition between the solid and gas states without going through a liquid stage. This understanding of the process was later shown to be incorrect, as there is some liquefying of the dye. Since then, the proper name for the process has become known as dye-diffusion, though this technically-correct term has not supplanted the original name. Many consumer and professional dye-sublimation printers are designed and used for producing photographic prints, ID cards, clothing, and more.
  These are not to be confused with 'dye sublimation heat transfer imprinting printers', which use special inks to create transfers designed to be imprinted on textiles, and in which the dyes do indeed sublimate. These are done at lower temperatures but higher pressures, particularly in all-over print processes.
  For ID card printing, text and bar codes are necessary, and they are printed by means of an additional black panel on the ribbon.
context_section_description: Previously, the use of dye-sub printing was limited to industrial or high-end commercial printing. Dye-sub photo printing has been used in medical imaging, graphic arts proofing, security, and broadcast related applications. But nowadays, it is extremely popular in event photography and photo booths or kiosks that requires high speed, on-demand printing.
  Alps Electric produced the first quality dye-sub printers for home consumers in the $500–$1,000 price range, bringing dye-sublimation technology within the reach of a wider audience. Now there are many dye-sublimation printers on the market starting from as low as $100, especially postcard-sized mobile photo printers.
  The ability to produce instant photo prints inexpensively from a small printer has led to dye sublimation solutions supplanting traditional instant photos in some applications, such as with ID photography with a card printer.
  Several corporations  market desktop size units as stand-alone printers and for print kiosk and photo booth applications. Some of these units are based on generic printers. Some manufacturers, offer software development kits with their printers, suggesting that these companies hope to attract system integrators as a potential market.
  Desktop size stand-alone dye-sub photo printers are also being applied by social photographers in event photography. The units' instant print ability allows photographers to produce and sell lab quality prints immediately during the event they are attending, with a minimal amount of hardware.
  Dye-sublimation can also be used as an indirect printing process. Standard black and white laser printers are capable of printing on plain paper using a special "transfer toner" containing sublimation dyes which can then be permanently heat transferred to T-shirts, hats, mugs, metals, puzzles and other surfaces.
caption: Used dye panels retain a viewable image of the printed document, and an example of wasted dye that cannot be reused
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