Other screening options

[Farabomb]

I was asked by one of the higher ups about Stochastic screening today. We have enough issues already but I want to hear from the trenches how hard it really is to implement. I asked the pressmen and they have no clue. I looked and EVO doesn't have FM screening as an option but does have staccato. I also remember them talking about some special kodak only round dot.

I need the real truth about it. Is it a whole new world? Can we use our traditional tools or are new purchases in order? If there really a benefit or is it just marketing smoke?

[G_Town]

Staccato is FM screening, just a creo...or whoever the hell they are now brand name.

My opinion is if you are already having trouble with normal shit stay the hell away from it. Your pressman/press need to be perfect, it's less forgiving than conventional.
 
My opinion is it doesnt look a whole lot better than conventional 175 or 200LPI.

Run.

[David]

what he said.
We use Esko's version which is called Monet, same diff.

[tuff_gong]

That was the Flavor of the Month, then it was hybrid screening (combining stochastic with conventional). Stochastic gives your press ops very little leeway - run it at density or not at all. You don't hear so much about it any more....remember when hexachrome was the Big Thing?
We were going to try it a few years ago, but would have had to buy a separate license from Artworks. Not.

[G_Town]

Lol, at one time the owner was trying FM and Hexachrome, my ass still hurts thinking about.

[David]

Hi-Fi color

[Farabomb]

Wonderful. Well he does have the other partner's ear as of now. We do a fair amount of medical work where skin tones are important and I hear it helps with that. We also have presses from the 80s and one pressman that is going to have a kitten if he has to run something different.

The partner is pushing it as marketing tool, A "we can do this and they can't" kinda thing but I'm thinking the reason "they" don't do it is becasue it's not worth it. He insists  staccato 25 offers the same leeway on press that we have now but I'm not sure. I know he's getting his info from salesmen so I know that info is at least half bullshit.

You guys are running FM. Is that becasue management said so or you are getting better results overall?

[mattbeals]

http://qualityinprint.blogspot.com/2010/06/implementing-fm-screening-part-1.html

http://printplanet.com/forums/sheetfed-web-offset-discussion/23735-10-micron-stocatto/2

[David]

FM does smooth out the midtones  (skin tones are in that range), but...
it can look "noisy" when you use the larger FM (like 25). The smaller the micron, the harder it is to control. A 10 micron looks almost dot free, even under a loupe, but it's a PITA. We normally use  20 microns (with 2400 output res, it's really about 23). If you run 2540, you can hit the lower microns a little more accurately.

[DCurry]

He insists  staccato 25 offers the same leeway on press that we have now...

Not true. You won't be able to color correct on press.

[frailer]

We have Fuji's CoRes, which is a clever hybrid of conventional and FM. Under the right conditions, and given high enough input quality of images (GIGO), it really looks good. But, you need ideal and closely controlled press conditions, preferably in an air conditioned environment. (We are basically in a very large tin shed). Also, there was some difficulty in matching closely enough with Black Magic, at least with our current setup. This could well improve when we graduate to the new gen Epson/new inks. As people have stated, it increases quality under the right conditions, but increases the requirements to get it to look right.