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Glossary Of Printing Terms [32]

D Deboss The act of pressing and image or seal into paper so it is indented and visible below the paper's surface. This is also referred to as tooling.
Decal A decal or transfer is a plastic, cloth, paper or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern or image that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water.
Densitometer A device that measures the degree of darkness (the optical density) of a photographic or semitransparent material or of a reflecting surface. The densitometer is basically a light source aimed at a photoelectric cell. It determines the density of a sample placed between the light source and the photoelectric cell from differences in the readings. Modern densitometers have the same components, but also have electronic integrated circuitry for better reading
Density In printing, density may refer to one of three things: 1) Ink - the thickness of the ink on the paper 2) Color - a color's ability to absorb reflected light, or prevent its emission 3) Paper - how loosely or tightly the fibers of the paper are woven together.
Density Range In printing, any non-uniformity in the density of a printed image, resulting from fading, discoloration, incomplete ink coverage, or other causes.
Die Cutting The cutting by machine of paper or card into shapes with sharp steel knives, such as in the manufacture of cardboard boxes
Diffusion Transfer Process Any of several document-copying photographic processes in which a facsimile of the original document is produced by development of a photographic image, by transfer by diffusion of the silver salts in the undeveloped areas to a receiving paper, and by development of the transferred image.
Digital Printing Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates. It also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even a modification of the image used for each impression.
Direct Digital Computerized commercial printing process in which electronic source files of the publication are processed directly by the printing machine without passing it through image setting and plate making steps. Used mainly in on demand printing.
Discharge Printing Also called extract printing, it is a method of applying a design to dyed fabric by printing a colour-destroying agent to bleach out a white or light pattern on the darker coloured ground.
Dog Ear A folded down corner of a book page. The name arises from the fact that wolves' ears stand erect while the ears of many breeds of dog flop over. A dog ear can serve as a bookmark.
Dot Gain Also known as tonal value increase, is a phenomenon in offset lithography and some other forms of printing which causes printed material to look darker than intended. It is caused by halftone dots growing in area between the original printing film and the final printed result. In practice, this means that an image that has not been adjusted to account for dot gain will appear too dark when it is printed.
Dot Matrix A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Every type of modern technology uses dot matrices for display of information, including cell phones, televisions, and printers. They are also used in textiles with sewing, knitting, and weaving.
Dot matrix printing Also impact matrix printing, it is a type of computer printing which uses a print head that moves back-and-forth, or in an up-and-down motion, on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print mechanism on a typewriter. However, unlike a typewriter or daisy wheel printer, letters are drawn out of a dot matrix, and thus, varied fonts and arbitrary graphics can be produced.
Dots-per-inch A measure of spatial printing or video dot density, in particular the number of individual dots that can be placed in a line within the span of 1 inch (2.54 cm).
Double Black Duotone Alternate term for double-black halftone printing.
Double Bump his term means that a press sheet is sent through the press two times so that the same color prints twice. Sometimes it is a percentage of the color on the first hit and 100% of the same color on the 2nd hit. This may be needed when extremely dense solid areas are required.
Double Burn Combining the images on two or more films onto a single film to create a single image. Artwork in which overlays are shot as separate negatives rather than as part of the mechanical. Requires at least two press negatives, which are burned together to make the printing plate.
Double Halftone In prepress, a lithograophic printing plate imaged from two separate halftone negatives, one providing the shadow and highlight regions (or, in other words, the two extremes of the tonal range of the image) the other providing the middle tone regions. A double halftone—not to be confused with a duotone or double-black halftone printing—reproduces with much greater tonal range than a conventional halftone. Also called a double-dot halftone.
Doubling A printing defect of offset lithography characterized by a faint duplicate of a printed impression out of register with the solid image, caused by prekissing, or the premature contact of the paper and the printing blanket before the true impression is made.
Drawdown Also known as pullout, it is one of three basic tests used to determine the accuracy of color matching and mixing processes, the compatibility of the various inks combined, the performance of the ink on the substrate, and the drying characteristics of the ink.
Drill A drill is a tool fitted with a cutting tool attachment or driving tool attachment, usually a drill bit or driver bit, used for boring holes in various materials or fastening various materials together with the use of fasteners.
Dropout Halftone dots or fine lines eliminated from highlights by overexposure during camera work.
Dropout Halftone A halftone containing specular highlight, or highlights which print with no dot. The term drop-out halftone also refers to any halftone photographed as line art; i.e., solely as black and white with no shades of gray.
Dry Back Phenomenon of printed ink colors becoming less dense as the ink dries.
Dry Offset Using metal plates in the printing process, which are etched to 0.15mm (.0006 in) creating a right reading plate, printed on the offset blanket transferring to paper without the use of water.
Dry Trapping In process color printing, the ability to successfully lay down a wet ink film on top of a previously-printed, dry ink film.
Dual-purpose Bond Paper Bond paper suitable for printing by either lithography (offset) or xerography (photocopy).
Duotone A halftone reproduction of an image using the superimposition of one contrasting colour halftone (traditionally black) over another color halftone. This is most often used to bring out middle tones and highlights of an image. The most commonly implemented colours are blue, yellow, brown, and red. Due to recent advances in technology, duotones, tritones, and quadtones can be easily created using image manipulation programs.
Duplex Printing feature of some computer printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) that allows the printing of a sheet of paper on both sides automatically. Print devices without this capability can only print on a single side of paper, sometimes called single-sided printing or simplex printing.
Dye Sublimation Sublimation is a process where an image can be printed onto transfer paper using dye-based inks and then with heat and pressure become transferred into the substrate. Dye sublimation on hard surface surfaces is possible if the surfaces have been coated. Instead of printing images directly on a surface, which may scratch easily, the image is infused into the coating to provide permanent protection and durability.
Dylux Alternate term for blueline, specifically when using Dylux paper.