Revolutionary 3D Printing inspired by the movie Terminator 2

A TED Talk by Joseph DeSimone March 2015 - amazing.

You know that film is dead...

... when you have to say that what was being put into a camera is a roll of film as this clip from the recent "Sin City - A Dame to Die For" did because otherwise the modern audience wouldn't know what it was.

Weights and Measures Craziness

I was comparing the nutrition information of two bags of cheese at the grocer's today.
And noted that the information was based on the amount of cheese by cup and gram.
Somehow, although they are both using 30 grams as the measure - one has 30 grams being 1/3 of a cup but with the other the same 30 grams is 1/4 of a cup.
Hmmmmm. So what does a web-based converter say?
Apparently 1/4 of a cup isn't 30 grams - it's 59!
I give up.

You can't do this with a tablet or PC

The GeoBender Hypercube:

Beautiful and amazing. For more information click HERE 

Paper - from a most unusual and environmentally friendly source

Paper can be made from a variety of materials, but perhaps one of the most unusual and environmentally friendly is paper made from stones.
Stone paper is known by many names including rock paper, limestone paper, eco-stone, and synthetic paper.

How it's made

Stone paper is made with a mixture of about 80% calcium carbonate which is also used in the manufacture of conventional tree-based paper. The calcium carbonate usually comes from limestone, marble and other stones collected as waste material from existing quarries for the building and construction industry. The stones are ground down to a fine chalk-like powder then a small quantity (about 20%) of non-toxic resin (HDPE- High Density Polyethylene) is added as a binder for the calcium carbonate. Together these materials create a soft, smooth, bright white paper that is tough, durable and both water and tear resistant. The paper is chlorine free, acid free, and safe for the environment.


The ECO benefit

• One ton of virgin paper uses 20 trees, 36,000 BTU’s of energy, creates 16,000 gallons of contaminated waste water, uses bleach, and contains 20-30% calcium carbonate (stone).
• One ton of recycled paper uses 4 trees, 22,000 BTU’s of energy, creates 9,000 gallons of contaminated waste water, uses bleach, and contains 20-30% calcium carbonate (stone).
• One ton of stone paper uses 0 trees, creates absolutely no waste water, and uses half the energy of virgin paper and 1/3 the energy of recycled paper. Stone paper does not require bleaching chemicals and generates no air pollution.

Stone-based paper is recyclable with both paper and plastic. Since it is stone it is not biodegradable. On exposure to UV light, e.g. from the sun, and moisture, the High Density Polyethylene breaks down after about a year returning the calcium carbonate to a power form. Egg shells are 95% calcium carbonate and decompose in a similar way. The HDPE is also recyclable and has the number "2" as its recycling symbol. Much of household waste is sent to WTE (Waste to Energy) plants where it is incinerated, scrubbed of carbon, and ‘recycled’ into energy.  Even conventional paper waste ends up in WTE plants.  If stone paper ends up at a WTE plant it actually is a great contributor since it burns more cleanly than many other materials and does not produce toxins.

The calcium carbonate itself is the most abundant natural mineral on earth making up 70% of all minerals on the planet.  Mining and quarrying operations already existing in the world scrape away tons of calcium carbonate each year in an effort to get at the ‘more precious’ minerals.  This excess material makes calcium carbonate a great ‘filler’ for papers, plastics, some food products and many household products.

Stone-based papers are:

•  Water Proof

•  Grease Proof

•  Tear Resistant

•  Weather Resistant

•  An alternative to synthetic papers such as Yupo, Tyvek and polypropylene films

•  A great grease barrier

•  A great outdoors product (with the addition of UV blockers)

Some stone-based paper brands include: FiberStone® Natural Stone Paper, Terraskin, and Rockstock.

The Paper Circle

Submitted by Print Guide subscriber "Alois Senefelder."

Drupa 2012 - With a song in my heart

Like any major trade show - and the 2012 edition of Drupa certainly ranks as such - a stirring theme song is used to get everyone excited and motivated to attend.

Drupa's 2012 song is: "Get Ready to Succeed"


Drupa 2012 has even spawned a tribute "The Magic Of Drupa" by Alex Kunst and Laurel Brunner.

The previous show - Drupa 2008 had a similar dance-based beat with more words than you could imagine would fit into the tune of: "One World One Drupa"


To get an idea of how far the industry has come, one has only to listen to the painful theme from Drupa 1986:


Drupa 2012 takes place May 3 - 16, 2012 in the Düsseldorf Fairgrounds. If you're in the graphic arts you owe it to yourself to attend at least one Drupa in your lifetime.

Some idle time on the interweb

I recently spent a bit of time wandering aimlessly on the interweb, just following links to see where they'd take me. The web is really amazing - we sometimes take for granted how lucky we are to have it at our disposal.

A printer's invoice from 1936 showed up for sale on eBay:W.E. Baxter was a printshop located in Lewes, Sussex, England - the town where I lived when I was a little boy.

The invoice is made out to a Miss. Bradley and a bit more searching on the internet turned up this photograph of the young lady:
It appears the Baxters had ink in their veins. George Baxter (born July 31, 1804, Lewes, Sussex - died Jan. 11, 1867, Sydenham, Kent) was an engraver and printer who invented a process (patented 1835) of color printing that made reproductions of paintings available on a mass scale. He was the son of John Baxter (1781–1858), printer and publisher at Lewes, who issued the popular illustrated “Baxter” Bible.
The building in Lewes where they did their work is identified by this beautiful sign painted directly on the building wall:
And for those of us not fortunate enough to be able to visit the building in person, Google's Streetview provides a lovely vantage point with the W.E. Baxter building on the right center of the view:
Today the W.E. Baxter building houses rental accommodation rather than printing presses. The commercial print operation of W.E. Baxter moved from Lewes to a property in South London in 2002 but continued to experience losses. It was moved again in May 2004 to the nearby premises of Pegasus Colourprint where, as far as I can determine, it remains today.

In One Quarter of a Second on Press

Printing presses whether they're an older manual model (like the one pictured) or a modern computerized system, share one purpose in common - they must be able to lay down a film of ink with remarkable precision and consistency.

For a typical offset press, one ink tower delivering one of the four primary colors in full color printing lays down an image covering an area approximately 40" x 28". That image is formed by splitting a film of ink 4 microns thick (a tenth the thickness of a human hair) twice (plate to blanket then blanket to paper), while at the same time emulsifying it in a chemical solution (made primarily of water) to a depth of a few molecules. Too much water and the ink washes away. Not enough water and ink starts to print in the background. The ink is carried by approximately 19,250,000 halftone dots averaging in size from 10 to 60 microns. The final film of ink deposited on paper over the whole 1,120 square inch area of the image and is held to a thickness of about 1 micron (one fortieth the thickness of a human hair) with a tolerance of +/- one-tenth of a micron. The positional accuracy of the image is held within one-three hundredths of an inch - about 40 microns. All in one quarter of a second on press.

Kodak files Chapter 11

Ink and Paper - a video portrait

Film maker Ben Proudfoot has made a beautiful short documentary about two, next door neighbor shops - one a paper shop and the other a print shop - both struggling to survive.

Aardvark Letterpress
2500 West 7th Street
Los Angeles, CA
(213) 388-2271
http://www.aardvarkletterpress.com/

McManus & Morgan Paper
2506 West 7th Street
Los Angeles, CA
(213) 387-4433
http://www.mcmanusmorgan.com

Printers and Ink - wherever you go, there you are!

Printers Alley, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Ink Street, Carletonville, Gauteng, South Africa
Printers Alley, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, United States
Ink Wells Drive, San Antonio, Texas, United States
Printers Place, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Ink Road, Iowa, United States
Printers Lea, Balgrochan, United Kingdom
Ink Street, Rochdale, United Kingdom
Printers Lane, New Haven, Conneticut, United States
Ink Lane, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Printers Alley, Middlebury, Vermont, United States
Ink Drive, Redding, California, United States
Printers Parkway, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
Graphics Way, Lewis Center, Ohio, United States
Graphics Drive, Tinley Park, Illinois, United States
Graphic Way, Westerville, Ohio, United States

Is this blog being censored? And some housekeeping.

I found this graphic in my blog's visitor history (the company name is blurred out):
I know that this blog is censored in China so visitors from that region of the world have to use methods to get around the great firewall. But I didn't realize that companies in the west censored the site. Has this happened at the company that you work for? If so, I would love to hear about it and how you dealt with it. I'm also interested in how common it is for companies to censor their employee at work internet browsing.

On another note. Comments on blog postings are always appreciated. However, if the comment contains a link to a commercial web site I will consider it as spam - no matter how flattering the comment is.

And a reminder, if you find this blog of value then I'm sure you'll feel great by sending a donation. Don't be shy.

Steve Jobs has died

To paraphrase a line from one of my favorite movies: "The light that shines twice as bright burns half as long and he has shone so very brightly."

He spoke about death in his inspirational talk during his Stanford University commencement speech in 2005 which can be seen by clicking HERE.
A link to my 25th anniversary with the MAC can be found HERE

Things that make me go Grrrrrrrrrrr...

Not what I was hoping to post today...but...holy smokes, the Conrad Murray trial on the death of Michael Jackson has just begun and the high-priced lawyers for the man charged with the manslaughter death of Michael Jackson actually misspelled the King of Pop’s first name in a chart by Ed Chernoff, attorney for Conrad Murray. It was shown today to jurors during the defense’s opening statement in a Los Angeles courtroom. What has happened to basic proof reading?
Then L.A. prosecutors also ran into spelling problems during their opening statement. On one of the slides shown to jurors, the word “pronounced” was missing the second “n.”Jeepers, when a comma can mean the difference between "Let's eat, Grandpa." and "Let's eat Grandpa." shouldn't lawyers be more astute?

9/11 Remembered…

PRINT '01, with about twice the exhibit space of the largest Graph Expo and Converting Expo events, was scheduled to take place September 6-13 2001 at the McCormick Place Complex in Chicago. I was one of the CreoScitex team attending the show to display our wares and introduce, under my Value In Print initiative, its new consulting services.

I was staying at the W Hotel in downtown Chicago and, as was the policy of CreoScitex, I was sharing the room with a coworker. Because I had a presentation to do at the show early on the morning of September 11 I awoke about 6 am and decided not to turn on the television so as not to disturb my room mate. I took a taxi to McCormick Place and was quite surprised at how untalkative the driver was. But, after all I thought, it was very early in the morning.

Arriving at McCormick Place I quickly headed through the empty building to the CreoScitex "sales bunker" - the virtual office for sales people to use at the show. Scattered throughout McCormick Place are television monitors that are tuned to the news channel, with the audio off, when the show is not actually open.The scene that I saw on the screen just looked like a pair of giant smokestacks spewing plumes of black soot so I assumed they were doing a story on industrial pollution.So I continued on my way into the sales bunker.

In the sales bunker I tried, but couldn't get on the Internet to check my email. Then I tried to check my voicemail with my cell phone but couldn't get a signal. Frustrated, I proceeded to the CreoScitex booth. Walking through the exhibition halls I noted that many of the exhibitor's equipment was covered with American flags. So typical of the U.S.A. I thought to myself.

I arrived at the booth and started to organize myself for the presentation that I was scheduled to do later that day. A co-worker at the booth came over to me and asked: "Have you heard the news?"

It took a while to sink in. No presentation today. This would be the last day of Print '01.

I decided to walk back to the hotel - all the time trying to get a signal for my cell phone so I could call and let my wife know that I was OK and not to worry. It was two hours before my phone was able to get a signal and I could make the call.

As news reports started coming in there was talk of a jet en route to Chicago and that the Sears Tower might also be hit. As a result, most stores and restaurants were closed. Once back at the hotel, like many of my co-workers, I just wanted to get back home. The news was that all flights were cancelled for at least the next few days which meant that my return flight ticket for September 14 was no good. A call in to the CreoScitex travel agents revealed that we were on our own to figure out how to get back to Vancouver. Fortunately I linked up with a small group in the lobby of the hotel and managed to rent a passenger van - at a highly inflated day rate.

It took us just 24 hours to travel the 2,200 miles back home.

Like fine dust thrown against the wind, evil falls back upon that fool who offends the inoffensive, pure and guiltless.
- The Dhammapada

A Printer's Lullaby

Dwane Hollands, owner of Hollands Print Solutions (http://www.hollands.com.au/) is a sometimes music composer.So, I challenged him with the idea of creating a piece of music using the sound of a printing press to create the underlying musical theme. He chose the rhythm of a Heidelberg press (hear that sound by clicking HERE).

Dwane names his composition "Printer's Lullaby" (although I think it's more of a lament). He describes it in these words: "After a hard days work, those machines need to have a good rest at night. Excited from the day and all the adventures they've been through, they take a while to settle in. After they've drunk their warm milk and cookies and brushed their teeth, it's time for the Printer's Lullaby to get them snuggly off to sleep. Night, Night..."
Click on play arrow to view Dwane's 2 minute composition that I've enhanced with some of my photos taken at a few of the printshops that I've visited over the years.
You can listen to more of Dwane's compositions by clicking HERE

I see halftones everywhere!

Technically speaking, halftone screens are "tessallations" - patterns that cover a surface by the repeated use of a single shape, without gaps or overlapping. And since tessallations are popular decorative items - I end up seeing halftone screens everywhere. Here are a few from a recent trip to Seattle.

A classic Diamond halftone dot

An example of a high lpi traditional Square dot halftone

In contrast to a very low lpi Square dot

Waiting to cross the street I spot a mix of two halftone patterns
At first it appears to be a classic Round dot mixed with a more subtle Square dot halftone
But on closer examination it seems to be an exotic version of Esko's Concentric screening. Interestingly the pixels that make up this sidewalk halftone are round instead of the traditional square shape.

Walking past this building reveals a fine example of
Second order FM/stochastic screening.
Sometimes the final halftone screen is not visible, but instead, you can see the foundation for the halftone. Halftone screen dots are formed by a "threshold" array - basically a pattern made up of 256 shades of gray which determines which pixels are turned on to form the actual dot.
The tones of the granite pillar on this building

Make a great threshold array to create a
Mezzotint halftone (the right half of the photo below - click to enlarge)

The Flipback - challenger to the traditional eBook

The advance of technology is relentless. With the introduction of "Flipback" technology it may soon begin to erode the domain of traditional eBooks.

The Flipback format is a sideways-bound book with lie-flat binding and is sized to fit in a shirt pocket and optimized for easy one-handed reading.
Flipbacks are comprised of pages rather than bytes and pixels. Their compact size is made possible by the printing of words on wafer-thin onion paper, the same type of paper traditionally used for the printing of Bibles. Like the eBooks it may eventually replace, the Flipback is easily portable but, unlike eBooks, it needs no external power (except for physically turning the pages).

Could this invention kill the entrenched traditional readers like Kindle, Kobo, Nooks, etc?" Only time will tell if consumers are willing to adopt this innovation in reading technology.