Aqueous coating - a fast-drying, water-based, protective coating which is applied in-line on press to achieve a variety of finishes that offer higher protection than traditional varnish, and will not yellow with age like traditional varnish.

Computer-to-plate (CTP) - the process of transferring digital files from the computer directly to the printing plates used to produce printed material. Features of CTP include no film, rapid plate exposure / production, exceptional printed quality.

Colour Bars - a colour test strip, which is printed on the waste portion of a press sheet. It is a standardized (GATF-Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) process, which allows a pressman to determine the quality of the printed material relative to ink density, registration, and dot gain. It also includes the Star Target, which is a similar system designed to detect inking problems.

Colour Perfect System – Sundog’s on-site independent mixing station ink laboratory, managed by a pre-eminent ink specialist who offers custom ink colour creation/preparation, troubleshooting and immediate consultation.

Data Document Manager (DDM) - provides end-to-end print and document management services via the Internet. DDM is an easy to use, industry-leading, e-commerce solution that streamlines procurement and information management online.

Draw-down - A sample of ink and paper used to evaluate ink colors.

MetalFX® Technology - a revolutionary printing process that can be used to produce up to 104 million metallic colours in one pass of five colours. This enables the choice of an unlimited range of metallic colours, without the expense of multiple spot inks. Only Printers licensed by the engineering group at MetalFX can utilize this technology. Sundog is the licensed printer in Western Canada for MetalFX.

Staccato (stochastic) - Perhaps the easiest way to explain Staccato (CREO’s version of Stochastic) is to compare it against traditional screening technology. The difference between classical dot and stochastic dithering is much like the difference between AM (amplitude modulation) and FM (frequency modulation) radio.

In classical dot printing, the frequency of the dots is kept constant, and the gray or tone value is determined by the relative size or amplitude of the dot. Different sized dots are placed on a regular spaced grid to produce the desired effect.

In stochastic printing the dot size is fixed, and the spacing of the dots is changed to produce the desired gray or tone value. Since there is no fixed spacing of the dots, the LPI control is not applicable. The look of the image is different from classical dot images. Here are some advantages of stochastic printing:

• Good tonal reproduction
• Lack of grid pattern or moiré patterns