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Flake:
Heres the relevant tidbits from the link Xiaou kindly posted:
"Stern also uses a 4-color process for their cabinets and playfields. Some people complain about the dithering on the cabinet artwork caused by this process. Dithering is however nothing new, as Williams cabinets also used gradients and were using a 4-color process on which you can also see the small dots when you look closely.
The difference is that because Stern uses more photo-realistic artwork, dithering can be quite explicit (using all 4 colors) and depends on the source used. Williams used more hand-drawn artwork with solid colors and gradients, dithering was more subtle (only 2 colors) and kept under control by the artist as he made the whole drawing himself."
Seems to me the only difference is Stern uses more photo prints rather than original artwork. Doesnt seem like much of a difference to me but what the hell do I know?
billpa:
First off...Xiaou needs to stop pretending he knows anything about printing "technologies". Anyone that uses the terms CKMY and RBG is obviously clueless. After that line, I stopped reading the rest of your post.
Stern does use screen printing...but they use a process technique as opposed to spot color. Process typically involves 4 colors Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black (thats CMYK Xiaou...although K does not stand for Black but for Key...not enough time to teach you everything). An image is separated into these 4 colors (tinted). The tint is made up of tiny dots that are placed at different angles. Then they apply these screens one at a time overprinting eachother. This composite image makes the complex tonal values possible. But it is a bit of a trick. If you look closely you can see the individual dots or as someone else posted...dithering. But last time I checked my face wasn't 1 inch from the playfield when I am playing.
Halftone is a type of process printing using only one color. So the newspaper reference is correct. It is a cheap option...one color ink and done.
Someone else posted about Wiliams using process printing...but look closely as it states their cabinets...not their playfields. They used spot printing for their playfields...definitely more costly as you need to mix each individual color and there are more screens. And good call on the thick black lines PBJ...that is definitely a technique to hide a lack of technique :D
I prefer the spot colored cartoony artwork over the photoshop collage type design Stern uses. However, I completely understand why they use it. To cut costs. They can use all of the licensed photography and a printing process that only uses 4 colors. Overall I think they look pretty good although I think they could have a little bit more QC when their stuff goes out. I have seen a few alignment issues with playfields...Family Guy comes to mind.
I don't really understand the Stern bashing. It's the last pinball company standing and they have put out some good titles (and some bad...but what company hasn't?). I think the most disturbing trend I have seen is people wanting to see Stern fail so another company can step up and build better pins. Um, why can't a company do that now? Oh yea...because pinball itself is pretty dead and the amount of money to invest in an operation like that is incredible...and it would be financial suicide.
RayB:
--- Quote from: billpa on August 04, 2010, 10:47:40 am ---First off...Xiaou needs to stop pretending he knows anything about printing "technologies". Anyone that uses the terms CKMY and RBG is obviously clueless. After that line, I stopped reading the rest of your post.
----8<----
Halftone is a type of process printing using only one color. So the newspaper reference is correct. It is a cheap option...one color ink and done.
--- End quote ---
Well, the newspaper reference is not correct as it was stated. Not "only" newspapers use it. Just look at the side-art of many classic machines and you'll see half-tone patterns used to create gradients and optically blend two colors etc. (So you can save money by using only yellow and red, but get the optical illusion of an orange via the halftoning)
ANYWAYS.......... brevity; It's a great thing. Bye
billpa:
Yes...exactly! That is how gradients are achieved with spot printing. I believe playfields even have that technique. Funhouse comes to mind but I am sure there are a lot more. They could also tint a specific color by creating a dot pattern. For example...a blue color could look light blue if it was printed in a dot pattern over white ink. Your eyes naturally blend the details together to create this intermediate color.
RayB:
<offtopic>
Are any of you old-time graphic designers? Do you remember using those Letraset dry transfer halftone patterns? Oh those were the days! LOL
</offtopic>
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