Auraia DMS Reviews

After installing Auraia we noticed a clear improvement in printing quality and even our most demanding clients agree in acknowledging this. Compared to our previous attempt at improving quality using FM screening, Auraia gives us greater stability and repeatability during the printing process. Further advantages come from reduced drying time of our printed products, less ink smearing along the press paper path and an improved ink-water balance during startup and press runs. This new screening technology is giving us the opportunity to raise the bar of our printing quality and look at our market challenges with renewed confidence.

For nearly a year we have used Auraia screening to print around 90 percent of all our orders. The transition from conventional to Digitally Modulated Screening [DMS] proved very easy for us. We quickly realized that with controlled production curves, many problems of the past were resolved. Even during severe climate and temperature differences, there were no fluctuations in production. The prints remain stable from the first sheet to the last and the press needs fewer corrections than before. What we print from almost the first sheet is of a high quality. Reprints can be reproduced immediately, with no delay. A very important factor for us in addition to the color stability is also ink consumption. Due to the ever shorter timescales that we have to meet in production, it is important for us to be able to process the printed sheets in a timely manner. The prints produced with Auraia dry very quickly due to the reduced ink requirements and can be easily folded and further processed immediately after printing. We not only save with [reduced] paper waste and [reduced] ink on the press, but also in time during the entire production process. Another advantage of the Auraia screening technology is the printing of flat tints and gradients. The deteriorating quality of paper we have had to use since the 1980s produce flat tints that look cloudy, which often takes tedious discussions with paper and ink manufacturers to resolve. In contrast, Auraia prints flat tints on nearly all types of paper; even difficult shades are smooth and clean. This quality difference and high reproducibility is something we talk to many customers about. In order to offer our customers an even greater level of quality and to utilize Auraia in full, we will create a custom in-house color profile in the coming weeks, which will allow a larger gamut of the printing press to be used. In conclusion, we can say that since the switch to Auraia, production is more stable with higher quality and it is less time consuming, especially on press. The good quality is also reflected in our customer’s satisfaction.

Since I got involved into screening technology in 1984 using a HELL drum scanner I finally had the chance to work with Hamillroad and Auraia - which I estimate as the peak of whatever I get to know about screening in my life. Very good job, Hamillroad - Congratulations !!!

Since 2013, we deal with success to the revolutionary screening technology AURAIA DMS. The printing result is convincing with a very high detail and a fantastic brilliance. Images get an almost photo-realistic representation and colored surfaces appear printed as a spot color. In addition, we save about 20 percent of ink. We are completely satisfied and thus recommend the use of AURAIA DMS.

Like many newspaper publishers we strive to improve the value of our product to our readership and advertisers while reducing production costs. To that end we did a test of Auraia II DM screening in one low risk newspaper section in December of 2013 - just ahead of all the upcoming Christmas advertising. The test lasted just one day. The results were so impressive that we completely switched the entire paper over to Auraia and haven’t looked back. Our advertisers and advertising sales people love the photographic quality we’re getting on press. Our press people are amazed that they can deliver this level of quality so easily on a daily basis. Auraia has also been a big help in reducing mis-registration on the light-weight newsprint that we have to run. Even if mis-registration happens the images still look as if they’re in register so wastage has also been reduced. Overall it’s been a great transition for us and has really opened a lot of eyes here as to what the capabilities of an ‘old’ press really are.

Star Press, located in Wainwright, Alberta, is primarily a printer of small community newspapers using UV inks. Recently we started feeding our Kodak Trendsetters digitally modulated screening (DMS) through a new version of the Harlequin RIP. We were concerned about our leaving the 100 dpi round dot world of printing on newsprint for this new approach. To start with we had difficulty getting the screens to lay down smoothly, but once we switched to a different blanket (a harder, but similarly-priced blanket which holds detail much better) and fine-tuned our roller settings, we were (and still are) delighted with the results! One of the advantages of running UV on our newspaper press is that we are able to print on glossy paper as well as newsprint and we wanted to expand our product offering into that field. We knew we would have to do better than a 100 line conventional [AM] dot to get acceptance on glossy paper. The DM screening has allowed us to produce much better quality from our older newspaper press than we had expected. For us, Auraia II - DMS was the final piece of the puzzle to allow us entry into this new market. In addition, although we find it difficult to measure ink consumption because of our increase in workload, we have noticed that since we started using the DM screening our monthly ink costs have decreased noticeably while our sales and production have increased. Given the higher cost of UV inks and the increased workload, this decrease in ink consumption is significant for us. Overall, the ROI on this product has been swift -- in less than 6 months this product has already paid for itself!

The quality differences are what strike you first of all. The pictures look like they are HD (High Definition), really smooth with lots of detail. Other graphics are also highly improved, tint panel edges are smoother, flat tints are flat and graduated tints almost continuous tone in appearance. With lots of advertising in the papers we print, the clarity of reversed text on any colour is fantastic, even in small type sizes. If the client wants their publication on a higher quality stock it looks even better! On very small pictures, especially people's faces, you see more detail. Adverts which feature product images like supermarkets for example, you are able to easily read the text on the product boxes. DM Screening is much more tolerant to mis-registration, so it helps if we have a problem with that. I'm really pleased with DM Screening and the quality I'm able to give our customers.

We thought we achieved the highest level of newspaper printing. However when DM Screening technology was tested we realized that our production can really go beyond our limits. When examples of DM Screening were shown to the leading regional newspaper, they immediately wished to print all their editions with DM Screening only. Currently, we converted all our newspapers. After DM Screening, we started to save about 10-15% of ink.

We started to use DM Screening screening nearly 6 months ago, all newspaper images appeared much finer and very close to magazine-like quality. Since then, we have gained new customers as we achieved exceptionally high level of newspaper printing compared to other printers in our region. We see moire-effect is eliminated and flat tints became even smoother. We see mud often caused with much inks is disappeared, so this is a good sign that ink-savings feature of DMS works.

Thanks to Auraia-II we can work with our web presses in jobs never dreamed before. Also we have gained access to the high quality market with our sheet-fed offset presses in a smooth way, without any problems or delays in production. I'll never think of using an FM screen again. The DM screen Auraia-II is truly revolutionary, achieving a never seen before printing quality with great ease and an impressive control over the printing output.

We have been impressed with the characteristics of the screen on the press. Using a 2 colour press for 4 colour work adds the challenge of paper stretch and maintaining register, the DM screen has more latitude for movement whilst retaining excellent quality.

Crystal Media's move to Auraia screening was originally driven by the necessity of finding a way to extract more than the traditional 200 line screen from our Agfa Azura CTP system. The Azura system is very environmentally friendly but when jobs called for more than 200 # we were up against it. In addition to the standard type of offset jobs, Crystal Media prints 3d lenticular using standard inks and drying was also becoming a problem with the amount of ink that was being put down on the plastic lenses. Traditional stochastic screens helped the situation but it wasn't until the implementation of the series one Auraia screening that we got the results we were after. The Auraia screening allowed us to increase our effective screen rulings to in excess of 300 line screen and we put down lots less ink ! The quality and sharpness of the print was immediately noticeable and was picked up by our clients who commented that the printed jobs were very sharp and crisp. The improvement in screens and vignettes was also very evident. Whist the bit maps created by Auraia look unusual, the printed results speak for themselves. Crystal Media has recently upgraded to the latest Auraia II screening and whilst we thought it impossible, the results are even better! Auraia screening is the answer to your prayers if you are looking to get the best results possible from your CTP equipment. It consistently produces printed results of a quality far in excess of what you might think possible using traditional methods. Crystal Media is currently printing jobs that look like 400 line screen on plates that are only rated for 200 #. Auraia II, its got my vote.

Since early January we are printing not only La Voz de Galicia (100,000 copies/day) but ABC (12,000 copies/day) and Sport (9,000 copies/day). ABC and Sport are national wide newspapers, we print only a small amount of the total copies, but the ones with the best quality. What to say about Auraia. It´s easy to use: platemaking is easy, no problems while printing, no problems with dot reproduction. It increases the print quality. Readers and advertisers like more Auraia printed copies than conventional 100dpi copies - it manage better badly registered copies, negative texts, text on photos. Auraia allows our image department to increase the resolution of images. We really can appreciate the difference between our common images with 200dpi and the enhanced ones with 578dpi. It is really amazing what we can get with the same paper, ink and press.

When you look at the tints, they are so smooth there is absolutely no banding, no screening visible in it. And they look like solid tints, like solid flat colors. I'm very impressed with this.

As an experienced user of Auraia-II from its early development I really feel it's one of the industry's most productive advancements to be released in the CtP (Computer to Plate) market. In brief as a company, we see it as all the quality benefits of a hybrid FM screen without the problems associated with it. Typically we found any knowledgeable press or CtP technician will warn you of many problems with traditional FM screens, including hyper critical, time consuming plate processor and press settings, noisy flat tints and more potential for inconsistently in colour matching, where as for us Auaria-II delivers the quality print without any of the forewarned problems mentioned. Obviously as a quality and service driven printer we maintain the equipment to a good standard but we still use exactly the same plates, low chem. plate processor, press inks and blankets, and the press minder loves it, in fact it simply makes quality print easier and flat tints are amazingly smooth ('unheard of for FM screens') and press productivity is improved as a result. To date we have tested Auraia-II across a broad range of papers, both coated and uncoated, and the results are excellent, in fact on uncoated paper you could say stunning, as rosettes, dots or dot patterns are simply not discernable with the naked eye, a real fresh approach to printing uncoated where the norm in the industry is 150 or 175 lpi screen values for bond papers.

So, yes, I did get a chance to look at the samples, and yes they are most impressive. If indeed Auraia-II screening enables Violet CtP to do FM in a reliable manner then it has the potential to be a disruptive (for the better) technology.