How New Technology Can Improve Architectural Prints
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Architects, contractors, and other professionals who regularly deal with blueprints know how important a high-quality print job is. It’s hard to underestimate the value of architectural prints, since in many cases these documents are what convince clients to give the final green light on major projects.
In an industry where seven-figure construction contracts rely on a single document, there is simply no excuse to deliver anything less than a perfect print, on-time and in immaculate condition, to your clients. This is a fact of the architecture industry as a whole, and it applies with just as much force when dealing with smaller projects – the need for top-quality printing remains a constant.
There is more to architectural printing than creating blueprints. You may need to perform any number of services with calculated precision and professionalism for your clients. Some of the most common services include:
- CAD Plotting
- Scanning
- Rastering or Vector Scanning
- Image Reduction or Enlargement
- High-Speed Plotting
- Printing and Binding Specification Books
- Archiving and Storing Plans
In each case, you need to rely on high-performance hardware to get the job done right. New technology makes creating high-impact architectural prints easier and most cost-effective than ever before.
Eliminate Obstacles Common to Architectural Print Processes
There are many cases where production bottlenecks occur in the architectural print process. For instance, consider the process of scanning and distributing copies of plans that have already been marked up with revisions and other notes.
In many situations, it is simply not possible to reliably scan a large-format document of this type unless it happens to be printed on regular paper – which is rarely the case when it comes to high-impact documents like architectural prints. Usually, the prints will be on a thicker material, like Tyvek or polypropylene.
If that is the case, then contractors may run into trouble trying to distribute the revised versions of planning documents because the material is too large and too thick for most commercially available scanners. New advances in color scanning circumvent this obstacle.
Our color scanner can transform a 54-inch architectural drawing to a digital file in a variety of formats at 1200 dpi. The scanning process works on original materials up to half an inch in thickness – making it ideal for everything from architectural prints to mounted artwork and even paintings.
This is the kind of problem-solving that printer manufacturers like HP solve with their new large-format printers like the HP Pagewide. The HP Pagewide offers high-performance printing in an affordable format, making the creation of architectural documents easier than ever before.
Importantly, the Pagewide is not exclusively a large-format printer. It is a powerful multifunction device that can handle high-volume document scanning and printing alongside specialty jobs like architectural prints. Affordable large-format printing and scanning is now an achievable reality for architectural firms, construction contractors, and more.
Modern Materials Offer Greater Durability and Affordability
Print materials offer another key area for contractors and architects to consider new technology. Traditionally, bond paper was the material of choice for architectural drawings, but it did not take long for the shortcomings of paper to become very clear.
Paper is a fragile material that requires a surprisingly large number of conditions to be useful. It turns back into pulp when it gets wet, yet it becomes brittle and cracks when not exposed to enough humidity. It responds similarly to differences in temperature, and it decays in the presence of light, oxygen, and acidity.
These factors make paper poorly suited to any construction site. As a result, contractors quickly moved on towards polyethylene fibers like Tyvek. However, Tyvek is half a century old and comes with its own set of unique drawbacks.
What architects and construction companies need is a print material that is durable, waterproof, widely compatible with large-format printers, and affordable. We have polypropylene print media that offers Tyvek-like durability but with far superior touch-response – prints that feels like bond paper but that are water-proof and tear-resistant.
We use polypropylene to create architectural prints that are lightweight, non-flammable, and resistant to tears, chemicals, and other environmental factors. Our polypropylene prints can get wet and dirty on busy jobsites without damaging the all-important data they contain – simply wash off the print with a hose and it reverts to like-new condition.
Want to know more about using state-of-the-art technology for architectural print reprography? Ask us and find out! You can also contact us by calling (800) 495-3175 to speak with a reprographics specialist.