Raster Graphics Announces Bellise Digital Picture Press; Production Speeds and Near-Photographic Quality Inkjet Printing for the Professional Print Provider.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 1999--

Raster Graphics Inc. today announced the Bellise(TM) Digital Picture Press(TM), a large format inkjet printer that delivers near-photographic quality at production printing speeds.

In High-Speed Mode, the Bellise can print at speeds of up to 40 square meters (more than 400 square feet) per hour, with an apparent resolution of more than 1,000 dpi (dots per inch). Raster Graphics, a member of Gretag Imaging Group's Professional Imaging Division, is demonstrating the Bellise in Stand G21 at PMA Europe.

The Bellise is a 54-inch wide production inkjet printer with 24 print heads (total of 3,072 nozzles) running six colors of vibrant dye-based ink. It can print on a variety of gloss, matte and backlit media, in a roll-to-roll configuration, for unattended printing and easy transfer to a finishing station. The ink reservoirs hold one-liter (33.9 ounces) bags of ink; the Bellise can print up to 465 square meters (5,000 square feet) from one ink set (based on 100% coverage). The standard 9GB hard drive enables reprinting without reprocessing, or printing of multiple copies, from the easy-to-use, graphics-based LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) touch panel.

High Throughput and High Quality

The Bellise offers three print speed modes to suit the needs of the service provider: High-Speed, Standard and Enhanced. In High-Speed Mode, the Bellise is capable of printing at speeds of up to 40 square meters (440 square feet) per hour, which is equivalent to nearly 40 one-square meter, six-color prints. In Standard, 4-pass production mode, the Bellise can print at speeds of up to 20 square meters (220 square feet) per hour; and in Enhanced Mode, it can print up to 10 square meters (110 square feet) per hour.

Three user-selectable resolutions are standard on the Bellise: 720 x 720 dpi, 720 x 360 dpi, and 360 x 360 dpi. By using the integrated ColorBlend(TM) technology, the Bellise can deliver prints with a higher apparent resolution of up to 1,440 dpi. ColorBlend is a six-color (Super-CMYK) technology that adds light cyan and light magenta to widen the color gamut, and provide overall smoothness and increased detail in light to mid-tone colors. This results in a higher apparent resolution: when running in 720 x 720 dpi mode, Bellise prints are comparable to 1,440 dpi four-color prints.

Engineered for Production Printing

The Bellise was designed specifically for production printing, and includes a number of technologies to ensure consistent high quality prints at production speeds.

Accurate Dot Placement: Accurate dot placement in inkjet printing is critical to achieving near-photographic quality. Current inkjet technologies can misstep as much as 20 microns, resulting in banding. The Bellise incorporates new technology to ensure accurate dot placement and media stepping to within +/- 3 microns, virtually eliminating banding caused by inaccurate paper feeding.

Auto-Gap Control: Controlling the amount of distance between the media and the printhead is also critical to achieving consistent, accurate dot placement. The Bellise incorporates technology that automatically adjusts for the height of the media, to optimize the gap and assure the best quality prints.

Variable Drop Size: The Bellise utilizes variable drop sizes at different resolutions to achieve near-photographic quality. Other printers offer a range of resolutions, but unless the drop size can be varied, they will just print more dots, closer together, in the same amount of space. Smaller dots for higher resolution give the user optimal output.

Hot Swap Ink Delivery: With this system, the user does not need to worry about running out of ink in the middle of a print. The Bellise uses one-liter, auto-coupling ink bags for easy, no-mess ink replacement. The ink delivery system uses an intermediate reservoir, enabling inks to be swapped on-the-fly. An early-warning system on the Bellise touch panel alerts the operator to a low-ink status, so inks can be swapped without stopping the printer. In addition, the Bellise will not begin printing a job when ink is low.

Media and Availability

The Bellise will be able to run a variety of familiar photo-based and paper-based media, including gloss, satin and synthetic film media, and backlit media, from 36-inches to 54-inches wide. The Bellise is expected to be available for first customer shipments in the U.S., in the fourth quarter of 1999. Onyx PosterShop(R), available separately, will be able to process files for printing on the Bellise.

About Raster Graphics

Raster Graphics Inc., a member of Gretag Imaging Group's Professional Imaging Division, designs, manufactures and markets large format color printing systems for the print-for-pay, large format color digital printing market. Its customers include graphic arts service bureaus, photo labs, screen printers, exhibit and sign companies, and in-house graphics services. Raster Graphics offers customers complete large-format color printing solutions including the Bellise Digital Picture Press; the Arizona Digital Screen Press(TM) outdoor-durable inkjet printer; the PiezoPrint(TM) 5000 production inkjet printer; the Digital ColorStation(TM) 5442 production electrostatic digital press; and related consumable products such as inks, Digital Varnish(R), and media. For more information, visit RGI's home page at www.rgi.com on the World Wide Web.