Printing Glossary - Letter P

Technically, plugged describes A printing condition where there is a loss of dot reproduction. Here, the dots are not visible. It is a standard concept in printing.

Pocket commonly denotes A station on a gathering line. It also refers to cloth, paper, vinyl, or any material that is made into a pocket (with a gusset or without one) and attached to either the back or front cover of a book. The pocket here can either be made separately or affixed to the book cover after binding or it can be made over a lining sheet in a case. It relates to book assembly and durability. It influences section alignment and page longevity.

Within the trade, point thickness refers to Thousands of an inch measurement. It is a metric used for setup or quality evaluation.

In print practice, poor trapping means condition in wet printing in lithography and letterpress when less ink is transferred to previously printed ink on a paper, compared to an unprinted paper. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Porosity commonly denotes The porosity of a paper is the degree to which that paper has, air, or liquid permeation. The compactness of the paper fibers determines the porosity of the paper. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Positive refers to In photography, when the film containing an image has light and dark values that are the same as the original image, the film is said to be positive. The reverse of It is a negative film. It is a standard concept in printing. Usage varies with process and material.

Post-Consumer Waste (PCW) describes Indicates recycled materials which have been collected from end-users. This form of recycled material is preferred because it saves water and energy, it reduces the pressure placed on our remaining forest, as well as diverting solid waste from landfills. It is equipment used for production or quality control. Calibration is essential for reliable results.

PostScript is Developed by Adobe Systems Inc., this page description language is used to describe an image to be printed. It is used for both graphics and tests. However, the PostScript file gives only a text-based description of a page for printing. It is a standard concept in printing. Usage varies with process and material.

Pre-consumer Waste describes During the manufacturing process, The excess material from this process that doesn’t make it to the consumer. The mill then recycled it back. It is a method of producing printed images. Each process has distinct plate, ink, and substrate demands.

Pre-separated Art — An art which has a different overlay that is prepared for each color in an illustration. It is a standard concept in printing. Usage varies with process and material.

Preflight means test in digital pre-press done to analyze or evaluate all the needed components in producing a printing job. It confirms several factors such as the color breaks, the color gamut, the type of disk submitted, and any art that is required (such as reflective photos, illustrations, transparencies, and many others). The preflight also confirms screen fonts, layout files, laser proofs, printer fonts, page sizes, EPS or TIFF files, crop marks, and the print driver. It is equipment used for production or quality control. Calibration is essential for reliable results.

Prepress Proof is A photographically made trial print that is created before a plate is made to prevent the expense of making a press proof. It is equipment used for production or quality control. Calibration is essential for reliable results.

Prescreen describes Printed on a glossy photographic paper, this lower contrast halftone is printed for direct paste-up with a line copy, to prevent stripping into a line negative from a halftone negative. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Technically, presensitized plate describes paper, film, or metal-based plate in photomechanics which has been pre-coated with a light-sensitive coating. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock.

Within the trade, press refers to A set of rolls in which the paper web passes through in the manufacturing process. This occurs to make the sheet’s surface smooth at the smoothing press, by removing water from the paper web at the wet press. It is also used in applying surface treatments to the paper sheets at the size press. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Press Proof is Refers to the sheets of paper that run off the press for a final proof. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock.

Press Sheet is A paper sheet of the full size that is selected to be printed on a sheet-fed press. The size of this sheet is a bit larger than a negative flat, to trim margins or make the margins gripper. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Pressure-sensitive Paper is A paper that is coated with an adhesive on either one or both sides. The adhesive is activated by applying pressure on the paper. This type of paper is usually used to manufacture tapes and labels. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Primary Colors is Refers to the 3 fundamental colors (red, blue, and yellow) from which all other colors are derived from. It is a standard concept in printing. Usage varies with process and material.

Print Quality commonly denotes The print quality of a paper is the quality of reproduction of that print as well as the various properties of the paper that affect the paper’s appearance. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock.

Printability describes The appearance of a particular sheet after the printing process in regards to the uniformity, smoothness, receptivity, opacity, and compressibility of the ink. It is a complex interrelationship between several properties per sheet. The best way of predicting the printability of a sheet is using methods that are reproducible from test to test and those which stimulate the actual printing conditions. It affects drying, adhesion, and print appearance. Formulation choices influence drying time and rub resistance.

Technically, printer describes Devices that process data and produce a full-size hard copy of the processed data from computers. There are two types of printers used. The first are impact printers such as line printers, bar printers, chain printers, serial printers, matrix printers, and wheel printers. Non-impact printers, on the other hand, adopt printing principles similar to those used by cathode ray tubes. An example of a non-impact printer is the inkjet printer. It affects drying, adhesion, and print appearance. Formulation choices influence drying time and rub resistance.

Printing Pressure refers to The force between an impression cylinder and a blanket cylinder needed to transfer ink from the blanket to a paper. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock.

In print practice, process chlorine-free (pcf) means Indicates that a recycled fiber is either bleached or unbleached with a non-chlorine compound. However, these papers are not considered as completely chlorine-free fibers because the bleaching process of its recycled content is unknown. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Process Colors can be defined as The subtractive primaries used in the printing process. The colors are cyan, yellow, and magenta. However, black is added in a four-color process printing. It is a method of producing printed images. Each process has distinct plate, ink, and substrate demands.

Within the trade, process inks refers to Finely ground transparent inks manufactured for use in a four-color process. It affects drying, adhesion, and print appearance.

Within the trade, process plates refers to A combination of one or more color plates that produce other shades and colors of the sheet. It is a method of producing printed images.

Process Printing — A printing of either two or more halftone plates such that intermediate shades and colors are made. It belongs to file preparation and imaging before printing.

In print practice, progressive color proofs (prongs) means Proofs of color separation negatives which had prior exposure to offset plates and are printed using process inks. They are printed in sequence, i.e., 1. Red plate alone. 2. Yellow plate alone. 3. Blue alone. 4. Black alone. 5. Red and yellow. 6. Red, yellow, and blue. 7. Red, yellow, blue, and black. It is an effective way of checking the color of separation negatives which use the same color sequence, paper, ink, and ink densities intended for a production run. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

In print practice, progressive proofs means In process-color printing, a set of proofs prepared by engravers, show colors separately and in combination. The proofs guide the printer. It is equipment used for production or quality control.

Proofread can be defined as The process of reading proofs to make needed corrections early in the production process. It is a method of producing printed images.

Proofs is Samples of the layout or copy made in the various stages of production. After inspecting the proofs internally, they are then sent to the customer for approval. It is a standard concept in printing.

Within the trade, proprietary mill brand refers to A paper that retains the name of the owner of the mill where it was made. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock.

In print practice, pull test means test carried out on perfect-bound books to determine the required pull pressure to remove a page from the binding. It relates to book assembly and durability.

Pulp means cellulose fiber material from which paperboard or paper is made. It can be made by mechanical or chemical means. Origins of the cellulose fiber include straw, bamboo, cotton, jute, wood, hemp, bagasse, reeds, as well as various leaf fibers. The mechanical and chemical means of separating these cellulose fibers from their sources are many. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock. Selection affects stiffness, opacity, and printability.

Pulping — The entire process involved in producing pulp from its source. It is a metric used for setup or quality evaluation.

Pulpwood is Wood such as a log or of shorter lengths, that can be used to make wood pulp from which paper is made. It concerns the properties or grades of the paper stock.