Charting the Way to a Successful Digital Workflow
Enjoying the Fast Track
Andreas suggests his company has seen something on the order of a ten-fold gain in productivity thanks to the new digital workflow, though the transition to digital hasn’t been cheap.
Raven Maps’ “computer view” map of the Rockies, the High Plains, and the Intermountain West, which measures 28 by 64 inches.
“It used to be we’d buy a piece of equipment and use it for 20 years. Now we’re buying new Power Macs and turning them into print servers after two years.”
The greatest advantages of the move to digital have been not just in productivity but also in process.
In the old days of manual design, type was sent out to a typesetter. Map lines were drawn in ink or etched in copperplates with precise engraving tools that measured down to 3000th of a point. Color was charted manually then taken to a compositing room for multiple exposures on film.
A detail of Raven Maps’ “computer view” map of the Rockies, the High Plains, and the Intermountain West.
“It could take two days hunkered over a light table to change the style of a single line. With FreeHand, if we want to change a style from single line to a double line, it takes just a couple clicks. Today we can design maps as we go, where before we had to have all the design elements in place,” said Andreas.
Digital Defects
Despite the higher quality of the film generated from digital files compared to the old output, Andreas still has one big reservation about computer-to-plate printing. “CTP is only as reliable as the digital proofing system employed,” said Andrea. “From our perspective, digital proofing is still not a mature technology, especially for us cartographers, who are so fussy,” said Andreas.
A ColorSync proof on an Epson printer will not adequately show overprints, knockouts, and traps, said Andreas. And IRIS proofs are insufficient because they simply cannot represent line weight accurately, which is of supreme importance to cartographers. “A Kodak approval proof is about the best, because it’s made from the same RIP as what’s burned to the plate,” said Andreas.
Despite the lingering imperfections of the digital world, Andreas wouldn’t think of returning to the old arduous methods. “The move to digital has allowed us to experiment and go in new directions we never could have before.” And as Andreas anticipates, digital-workflow tools will only get better from here.
This article was last modified on December 14, 2022
This article was first published on August 3, 2000
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