DIGITAL PLATESETTERS -- The Write One

BY MARK SMITH

A first-time buyer recently posted a message on the CTP Production forum seeking recommendations for "CTP systems" to investigate. The quote marks are important because the term itself sparked a divergent thread in which the question of what CTP means was explored.

This discussion started with a response suggesting the buyer consider the Rampage solution, since it produces plate-ready files. A rebuff quickly followed, asserting that Rampage was not a "system," meaning a piece of hardware capable of writing an image to a digital plate. That, in turn, led to a series of exchanges about whether CTP refers to any or all of digital plates, platesetters and front ends. Or, is the term even broader than that and pertain to the all-digital workflow, which can extend into the pressroom and through the bindery with CIP4/JDF?