Stern print quality

[Retropin]

 Luckily, im ignored by 2 STERN fans so they wont be offended by an honest appraisal to STERNs print quality.

I was reading the review on PINBALL NEWS and was amazed at the picture quality on a lot of the artwork. I know STERN fans seem to accept this grainy image and some even contribute it to the quality of a digital print.. its not. Its all down to the size of the file used in tthe first place.. i can only assume that STERN have the movie artwork emailed to them in one email as the files must be tiny to get quality like this. I do a lot of digital print in my business and anything like the following wouldnt go out the door unless i had it signed off by the customer as acceptable.. by industry standards.. its not acceptable.

Image one: Ramp Plastics over a ball sensor..... grainy low quality image.. looks as if its taken from a free image site... file size im guessing at around 8kb



Image two: Playfield imagery.. again, low quality file.. pixelated, grainy, washed out colour



OK.. so here is how STERN do it... grab the images of the actors etc, then by a graphics program overlay your special features/ artwork.. this would include all text, outlines for inserts etc.. here its used to overlay AVENGERS shield.
Shield is crystal clear.. nice solid colour,, no pixelation.



So its not a fault with the STERN print technique.. its because they use very low quality images in the first place... a $10Billion print machine wouldnt do any better... can only print the file supplied.

Yeh.. im bagging STERN again, but in all honesty.. we are being fed rubbish at top $$. Its why i dont like STERN machines.. they look cheap to me and to many other pinheads, but the use of higher resolution files to start with would certainly go a long way to aleviating this.. its not hard and in my industry, if i got fed this quality file to use for someones print, i would be ringing them on the phone to tell them the file quality just isnt up to scratch for the  job.

Sorry guys.... dont mean to harp on about STERN again.. but this is pretty piss poor.

..I havent even mentioned the dimpling on the PF thats also present.. i could have though!

[Strangeways]

I hear you Gav. It is a bit disappointing, but there was no competition, so we simply accepted what Stern released. I'm REALLY looking forward to the competition releasing a higher quality print solution. This will cause Stern to lift their game. I want all the manufacturers to "live long and prosper" in this new market.

It is a signal that there will be some real competition. The winner will be US.

[Caveoftreasures]

I agree with you here Gav, they can do better.
I think it all gets down to having a limited time to get things designed, produced, instock and then assembled.

Stern has to be careful not to become like JJP and run well n truly over on its production schedule by being a bit too perfect on some of this smaller print stuff. Alot of people focus on the translite, cabinet art and playfield artwork, and give some of the plastics a miss etc, but I agree, a bit more time and effort, and things could be a little bit clearer.

I am dying to see what John Borg and Steve Ritchie have cooking for 2013.
I am hoping their next titles are just as good as the AC/DC and X Men titles which were awesome.

[joele]

My Stern Tron is the same (plastics, playfield and cabinet), doesn't effect gameplay of course, but seems a bit lazy to me..

A monopoly situation generally does not induce higher quality and attention to detail, hopefully that situation will change and we will all reap the benefits of some competition, Stern included..  

[GORGAR 1]

I'm not qualified to comment on print quality but if they where supplied with a much larger file would the cost to print be alot more? What I'm saying is bigger file more ink higher cost? 

Peter

[Freiherr]

Machines of old, say pre DMD had to rely on nice detailed art graphics to attract the player. Now there is a lot of reliance on software, sound and fancy LED effects to serve that purpose. Shame that graphics have taken a back seat when it should be supporting the total package.
Pinball machines after all have historically earned their place as an art form and countless books have portrayed this fact.

[Greg]

I'm not qualified to comment on print quality but if they where supplied with a much larger file would the cost to print be alot more? What I'm saying is bigger file more ink higher cost? 

Peter

in the earlier days of DTP / digital printing early 90's
we were encouraged to call clients and tell them there files were low res, missing graphics, wrong format  etc,  and the resulting print quality would be (crap) disappointing  and to please re supply the correct files, we and other companies did this (service) for the clients.

over the last decade  clients using Digital  think they know better than print houses and "real" printers, type setters, proof readers
because they did a friggin graphics course at TAF for 12 weeks and we only did a 4 year trade

is digital shit   hell yes......... but its cheap shit    ... you could call it "MACCA's printing" (cheap and nasty) 

and no Peter it does not cost more to produce and print good Graphics......... its just standards have slipped that far
and graphic designers think there Eddy the expert.


there are  printers out there getting outstanding results on digital presses    but there Rare and hard to find
and 9/10 would have come from a trade background

[Retropin]

I'm not qualified to comment on print quality but if they where supplied with a much larger file would the cost to print be alot more? What I'm saying is bigger file more ink higher cost? 

Peter

in the earlier days of DTP / digital printing early 90's
we were encouraged to call clients and tell them there files were low res, missing graphics, wrong format  etc,  and the resulting print quality would be (crap) disappointing  and to please re supply the correct files, we and other companies did this (service) for the clients.

over the last decade  clients using Digital  think they know better than print houses and "real" printers, type setters, proof readers
because they did a friggin graphics course at TAF for 12 weeks and we only did a 4 year trade

is digital shit   hell yes......... but its cheap shit    ... you could call it "MACCA's printing" (cheap and nasty) 

and no Peter it does not cost more to produce and print good Graphics......... its just standards have slipped that far
and graphic designers think there Eddy the expert.


there are  printers out there getting outstanding results on digital presses    but there Rare and hard to find
and 9/10 would have come from a trade background

Thank you... you FULLY understand my  gripe... couldnt agree with you more Greg

[GORGAR 1]

I'm not qualified to comment on print quality but if they where supplied with a much larger file would the cost to print be alot more? What I'm saying is bigger file more ink higher cost?  

Peter

in the earlier days of DTP / digital printing early 90's
we were encouraged to call clients and tell them there files were low res, missing graphics, wrong format  etc,  and the resulting print quality would be (crap) disappointing  and to please re supply the correct files, we and other companies did this (service) for the clients.

over the last decade  clients using Digital  think they know better than print houses and "real" printers, type setters, proof readers
because they did a friggin graphics course at TAF for 12 weeks and we only did a 4 year trade

is digital shit   hell yes......... but its cheap shit   ... you could call it "MACCA's printing" (cheap and nasty)  

and no Peter it does not cost more to produce and print good Graphics......... its just standards have slipped that far
and graphic designers think there Eddy the expert.


there are  printers out there getting outstanding results on digital presses    but there Rare and hard to find
and 9/10 would have come from a trade background

Cheers Greg.

Peter