Ed #3 Stochastic / Conventional

By eliminating conventional halftone screens, FM screens also eliminate screen lines and angles, which eliminates both subject and screen moirés. By eliminating these concerns, stochastic screens can make it easier to print in more than four colors. Additional colors and numerous “touch” or “bump” plates, which increase color saturation and contrast, are easier to use, so colors can be matched more precisely. (In fact, one catalog retailer reports that the use of stochastic printing has reduced its color-related returns.)

Yet stochastic printers are not entirely free to ask, like Alfred E. Newman, “What, we moiré?” Although they occur far less frequently than the other two, scan moirés can still be a problem.

Stochastic screening can help eliminate other problems as well, including the need to precisely register color rosettes. There also is less risk of finding the rough zipper or sawtooth edges that sometimes appear with conventional halftones.

With all the benefits it offers, it’s no wonder that the use of stochastic printing is growing rapidly—in fact, printers you work with may be using it already. So why isn’t every printer rushing to go stochastic? Some remember that when first order stochastic technology was introduced in the early 1990s, it wasn’t ready for prime time. Now, however, with the widespread use of direct to plate technology it’s much more viable.

Even so, it’s not easy to go stochastic.