FARGO electronic Pro-L - Manual (Page 6)

Introduction
1
Section 1: Introduction 1
Thank You...
for choosing the Pro-L Card Printer. This printer has been designed to provide you
with stunning, photo-quality color output on a variety of different card sizes and
thicknesses. It offers many features which easily allow you to create full-color
photo ID cards complete with high resolution graphics, text, bar codes, and much
more.
A. HOW YOUR CARD PRINTER WORKS
Your card printer utilizes two different, yet closely related printing technologies to
achieve its remarkable, direct-to-card output – dye-sublimation and resin thermal
transfer. The following describes how each of these technologies works:
Dye-Sublimation
Dye-sublimation is the process your printer uses to print smooth, continuous-tone
images that look truly photographic. This process uses a dye-based ribbon roll that
is partitioned by a number of consecutive color panels (see Section 4-A for more
ribbon information). The panels are grouped in a repeating series of the four
process colors — yellow, magenta, cyan, and black — along the entire length of the
ribbon. The printer always prints the yellow panel first, followed by the magenta
panel, the cyan panel, and finally the black panel.
As the ribbon and card pass simultaneously beneath the printhead, hundreds of
thermal elements within the printhead heat the dyes on the ribbon. When these
dyes are heated, they vaporize and diffuse into the surface of the card. By varying
the heat intensity of each thermal element within the printhead, it is possible for
each transferred dot of color to vary in hue, thus blending one color smoothly into
the next and producing photo-realistic images.
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