Will Color Prints Replace Black & White Prints?
January 22, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Traditional large format printing is evolving. The use of color is increasing dramatically as architects, engineers and designers look for ways to convey more information on fewer sheets of paper and make that information easier to read and understand.
In the past the greatest obstacle to this transformation was price. In Europe the price of color plotting is considerably less than in the United States. The result of this disparity is that while Europe prints less than half the square footage of their peers in the United States the bulk of their large format printing is done in color!
New technology, including some very efficient color printers are making major changes in how reprographers look at large format color printing. We have installed a number of state-of-the-art color plotters and determined that PRODUCTION COLOR PLOTTING can be done COST-EFFICIENTLY.
These changes to the cost of printing in color will make new applications available to the A/E/C community. Cover sheets can be printed with a color rendering. Coordination drawings can be printed in color. And, the engineer can now print and see multiple layers and disciplines more easily than ever and have more readable documents going into the field. Copies of red-line plans can be made available to everyone
With the greater use of color, a new way of looking at color prints is necessary. High end color presentation graphics, with full color coverage, will continue to be priced much higher than the production prints quoted above. Production color, on the other hand, will yield quick, inexpensive, readable plan documents that enhance the construction work flow because of the added enhancements of color to the image.
If you’re using color now, your prices will most likely go down. If you have avoided large format color printing because of cost we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and suggest that you look at this service. Color plotting can be an affordable option for many applications.
For more information, or a price quote on color printing and copying, call Kevin Cully at 617-471-3373 ext. 227 or email him at kcully@airgraphics.com
Are you Swimming in Old Drawings?
January 20, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The rare book industry is in a interesting position right now. All rare books are going to continue to increase in value. It seems that if things keep going the way they are, there will be a finite number of books printed…and then no more. Everything will be either digital or digitized. So hold on to your first editions. They may be the rare family heirloom that your grandchildren cherish.
Architectural and engineering drawings are destined for the same fate. Either they will be scanned and organized in a manner that will make them easy to retrieve, or they will be lost forever. Now there are drawings that should be saved in their original hard copy form. Some are great works of art. The problem is that, in most cases, they are buried in a back room with thousands of other drawings from the pre-CAD era.
Setting the “drawing as art” discussion aside, all those documents do have intrinsic value and need to be captured. In the past, such a project was far too expensive and time consuming, often involving expensive software that had to be mastered and an in-house database that had to be managed.
AIR Graphics has a solution. Large format scanning is what we do…we have more equipment and technical expertise than any software company does. Your massive sea of drawings is brought under control, duplicates are removed and the cleaned up, documents are scanned and posted to a database. Now, when a drawing is needed, you can find it easily, view it quickly, download a copy with ease and the archive is not compromised.
The AIR Graphics Scanning and Archiving Service provides:
Mitigate Risk
- Reduce the exposure and manage risk of document loss
- Reduce the exposure to litigation and legal ramifications
Organization
- Documents are organized
- Documents are always where you expect them to be
Budgeting
- No billing surprises, easily budgeted
- You are notified of all prices in advance
Saves Time
- In accessing the documents and getting them printed
Viewing
- Documents can be viewed from your workstations (if all you need to do is zero in on a detail)
- Your consultants can be invited to view your archived documents from their workstations
Printing
- Print thumbnails from your workstation
- Print to large format printers.
- Order high resolution prints from AIR Graphics at your workstation
Productivity
- Archive complete document records for future (renovation work; design details, procurement, etc.)
Distribute Plans & Specs Digitally
January 20, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
You need to get the bidders to tell you they are going to give you a price.
You also need to get the documents to the bidders who have told you they are going to give you a price.
So why not kill two birds with one stone?
- The bidder receives an email from you and clicks on the “YES, I WILL BID” button.
- Immediately, the specific documents for that bid start to automatically download to the bidders desktop!
This service is available now at AIR Graphics.
So how much would it cost?
How about 10 cents a file download?
Below is a real world example that assumes the contractor has a bid document with a hundred 30×42 plans in it. The contractor has determined what plans are needed for each bid package and how many bidders will be invited to bid. With a few clicks of a mouse, the emails go out and he is done.
Total cost – $306.00 to distribute over 3000 full size plans.
Total Bid Distribution Cost $306.90
Some would ask, “Why should I pay for the plans to be downloaded to my bidder?”. The answer is security. The security that you know that each bidder has the proper plans needed to bid the project correctly and you have a record of what was distributed. You know when he received the plans, you know what plans he received and you can prove it. That is worth far more than a few hundred dollars on this multi-million dollar construction project we are using as an example.
AIR Graphics is committed to a vision of the future that positions us as a partner in your bid process. Solid procedures that will provide valuable safeguards and precise record keeping for all you bids.
Click on the email link below and simply say, “I want a demo!”. We will send you a broadcast. Click on “bid acknowledgement” and watch the files download to your desktop.