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“The EFI VUTEk QS3200’s HDP outputs eye-popping images with its print resolutions of up to 1080 dpi, four- or six-color imaging and a special seventh channel with white ink. The white ink option has helped us add new revenue streams,” Sapper reported.

“So far it’s been an amazing piece of equipment for us. We are able to offer different types of jobs for the theatres that we weren’t able to do before. It has opened up a whole new design factor for us. It has also increased the amount work of we can push through the shop at new levels of speed, while still producing the highest quality signs, point of purchase displays, banners and other superwide applications,” he said.

Sapper said that the VUTEk printer came in handy for a number of recent jobs they did for the trio of Disney musicals currently on Broadway: Mary Poppins, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid.

“We utilized the QS3200 to print this graphic for Disney which was 44 feet wide by 10 feet tall display for the lobby of the Minskoff Theatre where The Lion King is currently running. The VUTEk was able to print on three different layers on clear pressure sensitive material. We printed the background of the image and then we printed the next layer in white and then we did a double hit of the image to make the characters in the image look opaque. The graphic featured elements from The Lion King, Mary Poppins and Little Mermaid.”

The company also used to QS3200 to produce a number of outdoor backlit marquees as well as lobby graphics for Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

“We output some of the graphics with holographic effects. We printed a number of them on reflective mirror type media. It gave a cool Las Vegas glitzy image; giving the viewer the effect that they were in the scene,” he explained.

The output provider faces a host of unique challenges because of the work it does and working with Disney presented even bigger ones. “Dealing with the creative people at Disney; we have take things to another level. Let’s face it, they kind of set standard for graphics and special effects. They are creative geniuses. They want things that are technically different and they want it right away. They want to see samples with a host of different kind of looks. Sometimes it can be a bear but that’s what we are here for: service and quality,” he said.

Sapper added that the versatile QS3200 3.2 meter printer gives them superior image quality on both rigid and flexible substrates up to 126-inches wide and up to two-inches thick, with changeover rates from flexible to rigid substrates in less than a minute.

“Having the VUTEk brings us into a whole different marketplace. We just completed a big job for Amtrak where we printed the job right on gator board. It saved on finishing costs as well as valuable time, so we could simultaneously work on a number of other projects,” he concluded.