Re: ATM Laptop Screen Covers

[macaddicted <daviddesign@mac.com>]

> I have used a large piece of polarizing screen (transmits
> about 30%) but are there any cheaper alternatives to this?

Well, since everybody is going to the printer supply shop anyway...

You might try getting a sheet of screen material. It is used to put a gray
into an image that would otherwise print black. I have no idea what its cost
is relative to polarizing screens because I never have to buy it- my printer
always takes care of it.

Because you are working with a negative process you would need to get a
screen that gives you a lighter print (on a press). For example a 10% screen
blocks 90% of the image (to give you a 10% finished product). The screening
material uses a halftone screen of varying resolution. A newspaper is around
65lpi (lines per inch), a typical magazine is the 100lpi range (depends on
the quality of the paper), a high end color book or magazine will be around
150-200lpi. The higher the lpi the smaller the dot. And no, lpi and dpi are
not the same thing.

You can try making your own screen with a laser printer (this won't work as
well on an inkjet because of the way the ink is put down by the printer).
Just fill an entire page with a box filled with a grayscale at the level you
want as the final darkness (in this instance you are doing a positive, so
the explanation above does not apply). If you have software that will allow
you to set the output resolution (Quark, PageMaker, InDesign and some lower
end graphic design programs do- Corel might, though I am not sure) set it
for as high a line screen as you can, though even the best laser printers
usually cannot go beyond about 100lpi. Print the page on a sheet of acetate
(overhead film).  Viola, you've got it. Whether it will do what you want is
another question.


Dave
Macaddicted