useful information

Glossary - R

Rag paper

High quality stationery paper made from cotton rags. Paper with at least 25% and as much as 100% cotton fibers.

Ragged

Lines of type that do not start or end at the same position.

Ragged right/ragged left

Type aligned vertically right or left.

RAM

Random Access Memory; the memory in which a computer stores all current information. The computer can access data in RAM very fast (usually in about 10 nano seconds). It is lost, unless saved, if the computer is shut down or crashes.

Ranged left/right

Successive lines of type which are of unequal length and which are aligned at either the right or left hand column.

Raster image

A line-by-line bitmap representation of the current screen being seen on the computer. Raster Image Processor (RIP) The hardware engine that calculates the bit-mapped image of text and graphics from a series of instructions.

Rasterise

To convert page description information into a bitmap: the action of a RIP when attached to an output device.

Ream

Five hundred sheets of paper.

Ream Weight

The actual weight in pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of paper.

Recovered Paper

Paper that has been separated, diverted, or removed from the solid waste stream.

Recto

The right-hand page of a book, magazine.

Recycle

Ground material from flasit and trimmings which after mixing with a certain amount of virgin material is fed back into the blow mold machine.

Recycled Content Paper

A paper product containing some, but consisting of less than 100% recovered fiber. Champion Carnival is an example of a recycled content paper.

Recycled Paper

A paper product consisting of 100% recovered fiber. Recovered fiber includes pre- and/or post-consumer sources. Champion Benefit is an example of a 100% recycle paper.

Reference marks

Symbols used in text to direct the reader to a footnote. E.g. asterisk (*), dagger, double dagger, section mark or paragraph mark.

Refining

The process of cutting, breaking, and flattening the cellulose fibers in pulp. In order to form a strong, flexible paper, pulp fibers need to be flattened and frayed. The refiner has metal discs that can be adjusted to create longer or shorter fibers.

Reflectance

The measured level of light reflected by a paper or imprinted characters thereon, expressed in percent of a standard reference material.

Reflection copy

Original copy viewed or photographed by light that reflects off its surface.

Refractiveness

A measure of how much a sheet of paper deflects the light that hits it. The more light a sheet deflects, the greater its refractive- ness, allowing a printed image to be more brilliant and detailed. see also brightness, whiteness.

Register

A term in pressure sensitive label production that describes exact, corresponding placement of successively printed images and/or successively die-cut pressure sensitive labels.

Registration

The act of aligning separate printing plates so that they overprint the correct area of paper on the presses.

Registration marks

Crosses and target marks outside printable area of a document - usually on film - to make the registration process easier.

Relative Humidity

Balance the relative humidity of the pressroom compared to the relative humidity of the paper to be printed. Relative humidity is a measure of how much moisture air or paper can hold versus how much it is actually holding at a given temperature. Before printing a job, the printer must "cure" the paper by letting it sit, wrapped, in the pressroom for a determined amount of time. This will bring the paper to the same temperature and humidity as the pressroom, helping to prevent several printing problems. For instance, ink on cold paper takes longer to dry than ink on room-temperature paper. Ink on dry paper may "chalk" if the dry paper absorbs the liquid in the pigment before the solid pigments adhere to the paper. Paper with too much humidity will expand, causing it to wrinkle on press. This can cause misalignment and a lack or registration in the printing.

Release

The force required to remove the release liner from the facestock at a specified speed and angle.

Release Coat

Release lacquer. The release liner treatment material that allows pressure-sensitive labels to release from the release liner.

Release Liner

Backing. Liner lining. The portion of the label that receives the release coating. Prior to application, it protects the adhesive and provides support for the facestock during the die cutting operation and allows the label to be transported to a label applicator or through a computer printer.

Relief

A method for printing ink on paper, using type of images that rise above the surface of the printing plate. Ink sits on top of these raised surfaces, and as the paper is pressed onto them it picks up ink. Letterpress, flexography, and rubber stamps all use relief plates. In letterpress, intense pressure can cause images to be slightly debossed or depressed below the surface of the paper.

Relief plate

Printing plate with a raised image-bearing surface. Letterpress and photoengraving use relief plates.

Removability

A relative term to describe the force or condition under which a P.S. label can be removed from a substrate. A removable label is one in which no damage or staining occurs to the substrate or face material and no adhesive residue is left on the substrate upon removal.

Removable Adhesive

A pressure-sensitive adhesive characterized by low ultimate adhesion to a wide variety of surfaces, which can be removed without damage to either the label or the substrate.

Repeat

The printing length of a plate cylinder, determined by one revolution of the plate cylinder gear.

Resampling

Process of reducing the amount of colour information/size of a scanned image or illustration.

Residue

Adhesive left on a substrate when a label is removed.

Resilience

Capability of a sealer, coating or paper to return to its original size and shape after deformation.

Resin

A generic term referring to the materials used by paper manufactures to "size" paper. Rosin, a natural resin from pine trees, is used in the manufacture of acidic paper. Synthetic resins are used in the manufacture of alkaline and acid-free papers.

Resist

Stencil hardened by light and used on printing plates to prevent etching of non-printing areas.

Resolution

When referring to output devices, resolution is a measure of the sharpness with which pages are created. Measured in dots per inch, the greater the number of dots, the more smoother and cleaner appearance the character/image will have.

Rest in Proportion (RIP)

An instruction when giving sizes to artwork or photographs that other parts of the artwork are to be enlarged or reduced in proportion.

Retouching

A means of altering or modifying artwork or photographs with Photoshop, paint, dye, pencil, airbrush or other media or colour separations to correct faults or enhance the image.

Reverse

When an original black image is reproduced white and vice-versa.

Revise

Indicates the stages at which corrections have been incorporated from earlier proofs and new proofs submitted. E.g. First revise, second revise.

Rewind Slit

A slitting process where a roll of tape is unwound and run through a set of shear or score knives to be slit and then wound up into individual rolls.

Re-winder

A machine that takes rolls from the winder, slits or rewinds into smaller rolls.

Re-winding

The operation of winding the paper from the reel on to a core to produce rolls of the desired width, diameter and tension.

RGB

Red Green Blue, the colours used by a computer monitor to create colour images on the screen. When all three colours are combined over each other the colour of light is white. Also known as the primary colours.

Rich black

A 'black' area of a page to be output which also includes some process colours - usually 30% Cyan - in order to make it appear deeper or to match it to other page elements.

Right reading

A positive or negative which reads from left to right.

RIP

Raster image processor: part of a printer that converts page description information into a bitmap and sends it to the print mechanism.

Rivers

Unsightly gaps running vertically within text, usually when it is set fully justified in narrow columns.

Rockwell hardness

A method of determining the surface hardness of a substance. Degree of hardness.

Roll label

Pressure-sensitive labels that are produced in a continuous roll form.

Roll-to-roll

A method of running materials through a printing machine. A roll of material is fed into a printing unit, is printed, and then is rewound into a roll as it exits the machine.

Roll-to-sheet

A method of running material through a printing machine. A roll or material is fed into a printing unit, then is sheeted as it exits the printing machine.

Roman

Type that has vertical stems as distinct from italics or oblique that are set at angles.

Rosette

The formation created by the dots that make up four-colour images. The dots, in magenta (red), cyan (blue), yellow, and black, overlap each other in a cluster. Because the dots are not perfectly round, and because they are turned at angles to each other, this cluster resembles the arrangement of petals in a rose.

Rosin

A natural resin from pine trees, used to size acidic paper.

Rotary press

A web or reel fed printing press which uses a curved printing plate mounted on the plate cylinder.

Rotary printing

Accomplished by means of a cylindrical impression cylinder and a cylindrical printing plate.

Rotogravure

Gravure printing on a web-fed press.

Rough

A preliminary sketch of a proposed design.

Rough proof

A galley proof.

Royal

A size of printing paper 20in x 25in (508 x 635mm).

Rubber plate

Flexible relief plate made from rubber and used in flexography.

Rubbing

When printed ink appears dry but does not resist surface rubbing or abrasion - also called scuffing.

Rubylith

Red-masking material opaque to light, which is used to mask out areas that need to remain, unexposed to light.

Ruler

Rulers displayed on screen that show measures in inches, picas, pixels, points, centimetres or millimetres.

Runability

The ease with which a paper moves through a printing press. For example, offset lithography puts more stress on paper than other printing processes because of: how the paper moves through the press; the great amount of water used in the process; and the tackiness of the inks that are used. In order to have good runnability, paper for offset printing must be strong, have great tear resistance, and possess good dimensional stability. It must also be water resistant and have a strong surface so the paper doesn't pick. Runnability is also a term for measuring the number of mechanical web breaks per 1,000 rolls of paper run on a press.

Run-around

The ability within a program to run text around a graphic image within a document, without the need to adjust each line manually.

Running head

A line of - usually small - type at the top of a page that repeats a heading.

Running register

That control on a flexographic press, which accurately positions, while in the run mode, the printing of each colour station in the direction of the web travel. Also called circumferential register or longitudinal register.