Printing & Technique
Direct-to-card
Printing dye directly onto the card surface; the most common, cost-effective method.
Direct-to-card (DTC) suits the vast majority of ID programs. Because the print head cannot safely print past the card's edge, DTC leaves a thin unprinted border, this is what "edge to edge" actually means. For a truly borderless finish or for printing over chips and antennas, see retransfer.
More on this in which print method you need.
DTC printers are the affordable mainstream, most employee, student, and member ID programs run on them. The one place they struggle is printing over the raised area of a chip or antenna, where they can leave a white halo; that is the job retransfer was built for.
Where this leads
If you are working this out for a live card program, start with let the finder narrow it down.
Related terms
Questions about Direct-to-card?
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