Printing & Technique
Dye sublimation
A process that uses heat to diffuse dye from ribbon panels into the card for smooth, photo-quality color.
Dye-sublimation printing produces continuous-tone color with no visible dots, which is why ID photos look smooth. It is the method behind full-color YMCKO printing.
More on this in direct-to-card versus retransfer printing.
Dye sub is why a photo ID looks like a photograph rather than a grid of dots. The trade-off is that dye sits in the card surface, so for the hardest-wearing text and barcodes, printers pair the dye panels with a resin K panel.
Where this leads
If you are working this out for a live card program, start with pricing on new printers.
Related terms
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