User:Jonathan Pike

I am President and CEO since 1989 of Technigraphic Developments, Inc. (TDI). TDI is a graphics art firm founded in 1960 in New York City for the purpose of conducting research and development of new technologies that are for practical implementation by commercial and fine art printers.

TDI worked in concert with commercial printers, Kodak and Dupont scientists to develop and use the first analog computerized CMYK film output device which could be used to create laminate CMYK proofs and plates for offset printing presses. In the late 1970s, TDI co-developed the industries first practical use of stochastic generated films from their Kodak and Dupont made analog film output devices for use on the presses of Seaboard Lithograph. This stochastic process created random dots (formulated by Dr. Frangos whose full name I will find) of smaller random sizes compared to larger and similar sized half-tone dots in conventional use. This higher quality visual resolution was used to create limited editions of continuous tone quality reproductions on offset presses. The TDI process, based on Dr. Frangos formula, was adopted by the United Nation's Dr. Weiner on her famous art projects at the UN (WFUNA) of continuous tone limited edition artworks and stamps of the mid-1980s. Scitex digital prepress technologies obsoleted the analog computerized processes of TDI which stopped it's own use of the process about 1987. The stochastic process proved too costly at the time of the decade of the 1980s and was also criticized for being too exacting a reproduction bringing up other problematic issues.

By 1990, TDI had started the firm US Digitall to conduct high end digital color research on equipment to replace obsolete in-house developed analog systems. The research had been started by Jon Pike in Japan in the 1980s and culminated in a TDI installation and use mid range drum scanning and output imaging equipment of DaiNippon Screen (Screen) of Kyoto, Japan. The first digital press by Indigo (an Israeli company now merged into HP Indigo) was implemented by TDI / US Digitall into a commercial printer in New York City about 1990. TDI operated this press to produce "on demand" short press runs within a commercial printing establishment.

The first all desktop computer generated Mac based magazine insert to the New York Times was graphically rendered and printed by TDI / US Digitall. The magazine called, Imagine, was done in collaboration with famous artist Robert Rauchenberg whose art was displayed on its pages. TDI research continued as it expanded US Digitall operations into new media, archiving digital files, database creation and also the internet where it found itself creating dual use projects that are for displaying information and graphics on the internet and printed media. By 1997, TDI / US Digitall was doing work in print, new media and on websites for a range of clients including Emcor's Forest Electric division and China's largest private chiller-heater firm, Broad. From 1998 to 2008 TDI continued its website / new media work and ended its US Digitall prepress operations because I was engaged full time as the Technical Director to implement digital work flow systems and computer to plate operations at a New York City commercial printing firm. During this period I worked on the first commercially used T3 fiber optics lines geared to graphics oriented implementations in tribeca area of New York City.

I personally installed and implemented one of the first Foundry Networks Hubs on a 1000 Base T CAT 5e wired networking systems at Manhattan's fastest growing printer where I became Technical Director. Evaluation, vetting and execution of prepress systems and technical personnelthat yielded viable a computer to plate (CTP) system were put in place. The systems of Heidelberg Tango drum scanner, Scitex/Rampage, Kodak and Fuji proofing produced plates for printed media work on 5 commercial offset presses. The facility produced up to $25 million annually in corporate image quality work.

Today, TDI focuses much of its attention and my passion for working with emerging and famous artists and art gallery projects that require high end color digital workflow knowledges including CMYK 2.0 to control quality on digital output proofing and printing devices as well as internet related technology. My current project is an art book of approximately 1,000 pages being executed for a well known artist and longstanding Swiss publishing firm.