Technology and Services

Roland Versa UV printer

• The Versa UV printer can print on just about any material including boxes (less than 10cm in height), plastic bottles, phone cases, wood, cardboard, tiles and much more. Useful for making signs and customising merchandise.

Roland Versa Printer FAQ

• What materials can be used with the Versa printer? The Versa printer can print on almost any material, from paper and card to plastic, glass, wood and many other materials. It can also print on three dimensional objects such as boxes, bottles, tiles etc
  
• Is there a limit to the size and depth of materials? Yes, the maximum print area is 538mm (w) x 360mm (l) and up to 100mm in height.
  
• Can I bring my own materials? Yes, in fact bringing your own materials is recommended for the Versa printer, provided they fit within the dimensions above. Please contact the Technologist in residence with details of your materials.
  
• How should I set up artwork for the Versa printer? Artwork can be set up in any application capable of saving in CMYK colour mode, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Create your artwork to the desired size (see limitations above) and save as a Jpeg or PDF in CMYK mode. Note that artwork being printed on curved objects may require special adjustment. Please contact the Technologist in residence for further information.
  
  The printer can also print with two special colours, white (for under-printed backgrounds) and a gloss varnish.
  
  Software libraries are available for these colours and can be supplied by the Technologist in residence on request.

Universal Laser Systems Laser Cutter

• The laser cutter can be used to cut or engrave two-dimensional designs for anything from flat-pack furniture to logos and branding, plates for printing, signs, personalised items. Recommended materials for cutting & engraving include birch plywood, acrylic, glass and some metals.

Laser cutting FAQ

• What materials can be used with the laser cutter? The laser cutter is capable of cutting wood and plastic. It cannot cut metal or stone. It can engrave on wood, plastic, glass and some kinds of stone and metal.

• Is there a limit to the size and thickness of materials? Yes. 3-6mm is optimal for wood and plastic. Thicker material may be feasible depending on the density and type of material. FGIC holds a small stock of 3mm Birch plywood and 3mm Acrylic suitable for laser cutting. The maximum cutting area is 600x300mm.
  
• Can I bring my own materials? Yes, within health and safety limits. As per above, 3mm Birch Plywood or Acrylic are recommended for laser cutting however a range of other materials can be used as long as they are safe to work with. We recommend only using materials identified as suitable for laser cutting. Please not that some materials, such as PVC, are not suitable for any kind of laser cutting.
  
• How should I set up artwork for laser cutting? Artwork should be created as two-dimensional vector art in a programme such as Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape or similar.
  
  To indicate a cut, set the line colour to Red (rgb values= Red 255, Green 0, Blue 0) and weight to 0.005pt
  
  To indicate engraving, set the line colour to Blue (rgb values= Red 0, Green 0, Blue 255) and weight to 0.005pt
  
  Artwork left as Black will be rasterised i.e. burned rather than cut.
  
  The file should then be saved as a PDF.

Ultimaker S5 3D printer

• The 3D printer can be used to render 3D models in various kinds of plastic suitable for using as mock-ups or prototypes of a product, spares and replacement parts, or components for more complex designs. As a twin filament printer, it can print complex shapes using additional support material and also has capacity to print larger models.

Epson P9000 large format printer

• The Epson P9000 printer can print giant posters (up to B0 width by any length). The printer uses fine-art quality, Giclee inks which are light-fast for around 60 years. It can also print on single sheet material such as light card.  Useful for posters, photographic prints, fine art prints, graphic design, art, photography, and marketing.

Epson P9000 FAQ

• What size of prints can the P9000 produce? The P9000 prints up to B0 (1000 × 1414 mm or 39.4 × 55.7 inches) by, theoretically, any length.
  
• How should I set up artwork for the P9000? Artwork can be set up in any application capable of saving in CMYK colour mode, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign. Please ensure your artwork is set up with resolution appropriate to the scale you wish to print at (i.e. an A1 print would need to be A1 dimensions at 300ppi). Scaling small artwork will reduce quality. Make sure to include bleed and crop marks if required.
  
  Save the file as either an image format such as Tiff and Jpeg, or as a PDF.
  
• What lifespan do the prints have? The P9000 is a Giclee quality printer meaning that the inks are lightfast and have a 60-year lifespan.
  
• What paper is available? FGIC keeps a small stock of paper rolls, we currently have a supply of doubleweight matt paper (weight), Gloss Photo paper (180 gsm) and Art paper (weight).
  
• Can I supply my own paper? Yes, with some limitations. The P9000 is a roll-fed printer so we can accept individual rolls as long as they are compatible with the machine. The P9000 can also print on single sheets of material, including card. Please contact the Technologist in residence with details of your materials.

Fujitsu document Scanner

• Fujitsu fi-7480, high-throughput, A3 document scanner for business, admin, and some creative uses.

iMac x 6: All in one Apple desktop computer running Adobe Creative Cloud software

iPad Pro with Apple Pencil x 5: High-end tablet computer with electronic pencil for graphic design, art, photography and marketing. These have Adobe iPad apps installed as well as Procreate.

Lenovo PC with Dell Canvas drawing board x2: Used with Adobe or other creative applications for digital drawing, painting, design, photography, and art.                                                                  

HP Laptop: General purpose laptop

HP Sprout: Touchscreen PC with 3D scanner for museums, science, archaeology, design, business

Structure Sensor: 3D scanning attachment for iPad for 3D modelling, product design, engineering

Occulus VR Headset and Vive VR headset: Virtual reality headsets for gaming, immersive experiences, and specific types of film making

Promethean interactive white board

As well as acting as a 76 inch presentation screen (connecting to laptops via HDMI or VGA cables), the Promethean is a fully fledged interactive educational tool featuring touch-screen interface, onboard apps for displaying images, pdfs etc, a built-in web browser and note taking tool. There are also USB sockets to copy and save data

Phillips 98 inch display

The Phillips display offers 4K Ultra HD resolution for display of high-resolution graphics. It can accommodate HDMI and VGA connections and can act as a presentation screen or electronic sign.

InDesign: Create books, magazines, ebooks, reports, interactive PDFs.

Illustrator: Any kind of art, illustration, graphic design for print, online or mobile devices.

Photoshop: Image editing for print or screen, digital painting, some graphic design.

Lightroom: Image editing and cataloguing, maintain collections of images. Different approach from Photoshop.

Premiere Pro: Video editing, some animation

Premiere Rush: Video editing, a simplified version of Premiere Pro.

Audition: Sound editing, podcasting

Animate: Animation – cartoon style. Formerly known as Adobe Flash.

Character Animator: Similar to Animate but incorporates motion capture, sound recording and automation.

After Effects: Special effects and animation for web and mobile devices.

Dreamweaver: Web site development.

XD: Web application development (i.e. apps for mobile devices).

Dimension: 3D modelling for photorealistic images (not for 3D printing).

Acrobat: Create, edit and enhance PDFs by making forms, media, signatures, interactivity.

InCopy: A companion application to InDesign to allow designers and writers to share text content attached to InDesign pages.

Bridge: File browsing and management application.

Meeting Room: The FGIC meeting room is a bookable, private space seating up to 6 in boardroom style. The room has dedicated video conferencing system.