A dye-sublimation printer is acomputer printerwhich uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as a plastic,

card, paper, or fabric. Thesublimation name was first applied because the dye was considered to make the transition
between the solid and gas states without going through a liquid stage. This understanding of the process was later
shown to be incorrect. Since then, the process is sometimes known as dye-diffusion, though this has not eliminated
the original name.[1]Many consumer andprofessional dye-sublimation printers are designed and used for
producingphotographic prints, ID cards, and so on.
These are not to be confused with dye sublimation heat transfer imprinting printers, which use special inks to create
transfers designed to be imprinted on textiles, and in which the dyes do indeed sublimate.[1]
Some dye-sublimation printers use CMYO (Cyan Magenta Yellow Overcoating) colors, which differs from the more
recognized CMYK colors in that the black is eliminated in favour of a clear overcoating. This overcoating (which has
numerous names depending on the manufacturer) is also stored on the ribbon and is effectively a thin layer which
protects the print from discoloration from UV light and the air, while also rendering the print water-resistant.[2]
For ID card printing, text and bar codes are necessary, and they are printed by means of an additional black panel on
the (YMCKO) ribbon. This extra panel works by thermal transfer printing instead of dye diffusion: a whole layer,
instead of just some of the dye in the layer, transfers from the ribbon to the substrate at the pixels defined by the
thermal head. This overall process is then sometimes called D2T2 (Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer).

An Iris printer is a large-format color inkjet printer introduced in 1985 by Iris Graphics, originally of Stoneham,
Massachusetts and currently manufactured by the Graphic Communications Group of Eastman Kodak, designed for
prepress proofing. It is also used in the fine art reproduction market as a final output digital printing press

Iris printers have also been used since the late 1980s as final output digital printing
devices in the production of fine art reproductions on various media, including ...
There were many printers, photographers, artists, and engineer who saw the merit
in using this industrial proof printer as a way to produce high-resolution color
accurate reproductions ... Nash was so impressed with the quality of the Iris prints,
he purchased his own Iris Graphics 3047 ink-jet printer for $126,000 to print further
editions of his work