Visual Impact in moving pictures

18 September 2018

Well, there goes another Visual Impact Sydney trade show – only 10 months to PrintEx! It was a very vibrant event and every exhibitor should be praised for the effort put in to make it as colourful and live-demo as possible.

This year it was a pleasure to cover the show for Wide Format Online, with publisher Brian Stickland unable to get away from his Brisbane commitments. Following his lead, Graham Osborne and I made as many videos as we could and all can be viewed on the YouTube channel link at the bottom of this page.

For those who could not make it and indeed for those who did and need a refresher, here is a video round-up of the show, with individual links. It’s not possible to feature every exhibitor but this should provide a good feel of what VI was about!

Click on the thumbnails below to watch the individual presentations:

ASGA/SGIAA Awards: We started by catching up with Michael Punch, CEO of AGSA and mover of the joint ASGA-SGIAA industry award which were just fantastic, particularly the ‘Young Stars’ segment	Mimaki put on a very impressive display including samples from its upcoming full-colour 3D printer, the 3DUJ-553, a photo-realistic device that uses piezo heads and modelling ink in CMYK:
Vivad is a trade supplier of all things signage and display and have a terrific, easy-to-use W2P ordering system called Vivtrack. Ewen Donaldson tells you all about it:	Hexis – what can we say? Hexis together with distributor Stikittome put on one of the most entertaining displays with the ‘Wrap Battle’ complete with boxing ring:
OKI: Eco-solvent is OKI’s main game in wide format, having acquired the ColorPainter business in 2016. ColorPainters are still the industry workhorses for banners, and the inks are very safe.	HP treated Visual Impact to the first real showing of both the 1.6 metre and 2 metre ‘R’ series of rigid, flatbed devices using HP Latex inks. Jeremy Brew had a great show with several sales.
Roland DG: Platinum VI sponsor RolandDG showed its usual vast array of wide format print & cut solutions, plus digital foiling. Greg Stone gives a summary of the company’s offerings and services.	Sydney Print Media is another trade-only printer for the sign, POP and display sector. Equipped with state-of-the-art Inca and other technology, it offers speedy turn-around as well as quality:
Mutoh is under the relatively recent general managership of Russell Cavenagh, who was hands-on with two product launches that deliver stunning results:	Epson released two all-new technical CAD/GIS/AEC printers that are also good enough for CMYK posters. Gordon Kerr gives a very knowledgeable rundown here:
Wilenco: There were many surprises here, apart from the excellent Rollover laminators, there were amazing heat presses that get around the button & zip problems, Mutoh printers and more!	Océ won stand-of-the-show award, deservedly so. Product focus was on Colorado, the UVgel printer, and Touchstone textured printing. Garry Muratore was in full flight and even gave away wallets!
Starleaton’s range grows and grows and a big focus on textile printing brought 2 overseas presenters showing a soft signage sewing machine, a new laminator and sublimation heat press.	Agfa’s new Anapurna LED flatbed printers were given a good airing and a great introduction by Rashed Chugtai, Oceania region inkjet guru.
Fuji Xerox showed why they are not just ‘box shifters’ but total solution partners for sign & display printers. Their Fujifilm and Epson printers were encased in ply boxes! Paul Budgen explained why.	Jetmark has some nice XL printers in both LED UV and eco-solvent, plus the new ‘Bubble-Free’ flatbed laminator in 4 metre length. Rajat Jaitly stepped up for the presentations.