(or offset photomechanical reproduction). The original image or a photograph of the image is scanned into a computer to produce colour separations, one for each colour used in the printing process: cyan, yellow, magenta and black. These separations are then output to film with dot patterns that represent the values of each of the four process colors. the films are exposed to printing plates, one for each color. On a printing press, the plates transfer the ink to a rubber blanket, which in turn offsets the ink onto paper or canvas.