Frescography (from Latin fresco - painting onto "fresh" plaster + Greek graphein - to write) is a method for producing murals digitally on paper, canvas, glass or tiles, invented 1998 by German muralist Rainer Maria Latzke.[1] Frescography uses CAM and digital printing methods to create murals.
With CAM-program created Frescography

Contents

* 1 History of mural reproduction techniques
* 2 The principle of Frescography
* 3 Applications of frescographies
* 4 Material & Printers
* 5 References
* 6 External links

History of mural reproduction techniques
'Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique' - Unlike this woodblock print consisting of 10 stripes, the frescography is produced on a single piece of canvas allowing a seamless mural tailor-fit to the walls dimensions.

The Frescography is based on a similar technique as the woodblock printing method of the French Papier Peints wallpapers, used by manufacturers like Zuber et cie or Joseph Dufour et Cie who began developing the procedure during the end of the 18th century. These wallpaper manufacturers used thousands of engraved woodblocks for the creation of the panorama sceneries, to create wall paper such as the 20 panel Sauvages de la Mer du Pacifique which Jean-Gabriel Charvet designed for Joseph Dufour et Cie or the “du Vue de l'Amérique Nord” designed in 1834 by Zuber et cie for the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, where it is still today[2].

The principle of Frescography
Screenshot of a CAM programm for the design of frescographies.

Unlike woodblock printing, the frescography is based on digitally cut-out motifs which are stored in a database. To avoid having to work with high resolution files on software such as Photoshop (resulting in long rendering and processing time), new CAM software programs like the Dreamworlds Design Studio[3] allow the composition of mural designs by working with preview files which are later converted to the original resolution. By adding the exact measurements of a wall when starting a new project and even taking architectural elements such as doors windows or beams into consideration, the design will result in an accurately and tailor-fit wall mural.

Once a design is finished, the low resolution motifs are converted into the original high resolution images and are printed on Wide-format printers. Unlike the woodblock print consisting of stripes, the frescography is printed on a single piece of canvas allowing a seamless mural tailor-fit to the walls dimensions. Once produced, the canvas is applied to the wall in a wall-paper-like procedure.

Since the motifs can be placed freely and scaled to the individual wall measurements, the finished piece will look like it was created on-site.

Applications of frescographies
Frescographies in the lobby of the "Royal Clipper".

Frescographies can be found in the Lanner Lehar Hall of the Vienna town hall or the worlds largest cruising ship, Royal Clipper.

Material & Printers

Since the Frescography is based on digital printing methods, various materials ranging from canvas, ceramics, or glass to PVC, depending on the material the printer supports. Commonly frescographies are printed on Wide-format printers such as Efi's Vutek printer [4].

References

1. ^ Patent information for mural-reproduction technique
2. ^ Murals in the 'Diplomatic Reception Room' of the White House
3. ^ Dreamworlds Design Studio
4. ^ Vutek wide-format printer