Expanding their concept of “the Imaging of Things” to “the Imaging of Things and People,” EFI has launched its new direct-to-human-skin inkjet press, the TatVU 3500. The tattooing fad shows no sign of slowing down, but to attract those who may want to adorn their bodies with decorative art, but are turned off by the idea of traditional tattooing needles, the TatVU’s approach uses what the company calls “Touchless Tattooing,” or a set of printheads that, like any inkjet printhead, avoids contact with the substrate. The process works like this: the individual to be tattooed lies on the infeed table and is then carried into the imaging unit. The imagee’s body has been pre-scanned and the desired image(s) mapped onto a 3D model in the unit’s sophisticated software front end. The imagee is then carried beneath the printheads and an LED UV drying unit before being deposited in the output tray. Additional passes may be required if human duplexing is needed.

Depending on the ink used, the tattoo can be permanent or temporary. The skin requires no pre- or post-treatment, although in early experiments—before they had nailed the ink composition—the flesh required a flame pretreatment, which did not go well.

Another advantage for the TatVU system is that the UV drying unit can also be used for tanning, so facilities can offer simultaneous tanning as well as tatting services. Optional color management software can also compensate for tanned flesh and adjust and optimize the colors of the tattoo(s) on the fly.

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