Unique 3D RELIEF Effects for Premium New Thread

Oberthur Fiduciaire has launched a technology for threads in the form of RELIEF™ – which offers striking bas-relief 3D effects in what the company terms a major advance in security features for threads and unlike anything else on the market.

The visual effects of RELIEF are equivalent to those of the latest SPARK Flow® Dimension – creating the impression of visual tactility, ie. an image or effect that appears to project beyond the surrounding surface, that does not actually exist.

Unlike SPARK, however, the effect is not created through the alignment of pigments using magnetics, but through the printing process itself, and specifically through liquid crystal inks, the molecules of which have very specific optical properties. It is by manipulating and layering these optical properties that the 3D effects, which are essentially a contrast between light and shadow, are created, along with vibrant colour shift.