Editing Rotogravure (section)

=== Engraved cylinder ===
The first step of Gravure is to create the cylinder with the engraved images that need to be printed: the engraving process will create on the cylinder surface the cells that will contain the ink in order to transfer it to the paper. Since the amount of ink contained in the cells corresponds to different colour intensities on the paper, the dimensions of the cells must be carefully set: deeper or larger cells will produce more intense colours whereas smaller cells will produce less intense ones.  There are three methods of photoengraving that have been used for engraving of gravure cylinders, where the cell open size or the depth of cells can be uniform or variable:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
! Method
! cell size
! cell depth
|-
| Conventional
| uniform
| variable
|-
| "Two positive" or "Lateral hard dot"
| variable
| variable
|-
| Direct transfer
| variable
| uniform
|}

Gravure cylinders are usually made of steel and plated with copper, though other materials, e.g. ceramics can also be used. The desired pattern is achieved by engraving with a laser or a diamond tool, or by chemical etching.  If the cylinder is chemically etched, a resist (in the form of a negative image) is transferred to the cylinder before etching. The resist protects the non-image areas of the cylinder from the etchant. After etching, the resist is stripped off. The operation is analogous to the manufacture of printed circuit boards. Following engraving, the cylinder is proofed and tested, reworked if necessary, and then chrome plated.