A billboard could now be produced in one day with MMT's robotic painters, compared to weeks or months under manual processes. Multiple images would be exactly the same, colour and layout, something that was also not available in the manual process.

     MMT built and developed their own robotic painters, colour-matching and calibration routines, software and hardware componentry. MMT spent years studying the optics of the eye to ensure the product was the perfect solution for the billboard industry.

I     t's the only large format digital imaging company in the world with its own Research and Development department consisting of microbiologists, physicists, chemists, engineers and mathematicians. We are also the only company to conduct more research into large-scale imaging, and as a responsible corporate company, MMT is looking at the environmental impact of the industry itself.

Even during the imaging process, all emissions are successfully captured to prevent any escape into the atmosphere. MMT's commitment to environmental preservation is evidenced by the investment it has made to control emissions in all its facilities around the world.

MMT also holds patents for some processes that we now know as standard - for example:
  digital painting onto flexible vinyl substrates
  MMT's robotic large format painters
  backlit imaging process of signs and billboards
  process of attaching flex-face images to billboard structures

And numerous other patents relating to digital imaging, painting/printing processes and image data processing.

Metromedia Technologies (MMT) has spent 25 years developing, perfecting and patenting its imaging technologies with expenditure in excess of $US50 million before the first door of MMT was ever opened.

The principle of the technology is that pictorial information is digitised therefore permitting absolute control of production quality to the advertiser no matter where production is carried out at any of the Metromedia Technologies production facilities located around the world. The digitised information is used directly to apply individual dots of paint to a reinforced flexible substrates to be subsequently used for billboards, trucksides, murals, on-premise signage, backdrops for television and motion pictures and many other applications.

All information is stored and identical reproducibility is achieved for production of multi print requirements. The MMT Robotic Painters, no matter where located, are all identical and fully colour balanced. There is no operator adjustment or intervention required once painting begins - the outcome is guaranteed on each and every image produced from any MMT facility.

MMT is also the only digital imaging company marketing to every continent on the world with sales and service offices in 34 nations, spanning six continents. MMT operates production facilities in Australia, Malaysia, China, USA, South America, India, The Netherlands and Russia, with more facilities planned. MMT Images have been displayed in over 145 countries and on all seven continents of the world.

    MMT opened its doors officially in 1986 and revolutionised the way the outdoor advertising industry worked. No longer was there a need for paint and brushes, paper and glue pots, or repetitious sign writing - MMT introduced the world to large format digitally painted images on flexible substrates, including vinyl. MMT had pioneered and developed a revolutionary new product for large format imaging.

        1986 saw the revolution of a new way of making large format images... MMT and the MMT Robotic Painter! MMT introduced the world to large format digitally painted images on reinforced flexible substrates, including vinyl. MMT had pioneered and developed a revolutionary new product for large format imaging.

A billboard could now be produced in one day with MMT's robotic painters, compared to weeks or months under manual processes. Multiple images would be exactly the same, colour and layout, something that was also not available in the manual process.

MMT built and developed their own robotic painters, colour-matching and calibration routines, software and hardware componentry. MMT spent years studying the optics of the eye to ensure the product was the perfect solution for the billboard industry.

Developed by MMT employees and Gerber Laboratories for MMT, MIT, the University of Southern California and other universities, the MMT Robotic Paint Drum System became a reality. Utilising state-of-the-art, and newly developed computer imaging technologies, "MMT Dot Shooters" and computer driver controllers, the MMT Systems are still way ahead of any competitor's plotter systems.

MMT also holds patents for some processes that we now know as standard - for example:
  digital painting onto flexible vinyl substrates
  MMT's robotic large format painters
  backlit imaging process of signs and billboards
  process for attaching flex-face images to billboard structures

And numerous other patents relating to digital imaging, painting/printing processes and image data processing.

Metromedia Technologies (MMT) has spent 25 years developing, perfecting and patenting its Robotic Painters and continues to do so.

MMT Paint Drum and Graphic facilities can be found throughout the Americas, Australia, Asia, India, South America and Europe.

In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type printing, and advertising, in the modern sense, was launched in the form of the handbill. When the lithographic process was perfected in 1796, the illustrated poster became a reality.

Gradually, measures were taken to ensure exposure of a message for a fixed period of time. In order to offer more desirable locations where traffic was heavy, bill posters began to erect their own structures.

In 1830's The large American outdoor poster (16 metres) originated in New York in Jared Bell's office where he printed posters for the circus in 1835. In the beginning, American roadside advertising was generally local. Merchants painted signs or glued posters on walls and fences to notify the passersby that their establishments up the road sold horse blankets, rheumatism pills, and the like.

In 1850, exterior advertising was first used on street railways. First Association in the 1870's The earliest recorded leasings of boards occurred in the U.S. in 1867. By 1870 close to 300 small sign-painting and bill posting companies existed. In 1872, the International Bill Posters' Association of North America was formed in St. Louis National Association.

In 1891 the Associated Bill Posters' Association of the US and Canada was formed in Chicago. The name was later changed to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Their purpose: to promote a greater understanding of the poster medium. To provide an expanded nationwide organization for coordinating the services offered by member companies to continue to address the ethical concerns of early industry leaders.

Michigan formed the first state bill posters association in 1871, followed by Indiana, New York, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, all of which had active state associations by 1891.

In 1900, a standardized billboard structure was created in America, and ushered in a boom in national billboard campaigns. Confident that the same ad would fit billboards from Connecticut to Kansas, big advertisers like Palmolive, Kellogg, and Coca-Cola began mass-producing billboard artworks for the national market.

By 1912, standardized outdoor service was at the disposal of national advertisers in nearly every major urban centre. In 1913, the Association established an education committee which served to encourage the industry to donate public service advertising. The practice of filling "open boards" with public service messages has continued to this day. During periods of war, the industry has responded by taking upon itself a shared responsibility for mobilization.

In peacetime, the concern has been for those causes that could generally improve society. The National Outdoor Advertising Bureau (NOAB) was formed in 1915 to serve the outdoor advertising needs advertising agencies had with their various clients and to regularly inspect the showings in the field. In 1931 Outdoor Advertising, Inc. (OAI) was formed to sell the concept of outdoor advertising (later merged into OAAA). Name changed to OAAA.

In 1925 the Poster Advertising Association and the Painted Outdoor Advertising Association joined to become the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) combining the interests of posters and bulletins into one association.

In the mid-twenties, the outdoor advertising industry was at last generally accepted by the banking community. New York's Outdoor Advertising Company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1925 the first major merger of outdoor advertising firms took place. The Fulton Group and the Cusack Co. combined to become the General Outdoor Advertising Company (GOA). In February 1934, the industry established the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) to provide advertisers with data to determine outdoor audience size. In 1958, Congress passed the first federal legislation to voluntarily control billboards along Interstate highways.

The law was known as the Bonus Act because states were given bonus incentives to control signs. In 1962, French outdoor company JCDecaux invented the bus stop shelter. A popular outdoor venue, shelters are built at no cost to municipalities and rely on ad revenue for their upkeep. On October 22, 1965 the Highway Beautification Act was signed into law by President Johnson. It controlled billboards on Interstate and federal-aid primary highways by limiting billboards to commercial and industrial areas, and by requiring states to set size, lighting and spacing standards and requiring just compensation for removal of lawfully erected signs.

In 1972, tobacco advertising was banned in th USA on all broadcast media, leaving print and outdoor as its most popular venues. In 1975, the Institute of Outdoor Advertising (IOA) (later the OAAA) developed a campaign to measure billboards' effectiveness. The concept featured Shirley Cochran, the newly crowned Miss America, on billboards that were displayed across the country. Her name recognition soared 940% after the campaign.

Also, in the 1970's a group of billboard companies commissioned studies at MIT in the painting of bulletins by computer. This ultimately led to computer painting on vinyl by (MMT) Metromedia Technologies and (CIS) Computer Imaging Systems (an MMT company) including others later. In 1983, the industry took the San Diego anti-billboard ordinance all the way to the Supreme Court. The court held the ordinance to be unconstitutional.

From the 1990's to the present saw digital technology transform the industry-handpainted boards replaced by computer-painted outdoor advertising formats. Outdoor companies offered an increasingly diverse selection of advertising formats including: bus shelters, transit and kiosks; airport advertising, mall displays and taxi tops.

In 1990, the State of California used outdoor for its state-wide anti-smoking campaign. OAAA limits placement of messages for products and services that cannot be sold to minors. In 1991, OAAA celebrates its Centennial Convention in Washington, D.C.

In 1999, tobacco advertising was no longer allowed on any outdoor str

uctures