Cinema™
CCL Secure (Australia)
Type: Substrate-integrated micro-optic security feature — 3D and movement effects embedded directly into Guardian™ polymer banknote substrate during manufacture
Overview
Cinema™ is a revolutionary security feature developed by CCL Secure in collaboration with Rolling Optics, a Swedish company specialising in 3D imagery, and first publicly launched in August 2020. It represents a fundamentally different approach to optically variable banknote security: rather than being applied to the surface of the banknote as a foil stripe, patch, or printed element, Cinema™ integrates Rolling Optics' unique 3D technology into CCL's process of manufacturing polymer banknotes, enabling the complete integration of its security effects as early as during the first stage of manufacturing the banknote substrate itself.
Rolling Optics has partnered with CCL Secure since 2015, with an agreement granting CCL Secure a licence to use Rolling Optics' technology for integration into banknotes, with Rolling Optics receiving a royalty fee per banknote produced and sold.
Technology & Effects
Using Double Soft Emboss Technology, Cinema™ creates both 3D and movement effects that are instantly recognisable with the naked eye. This revolutionary security feature incorporates stunning three-dimensional movement effects with unparalleled clarity, depth of field, and animation quality. Unlike other applied features such as thread and foil stripes, Cinema™ is a highly complex and layered micro-optic feature seamlessly integrated within banknote windows, offering industry-leading recognisability for the public.
Cinema™ uses micro-lens technology embedded in a circular area placed directly into the polymer substrate during manufacture. It is immediately recognisable to the naked eye without the need for special lighting.
One of the key advantages of Cinema™ is its ability to create captivating movement, depth, float, flip and magnification effects, all visible under normal conditions without the need for UV or other special lighting. Additionally, when illuminated by a point light source such as from a smartphone or LED, the previously invisible Windoe™ pattern emerges with striking vibrancy — Windoe™ being a highly durable and chemically resistant holographic structure applied in the clear window.
The micro-lens array interacts with imagery designed beneath it to create the perception of three-dimensional depth and motion as the banknote is tilted or moved, generating effects that have no parallel in commercially available products and cannot be replicated without the specialist substrate manufacturing equipment and processes developed by CCL Secure and Rolling Optics.
Form Factors & Application
Cinema™ is integrated during the manufacture of the Guardian™ polymer substrate — before any printing takes place — and is located within a circular transparent window area of the finished banknote. The feature offers four options for the reverse side of the circular area: a graphic element, micro text, an anti-copy background, or no printing at all, giving designers flexibility in how the feature is presented on the reverse of the note. Cinema™ is available only with CCL Secure's Guardian™ polymer substrate.
Security Levels
Cinema™ operates as a Level 1 (public) and Level 2 authentication feature. Its 3D and movement effects are immediately visible and highly distinctive at Level 1, with no tools required. The smartphone point-light-source activation of Windoe™ provides an accessible Level 2 verification method that the public can perform themselves. The substrate-integration of the micro-optic structure makes it entirely inaccessible to counterfeiters, who have no means of replicating the lensing effect without access to CCL Secure and Rolling Optics' proprietary manufacturing infrastructure.
Notable Deployments
The Banque du Liban's 100,000 Livres commemorative note, issued in 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Lebanon, was the first banknote in the world to feature Cinema™, alongside Vivid™ Colour. Cinema™ added three-dimensional and movement effects to the note, with images changing from a view of Nejmeh Square in 2020 to the same view in 1920 when the banknote is moved or tilted. CCL Secure collaborated with specialist printers PWPW on the design and production of the Lebanese note.
The second banknote to feature Cinema™ was a Polish commemorative 20 złoty note issued by Narodowy Bank Polski on 9 February 2023, marking the 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus. Cinema™ with its 3D and motion effects was used to deepen the story of Copernicus' great astronomical discovery.
- Name
- Cinema™
- Category
- Security Feature
- Effect Types
- Micro-optics
- Company
- Product Page
- View on Supplier Site
- Linked Features
- 2 security features