So I have posted a few times about this wrap that I have done several times and truthfully I’m still very new to printing vehicle graphics but since I do this job so often and print it so often I always see something new that bothers me or I would like to fix. Good learning experience I guess. So I have a blue to white fade that isn’t the greatest. Seems like that part of the print is always an issue of some sort and have got a lot of the problem solved. One thing left is the gradient is kinda “block”. I have tried all the printer calibrations and different types of files, etc. not saying I have tried everything but I have tried a lot. So I was working on it again and noticed that the “blockiness” is the same. So am I to assume that it is a file issue. Something isn’t rendering right between my layout and the rip file? I use illustrator, export to eps, then rip in veraaworks 5.5. Printer is an xc-540. Hopefully you guys can see this but these where printed with different setting. Slower and unidirectional. You can see the banding but it not perfectly straight banding like a printer issue.
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Need Help Banding from file, not printer.
- Thread starter Jharris81
- Start date
Zoogee World
Domed Promotional Product Supplier
Have you tried saving as a PDF instead of EPS? I know the EPS format is outdated and sometimes certain things don't print quite as planned in this format.
up the number of shades in the gradient - if you only have an 8bit gradient, there are only 256 different shades - up this to at least thousands if not millions of steps.
the noise trick mentioned above works well as a quick-n-dirty solution that 99% of people will not notice.
the noise trick mentioned above works well as a quick-n-dirty solution that 99% of people will not notice.
I appreciate all the suggestions and have been messing around with these settings and have figured out what is going on. Now that I know I can work it out from there and see what gets the best results. I had thought it was from a mechanical issue with the printer for the longest time. It’s always the thing that you aren’t thinking it is. Never stop learning.
Ronny Axelsson
New Member
I learned one thing about gradients (or "fountain fills" since I use CorelDRAW) many years ago when I started doing large format prints.
In Draw, there is an option to choose the number of steps for a gradient fill, and the default is 256.
The maximum number of steps is 999 and I suppose many users will increase it to make sure the fills get as smooth as possible,
but by setting a specific number, you will at the same time also set a limit for how many steps a gradient can consist of.
999 steps may sound to be more than enough but depending on the CMYK mix, it can in fact create a very visible banding.
In my case fifteen years ago, I had a circular dark brown gradient going from 43, 52, 71, 70 to 43, 52, 71, 90.
The only difference was the black going from 70 to 90 and even though it theoretically had 999 steps to work with, the printed result showed a fill with only 21 different steps, steps that were clearly visible.
So how did I solve it?
In Draw there is also another way to handle gradients and it is to disable the number of steps check box.
By doing that, you will instead create a gradient that goes from "color A" to "color B" without dividing it up in steps, and then the RIP/printer will then create the smoothest gradient possible.
Not sure this is what you are seeing (no idea how it works in Illustrator) but perhaps it could be good to know.
And the tip about using PDF instead of EPS sounds like a very good idea too.
In Draw, there is an option to choose the number of steps for a gradient fill, and the default is 256.
The maximum number of steps is 999 and I suppose many users will increase it to make sure the fills get as smooth as possible,
but by setting a specific number, you will at the same time also set a limit for how many steps a gradient can consist of.
999 steps may sound to be more than enough but depending on the CMYK mix, it can in fact create a very visible banding.
In my case fifteen years ago, I had a circular dark brown gradient going from 43, 52, 71, 70 to 43, 52, 71, 90.
The only difference was the black going from 70 to 90 and even though it theoretically had 999 steps to work with, the printed result showed a fill with only 21 different steps, steps that were clearly visible.
So how did I solve it?
In Draw there is also another way to handle gradients and it is to disable the number of steps check box.
By doing that, you will instead create a gradient that goes from "color A" to "color B" without dividing it up in steps, and then the RIP/printer will then create the smoothest gradient possible.
Not sure this is what you are seeing (no idea how it works in Illustrator) but perhaps it could be good to know.
And the tip about using PDF instead of EPS sounds like a very good idea too.
Ronny Axelsson
New Member
Sorry, double post.