Need Help Getting good grey color out of my printer. Roland xc -540

[Jharris81]

Preserve K is a Caldera function but I remember there was an option from my days on a Roland.It removes the extra color noise when ripping colors.
I would adjust this using the rip. A quick search I found this:
From Versaworks...
"There is a “Use Primary Colors” check box – this will override a color targets tendency to add bits of color where they are not needed – Speckles in a pure yellow or red or green cast to pure grays. If this check mark is on – then a CMYK setting of 0,0,100,0 will make sure only the yellow channel is fired – no speckles. A dsignation of CMYK=0,0,0,50 – will make a black only 50% gray. Both these preserve that only one of the 4 primary colors are used as designated."
EDIT* Here's a link to the whole writeup if you'd like. https://premiumsignsupplies.com/versaworks-color-management/

This looks like exactly what I need. I will try this out! Thank you so much!


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[ColorCrest]

So would that mean that the printer would need to be calibrated ?

Yes, exactly.

I'm guessing you don't have the typical hardware and software to help you do that, however. Look in Versaworks for something like " Edit Tone Curve" where they provide the color correction tool meant for those situations and files as you find yourself. The curve tool is very much like the calibration curves required to color balance the machine. Otherwise, you would need to color correct the file before submitting it to the RIP, again likely using a curve tool in the design software.

You will need the basic knowledge of color correction so as to not spend an extraordinary amount of time and materials.

Color printers are somewhat like musical instruments where most users have some sort of tuning device they use regularly.

Good luck.

 

[Aaron Hunter]

This looks like exactly what I need. I will try this out! Thank you so much!


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Let us know if that works for you. That being said, the more you know how to calibrate (not just color but but feed and take up) your printers, monitors, and other peripherals, the more you’ll be able to accomplish.

 

[Jharris81]

So here are my results.

Very close and a lot better. The camo print still looks brownish to me. The lighter grays are pretty good and the black is good. Still have that one brown in the middle. Maybe I just need to adjust WHICH gray I use. Still weird to me that if it’s just spray black ink, how can it look brown and how would you ever get a gray if you used any other color.


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[Ultimate13]

We have a Roland XC-540 and VersaWorks and the best way we have found is to create in CMYK color mode in Illustrator. Blacks and greys should all be percentages of Black, yes the printer will still use more colors but this works for us. In Versa select Sign&Display mode. This mode seems to hold the greys very well for us.

We have not tried what Aaron quoted but may do that when we have some time to do more testing.

 

[Jharris81]

Thank you all for your patience and help with this. I have gone through and through, test this and that. I keep coming back to a medium grey that I think is good, but then after that it starts getting brownish again. Anytime I tweak something it just goes really off from gray. If the printer is just putting down black ink then could there be something wrong with the ink or is there for some reason another color getting added in somehow.

Or am I just wanting something that is not possible? [emoji848].


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[ColorCrest]

is there for some reason another color getting added in somehow.

Simply use a loupe or a strong magnifier (there's a phone app for that) to see any colors of ink dots. Tell use what you find.

 

[ColorCrest]

how would you ever get a gray if you used any other color.

As I've posted earlier, it's called color balance. That's when the mix of the C, M, and Y, create neutral grays. Color printers are supposed to calibrated to create neutral grays. Otherwise, what are they calibrated to? The answer is not just a proper load of ink.

 

[Jharris81]

So……after more trial and error then I ever want again I have finally found my gray(s)!! I found the right ratio (at least for a starting point) to make a good gray. Now I can just lighten it and darken it to what I want. It’s not QUITE the gray I was looking for but that’s just going to be a few minor adjustments. Talk about a crash course in color management. Lol. I learned so much though from you guys and just pushing through the process to find my answer.

So in the end there wasn’t really a setting that I changed to make it all better. I downloaded different profiles and messed around with setting but it just came down to getting they right mix of cmyk to make it work, like some of you were saying.

No more browns!


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[Kemik]

You said you are new at this, so the first thing you need to do is make sure you have [Convert Spot Color] checked in the [File Format] tab, otherwise Versa Works will not even recognize your Roland Spot Colors. After you have done that, then you can play around with different profile settings.

 

[Jharris81]

You said you are new at this, so the first thing you need to do is make sure you have [Convert Spot Color] checked in the [File Format] tab, otherwise Versa Works will not even recognize your Roland Spot Colors. After you have done that, then you can play around with different profile settings.

Yes I have that checked.


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[citysignshop]

unless I missed the type of printer, if using VersaWorks, and EcoSol Max ink, could it be an Roland inkjet?
I thought the trick to printing true greyscale ( Like K-only, whether it truly IS or not) was to select 'density control' in the Job Settings menu for color preset. I have NO idea what it means, just that it's proposed as a greyscale setting! good luck!

 

[ColorCrest]

select 'density control' in the Job Settings menu for color preset. I have NO idea what it means

This "Density Control Only" here turns off color management and will send the document values to the media using the current calibration of the printer / ink / media setup. If a printed gray scale file results in a neutral print it means the setup is properly calibrated to grays but not necessarily color optimized in the modern sense. A proper ICC profile is necessary from this point and properly used as well.

 

[Jharris81]

So if I print with only black ink the shades of grey will be brown. I have done a grey scale file with just shades of grey and they are shades of brown. Even the test print that comes with versaworks show brown on there grey scale chart.


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So between my figures, these are shades of brown.