Printing grey....

[DigiPrinter]

Are some colors not produceable between materials? I'm profiled for 3M material and Arlon 4560 (calendared) vinyl. I've got a solid grey to print (close to Pantone 423) but fighting the laminating tint. My grey looks much better with my 3M prints than it does on the calendared material. I'd like to use the Arlon material cause the job isn't that large and stocking the 3M vinyl for this one job would eat the job. I've tried a bunch of color samples in spot colors, rgb and cmyk on the Arlon material without much success. My presumption is the colors should be able to be made the same between materials, but is there a known outcome that cast will print different than calendared? Also, will a gloss laminate tint different than a matte?

 

[TheSnowman]

Ha, I was just searching this same thing. My JV3 printed them green, now my JV33 prints them purple. I'm just trying different profiles at this point. I'm printing a grey gradient on Oracal 3651 right now, using a 3621 Matte profile. This is working out nice. Whose to say what I end up with when I laminate it though, but I'm for sure way closer than I was. You might try just doing it the idiot way like I do unless you are REALLY good at doing your own profiles.

 

[Biker Scout]

Nearly all lamination film has a slight yellow tint to it. Plan your gray mix accordingly. Also, the white point on nearly every "White" vinyl is completely different. From cool to warm. You really need to be working in room with full spectrum lighting in order to see the subtitles in colors.

 

[Johnmpcny]

Gray

Every thing about color is based on gray balance if you not print gray in balance you have color cast issues all the time.

Print a 50% K next to a 50c/40m/40y and it should match. If not your not color calibrated. This is the basis for G7 and they just charge you more and make it sound harder.

Here is a test form to see if your printing gray.

 

[Stephenedwardgraphic]

Grays are always the toughest to hit, especially three color grays. Any shift in the color balance and the gray will swing to a side other than neutral gray. Calibrate your printer and then create a G7 profile. The G7 process is based upon gray balance...it will make your grays look a lot better and much easier to produce from media to media and printer to printer.

 

[Stephenedwardgraphic]

Its not hard to become G7 certified but like anything it costs money. You will need something to read the color like an iOne or i1iSis, and software that helps to make the curve, like Curve3 software. You can read more and get a free P2P color target at www.idealliance.org

 

[LittleSnakey]

Lighting can change the color quite abit. From the fluorescent lighting to outdoors colors will also shift.

Try cmyk colors with only percentages of black.
We print with flexi and do that then when sending them I select pure black and pure white hue in the color settings rendering intent.

Hope this helps.

Nearly all lamination film has a slight yellow tint to it. Plan your gray mix accordingly. Also, the white point on nearly every "White" vinyl is completely different. From cool to warm. You really need to be working in room with full spectrum lighting in order to see the subtitles in colors.

 

[Correct Color]

First, understand that G7 has nothing...nothing at all to do with large format inkjet printing.

What G7 originally was was a method for calibrating offset presses. In that sense it's about "grey balance" yes, but in a completely different environment.

In very brief, G7 is a method for determining the tone ramps of devices when the white point of the media, the chroma value of each primary, and the density of each primary all comport to G7 standards.

If all those conditions can be met, then it's possible to print to a standard profile, such as SWOP or GRAcol, once you can determine the tone ramps of the device.

But ... once you use a a custom ICC profile, even if you built your linearization (tone ramps) with Curve software, then you're not using G7 anymore. Because it's the profile that tells the printer how to make the dots, not the linearization.

The reason greys are hard is that frankly, while many people make profiles, few people are all that good at it. It's an art that can take years to learn.

And in this business, profiles are everything.

But what happens is, if you're printing, say, a bright, vivid red, if your profiles are off what your printer is printing by 10% or so, you're not going to see it.

If, however, you're printing a grey, then you've got no room for error. By any amount that your profiles are off how your printer actually prints, you'll be off in that direction.

It's all about your profiles, and G7 will not help.


Mike Adams
Correct Color