TrueVIS VG2-540 — RIP setting in VersaWorks 6.24.1

[lendog]

Looking for some TrueVIS VG2-540 color management advice...


I purchased a Roland TrueVIS VG2-540 about a year ago and absolutely love the machine. It's been a game changer for my studio.


I'm wrapping a fleet of hospital robots that combine full-color graphics with large historical black-and-white portraits on the same panel.


The first image is the look I'm after. The second image is what I'm getting.


I normally print using Pre-Press U.S.. The grayscale portraits were picking up a magenta/purple cast, so I switched to Density Control Only. That fixed the grayscale on some panels, but on the mixed color/grayscale panels it darkened everything and wasn't the answer.

Has anyone found a VersaWorks setting, rendering intent, media profile, or workflow that keeps grayscale images neutral while preserving the vibrancy of the color elements on the same print?

I'm running:

• Roland TrueVIS VG2-540
• VersaWorks 6.24.1
• Generic Vinyl 2 media profile

Media: bePrint 4 mil Matte White Vinyl with Gray Permanent Adhesive (DBLBEPR54164M), laminated with matching matte overlaminate. This is the media I use for virtually every job, so I'm looking for a repeatable VersaWorks workflow rather than media-specific settings.

I'd really appreciate any suggestions. I have 13 more of these to wrap, so if I can get this workflow dialed in once, it'll save me a lot of headaches.

Y'all kick ass & im grateful for that. Thanks in advance!

-leonard assante // assantedesign.com
(315) 447-6095

 

[Solventinkjet]

Basically, since you're using a generic profile, it's not perfectly calibrated to your printer, media, and environment. When you use density control only, it sends the printer exactly what the CMYK values are in your file. In your case, that prints a nice neutral grayscale but messes up the other colors. So, short of getting into a full color correction workflow and custom profiling, you need to tell the RIP to use color correction like normal on the color section and not use it on the grayscale.

There's a setting Versaworks called, "Preserve Primary Color/Black" that you can check and that tells the RIP to not use any color correction on pure black CMYK values. Turn that setting on. Then you just need make sure the grayscale image is actually grayscale and not RGB. Bring the image into your photo editor like Photoshop and convert it to grayscale. That will discard any color data in the file. Then drop it into your CMYK file you're trying to print and it should make every pixel in the image a pure value of K. The RIP will see that and ignore color correction just on the grayscale image.

 

[lendog]

Basically, since you're using a generic profile, it's not perfectly calibrated to your printer, media, and environment. When you use density control only, it sends the printer exactly what the CMYK values are in your file. In your case, that prints a nice neutral grayscale but messes up the other colors. So, short of getting into a full color correction workflow and custom profiling, you need to tell the RIP to use color correction like normal on the color section and not use it on the grayscale.

There's a setting Versaworks called, "Preserve Primary Color/Black" that you can check and that tells the RIP to not use any color correction on pure black CMYK values. Turn that setting on. Then you just need make sure the grayscale image is actually grayscale and not RGB. Bring the image into your photo editor like Photoshop and convert it to grayscale. That will discard any color data in the file. Then drop it into your CMYK file you're trying to print and it should make every pixel in the image a pure value of K. The RIP will see that and ignore color correction just on the grayscale image.

you are a gem. I truly appreciate your reply & I will be giving this a try once I get in my studio. THANK YOU.

 

[cornholio]

To me, that looks too far off, for being just a profile thing.
How is the state of your printheads?(Nozzle test print)
Do you shake the ink carts regularly?

 

[AB Rolan]

What ink configuration do you have? CMYKCMYK or CMYKlMlClGO?
What design program are you using?
If you have the expanded colors ink configuration you have to make sure you are using the Roland Color Chart / Swatches

 

[lendog]

To me, that looks too far off, for being just a profile thing.
How is the state of your printheads?(Nozzle test print)
Do you shake the ink carts regularly?

printheads are immaculate, test patterns are spot-on, all pouches of ink are shaken each day before starting tpo print, room temp is always cool, everything is uber dialed in since I got the printer about two years ago. The only problem that I have is a workflow that allows me to have vibrant colors but still maintain those black-and-white as they are black-and-white. I ran two tests yesterday, but I wasn't 100% with the final result, so I wanna try something different this morning.

I hope to post where I'm at color-wise a little later today.

 

[lendog]

What ink configuration do you have? CMYKCMYK or CMYKlMlClGO?
What design program are you using?
If you have the expanded colors ink configuration you have to make sure you are using the Roland Color Chart / Swatches

• Cyan
• Magenta
• Yellow
• Black
• Light Cyan
• Light Magenta
• Orange
• NO Green