Need Help What is my issue? Media Brand, ICC Profile, or?

[Nick Ng]

Hi everyone,

I have an Epson Sure Color S56075 Solvent model that I purchased 2nd hand from a very reputable printing business owner. We did many test prints in person before I purchased the machine off from him. Upon having the printer for the past 1 week I have been having some weird issues since day one.

- I use Onyx Rip 12 (same rip software as the previous owner)
- Printing on Kelly Paper house brand gloss vinyl. (previous owner use 3M 180) I also try 3M 180 but still same result.
- I am currently using 3M 180 profile (IJ180CV3-10 AccuPhotoGS2 and IJ180CV3-10 Stochastic) to print on Kelly Paper vinyl gloss and 3M 180

I attached an actual image of the file and my result to this thread. As you can see it is totally off and no matter what setting I play with I am getting tiny dots all over the print.

Do I have a contaminated roll, media doesn't match up with this solvent printer? Could it be my profile is not correct?

Any tips would greatly help me diagnose this issue.

Thank you!

 

[unclebun]

I tried to look up Kelly Paper's vinyl offerings, but they have a rather opaque website. However, it looks like you have some settings wrong in your Onyx RIP. You need to look at your Quick Sets and see how it's handling color and profiles.

 

[shoresigns]

The tiny dots will disappear if you take a few steps back.

It's not at all unusual to have a bit of a stippled texture like that when printing solid colours on wide format, though. It'll vary depending on the material and the media profile. You can improve it by increasing the print quality and/or number of passes, and you can also improve it by printing on matte media instead of glossy.

 

[Nick Ng]

I tried to look up Kelly Paper's vinyl offerings, but they have a rather opaque website. However, it looks like you have some settings wrong in your Onyx RIP. You need to look at your Quick Sets and see how it's handling color and profiles.

The default setting which I left it at is "All ICC Profiles On" Any advise?

 

[Nick Ng]

The tiny dots will disappear if you take a few steps back.

It's not at all unusual to have a bit of a stippled texture like that when printing solid colours on wide format, though. It'll vary depending on the material and the media profile. You can improve it by increasing the print quality and/or number of passes, and you can also improve it by printing on matte media instead of glossy.

I have tried 16 passes and that is the result I attached to the thread.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I think if you put 3MIJ180 in there and printed with that profile it would look a lot better just like at the former shop. The reason this one doesn't look so good is probably the profile just not being a good fit for this material. You either want to create your own profile if you have the equipment or try other profiles for different brands and see if one works better. Also, call Kelly Paper and ask them if they have a recommended profile to use or even better, a profile they have created for it.

 

[Nick Ng]

I think if you put 3MIJ180 in there and printed with that profile it would look a lot better just like at the former shop. The reason this one doesn't look so good is probably the profile just not being a good fit for this material. You either want to create your own profile if you have the equipment or try other profiles for different brands and see if one works better. Also, call Kelly Paper and ask them if they have a recommended profile to use or even better, a profile they have created for it.

I just tried a sample roll of the 3MIJ180 that the previous owner gave me to practice on and still the same affect result.

 

[ColorCrest]

I am getting tiny dots

Does your printer model only use 4 color inks? C, M, Y, and K? Also, are you using a large format printer to image small format prints?

 

[Nick Ng]

Does your printer model only use 4 color inks? C, M, Y, and K? Also, are you using a large format printer to image small format prints?

My printer is setup with CMYK + White. I am using this printer to print stickers and the smallest size would be 3" up to 5"

 

[ColorCrest]

My printer is setup with CMYK + White. I am using this printer to print stickers and the smallest size would be 3" up to 5"

Typically your model of machine is ideal for quick production of large format images. To gain finer detail without "dots", a printer using more ink colors such as light cyan, light magenta, and light black would make a more discernible print, especially with smaller prints such as yours.

 

[Nick Ng]

Typically your model of machine is ideal for quick production of large format images. To gain finer detail without "dots", a printer using more ink colors such as light cyan, light magenta, and light black would make a more discernible print, especially with smaller prints such as yours.

You do make a point and I do agree. But I sent the previous owner my file, then he did a test print with his same exact model printer and it came out perfect and vibrant.

 

[ColorCrest]

You do make a point and I do agree. But I sent the previous owner my file, then he did a test print with his same exact model printer and it came out perfect and vibrant.

Then let's have you post a side-by-side closeup photograph of the two prints, his against yours.

 

[unclebun]

We do not use the "All ICC Profiles On" setting. We use a custom setting, where we've chosen US Web Coated (SWOP) v2.icc for CMYK image and vector, and sRGB_IEC1966_21.icm for RGB image and vector. Under Rendering Intents we have chosen Perceptual for both Image and Vector and Absolute Colorimetric for Lab.

 

[Nick Ng]

We do not use the "All ICC Profiles On" setting. We use a custom setting, where we've chosen US Web Coated (SWOP) v2.icc for CMYK image and vector, and sRGB_IEC1966_21.icm for RGB image and vector. Under Rendering Intents we have chosen Perceptual for both Image and Vector and Absolute Colorimetric for Lab.

Thank you! I will give those setting a try today. I have made my own color profile with a color meter (colormunki) and imported it in to the ICC Profile, so that is what I'm testing today. Do you check mark or un-check "Use Spot Color Replacement table"? As for "Bit Depth" which option do you choose? Thank you so much for the tips

 

[P Wagner]

Then let's have you post a side-by-side closeup photograph of the two prints, his against yours.

This would be helpful, as would identifying what media and software settings are different between the two installations.

 

[Nick Ng]

I printed again today with 3M 180 with 16 passes. The result is almost identical to the sample the previous owner printed for me in person. What do you guys think? The only thing left for me is to really dial in my ICC profile to achieve better color. The previous owner print color is a lot more vibrant than mine. My print has a flat/saturated result.

Thank you for all the help from everyone so far, I am really trying to learn as much as possible as I would like to do this the right way from the beginning.

 

[GetTarps]

Is this a CMYK image? Looks like you are printing RGB image. That's your issue. I have an Epson also.

 

[Nick Ng]

Is this a CMYK image? Looks like you are printing RGB image. That's your issue. I have an Epson also.

I will double check on the CMYK, I am pretty sure it was exported as CMYK / PDF in Corel. What model of Epson do you have? =)

 

[unclebun]

Thank you! I will give those setting a try today. I have made my own color profile with a color meter (colormunki) and imported it in to the ICC Profile, so that is what I'm testing today. Do you check mark or un-check "Use Spot Color Replacement table"? As for "Bit Depth" which option do you choose? Thank you so much for the tips

Spot Color Replacement we have checked. It's where we set the named spot colors for our silver ink and white ink, as well as the CutContour color.

Bit Depth should be Smart 16 Bit Processing.

 

[shoresigns]

Is this a CMYK image? Looks like you are printing RGB image. That's your issue. I have an Epson also.

OP posted the file at the beginning of the thread – it's not RGB. It's a PDF in CMYK mode plus 8 spot colours.