banding on gradient prints

[spudcity]

While printing gradients I have been getting banding. The larder the print, the worse the banding. This is not happening with normal printing.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you.

 

[Vinylman]

My first place to look would be the dampers. Sounds like ink starvation.
How long has been since you did replacement on the dampers?

Have you done a test print to check the nozzle pattern? Any blocked nozzels will wreak havoc on a tint or screened image.

 

[jmcnicoll]

Is it banding caused by the printer, or gradient banding that is in the art? Many time gradients made in vector based programs have banding in the art, even photoshop will if you don't watch out for it. Post a pic if you can.

Jim

 

[mark in tx]

It is because the vector gradients are not being smoothed when converted in the RIP, your file prep is most likely the problem. Can you take the vector into photoshop, export as a tif, and see if the results are different?

 

[Tony McD]

If you're art was made in Corel, you can increase the fountain steps of the gradient which will smooth it out some. Also exporting to a bitmap and printing that may help.

 

[bob]

Increasing the fountain fill steps might do something for you but if you have the option in your software select the highest quality dither and gradient algorithms. In Flexi these would be on the advanced tab in the Rip and Print dialog. In Flexi choose the top item on each of the menus. The RIP might take a few seconds longer but the results are worth it. Usually.

Using the mid-range dither and, if applicable, mid-range gradient handling can cause banding even with gradients converted to bitmaps. The larger the gradient, the more pronounced the banding.

 

[spudcity]

As others have mentioned....try exporting as a tif. I don't even try exporting as vector anymore when gradients/shadows are present.

one of the prints is about 8 feet long, will it still work as a tif at that length>? never really worked with them in larger scales. I'd hate to try and print something that big and waste it if it isnt right.

also, I'm using illustrator-if that makes a difference.

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

First, check the calibration - this is a common "banding" issue. Make sure all your heads are working and the test pattern is perfect. Check the media type, some medias just do not print well, have you used the media before without banding. Check your profile! This is a BIG issue with banding. Check your printer first before trying other solutions, if the printer isnt printing properly the other things wont help.

 

[spudcity]

the printer is printing everything else great...only problem is with the gradients

 

[jfiscus]

Tell the whole software process you're using if you can.
I assume you're creating these gradients in Illustrator, but then how are you saving/exporting, etc from there?

I use Illustrator everyday just about with gradients transparency, etc with no issues printing unless flexi gets involved somehow.

 

[Adam Bennett]

I've had errors with flexi and gradients before- I think the fix that we found was different diffusion methods, or error diffusion methods? something like that, I don't use flexi anymore so i'm not entirely sure that i'm remembering that all correctly, but I'm pretty sure thats what fix it for us