Giclee printing... Where to begin

[sfr table hockey]

Not sure if this is what you are getting at but try to take the original photo 10 x 10 at 300 dpi and just open it in your rip. I use production manager, and it will come in at original size of 10x10. Enlarge it to 300% from there and just print using a profile for about 540 dpi, (mine is fine2 ) In fact the profile I use is for super but there is little change for me when printed in super 720 dpi or fine 2. The time it takes is half with fine 2.

If you try to enlarge a photo in photo shop from a 10 x 10 at 300 dpi to a 30 x 30 at 300 dpi there will be some pixelization. You don't get a better image, at least thats what I found. I am very new to this and others could tell it better.

I don't know how you guys do it, but if I take a picture (lets say 10mp) which is about 3000px wide (essentially 10inches @300dpi) If I scale it 300% in photoshop and print at 300dpi, or I resize it to 30 inches wide@ 150dpi and print, the 150dpi looks better, the 300DPI canvas print has resized artifacts around the corners. i printed my second canvas last night and it looked horrible. Still trying with these prints.

also, whats the best way to laminate them? what about textured laminate? (transparent gesso)

 

[gnatt66]

we have an epson 2400 "baby" printer for anything up to 13x19. awesome machine...and everyone is right, there's one at almost all medium to big frame shops...thats cause all the camera shops starting thinking they could frame...so framers retaliated.

we take the advice of many on here regarding printing. we sub out the big stuff to someone nearby with a HUGE ass giclee operation and make $$ with no headaches. he has the 25k+ in camera/studio equipment required to photograph art well enough for reproduction, color management experience,etc.

as with signs...the printer isnt even half the story.

 

[HulkSmash]

sounds like a nightmare to deal with "artists" who want colors you can't create to their exact spectrum.

 

[VinylLabs.com]

Not sure if this is what you are getting at but try to take the original photo 10 x 10 at 300 dpi and just open it in your rip. I use production manager, and it will come in at original size of 10x10. Enlarge it to 300% from there and just print using a profile for about 540 dpi, (mine is fine2 ) In fact the profile I use is for super but there is little change for me when printed in super 720 dpi or fine 2. The time it takes is half with fine 2.

If you try to enlarge a photo in photo shop from a 10 x 10 at 300 dpi to a 30 x 30 at 300 dpi there will be some pixelization. You don't get a better image, at least thats what I found. I am very new to this and others could tell it better.

I'm not using a rip, I'm printing directly from photoshop, I was told my printer has an on-board RIP. (DJ5500)

 

[bob]

So I had to check out what Giclee was. Here's for the others who don't know either.

The Definition : Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt".

HMMMMM.

The name, however you want to spell it or pronounce it, is a complete and deliberate affectation crafted by the art print and reproduction world because they didn't want to use anything as pedestrian as 'ink jet' or 'digital' print.

With it's own special name it sounds like something it's not and hence you can charge more for it.

Yet Another example of euphemistic transubstantiation. Not any different than referring to a retarded specimen as 'developmentally disabled'. Unfortunately, no matter what euphemism you choose to affect, the person is every bit as slow as it was back when it was simply retarded.

 

[LenR]

Giclee inks

+1 for American Inkjet Systems.

http://www.americaninkjetsystems.com/symphonic_evolution_giclee_and_.html

I've been using their inks for a while.
They play with the hues of each color and the result is a larger gamut that makes a big difference.
They've built 12 color sets for the Rolands that are legendary in the "Jiggly" market.

 

[Bly]

I'm not using a rip, I'm printing directly from photoshop, I was told my printer has an on-board RIP. (DJ5500)

If it's the 5500PS it has a postscript RIP onboard.

 

[Raulrdz]

I'm using a Canon IPF8100s, is the 8 inks model, but it prints right on the spot when it comes to colors. Most of the time I print directly from the photoshop plug-in instead of the rip. I have started doing all of my indoor work on the Canon instead of solvent. The color gamut is better and more realistic.

 

[artbot]

the american inkjet sytems website was fascinating. too bad there aren't any solvent inks. i've considered going double cmyk with my 160sp (currently i prefer to just pull the black channel to be a temporary white).

i'm never impressed with the color. it's good/great. but never WOW! are there any manufacturers of ink/rip for solvent that at least could put together a good eight color set (eliminating lm and lc)?

 

[threads1]

Here's a great site to get info on fine art printers and photography. You may be suprised at some of the review results.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/

 

[signmeup]

I've been doing glitchy printing for years on my Canon.

 

[jumeda33]

Ok I too am going to come out of the closet and say that I print Canvas on a Roland. Even an old Roland at that and I feel good about it..........

And so do my customers..........

I have been doing picture framing for over 10 years and the last couple years, since I picked up my first CJ 500, have boosted the business greatly. I now have 2 waterbased printers and 1 converted to solvent.

I think a person would be hard pressed to tell the difference in quality on the canvas, and I even print at 540 dpi.

Just did some wedding photos that were a bit bigger than 9 x 14 at 300 dpi and the canvas image I printed was about 22 x 32 and they look perfect.

The biggest issue is good ink and profiles. I started using the Green/Orange combo instead of the Lc/Lm and I am hitting the right colors (mainly reds) better without color correction.

For 8x10 glossy photos and small stuff it's not worth it to do on these printers. A desktop will do better for that but 90% I do is on Canvas.

SFR, what colors are you using. I have seen a Roland and it had C,M,Y,K,Lc,Lm,O and G. You said you are not using Lc and Lm. What is replacing those.
Thanks,
David

 

[artbot]

with cmykog, there is no lc lm. i had my roland fj set up with cmykog for years. it still couldn't nail a perfect red or a perfect blue. the advent of these new printers running "actual red" and "actual blue" ink is a plus. as for giclee prining, roland should have developed a red/blue ink set long ago. any message board one would visit would have countless threads complaining about red and blue. but never green or orange tones. and as for artists. they blaze the red all through their work. and use intense purples. niether of these color would be helped by orange or green.

i emailed amercian inkjet asking them if they would be introducing a symphony 12 inkset for the canon and hp 12 color printers. i'm sure they are considering it. maybe if enough printers start requesting, it will become painfully apparent that sending their customers off to dig up an old pro II is a ridiculous business model.

 

[sfr table hockey]

SFR, what colors are you using. I have seen a Roland and it had C,M,Y,K,Lc,Lm,O and G. You said you are not using Lc and Lm. What is replacing those.
Thanks,
David

Yes like Artbot said the older Rolands FJ and CJ have 6 color so if you want to drop the Lc and Lm you add Or and Gr in their place. I had been using the FJ 42 with the Lc Lm combo and also used Cave Paint pigmented waterbased ink. I needed to make my own profiles due to the ink being another brand. Also with the eye1 that I use to profile, I could only make a profile for the Lc Lm combo and not the Or Gr so I stayed with the Lc Lm.

When I picked up my third printer it was a CJ 500 again and had the Or Gr already installed and I thought I would now get the chance to compare the same file printed with the two sets of ink. Also with the Or Gr combo I needed to use Rolands FPG inks (again waterbased and pigmented) with the Roland profiles. What I found was the reds were right on and one of the files that I always had a hard time to get the colors right in, I had to do hours of color corection and still was not quite there. Well with the Or Gr and Rolands inks the file printed right the first try with no major color correction.

These old Rolands use the Epson 3000 (or DX2) print head (two of them)and if you want to get into doing some canvas printing, waterbased pigmented inks are the way to go.

Now I am wondering about converting the FJ 42 to Latex (as the heads are the right ones to do this) but I am waiting to hear if anyone else has tried it. The heat seems to be the biggest issue as if the media needs to be pre heated to 30 F it may buckle more but then the FJ has feed rollers all the length of the printer so it may hold things down quite well. If it's more post heat after the ink hits the media to cure then it may be easier yet.

 

[artbot]

i thought about the latex option too. virtually for all printers. in the pdf for different inks it will mention "developed for" such and such a print head. in my experience printers print ink. i'm sure there will be a whole range of aftermarket latex inks for all forms of printers out there. especially those with heaters. i got away from doing fine art with water based because the market was so saturated with paper and canvas. the demand side of the equation was gone. there are thin margins if you can tolerate a printer going non stop behind you while you work on more profitable projects for large commercial installs (somethig i'm looking into). ...i've also seen a ton of very nice looking semi-digital fine art collage on paper that obviously has the elements in the pieces based on a tiny 13x19 format. you can now go to hobby lobby and get a 12" cricut plotter for cheap. digital is now on grandmas's craft table.

in fact my latest line, i'm abandoning process color all together. using the printer to make embossing plates, resists, digi-boss textures, digi-glass finishes, etching aluminum and ss, doing foil transfers (just bought a 50" x 110" heated vacuum press for that), etc. there's just no BIG money in a color print.

as for warping under heat. no amount of feet will eliminate the wrinkle factor. you have differing expansions and contractions and the wrinkle is the correction for that. the best advice for combatting wrinkling is beefing up your platen vacuum. and or extending you pre and post heating, like to a preheated table. that should reduce the wrinkle across a larger area.

 

[VinylLabs.com]

If it's the 5500PS it has a postscript RIP onboard.

it's the 5500UV, non-ps version.

 

[Rooster]

Fluid dynamics at the picoliter level are a strange animal. This is why inks are formulated for certain print heads. Thermal/bubblejet heads like the HP and Canon printers use are different than the piezo heads used in Epson/Mutoh/Roland/Mimaki.

For instance, the sepiax inks designed for the epson heads can't be used in an HP or Canon thermal printer because the heat used to jet the inks will cause it to solidify in the head.

Be very careful when using inks from one type in another. It can get expensive in a hurry.

 

[ruckusman]

My first post, but at last I have some info to share

I know for a fact that the HP Claria dye inks are being used in Epsons by some people doing dedicated Black and White printing. I haven't tried it myself but apparently the results are excellent.

So as Rooster mentioned be careful with inks for different heads, but clearly thermal compatible ink can go through piezo heads.

 

[abadsvt]

We use our Canon IPF 8300 which is an amazing machine in regards to print quality. Its not built like our roland but it sure can print fine detail. We use very high quality canvas that paired with the 8300 it is definately up there with the best. I have been doing this for a while now and it is awesome. Much more fun than signs (my opinion at least). About 6 months ago we started a website where people can upload there photos and get them printed/stretched. It has been a fun adventure. Check out our website and let me know what you think.
www.expressionsoncanvas.com

josh

 

[signmeup]

We use our Canon IPF 8300 which is an amazing machine in regards to print quality. Its not built like our roland but it sure can print fine detail. We use very high quality canvas that paired with the 8300 it is definately up there with the best. I have been doing this for a while now and it is awesome. Much more fun than signs (my opinion at least). About 6 months ago we started a website where people can upload there photos and get them printed/stretched. It has been a fun adventure. Check out our website and let me know what you think.
www.expressionsoncanvas.com

josh

Nice site.