good red

[joezeppii]

Does anybody else have troubles getting a good red with a fj52?
We use flexi 8.1 and triangle MLD inks. Not been able to locate any profiles to date. We use alot of Oracal, 3-M and Flex jet banner material.
Thanks !

 

[sfr table hockey]

One issue with using any aftermarket ink is that the standard Roland profiles may print ok as for quality of print but won't give an accurate color compared to what it should look like. You would need to get a profile made from you printing a set of test charts that would then have to be sent and read by someone with an eye1 or similar.

The best thing to do is do a search on 101 on color charts and use one to print out on your printer. When you make a file to print (in lets say Illustrator) you drag that color chart into the file and use that to select a color that you have already printed on your printer. You may not see that color on your monitor but it should come out that way when you print.

This does not work for bitmaps (photos) as you can't adjust them the same way. With vector images you could go in and change colors by using your printed color chart.

 

[bob]

...
The best thing to do is do a search on 101 on color charts and use one to print out on your printer. When you make a file to print (in lets say Illustrator) you drag that color chart into the file and use that to select a color that you have already printed on your printer. You may not see that color on your monitor but it should come out that way when you print...

This is the surest way to control your printer.

While this might make some printer snobs and color purists blanch or even recoil in horror, trying to do it with endless profiles and diddling with this and that is silly.

Just find an all around profile that works and set your all of the rendering intents, except for bitmaps, to 'No Color Correction' or if that's not available to you then choose 'Saturation'. I've been using Oracal's 3651G 720x720 profile for everything for years. I also took the liberty of setting the dither method to SO Diffusion and the gradient smoothness to 'Super'.

This works just fine you just have to approach things properly. I only have two, count 'em' two, profiles and the one that's not the 3651 model hasn't been used in years.

Then print a Pantone chart [coated, glossy] using this rendering intent. If you're really anal then print this chart on the various media you use. If you're more normal, just print it on whatever vinyl and banner material you use the most of. Hang these charts on the wall.

If you don't have a Pantone chart there should be a bunch of them available on line. If not, it takes but a few minutes to whomp one up in Flexi. I know the instructions for doing so are posted somewhere in these waters, do a search.

When you want a particular color, find whatever is closest on the proper chart. If it's a tweener, pick the darker color. When anyone comes into my shop wanting some particular color or another, I merely point a the proper color chart on the wall and tell them to find one they like on that chart, what you see is what you get.

Pay no attention to what your monitor might show, the printer is the truth not the monitor.

And the color chart is the sole representation of the truth, all else is untrustworthy.

This does not work for bitmaps (photos) as you can't adjust them the same way. With vector images you could go in and change colors by using your printed color chart.

For bitmaps set the rendering intent to 'Perceptual'. This will almost always give you the best output. Also try to keep your bitmaps at or less than 150ppi. When printing at 720^2, which is what you should be doing, this 4:1 ratio of print dpi to input ppi will allow you the maximum colors per pixel.