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greys are greenish
- Thread starter WOODBS
- Start date
TheSnowman
New Member
I get that too in CMYK. I haven't had to do any greys since, but I remember someone sayin' that your rip converts from RGB to CMYK, so really, if you design in CMYK, the rip converts it to RGB, then back to CMYK, so it could throw it off even a little more.
Rather that's true or not...I don't know, but I remember readin' that a while back. Maybe design it in RGB, and see how it converts it.
Rather that's true or not...I don't know, but I remember readin' that a while back. Maybe design it in RGB, and see how it converts it.
iSign
New Member
good grays are hard to get, period.
there are other factors too, and some of them may be making your challenge worse, or they may not be... but in my opinion, the grays are going to be hard to get anyway.
My experience was that saving my grays (actually 99% of all my prints) as rastor images, in RGB mode, gives me better grays.
I have also found my laminates to add a greenish tint, and agree that the appearance of prints inside the shop can be dramatically different than in the sun. In the case of greenish tints on blacks or grays, my fluorescent lighting hides the problem from me, & than the sun makes the problem 10 times worse.
Before I figured out to check my grays in the sun, I got my neighbor's test prints (& colors) approved and printed two 54' logos for his Sprinter on 3M180c, I laminated them & scheduled the install... then the day he dropped off the van, we walked out in the sun & his Grey AND yellow had so much greenish tint I knew I was in trouble. We cancelled the install, showed the client & ordered some 2 mil gray & yellow Arlon. I cut the shapes I needed, & applied them to the 180C. so I would still have some of the 3M characteristics of the 180C, plus it helped me position all the parts on the greenish prints & then have just one piece to install on each side. (fortunately we hadn't approved the lettering layout yet, so nothing else had been printed besides too logos)
there are other factors too, and some of them may be making your challenge worse, or they may not be... but in my opinion, the grays are going to be hard to get anyway.
My experience was that saving my grays (actually 99% of all my prints) as rastor images, in RGB mode, gives me better grays.
I have also found my laminates to add a greenish tint, and agree that the appearance of prints inside the shop can be dramatically different than in the sun. In the case of greenish tints on blacks or grays, my fluorescent lighting hides the problem from me, & than the sun makes the problem 10 times worse.
Before I figured out to check my grays in the sun, I got my neighbor's test prints (& colors) approved and printed two 54' logos for his Sprinter on 3M180c, I laminated them & scheduled the install... then the day he dropped off the van, we walked out in the sun & his Grey AND yellow had so much greenish tint I knew I was in trouble. We cancelled the install, showed the client & ordered some 2 mil gray & yellow Arlon. I cut the shapes I needed, & applied them to the 180C. so I would still have some of the 3M characteristics of the 180C, plus it helped me position all the parts on the greenish prints & then have just one piece to install on each side. (fortunately we hadn't approved the lettering layout yet, so nothing else had been printed besides too logos)
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If your rip is VersaWorks, Look into the Roland Color System Library.
Also check your lam. In my experience the lower end lams have a blue, green and some times yellow tint. I know Fellers Lamex was notorious for that.
Print swatch test, laminate them take em' outside to preview...
Also check your lam. In my experience the lower end lams have a blue, green and some times yellow tint. I know Fellers Lamex was notorious for that.
Print swatch test, laminate them take em' outside to preview...
iSign
New Member
yeah but...
now you'll never forget!
besides... it's not really a "problem" once you face facts... it's just part of the learning curve. printers are great, but they can't do everything. Learning what they can't do is as important as learning what they CAN do. There are a lot of colors that you will never be able to print, (no matter what anyone says) if they are out of the gamut. People have been making signs without printers forever... and some of us guys with printers need to get back to our roots now and then. not really a bad thing, except when you don't see it coming. obviously i spent a lot more time & material on that vehicle I posted about... but in the end, the client loved it, we got another box truck, a building sign & a trailer after that... AND I got a lesson I'll never forget!
Mainframe
New Member
I design in illy on a Mac in cmyk, I mix up all kinds of gradients, multi-color, and black & gray etc, never a problem, save as an eps file & print out of versaworks, just sayin what I do, never saw green in my prints, I also do output for a local printer, he designs in Corel on a pc in cmyk, his stuff always comes out good, also a local College uses me too he uses a pc illy & PS in cmyk & his stuff looks REALLY good!
iSign
New Member
I'm not saying nobody can ever get gray... I'm saying any cmyk printer has a color gamut, that represents ALL the colors that will EVER be possible to acquire, regardless of profiles, media, or expertise... and there are millions of colors that fall within that gamut, BUT there are also many colors that fall outside of that gamut.
You can bang your head against a problem as much as you want & hopefully you will solve it... but it's also good to know that SOME colors ARE impossible to hit. I can hit dozens of grays, dozens of reds & dozens of bright yellows and greens... but there are also some that I can't hit & when I have a Pantone color my client wants to match... sometimes if I can buy that color, I'll buy it.
i don't claim to be able to get everything possible from my printer, but I've put the time & money into learning it & maintaining it... so within my reasonably competent level of capabilities... if I can't hit a color, I pass on the job, get approval of the next closest match, or consider cut vinyl. At some point those choices make more sense to me than to bang my head against the "problem" and continue to feel like it is a "problem"
You can bang your head against a problem as much as you want & hopefully you will solve it... but it's also good to know that SOME colors ARE impossible to hit. I can hit dozens of grays, dozens of reds & dozens of bright yellows and greens... but there are also some that I can't hit & when I have a Pantone color my client wants to match... sometimes if I can buy that color, I'll buy it.
i don't claim to be able to get everything possible from my printer, but I've put the time & money into learning it & maintaining it... so within my reasonably competent level of capabilities... if I can't hit a color, I pass on the job, get approval of the next closest match, or consider cut vinyl. At some point those choices make more sense to me than to bang my head against the "problem" and continue to feel like it is a "problem"
