Question How do you make a transmissive profile for a clear film when it has permanent adhesive and an opaque backer?

[bteifeld]

I would be interested in knowing how to do a transmissive profile for clear film when it has permanent adhesive and an opaque backer.

Obviously you need to remove the backer, but do you then attach the printed clear film with adhesive exposed to a non-adhesive clear film, and then do the transmissive profile?

Or perhaps you do a reflective profile, either leaving the backing in place or attaching the film to a good white media, and then
manually adjust the density somehow?

Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[White Haus]

I was curious about what a transmissive profile was so I googled it, and found this which may or may not help: https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/downloads/TransmissiveHelp.pdf

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable in profiling can chime in, my experience has been fairly limited. We have made a few profiles with a tech and our i1 but never for clear media.

 

[bteifeld]

I was curious about what a transmissive profile was so I googled it, and found this which may or may not help: https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/downloads/TransmissiveHelp.pdf

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable in profiling can chime in, my experience has been fairly limited. We have made a few profiles with a tech and our i1 but never for clear media.

Thank you for providing that PDF- it was interesting in and of itself.

 

[Pauly]

It depends what the final intentions are with the stock.

The profile needs to be made the way the stock will be viewed.
So if it'll be stuck on a glass window, lightbox etc. Then you need to make a transmissive profile. For that, stick it to a clear film.
If it'll be stuck to a white wall, then a normal reflective profile and if the backing is a neutral white, it'll be fine.

 

[Ahmed Samy Nagada]

As I don't own a transmissive SPM, I create a profile as a reflective material then print using 2 strike mode, it works fine for clear media, for translucent media I have to reduce the ink limit a little bit.

 

[Pauly]

As I don't own a transmissive SPM, I create a profile as a reflective material then print using 2 strike mode, it works fine for clear media, for translucent media I have to reduce the ink limit a little bit.

You may think it's fine, but i can guarantee you, if it's done in transmissive mode, it's a huge difference. I know this as i've tried before.

 

[Ahmed Samy Nagada]

You may think it's fine, but i can guarantee you, if it's done in transmissive mode, it's a huge difference. I know this as i've tried before.

Totally agree with you, this is only because of the limitation that we don't have a transmissive SPM

 

[bteifeld]

Thank you to everyone for responses so far. Next stage of the question-

I have been looking for an appropriate clear film on which to mount the adhesive backed clear film print.
Anyone have suggestions?

 

[Pauly]

Thank you to everyone for responses so far. Next stage of the question-

I have been looking for an appropriate clear film on which to mount the adhesive backed clear film print.
Anyone have suggestions?

Any as long as it’s optically clear

 

[FrankW]

Profiling a clear film with the target “color accuracy“ doesnt make much sense, because depending on the material you put the clear film on, or the environment conditions (back light, surrounding lights or light reflecting objects), nothing will be more vulnerable for color deviations than printed clear film.

A clear film, even if it seems to be optically clear to put your measurement charts on, could falsify the transmissive light source of the spectro which come from behind. But that doesn‘t matter anyway.

Doing ink limits and linearization can be done with the white backing in reflective mode, it doesn’t make much difference. And, for my opinion, if you cant simulate the exact condition the film is used later, you can also do your ICC in reflective mode on the backing.

 

[bteifeld]

Just to mention what I actually did- I decided to try out Grafix Clear-Lay Plastic Film, .003" thickness. I used a
slot laminator(GBC H700 Pro) to adhere the printed clear film to the clear plastic film. The Barbieri Spectro LFP
RT read the charts well.

Thank you again to all who commented.

 

[Pauly]

Just to mention what I actually did- I decided to try out Grafix Clear-Lay Plastic Film, .003" thickness. I used a
slot laminator(GBC H700 Pro) to adhere the printed clear film to the clear plastic film. The Barbieri Spectro LFP
RT read the charts well.

Thank you again to all who commented.

That would be fine for most applications.
You’ll never get accuracy in transmissive profiles / clear stocks for general applications as mentioned earlier.

We’ve never really found a customer demanding accurate colour matching for clear graphics. Impossible.

 

[bteifeld]

That would be fine for most applications.
You’ll never get accuracy in transmissive profiles / clear stocks for general applications as mentioned earlier.

We’ve never really found a customer demanding accurate colour matching for clear graphics. Impossible.

Just to explore a little- is accuracy impossible largely due to potential variability of
things like the illuminant in the viewing environment and/or manufacturing variation
in the optical clarity of the print film/clear backer film used during measurement?

 

[Pauly]

Just to explore a little- is accuracy impossible largely due to potential variability of
things like the illuminant in the viewing environment and/or manufacturing variation
in the optical clarity of the print film/clear backer film used during measurement?

Most of the inaccuracy will come from the lighting conditions from the environment.
Light temp, brightness etc.
Lightbox or glass window. they're all different.

When doing the measure, you're asked to cut the top left window out. If you only cut the top left window on the adhesive and not the film, the measurement will attempt to subtract the film and the profile will be somewhat more accurate.
This is the same as using the barbieri transparent film holder.

 

[Adobeanna]

Profiles created in transmissive modes are beautiful and no comparison to just profiling reflective and double striking. A reader with transmissive capabilities come with film that the clear film can be applied to. For example the Barbieri reader has the transmissive attachments and reads the charts while it lights up from underneath. This type of transmissive profiling would only be applicable for final applications without backers. Colors for light booths for instance look great without needing to double strike, and the colors pop are balanced with amazing contrast. Opaque backers in any form at final viewing just profile as reflective.