is printing lime greens: possible??!! frustrated!!

[Sherry2006]

Hello, I have a Roland SP300 that I use with Roland Colorip and Corel Draw. I know you guys get this question alot, but.... why is it so hard to print bright, vivid colors like lime green, certain aqua blues, bright oranges, etc? I've read that you have to "play around with your settings". Thats all fine and dandy if you have rolls of vinyl you can just waste by doing test print after test print, not to mention the time it takes to go through EVERY setting, changing one thing at a time. I know the machine and programs are capable of so much, unfortunately I am not an expert in color profiles and settings, there for I am reluctant to change much. Anyone have any suggestions of a profile or settings that delivers these bright colors? Thanks again guys!

 

[stephenj148]

Print out your color chart and see what you can get from that

 

[Gino]

I hope this doesn’t come across to you the way your request came across to me.

You’re asking for someone to tell you how to do something that is difficult to do and depends on media, profiles and knowledge of this particular project when you just said you were too cheap to waste materials or time to find out on your own ?? You don’t want to change much because you don’t want to or know how, but you’ll use someone else that has spent numerous hours, weeks and even months perfecting this ??

I’m not a stickler on how to perfectly word things, but I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face before I even answer you.

You would do better asking for someone to teach you how to program your profiles and some basic instruction on how to do color management in your software. This isn’t a quick fix type of deal. However, there are programs out there that will do this very thing for you, but you have to buy them….. are you interested in going down that avenue ??

 

[SignManiac]

Kind of have to agree with Gino's take. It costs us thousands of $$$$ in time and testing to get our colors right.

 

[Sherry2006]

lol Gino what a polite way to tell me to go screw myself... you really do have a way with words.
I was not trying to insult or offend any of you... this site has helped me on numerous occasions. If doing test prints and adjusting settings and values is what it takes to get the colors right, then that is what I will do. I was just looking for even a couple pointers on the subject. Sorry to stirr up such a fuss, wasent trying to slap anyone in the face.

 

[J Hill Designs]

try a search (on this site) for kawasaki green - there is a good thread

 

[Gino]

Sherry……

If I wanted to tell you to go screw yourself… I would probably have PM-ed you stating that. I honestly felt you asked for something in a manner that was not right. Having a way with words is not my strong suit at all…. believe me.

As you said, this place gives out tons of information, but I was taken back at the size of your request. Sure there are many pointers that are out there and I’m sure some fine folks will offer them up to you if you wait a little. I just didn’t see it that way.

You didn’t stir up a fuss or nothing…. again, I just stated my feel for how you had come across. Sorry you took it the wrong way as stated in my original post.

 

[Sherry2006]

thank you stephenj148 and jhilldesigns!

 

[signmeup]

Sometimes people ask huge questions....not knowing they are huge questions.

 

[gnatt66]

im very new to color management as well...and did EXTENSIVE searching...hours. what worked best for me was to add the Roland color system library to my design program and convert spot colors in my RIP.

searching those phrases will give you a few great threads regarding converting spot colors and inporting the roland swatches into your design proggy.

hell i just figured out a good yellow a few months ago...no more highlighter green !

this place is amazing...but its a community, not a library. these people are not books..they are people....so when they feel like they've been "checked out" instead of interacted with...a backlash is bound to happen.

 

[luggnut]

depends on a lot of factors... are you designing in CMYK, RGB. etc..? what are your rendering intents... is it raster or vector?

what color spaces in your design program and your RIP?

the question you asked doesn't have a simple answer.

 

[32bantum]

Lately I have been desiging in photoshop and not saving the profile. Swap the image out to a thumb drive and into the rip computer and the colors seem to be very close to the design most of the time. Not sure if this helps but...it works for me

 

[grafixemporium]

Hello, I have a Roland SP300 that I use with Roland Colorip and Corel Draw. I know you guys get this question alot, but.... why is it so hard to print bright, vivid colors like lime green, certain aqua blues, bright oranges, etc? I've read that you have to "play around with your settings". Thats all fine and dandy if you have rolls of vinyl you can just waste by doing test print after test print, not to mention the time it takes to go through EVERY setting, changing one thing at a time. I know the machine and programs are capable of so much, unfortunately I am not an expert in color profiles and settings, there for I am reluctant to change much. Anyone have any suggestions of a profile or settings that delivers these bright colors? Thanks again guys!

Now you're talking my language. I love lime green, chartreuse, grabber green... anything in that family. It really stands out in a crowd. All I can say is take your time, print small color tests -- and print several at once to save time, keep track of the tweaking you do and when you find a color that you like, write down all your settings somewhere!

Some hints and tips if you're using Versaworks with your Roland...

We've had much better luck geting the colors we want when we design in AI or PS in RGB color mode. We don't print much of anything straight from Corel... the color management sucks. But we still have x3. I cannot attest to the newer versions.

If we have to do significant tweaking to achieve a certain color for a customer, we typically save a README file in their client folder with all the color values and settings.

Here's a couple of different bright green products we've printed on the VP540. The trucks are printed on 3M 180c v3. The storefront windows are printed on ij35. And for comparison's sake, the GFX in the channel letters is 3M lime green calendared vinyl. The prints will never look as rich as the colored vinyl, but our prints are still quite vivid.

Good luck!

 

[stickermonkey]

Trial and error or fork out the dough for software??...in the long run it comes down to whatever you can swing in the moment. Not every shop has the income to justify spending big money on profiling software.

 

[grafixemporium]

Trial and error or fork out the dough for software??...in the long run it comes down to whatever you can swing in the moment. Not every shop has the income to justify spending big money on profiling software.

True. There are many here who will probably swear by profiling. It is probably worth it to at least have a pro come in and profile all your monitors and your printers. We haven't done it yet, but we haven't had too much trouble getting the colors we need.

 

[stickermonkey]

I've been super lucky and all I run are like 6 different profiles. I always use CMYK when exporting the artwork and do a small test run on the same material. I've printed all kinds of colours so far with little to no issues. I'm a happy printer! No fancy smancy software needed so far. I'd rather spend my dough on new materials and projects!!

 

[kstompaint]

You want green? Print out some gray and laminate it.

 

[Jmac349]

"Print out gray and laminate it". Ha Ha Ha! I hate that! My black and whites can get a great green.

 

[heyskull]

As the start of the thread says this is no easy task and sometimes looks impossible.
I have printed lime green but I have found with our valuejet the highter the reolution the closer the match.
I think we are all trying to match something so complex as lime green, with just a handful of colours and the biggest problem out of this handful green isn't one of them!

I have just printed some graphics for a Kawasaki MX Bike and he was over the moon with how close the lime green was with the colour on his bike.
I just grabbed a kawasaki log of brands of the world and used the colour of that!

SC

 

[iSign]

there are plenty of colors outside the gamut of CMYK inks, meaning no matter what profiules or software you use, some colors will NEVER happen, and a lot of the real day-glo looking RGB colors part of that scientific impossibility... so the guys getting the greens they want, just happen to want something possible... not changing the fact that a lot of us want something impossible when we say lime green..

"just print gray" :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

 

[Sherry2006]

Thank you so much everyone for the helpful info!!! We are a very small business and graphics is not our main source of income, so it is hard to get managment to dedicate a large amount of money to hire a professional to "finely tune" everything properly, or order a program. I realize now how big of a question i asked :Oops: but your answers have pointed me in the right direction. All of your inputs have been more than helpful, I am taking notes and am ready to start my testing with all or your advice! I'll keep posting to let you know how it's coming along.
Thanks again guys!