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LEC-330 Printing Rich Blacks on Backlit Material

HouseGothic

New Member
Hello to all.
I'm working on a project, and I'm having trouble printing my "blacks" on the second pass. The Second pass is the the side you'll see when the "lights" are turn on and it's lit from behind.

The Trouble I'm having is the "blacks" aren't "black" enough.
When printed and lit the "blacks" look blue/greenish in color.

The file is in Photoshop & I've tried using selective color to adjust the cmyk values in the "blacks". I've also tried using curves to adjust the black levels.


To no prevale none of my efforts in Photoshop has worked.

This leads me to believe, its the "Color Management" In VersaWorks.
I'm Using the following settings in VersaWorks.

Media Type: Generic
Print Quality: Standard
Mode: CMYK + White
Halftone: Dither
Direction: Bi-Direction
Color Management: Density Control Only w/ Preserve Primary Color Checked.

The Steps I'm printing this is:
1st Pass the Image is at 100% full value.
2nd Pass the Image is at 60% of its value.

I've called Roland and was told that "overprint" will help solve this problem.
We don't want to "overprint" because 1) we believe it will change the color values of the print when being viewed with lights off. 2) Yes laying down more ink will get you deeper values but it also cost more.

So If anyone can give me any tips on getting "blacks" to print like a rich black on transparent backlit media.
Tips maybe in Photoshop or in VersaWorks.
Anything will help.
Thank You for your Time.
 

Jack Knight1979

New Member
You should do an overprint on backlits. Perfect color is impossible on a backlit. The color will be different when lit/not lit. You need to pick a happy medium. It's the nature of the application. I would go for the best color when lit, since it's a backlit job.

Generic profile is throwing out bad color on the print too. Try a different media profile or make your own profile.
 

HouseGothic

New Member
Thanks for replying people.

@Jack Knight1979: I couldn't agree with you more.
I'm printing for collectors so my color has to be very close to original.
But I'm pushing more and more to a happy Medium.
I have the colors pretty dead on when not lit but
turn on that light and my colors all look different.
The "Blacks" the most.

@Pat White: My build in PS is 60/48/47/99. It's a image of a black horse so the values change. The media doesn't have a specific profile that I can use. I haven't build one for it yet. Trying to use what's in VersaWorks to get this job out.
I will need to build one soon.

Anyone has any thoughts of how many swatches I should use when building a profile for back lit media?
 
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