Perforated Window Material

[T-Square_WPB]

Installed a 30"x40" sunset graphic on 60/30 3M window perf. It is installed at a car dealership inside, on an office window. The office has a large bay window and the walls are 10' high without a ceiling. Problem is the image appears "washed out". We did another office window with the same material with a graphic of a bridge and skyline. No issue here.

It's just puzzling that one looks great and one is washed out. Since there is more light inside that office than out should it have been 50/50 material? Could the orange color of the sunset be part of the reason? Thanks in advance for responses!

 

[bayshorecreations]

My guess would be 2 different images will look like 2 different images but can you post pictures so we can see what you mean?

 

[Letterbox Mike]

With perf, if the ambient light on the back side of the graphic is brighter than the ambient light on the viewing side, the image will be washed out. Perf requires that th elight on the viewing side be brighter than the back side, otherwise your eye focuses on the light coming through the holes rather than the graphic printed around the holes.

I can't completely tell if that's what you're describing but I'd guess it is. It can be hard to tell if you're going to have this problem with interior windows because sometimes both sides look evenly lit, but even even lighting on both sides can cause it. The light has to be significantly brighter on the viewing side.

 

[dwt]

Turn down the offending lights as said and/or tint the glass to keep it from bleeding through.

 

[T-Square_WPB]

Here's a pic of the washed out image. And what the image should look like.

Tinting the window sounds like a good idea. But how dark would we want to go? Would that effect viewing out the window from the inside drastically?

 

[dwt]

sunset graphic on 60/30

So is it 60/40 or 70/30? If it's 70/30 there is not a whole lot of printed area to reflect the color.
Did you try to double strike a piece of it to see if it was any more vibrant than what you have here?

Would that effect viewing out the window from the inside drastically?

It wouldn't be too drastic if you used a 30% (light)charcoal, maybe even a 20%(slightly darker) would be acceptable with the amount of light in the area, but nothing darker.
I would even go as far as to pull one of the bulbs inside the office to lessen the light coming through.

 

[T-Square_WPB]

Sorry, 60/40. We considered removing, increasing the density of the image and reprinting. I like the idea of the tint better!

 

[speedmedia]

If we get this in certain applications we will double strike it to lay down a bit more ink. It is a hard application that you are dealing with, with that much light behind the image.

How about laying down etched glass vinyl on the back side of that window to give it some underbase? Wouldn't be see thru but would help. I guess tint makes the most sense though.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[Malkin]

So is it 60/40 or 70/30? If it's 70/30 there is not a whole lot of printed area to reflect the color.
Did you try to double strike a piece of it to see if it was any more vibrant than what you have here?

Isn't the 70% the surface area, and the 30% is the holes?
I know on the 65/35 that I have is more surface area to less "hole" area.

 

[dlpoling]

Perf

Tint on the glass helps, but washout is a common problem for perf on interior windows, no matter what the perf/hole size. most of the time the room lighting is almost equal. I just installed around 400 feet of perf in a dealership but they were aware of the ambient light requirements. check out the pics in my album.

Doug