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Printing grey banners

gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I knew it would be problematic. I ran some tests for some 3' x 6' banners that have a complete grey background. I matched the colour pretty good under indoor lighting. I took the swatch outside and I will say that if I wanted to see a slight mossy greey grey I could, but I could also still say it was grey. Not sure if the clients are finicky or even have ability to look so close at the colour.

Not sure how to deal with printing this colour. I ran 3 of them and am sending them out today...I cross my fingers that it is just me that knows that either a greeny look will result or a browny look.
 
dypinc

dypinc

New Member
If the gray is a percentage of black only set your RIP to force the printer to use black only, if that pure black is acceptable.
 
2B

2B

Active Member
dypinc said:
If the gray is a percentage of black only set your RIP to force the printer to use black only, if that pure black is acceptable.
Click to expand...

this,

it is especially noticeable when you do reflective seen at and it is a CMYK percentage instead of K only
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
Yes I know about the using the %age of black only, but that would mean turning colour correction off and that will effect the blues and yellows also in the file.
 
dypinc

dypinc

New Member
gabagoo said:
Yes I know about the using the %age of black only, but that would mean turning colour correction off and that will effect the blues and yellows also in the file.
Click to expand...


You should be able to designate a percentage of K as Pure Primary or Black as Inkjet Black (depending on what your RIP calls it) with CM turned on.

Might be good to say what RIP and printer you are using.
 
T_K

T_K

New Member
gabagoo said:
I knew it would be problematic. I ran some tests for some 3' x 6' banners that have a complete grey background. I matched the colour pretty good under indoor lighting. I took the swatch outside and I will say that if I wanted to see a slight mossy greey grey I could, but I could also still say it was grey. Not sure if the clients are finicky or even have ability to look so close at the colour.

Not sure how to deal with printing this colour. I ran 3 of them and am sending them out today...I cross my fingers that it is just me that knows that either a greeny look will result or a browny look.
Click to expand...

I've had tons of difficulty with matching grays in the past. My experience says match it in the lighting conditions that they will be used in. If they'll be outdoors, they need to be color matched outdoors. The kicker is that whatever lighting conditions you have outside will change. It could look great on a sunny day, and crappy on a cloudy day.

If you can just print with K, that would make your life easier. But I know what it's like when customers have their "special color" in mind and won't let it go for a better product.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Why not buy grey banners and just cut the copy out or print it and lay it overtop ??
 
Jester1167

Jester1167

Premium Subscriber
That's a tough one.

One time on a smaller logo we chose to use black dots (halftone pattern) to create an acceptable grey. You have a slightly easier task because you don't have to deal with the potential color shift laminates can cause but I still don't thinks its possible even with a linearized custom profile.
 
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