why is it when printing black flags the ink looks grey?

[Mark Elvidge]

for the media try brook international of yorkshire.

they have all kinds of flag and textile media.

as for a darker black……try using an overprint feature from the rip, which will take twice as long to print but will double the amount of ink that goes down.

or you could create the black as a true 4 colour black with 100% of everything to try and get more density and possibly add an overprint to this also.

what rip do you use?

[Richard Daniel]

Mark

Many Thanks for getting back to me.

Im using Shiraz, ive only had the printer and software a couple of months,
This overrint sounds like it could be worth a shot, any idea of how to do it on shiraz?

Thanks Again

[Mark Elvidge]

if you are using v6 then it is under the print tab in the design screen.

version 5.61 i can remember of the top of my head i will check.

enable the tick box for black or cmyk.

[Richard Daniel]

Many thanks mate

I will give this a try and let you know how i get on

Thanks again

[Richard Daniel]

Hi

Anyone else know a good supplier of flag material?

Brook have some quality products but only do a 50m roll,
i was only look for say 20?

If anyone can suggest a company that would be great

Many thanks

Richard

[Carlo Morelli]

Hi, I had a similar problem and it wasn’t the material, it was the way the file was created. If you have a solid black, means 100% black / 0 cyan / 0 Magenta / 0 Yellow, your black will looks weak.
•If your file is in RGB it is even worse because the "black" has to be artificially generated by the decomposition of RGB gamma.
• If your file is saved as a PDF will not understand the conversion at all.

My advise is to open your art file in Photoshop, make it a CMYK (keep it in background flat, not layers) and go to Image + Adjustments + Channel Mixer and select Output Channel black. Then under Source Channels increase de amount of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow in this order +40%, +40%, +50%, black should still +100%. It won’t affect any other part of the artwork, just the black channel. Your black will looks real black. Please keep a separated copy of your original file, just in case.
Saved as a tiff file. If you want a smaller file save it as a Tiff with LZW compression.

I hope it will help.

Carlo Morelli

[DigitalBlueprint]

Thank you Carlo,

Good observation!

I noticed that blacks turned gray in pdf compressions.

This advice of yours not only helps for printing but also when sending proofs. This is great! I’m new to this and so this is a learning experience.

Thanks a lot!

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

there a two ways to print flags:

screen printing (100% printquality) them or using dye sublimation.(90 to 95% printquality)

with these two methods you get a good flag that will stand up to the weather for about 3 to 6 months.

using mild or eco solvent creates flags that weak and pale.
I think it is wrong for the suppliers to present the material as being compatible with your solvent printer. because they are not.

saying it any other way is like telling a lie. be carefull with this because if you’re not you’ll be forced to replace every flag you’ll make

[Warren Beard]

I can confirm Carlo’s way is the best way to print a strong black, DO NOT make all 4 colours 100%, do as Carlo suggested.

[Nick Dowell]

I have to agree with Dennis. Although you can print polyester on Eco solvent printers they look no where near as good as Screen or die-sub printed flags.

mod-edit 2 see board rules for suppliers. :police3:

Cheers
Nick