Matching an HP 3000 to a 600 or 570
Assuming the HP 3000 is printing at 8 Pass (a common setting), then you should set the HP 360 to print at 12 pass, and the HP 600 to 6pass. These settings will ensure a similar dot simulation is printed from each printer.
Using the Scitex ink setting, profile each printer and the match between to two should be within commercial tolerances. Here is the official documentation that HP give to their customers to help tackle this problem.
Objective
Make the HP 360 print closer to the HP 3000 and LX 600. The main issue with the prints from the 360 was the red. The 3000 achieved deeper reds.
Work done
The ink limit was being reduced to 70% for the substrate in question. A new ink settings with 100% ink limit on this substrate, and a new profile brought the red much closer to the 3000. Still not as deep, but closer.
The trouble is, now you get more green on the 360 than the 3000, so the concern was clients will see a proof print of colours that they cannot get in production. However it was still better to be able to get the red. The designers will now colour with the HP 3000 profile set in the AVA CMS Controller, then switch to the profile for the HP 360 to print. They generally have less greens in prints than reds, so this way around is better for them.
Saving and loading HP settings
You may also be able to save the HP print parameters using the web interface from the HP 3000 and load into the HP 570 (or other compatible HP printers). Once you have loaded this on the HP 570 you would make a standard profile. You should see now that the gamut between the two printers is very close and with the correct / update profile set for each the prints will be vertical indistinguishable.
DeleteImproving metamerism in Digital print
Metamerism occurs when the two colours appear to be identical under one light source but different under another light source. This phenomenon is mainly caused by the variations in pigments, dyestuff or materials.
Example: Digital prints were done on a two digital printers using same ink manufacturers but one was using a CMY to make grey and the other just the black. Test files were sent to various mills, and the resulting prints looked good in a light box under D65 light, but bad in 'shop' lighting, colours now looked different to their 'standard'.
Question
When digitally printing, can you control how many inks are used to make colours?
Answer
Yes. This is controlled in the Ink Settings / linearisation, you normally use a triangle of colours, but you can use CMY inks in the grey ramp, so in these cases you are using 4 or more inks.
The disadvantage of using CMY to make up the grey is that you will get more metamerism issues. For example: If you're using CMY to make grey, you measure a dark blue colour, print it and the match under D65 is good, but under other lighting there is a very obvious colour shift, this is due to the metameric distortion. If you were to only use the black ink to make grey this effect will be reduced.
However the advantage of using CMY to make grey is that you can drastically reduce the visibility of dither in the prints, so if you only use the black ink the dither will start to be more obvious.
So when you make your linearization this is something you may need to consider. When mixing colours for screen printing it is common to use the one with less inks as it would have less metameric issues. With digital printing the mills will probably use CMY instead of black in the grey tones to get a nicer dither. You may also put CMY inks under the black to get a deeper black, or to make the black more neutral, but this will cause metamerism issues, meaning the prints will only match well in D65, whereas, if you use a grey ink you will reduce the problem. You could also just use the black ink to create the grey ramp but you will have worse dither in the prints.
DeleteColour matching two printers using different inks
Objective
Try and get the prints from the Mimaki TX2 to be a closer match to a DGEN both using pigment ink, but from different manufacturers.
We started by gathering the relevant data such as: current TX2 ink settings, the DGEN ink settings which we want to match, and the profiles from both Mac®hines.
We created 3 new ink settings for the TX2 to try and get closer to the DGEN.
- First we dropped the levels of inks to get the same chroma as you get on the DGEN.
- Next we kept the same levels as above, but also removed the green ink from the TX2 ink set as in this example the DGEN does not have a green ink.
We read in profiles for each and printed a problematic design and another which was printing ok, just to make sure we did not change other areas too much.
The key to getting this to work was to get both outputting as close as possible (same ink densities and chroma) then make a 'good' profile for each. You can get a better profile using the i0 table and reading the target a number of times to average the readings.
All the prints were a better match to their target (same design printed on the DGEN).
DeleteWhy are my digital prints are blurry
• Check the Printers heads are the correct height, when they are too high the prints can be blurred.
• Use a take-up roller, this will help to keep the media tort for optimum print quality.
• Check you are not out putting files at a low results, for example if you design file is only 72dpi it might look ok on your screen, but the actual print may not be as sharp as you hope.
DeleteMy blacks look dark brown/red/blue
The pure black ink from many ink manufacturers can appear to have a blue or brown hue, this is fairly typical. You can combat this by added some magenta to the black for example if your black appears blue, This is done when you are building the ink settings / Linearisation.
Many RIP have an option when your in the final stages of the linearisation process to print a sheet of various different black mixes so you can decided what black mix if best on your substrates, see example below.
If this is something you feel you need to do to get the results you require you can contact your RIP supplier's support for help or contact AVA Technical Support.
When I print my design, the repeat does not work
• Check in the Design window of AVA that the repeat works.
• If you design is a half drop you will need to show two across before you tile it.
• Check your Tile Output option in Page setup are correct, you would normally click 'Set From Document' to set the Tile (unit that will repeat) then you can set the Page width and Height (how much will print).
• Send the so and SRV3 is created, open this in AVA and check it repeats, if it does the issue will be on the printer or RIP side, if the SRV3 does not repeat you will need to check the file in AVA.
DeleteI have relaunched the AVA Digital Print RIP and all my print queues have disappeared
The print queues must have been closed prior to quitting the application. Reopen them by going to the File Menu > Open Print Queue and locating the relevant folders. These folders have most likely been set up in a shared folder so others can access, so look in places like the Public folder, Desktop or you drop box.
If you cannot access Open Print Queue, it is likely that the printer window has also been closed, in which case, you need to reopen the printer by going the the File Menu > New Printer.
Please contact AVA Technical Support if none of these suggestions resolved your problem.
DeleteMaking digital prints look sharp, more like production prints
Typically, production prints will be more shape as it is screened (flat coloured dots) and the CAD print is continuous tone. To get some of the screening effect on the AVA file we can do the following:
- Select Layer 1
- Go to the Edit Menu and select > Select All and then go to Edit Menu > Select > Snap
- Run a Gaussian Noise filter, with the settings shown below (Amount 1, Min around 10, Max around 40)
- Repeat for each layer. You may not want to run this on the last layer (darkest colour)
If this works for you, you can create a Palette Button to perform this action at the click of a button. For assistance with doing this, please contact AVA Technical Support.
To test if the resolution of the printer is having an effect on the print, we suggest rotating the file 90˚ and do a test print (this has made a considerable difference in some case). You can use the Layout Window to do this.
Note: To rotate objects in the Layout Window, open the Layout Inspector, and click on the second button from the left. You can change the rotate angle here.
Because the CAD print is continuous tone (and at a reduced resolution) it will never be identical to the screened production print, we can try and get it closer, but you should not expect an exact copy. We could make adjustments (gamma, filters, colour etc.) in an attempt to make the file identical, but each file would require their own adjustments. It is important to accept some tolerance of difference.
There is colour printing where I expect it to be clear / blank.
There are a few solutions to this problem:
Set the substrate colour in AVA to ‘AVA Printing White’. This colour chip can be found in the AVA Colourfile and can simply be dragged into the substrate chip in the Layers Palette or Substrate window.
If you are printing an image, make sure a standard ICC profile is embedded on the image layer in the Layers Palette.
Use the Pipette too with the Info window to that there is no data in areas you are expecting to be clear. You don't get 0% values you will need to clean up these areas so they are clear.
In the Info window
When checking areas for low tones, make sure that the Info window is set to show decimal places.
If you are printing from the Layout Window. Go to the Layout Menu > Views and in the Page section of the sheet which opens, make sure the Background colour is set to ‘Substrate’ or Blank Paper.
DeleteMy prints are different to yesterday
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