Vinyl printing with the Z3100

[David Budd]

I have calibrated and profiled my Z3100 44" to print on Intelcoats (Magic) DMVLA5 Vinyl.

However, when the vinyl is printed the colors looks very de-saturated and out of gamut.

Under normal circumstance the profiling of non HP papers works extremely well with this printer, except in this case.

I was wondering if anybody has had experience printing vinyl and could offer some suggestions on
achieving better color.

Thanks for you help


David Budd
Western Australia

[SeanPuckett]

I profiled and printed on a sample of a vinyl canvas and was also very displeased with the result.  The black inks don't show up well on this surface at all and the print looks very washed out.   It may just be an incompatibility issue that we'll have to live with.

[Colorwave]

I tried the DMVLA4 vinyl by Intelicoat and had very good results, but that was with using APS, so I don't know if that is the difference, or if you are doing something different.  Did the colors look desaturated in the test pattern when you profiled, or just in your final print?  What application are you printing with, and what are the settings you chose?  I used application driven color management and printed with the new profile from Photoshop CS3.
-Ron H.

[David Budd]

I tried the DMVLA4 vinyl by Intelicoat and had very good results, but that was with using APS, so I don't know if that is the difference, or if you are doing something different.  Did the colors look desaturated in the test pattern when you profiled, or just in your final print?  What application are you printing with, and what are the settings you chose?  I used application driven color management and printed with the new profile from Photoshop CS3.
-Ron H.
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Ron

I am printing from PS C3 on a iMac Intel 24 using Photoshop managed color, best quality, max detail, with monitor calibrated but no APS.

The soft proof in PS looks very much like the finished print, colors are flat looking with a magenta bias. I have tried doing a color balance but for some reason the color shifts again when printed.

I have re-calibrated and profiled again but the results are the same. Both profile pattern look OK with good saturation.

I have tried printer managed color but that's even worse.


David

[Colorwave]

David-
Perhaps the 1000 patch target with APS makes a difference here.  If you are sure that you have application managed color in both PS and your driver, and know that you have the correct profile selected in PS and media selected in the driver, you may have to give in to the situation.  You can create adjustment layers that you always use with this media with a color balance and saturation correction if you wind up stuck with a poor profile.  You have hope since you said that the profile patches look OK.  I know that I was pretty pleased at how bright mine were with this media.
Good luck,
Ron H.
PS:  You might also look into getting a canned profile from Intelicoat to test?  It could at least be worth a shot.