Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: Mike Sellers on May 29, 2015, 04:57:49 pm

Title: chromaroll.com
Post by: Mike Sellers on May 29, 2015, 04:57:49 pm
Has anyone printed with this- impressions? "Chromarollâ„¢ 2.0 is a unique substrate for inkjet printers - polypropylene with a thin layer of aluminum - treated so it can accept standard (pigment based) inks from a wide variety of inkjet printers. Chromarollâ„¢ comes in both sheet and roll formats up to 44" wide - so sizing is nearly unlimited for this amazing material."
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: Landscapes on May 29, 2015, 05:56:18 pm
Looked it up here:

http://www.chromaroll.com/chromaroll-2-0-sample-roll-12/

Sounds very interesting.  If a regular guy with a pigment printer could produce a metal type of print at home, this would be a great advancement.  Not only does the economics of selling metal prints not work for the photographer, the fact that the inks are dye and might fade in about 10 years from what I hear is also an issue.  Using pigment inks will I'm sure extend this. 

I just wonder how delicate the surface is.  Canvas that doesn't supposedly need to be coated isn't durable enough.  But with this even having a glue backing that makes you supposedly be able to stick it right onto an aluminum panel or dibond after printing would be a nice way forward.
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: Mike Sellers on May 29, 2015, 06:03:09 pm
there is a nice video on mounting it on youtube
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: Mark D Segal on May 29, 2015, 07:19:48 pm
They recommend sRGB colour space and Printer Manages Color. But elsewhere they say one can use ICC profiles. In one place they say available in sheets and rolls, but in another it's rolls only. To get further information you need to ask for it by submitting your contact information. Altogether very poor marketing. I wouldn't spend a cent on this unless I had reliable assurance (without providing contact info) it could pass through my 4900 trouble-free, and that I could profile it and print with it from LR with the profile managing colour.
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: Royce Howland on May 29, 2015, 09:37:33 pm
I have a friend who has printed through a roll of this stuff, and I've seen some of the results from it firsthand. A couple of the examples looked promising. But the vendor clearly is not well educated about colour management and isn't marketing the product very effectively so far. And the surface of the roll my friend got was quite problematic leading to many of the test prints being unusable due to material problems. At the very least, that indicated some quality management issues going on.

I've been meaning to get some to test out myself but haven't had enough time to get around to it, especially given the issues that my friend encountered with it.
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: disneytoy on June 01, 2015, 02:12:46 am
interesting but all the videos say PRIVATE.
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: Ken Doo on June 01, 2015, 09:37:31 am
Was your friend's test on the current version?  From looking at the materials it appears there was an earlier version, and then now the current release.

I may try some....but this stuff ain't cheap. It needs to provide some commercial interest (profit) and viability beyond personal artistic projects for me....

ken
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: disneytoy on June 01, 2015, 12:39:06 pm
Its just Mylar with an inkjet receptor coat on top. Kind of gaudy, but interesting. I see this more for store signage. But then again they can just UV print onto regular mylar.
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: Landscapes on June 01, 2015, 01:45:05 pm
Yes... once I finally saw some videos on youtube and saw how thing the sheet was, like mylar,it turned me off.  It would be very difficult to work with I think given the fragile nature of such a thin material.
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: disneytoy on June 02, 2015, 03:27:45 am
It would make a nice kite!
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: Jglaser757 on June 03, 2015, 06:57:59 am
I tried it,,I couldnt get colors right due to profile and my inexperience printing..I did find some sheets available on ebay awhile back!
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: dgberg on June 03, 2015, 08:56:51 am
It was about 3 years ago when the first version of this came out.
They were touting it as metal. I ran a little test and lit a match to it and it burned right up in my hand. Mylar, plastic whatever you want to call it.
I called the US Sales person and asked where I could find the profile for the new product. His response,"What is a profile?"
That should tell you something.
The thread is here somewhere if someone wants to dig it up?
Title: Re: chromaroll.com
Post by: disneytoy on June 07, 2015, 02:42:14 am
Considering we are printing on reflective Mylar, I wonder what's the point of a profile:-)  Time to print some custom birthday balloons...