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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: yoonbokim on September 05, 2018, 03:38:59 PM
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Hello my fellow theshirtboard community!
I am getting into screen printing and starting from the very bottom of understanding the entire process. As you guys probably will assume, I've come across various problems and questions.
I am having trouble resolving my most recently problem. When I print my design (which will be placed against my screen before putting the screen and design in the exposure unit for the emulsion to harden around the design) there is a dark clear background on my transparency even though in photoshop the background is transparent (the checkered background). It's still clear but it's not the same clearness as the transparency paper. I'm wondering how I would be able to get rid of this darker clear background that gets printed with my design.
I've attempted to play with the settings but nothing gets rid of that clear dark background around my design.
I am using a Epson Surecolor p400
and "Rite Film Premium Waterproof Film - 13x19in" as the transparency paper
Any advice or thoughts would be extremely helpful
Thank you in advanced!
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Try printing it through illustrator:
save your file as a .pdf or a tiff, and place it into illustrator. See if you are still having issues.
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Maybe I'm missing something, I'm not sure what I'm looking at. Is that your film sitting on glass? Looks like a lot of waterproof films I see, kinda' "frosty".
Have you tried burning a screen?
Although ideally, we have a very high d-max (the density and opacity of the black of the film, and a low d-min (the transparency of the film) many non detailed designs work just fine shooting through a higher than desirable d-min, especially with a decent light source.
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I think the OP is printing from Photoshop and getting a halftone shadow box around his art, you need to check your print mode RGB,Bitmap etc I've had that problem before when I print from Photoshop which I don't do alot, but one of those print modes is giving you that halftone shadow box I can't remember which mode is causing the problem.
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Try printing it through illustrator:
save your file as a .pdf or a tiff, and place it into illustrator. See if you are still having issues.
I dont have abode illustrator :(
And this image was printed as a TIFF file in photoshop. Is that the problem?; That I'm using photoshop?
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Maybe I'm missing something, I'm not sure what I'm looking at. Is that your film sitting on glass? Looks like a lot of waterproof films I see, kinda' "frosty".
Have you tried burning a screen?
Although ideally, we have a very high d-max (the density and opacity of the black of the film, and a low d-min (the transparency of the film) many non detailed designs work just fine shooting through a higher than desirable d-min, especially with a decent light source.
Nono its not sitting on a glass. Thats just the way it appears and that is what I am trying to get rid of/resolve. Every time I print, the transparent background becomes a darker clear tone instead of being completely transparent.
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to me that looks like it's printing white ink around the design. Are you using a RIP?
pierre
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The picture doesn't tell the story that well, it looks like regular film to me, except for what looks like some water stains. In photoshop, even with a checkered background showing, doesn't mean it's 0%; open your info pallet, and move your cursor around the transparent area to see if your getting a reading other than 0. If you are, you can make a selection of the transparent area, and use the curves or levels tool to make it 0%...
Steve
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The picture doesn't tell the story that well, it looks like regular film to me, except for what looks like some water stains. In photoshop, even with a checkered background showing, doesn't mean it's 0%; open your info pallet, and move your cursor around the transparent area to see if your getting a reading other than 0. If you are, you can make a selection of the transparent area, and use the curves or levels tool to make it 0%...
Steve
Steve,
that seems to be only one piece of film with a white square where the image is.
pierre
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Hello my fellow theshirtboard community!
I am getting into screen printing and starting from the very bottom of understanding the entire process. As you guys probably will assume, I've come across various problems and questions.
I am having trouble resolving my most recently problem. When I print my design (which will be placed against my screen before putting the screen and design in the exposure unit for the emulsion to harden around the design) there is a dark clear background on my transparency even though in photoshop the background is transparent (the checkered background). It's still clear but it's not the same clearness as the transparency paper. I'm wondering how I would be able to get rid of this darker clear background that gets printed with my design.
I've attempted to play with the settings but nothing gets rid of that clear dark background around my design.
I am using a Epson Surecolor p400
and "Rite Film Premium Waterproof Film - 13x19in" as the transparency paper
Any advice or thoughts would be extremely helpful
Thank you in advanced!
can we get a closeup picture of the film?
pierre
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Hello my fellow theshirtboard community!
I am getting into screen printing and starting from the very bottom of understanding the entire process. As you guys probably will assume, I've come across various problems and questions.
I am having trouble resolving my most recently problem. When I print my design (which will be placed against my screen before putting the screen and design in the exposure unit for the emulsion to harden around the design) there is a dark clear background on my transparency even though in photoshop the background is transparent (the checkered background). It's still clear but it's not the same clearness as the transparency paper. I'm wondering how I would be able to get rid of this darker clear background that gets printed with my design.
I've attempted to play with the settings but nothing gets rid of that clear dark background around my design.
I am using a Epson Surecolor p400
and "Rite Film Premium Waterproof Film - 13x19in" as the transparency paper
Any advice or thoughts would be extremely helpful
Thank you in advanced!
can we get a closeup picture of the film?
pierre
Heres a close up. Did you want a different angle?
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Hello my fellow theshirtboard community!
I am getting into screen printing and starting from the very bottom of understanding the entire process. As you guys probably will assume, I've come across various problems and questions.
I am having trouble resolving my most recently problem. When I print my design (which will be placed against my screen before putting the screen and design in the exposure unit for the emulsion to harden around the design) there is a dark clear background on my transparency even though in photoshop the background is transparent (the checkered background). It's still clear but it's not the same clearness as the transparency paper. I'm wondering how I would be able to get rid of this darker clear background that gets printed with my design.
I've attempted to play with the settings but nothing gets rid of that clear dark background around my design.
I am using a Epson Surecolor p400
and "Rite Film Premium Waterproof Film - 13x19in" as the transparency paper
Any advice or thoughts would be extremely helpful
Thank you in advanced!
can we get a closeup picture of the film?
pierre
Heres a close up. Did you want a different angle?
even closer. see if you can get just the registration mark to fill the image area (without cropping).
pierre
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Just to confirm, is that only one piece of film? From the picture, it looks like a smaller piece stacked with a larger piece.
Are you seeing a fine halftone pattern anywhere outside of your main image?
What inks are you using? Standard Epson, or something else?
I looked up the Epson Surecolor p400, and I see that it includes "gloss optimizer". If you've got just one piece of film, and no halftone pattern showing, my first guess is that your printer is printing the gloss optimizer across the whole surface of the film. I'd look for a way to turn that off, and see if that fixes the problem.
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Hello my fellow theshirtboard community!
I am getting into screen printing and starting from the very bottom of understanding the entire process. As you guys probably will assume, I've come across various problems and questions.
I am having trouble resolving my most recently problem. When I print my design (which will be placed against my screen before putting the screen and design in the exposure unit for the emulsion to harden around the design) there is a dark clear background on my transparency even though in photoshop the background is transparent (the checkered background). It's still clear but it's not the same clearness as the transparency paper. I'm wondering how I would be able to get rid of this darker clear background that gets printed with my design.
I've attempted to play with the settings but nothing gets rid of that clear dark background around my design.
I am using a Epson Surecolor p400
and "Rite Film Premium Waterproof Film - 13x19in" as the transparency paper
Any advice or thoughts would be extremely helpful
Thank you in advanced!
can we get a closeup picture of the film?
pierre
Heres a close up. Did you want a different angle?
even closer. see if you can get just the registration mark to fill the image area (without cropping).
pierre
Would this image suffice? And ignore the little white marks/dots; the film just got a little dirty after I printed
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Just to confirm, is that only one piece of film? From the picture, it looks like a smaller piece stacked with a larger piece.
Are you seeing a fine halftone pattern anywhere outside of your main image?
What inks are you using? Standard Epson, or something else?
I looked up the Epson Surecolor p400, and I see that it includes "gloss optimizer". If you've got just one piece of film, and no halftone pattern showing, my first guess is that your printer is printing the gloss optimizer across the whole surface of the film. I'd look for a way to turn that off, and see if that fixes the problem.
Yes that is one piece of film but when I print, the background of the image gets darker even though the background is transparent on photoshop
I'm not sure what a half tone pattern would look like. But it doesn't appear that theres any sort of pattern.
I believe I'm using the standard Epson Ink. I just put in the inks into the printer that the printer came with.
Yes, I did see the gloss optimizer and I had it on when I printed. I will try to turn that function off!
Thanks so much for your feedback!!
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the problem lies within your printer settings.
Tool around and you will find. Forgot what the exact fix was,
but it was in the printer settings for us.
John
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I'm still saying it's a fine halftone of dots, but he might not be able to hold those dots when he burns films or they wash out, I've had it happen and didn't notice until I burn a screen which then it held every halftone because I'm burning 230 and high mesh counts.
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Here is some context about the settings available to me as well as what I used (I tried both color handling: "printer manages colors" and "photoshop manages colors")
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Some more
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Printer
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Debbie Downer here, I also have to mention at some point (at least somebody does) that you are playing with copyrighted art there, even though you are by no means the first (or last) to "tongue it". I've seen more than one softball team incorporate it into their uniform logo.
But be careful, you may be starting on a slippery slope. Today, Rolling Stones tongues, tomorrow, the Mouse, or Harley, or bootleg sports stuff.
We've all been asked to print this stuff.
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Debbie Downer here, I also have to mention at some point (at least somebody does) that you are playing with copyrighted art there, even though you are by no means the first (or last) to "tongue it". I've seen more than one softball team incorporate it into their uniform logo.
But be careful, you may be starting on a slippery slope. Today, Rolling Stones tongues, tomorrow, the Mouse, or Harley, or bootleg sports stuff.
We've all been asked to print this stuff.
I understand. Thanks for your advice! We are just using this design as a dry run to see if I can complete the entire process of screen printing a shirt
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Hey, it's a new one on me, but I'm also intrigued by Prince Art's idea of using the "Gloss Optimizer" setting as a possible problem.
I needed to look up just what it even was, and found (among other results) this very old explanation on a digital photography forum
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790 (https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790)
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Hey, it's a new one on me, but I'm also intrigued by Prince Art's idea of using the "Gloss Optimizer" setting as a possible problem.
I needed to look up just what it even was, and found (among other results) this very old explanation on a digital photography forum
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790 (https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790)
Hey Frog!
In the printer settings, do you think I should be setting it as "Printer Manages Color" or "Photoshop Manages Color"
or does it not matter?
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Hey, it's a new one on me, but I'm also intrigued by Prince Art's idea of using the "Gloss Optimizer" setting as a possible problem.
I needed to look up just what it even was, and found (among other results) this very old explanation on a digital photography forum
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790 (https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790)
Also, should I be doing "Normal Printing" or "Hard Proofing"
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Hey Frog!
In the printer settings, do you think I should be setting it as "Printer Manages Color" or "Photoshop Manages Color"
or does it not matter?
Also, should I be doing "Normal Printing" or "Hard Proofing"
Both of those questions would be better answered by someone with a setup more similar to yours than I have. I print from a WF1100 with no RIP. Very different menus for me also as I rarely output directly from Photoshop in favor of CorelDRAW.
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Just to confirm, is that only one piece of film? From the picture, it looks like a smaller piece stacked with a larger piece.
Are you seeing a fine halftone pattern anywhere outside of your main image?
What inks are you using? Standard Epson, or something else?
I looked up the Epson Surecolor p400, and I see that it includes "gloss optimizer". If you've got just one piece of film, and no halftone pattern showing, my first guess is that your printer is printing the gloss optimizer across the whole surface of the film. I'd look for a way to turn that off, and see if that fixes the problem.
I turned off the "Gloss Optimization" and it worked!! Thank you so much - no more white box around my designs :)
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Just to confirm, is that only one piece of film? From the picture, it looks like a smaller piece stacked with a larger piece.
Are you seeing a fine halftone pattern anywhere outside of your main image?
What inks are you using? Standard Epson, or something else?
I looked up the Epson Surecolor p400, and I see that it includes "gloss optimizer". If you've got just one piece of film, and no halftone pattern showing, my first guess is that your printer is printing the gloss optimizer across the whole surface of the film. I'd look for a way to turn that off, and see if that fixes the problem.
I turned off the "Gloss Optimization" and it worked!! Thank you so much - no more white box around my designs :)
Well, what was first referred to as "darker" was actually "whiter". I am guessing that whatever makes up the Epson Gloss Optimizer reacts with the "waterproof" coating on your film. To the surprise of many, when first encountered, this "waterproof" layer actually reacts something fierce with water. (like your white splotches)
Epson obviously intends their gloss optimizer to be used on photos, and not our transparencies.
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Debbie Downer here, I also have to mention at some point (at least somebody does) that you are playing with copyrighted art there, even though you are by no means the first (or last) to "tongue it". I've seen more than one softball team incorporate it into their uniform logo.
But be careful, you may be starting on a slippery slope. Today, Rolling Stones tongues, tomorrow, the Mouse, or Harley, or bootleg sports stuff.
We've all been asked to print this stuff.
I was thinking of pointing out the copyright infringement too, but figured it would come up eventually. If a newbie, they should know that it's wrong and illegal to print someone's copyrighted designs without paying for a license or having permission. As a printer, if you were sued, not knowing would not work as a defense. That being said, practice with any art, make one for yourself, it's all fine as long as you aren't trying to sell it. My first t-shirt that I printed was Mickey Mouse, hand cut linoleum block...
Steve
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I did a print that years later I found out was a blatant ripoff of another logo. It haunted me for a long time. Luckily it wasn't a lot of shirts and I always undercure, so it probably washed out on the first wash(I'm kidding about the last part).
I was also really ticked at myself for not knowing. But there really isn't a way unless you google search every image that comes your way.
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I was also really ticked at myself for not knowing. But there really isn't a way unless you google search every image that comes your way.
I have gotten to the point of temporarily posting a pic of customer-supplied art here, in the administrators section, to then be able to right click a Google search for the image. I plead a lot of ignorance on Rap and Metal logos that others would instantly recognize.
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Just to confirm, is that only one piece of film? From the picture, it looks like a smaller piece stacked with a larger piece.
Are you seeing a fine halftone pattern anywhere outside of your main image?
What inks are you using? Standard Epson, or something else?
I looked up the Epson Surecolor p400, and I see that it includes "gloss optimizer". If you've got just one piece of film, and no halftone pattern showing, my first guess is that your printer is printing the gloss optimizer across the whole surface of the film. I'd look for a way to turn that off, and see if that fixes the problem.
I turned off the "Gloss Optimization" and it worked!! Thank you so much - no more white box around my designs :)
Glad it worked!
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I was also really ticked at myself for not knowing. But there really isn't a way unless you google search every image that comes your way.
I have gotten to the point of temporarily posting a pic of customer-supplied art here, in the administrators section, to then be able to right click a Google search for the image. I plead a lot of ignorance on Rap and Metal logos that others would instantly recognize.
On the rare occasions I have reason to suspect "borrowed" art, I'll look it up on TinEye.com. It's an image-based search engine. But our Terms of Service also put the responsibility for customer supplied art on them. There are far too many sources of obscure imagery to know (or guess) at whether the customer is using it legitimately or not.