Phone case inserts come out dark and lack detail

1895 Views 17 Replies 4 Participants Last post by mgparrish, Nov 15, 2017

mixmstr

Discussion Starter · Oct 31, 2017

Hi, I'm a newbie to sublimation and want to do phone cases and socks. I recently purchased a epson 7110 and I have cobra inks. I installed the cobra ink profile and I am using Photoshop css with dyetrans paper. I am trying to print a phone case with a photo. The end result on the phone insert(from Conde) comes out darker and lacks detail. (400* for 60sec). I also tried a pair of socks(Vapor) that did not come out as vibrant as I would like and colors are off (pink looks like peach color)(370* for 30sec). I'm using CWF7110 _ poly_ PPM _ HQ _ CS/4.2 profile from cobra. I also sent an email to cobra ink, but he suggested I watch their profile video, which I already have. I hear how people love their results and have vibrant colors, but I'm not sure how good of quality and detail I should really expect from sublimation as I have not seen before and after pics.(from original design to end result). Any help or suggestions would be great.
Thank You,
Alex

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mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #2 · Nov 8, 2017

I attached print settings and photos

Text Technology Font Graphic design Photography

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Amw

· #3 · Nov 8, 2017

mixmstr said:
I attached print settings and photos View attachment 244457

Sorry but i am about to walk out the door for a meeting, or my answer would be a little more informative.

1st off your using the wrong profile, cobra ink gives you one for poly (the one your using) and one for Aluminum. Use the Aluminum profile instead. The poly one is for soft substrates...like shirts. I cant tell you exactly what its called as we make our own custom profiles.

Your quality should also be set the same as the profile says...(high quality in this case).

Is this a metal insert or a plastic one?
Yes that is dark compared to what it should look like.
Your Photoshop settings can also affect the color as well.

Hope this gets you started, good luck!

mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 8, 2017

Amw said:
Sorry but i am about to walk out the door for a meeting, or my answer would be a little more informative.

1st off your using the wrong profile, cobra ink gives you one for poly (the one your using) and one for Aluminum. Use the Aluminum profile instead. The poly one is for soft substrates...like shirts. I cant tell you exactly what its called as we make our own custom profiles.

Your quality should also be set the same as the profile says...(high quality in this case).

Is this a metal insert or a plastic one?
Yes that is dark compared to what it should look like.
Your Photoshop settings can also affect the color as well.

Hope this gets you started, good luck!

Thanks for the reply AMW, since my original post, I actually did try the Aluminum setting, and tried it at High quality(I had a user defined paper setting of 3.5x7 and it would not let me choose high quality, so I changed it to preset of 5x7 and that let me choose high quality). These new settings didn't really help much. I tried on aluminum and plastic from [email protected] to [email protected] Still not much difference. I'm wondering if it could be my Photoshop settings, but not sure what to check. I have tried printing the same image to a color laser printer on regular paper and results are great. Is it possible I was sent the wrong profile from Cobra?
Thanks again, Alex

mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 8, 2017

3

Text Software Screenshot Technology Font

Orange Rectangle Modern art Metal

Water Rock Wave Font Rectangle

Here are my current setttings with more before and after samples.

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Dekzion

· #6 · Nov 10, 2017

Well something's out of whack because Ally and unisub are my favourite substrates for printing on, It doesn't look like your temps are off, is there a setting to turn down saturation in printer properties?

mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 11, 2017

Text Font Line Screenshot Technology

Thanks for the reply. I don't see anything for saturation, but his is what I have for printer properties(Color Management)

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Dekzion

· #8 · Nov 11, 2017

Thre's nothing there is there.
I don't use an epson, I'm on Ricoh with sawgrass ink and through the powerdriver which has all the settings for different papers, substrates and great colour management sliders including spot colouration (which I've never used). That's the first time I've seen your type of profiling apart from normal printing.
I pressed a jewellery box insert the other day and the customer wanted to know when they'd be safe to touch it because the gloss looked like wet glass haha.
What continent are you on Alex?

mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 11, 2017

Hi Derek, that's funny with the jewelry box. I'm in the United States(California).

mgparrish

· #10 · Nov 12, 2017

mixmstr said:
View attachment 244681
Thanks for the reply. I don't see anything for saturation, but his is what I have for printer properties(Color Management)

Suggest to keep Windows Color Management that is built into the OS as all defaults.

If you change anything there it will try and "intercept" and overide color management from Phortoshop since that is a global setting using Windows OS color management.

In Photoshop please post the screens using the pull down menu >>Edit >>Color Settings

Also, you need to go to Michaels Arts and Crafts, Joanne Fabrics, or Walmart and buy some cheap 100% poly fabric for your testing. It is sold in yards.

Use this photo and transfer photo onto the poly fabric. Repeat with all the profiles only the poly fabric.

http://www.gballard.net/dl/PDI_TargetFolderONLY.zip

I advise against using one's own artwork for color setup as it may not show the entire range of color in the art and the PDI target file is a perfect balanced photo and is designed for system color calibration.

Although there are many profiles Cobra supplies for different substrates, I always just use the best one overall subjectively for everything, so do all the profiles onto poly.

I'll go into more why I use 1 profile for most everything later.

So first post your screen shots for the PS "Color Settings" screen.

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mgparrish

· #11 · Nov 12, 2017 (Edited)

Dekzion said:
Well something's out of whack because Ally and unisub are my favourite substrates for printing on, It doesn't look like your temps are off, is there a setting to turn down saturation in printer properties?

There is but we don't want to use that. We shouldn't use that adjustment except only piecemeal on a case by case basis, and it's done in the graphic app, not the printer driver, and only if the original photo itself needs tweaked for saturation. The reason for ICC profiles is so that we don't have to do case by case tweaking, except for photos that would have needed it normally. The printer driver should not be used for any adjustment with the exception of the paper type used. We force color management off in the printer driver here on Epson.

So need to see if the setup is correct first and what paper is being used etc. If the setup is correct then it's best to use "Gamma" in the graphic app instead of saturation.

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mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #12 · Nov 13, 2017

Text Screenshot Software Technology Computer icon

Hi Mike, thanks for the reply. Here are the Photoshop settings. I will try the photo on the poly fabric and submit.

Thanks,
Alex

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mgparrish

· #13 · Nov 15, 2017

mixmstr said:
View attachment 244746
Hi Mike, thanks for the reply. Here are the Photoshop settings. I will try the photo on the poly fabric and submit.

Thanks,
Alex

Those settings are fine. Some use Relative colorimetric for line art and vector, illustrations, and then Perceptual for photos, but you have the correct workspace and profile handling.

Amw

· #14 · Nov 15, 2017

Be sure you are turning OFF color management in your PRINTER settings.

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mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #15 · Nov 15, 2017

Yes, Color Management is turned off.

mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #16 · Nov 15, 2017

3

Photographic paper Art Room Photography Picture frame

CWF7110 _ poly_ PPM _ HQ _ CS/4.2

Art Room Photography Pattern Visual arts

CWF7110_Al_PP_Max Q_CS4.2

Forehead Art Photography Pattern Paper

CWF7110_3G Opaque Dark Shirt_PP_ MQ_CS4.2

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mixmstr

Discussion Starter · #17 · Nov 15, 2017

Hi Mike, these are the 3 profiles that I was sent from Cobra. They look much better on the poly than the phone inserts.

mgparrish

· #18 · Nov 15, 2017

mixmstr said:
View attachment 244906
CWF7110 _ poly_ PPM _ HQ _ CS/4.2

View attachment 244914
CWF7110_Al_PP_Max Q_CS4.2 View attachment 244922 CWF7110_3G Opaque Dark Shirt_PP_ MQ_CS4.2

Your setup is correct, the first profile CWF7110 _ poly_ PPM _ HQ _ CS/4.2 is the best overall.

The reason i don't like having so many profiles is that none of them are exactly like each other if you sell the same design on different substrates using different profiles. In theory they should give identical results, but they don't.

You can adjust the "Gamma" slider in the "Levels" menu to compensate for brighter or duller white substrates instead of using different profiles.

Your dwell, temp, and pressure may need to be adjusted to get the right color on your phone insert.

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