Colours not vibrant

[smiley_mug]

I design artwork in Photoshop then save as a jpeg.
I then transfer with a USB to another laptop linked to the Ricoh SG 3110DN this laptop has the Powerdriver installed. I open the jpeg in Paint and send it to the printer.

My mug colours are coming out all wrong so brilliant postbox red comes out an orangy/peach and a royal blue comes out purpley.

I haven't messed with any colour settings in Photoshop, maybe I should have?
Do I need to put Powerdriver on the same laptop I have Photoshop on?
Do I need to do anything with Powerdriver other than just select it to 'Print to'?

Do I need an ICC profile doing? I read that I shouldn't with Powerdriver

Could it be my mug press settings making the colours all wrong rather than the printer?

Please help!

[PeteO]

When you say send to printer, do you mean printer, or Powerdriver?

You should be printing to the powerdriver (will show as an installed printer)

[smiley_mug]

When you say send to printer, do you mean printer, or Powerdriver?

You should be printing to the powerdriver (will show as an installed printer)

yes I send it to the Powerdriver to Print and it does the mirror image so that bit I'm doing right.

[mags1892]

Is it sublijet inks ? as these are the only inks that work with powerdriver settings. Also are you using a good paper ? some people actually sell matte photo paper as sublimation paper, and although ANY paper will sublimate theres a VAST difference in colour.

[smiley_mug]

Thanks for your replies I've been in touch with Sawgrass and sorted it now. I hadn't changed any of my settings in Photoshop to work with the Powerdriver and to allow Powerdrive to manage my colour settings when I print. In fact I had them on different machines and was printing the finished JPEG from Paint. I've also been designing with the mode set to CMYK thinking that's best when it should be RGB according to Sawgrass info. Yes to the right paper and right ink.

[mags1892]

yup that would do it , must be RGB and ideally adobe RGB . CMYK is a much smaller colour space .

[wayupnorth]

I would suspect that your screen calibration is to blame. Assuming you have another printer try printing the same image on photographic paper and compare screen/print. Is there any need to convert to jpg ?. Just share the 3110 on the second laptop and it will be visible to the first and you can print direct from Photoshop. A profile (from Paul) is the best option as you can then stop worrying about colours.

Of course using the wrong settings (not saying they are) for pressing will not help but you need to be sure the print info is correct to start with.

Crossed post....