Confused about best mug setup?

[tyrrell123]

Hi all,

take in to consideration I'm a total newbie to mug printing!

here goes....

I've got my new setup - Win7, CS4, Ricoh SG3110dn, Visi-sub inks, Lovecut paper and LC3 mug press.

I've experimented making 20 mugs or so. I've had problems with blacks going brown, feint prints, and patchy image at bottom.

Thanks to what I've read in here, I've got the above problems sorted by adjusting my times, temp and pressure of mug press.

However, I'm struggling with get accurate Reds (I've seen the thread on here about it. I've improved my reds a lot by experimenting with the settings in CS4, but they are still slightly 'pink'.

However, now I've read so much on here and on the sawgrass' website that now that I'm confused about CS4 / driver setup.

Should I be using the Powerdriver or not?
Should I use the Visisub_R_SG3110_v1.0.3 printer profile or sRGB IEC61966-2.1 when printing from CS4?
Should I use 'Photoshop manages colors' or 'printer manages colors' when printing from CS4?

I realize there's more than one way to skin a cat, but is there a definitive 'correct' way to configure the above settings for my setup or not?

I wanted to ask the question, before I carry on wasting more supplies experimenting?

Thanks in advance!

Ian

[Justin]

Have you followed the setup guides on the Sawgrass website? I would advise ursine piwerdriver.

[dazzul]

What justin really means is "I would advise using powerdriver."

Also when you say patchy do you have a photo we could see?

[Justin]

Blimey, how'd that happen!!! Cheers Dazzul

[pisquee]

If using PowerDriver then set Photoshop to "printer manages colours"
If using the VisiSub ICC, then set it to "photoshop manages colours"
sRGB is not a printer ICC profile, so don't try to use it as one.

If you're using PS, then you'd get better results using the ICC route with photoshop taking care of colour management, and have the advantages of being able to proof.

sRGB is a workspace profile, but using Adobe RGB 1998 for this would be better.

[markt1513]

You best place for information on
mug printing is you tube just get online type in what you want to know u can get help from express they do all mugs printers and heat presses but I'd learn more before you rush in as by learning we can decide what you need I would be carefull on using copyrighted images as people do ask for them if it's a brand don't do it alsways think before you print

[Justin]

You best place for information on
mug printing is you tube just....

I'd beg to differ, I think this is the best place for information on mug printing!

[pisquee]

I would agree with Justin, here is better as you're not just watching any number of videos showing you different set-ups and techniques, and possibly getting bad advice, here you can ask questions and work through things in a more interactive way.

[tyrrell123]

Hi guys,
thanks for your advice, and sorry it took so long to reply but I've been testing what you said.

For anyone else who reads this here's what I found produces the best results with my setup....

I reinstalled PowerDriver V4 exactly as per Sawgrass instructions, which is -


working space - sRGB IEC61966-2.1
color mode - RGB 8bit
color profile - sRGB IEC61966-2.1
printer - PowerDriver-v4 SG3110DN
color handling - printer manages colors
rendering - intent perceptual

powerdriver virtual printer driver preset - 11oz_mug_photo
substrate - ceramic / glass
paper - texprintR

mug press -160degC 140s

I pre-heated mugs on a radiator so they were warm-hot to touch
I don't have idle temp on mug press so I pre-heat to 160C with mug in it ready to go
once I place my mug design in, it takes about 80secs to get back up to 160C which leaves 60secs at full temp

This is temp/time combination is less than I was told (180C for 140secs), but at this recommended temp my blacks were turning brown?

I tested using Paul's test template (http://www.dyesubforum.co.uk/vbforum/sh ... r-everyone).

I did try using using the Visisub_R_SG3110_v1.0.3 printer profile and letting photoshop manages color handling with everything else set the same, but the results were inferior, with greys having a hint of blue to them.

thanks for your help!

I'm gonna try a wider range of images, fingers crossed.

cheers

[pisquee]

I would recommmend using Adobe RGB 1998 for your working space rather than sRGB

Also, when you say

I did try using using the Visisub_R_SG3110_v1.0.3 printer profile and letting photoshop manages color handling with everything else set the same

This won't work if everything is still the same - you would need to print to the Ricoh driver and not PowerDriver, and have all colour management and enhancements turned off in the print driver.