8 Color Printing

**Citywolf** · 08 April 2008, 02:00 PM

Does X4 support 8-color printers or white ink printing (DTG)?

Dan

**raynerj1** · 09 April 2008, 01:31 AM

I doubt if there are many printers that support white ink. I do not think xara does, but I am no expert. I would check with Waldo (WW). He does alot of T-shirt/screen printing and would be able to tell you if it can be done.

**RTK** · 09 April 2008, 01:39 PM

If you mean DTG = Direct To Garment printing?

No idea what kind of software is best suited to drive the printer, but if you by "support" mean file format, then I'm 100% sure can produce a file suitable for any printer. Hey, it's just a printer...

Looking at: http://www.lawsonsp.com/digital_fasttjet.php They say that any software can drive the printer, and that it accepts raster and bitmap images.

Zazzle also now prints with white inks, and all they ask for is plain old boring jpg, which can be produced in any graphics application.

Good luck!

Risto

wW · 10 April 2008, 08:12 PM

I agree Risto.

It's all relative to the print format. Textile printing requires that I create 1 color plate for each color being used in a design. The limit being the number of print heads, 1 head = 1 color. We have a max color capacity of 12 but only advertise 10, (breathing room for malfunctions on the press). Gives us leeway.

I can't just create artwork in Xara & expect it to separate the art for me (I wish it were that simple). I have to manually Sep the art within Xara & create plates to be printed for a 1 color (large format B&W laser)printer (Similar to a CMYK sep in Xara). Or, I can export a Bitmap from Xara & sep in Photoshop using Channels to create a plate for each color being printed.

To answer your question Citywolf. I would expect that Xara would be able to support 8 color printers if the artwork is prepared properly "using spot colors". It tends to be a trial & error thing, until the process is figured out. Always a learning curve when dealing with a new print process. More than likely, Xara can do it, one way or another... Where there's a will, there's a way.

John, the name is wALDO! Get it right man! ;o)

**RTK** · 10 April 2008, 09:29 PM

wALDO,

DTG doesn't require the preparation of plates. You stretch the garment on a place-holder and just send it through the printer (like paper through an inkjet). It doesn't require spot colours.

It's normally CMYK + 3 or 4 whites (4 white inks on the printer in the link i posted). It doesn't even require a CMYK file - you can send a RGB JPG through it (with the normal colour shifts when it comes to RGB/CMYK approximation). More of a shift on black supposedly (sort of makes sense).

One of our acquaintances works for a printing business and I asked him about it, and they have one for "novelty" shirts - small editions - (special events, weddings, birthdays, quick-chesp turn-around jobs, etc.)

Zazzle uses DTG - it's not even close to the durability and popping colours of screen-printing.

Risto

wW · 10 April 2008, 10:23 PM

A communication problem on my end. Or, I fail to comprehend the issue at hand.... probably both, again!

Some shops have DTG printers for 1 off prints & custom orders. It's not the type of machine suited for more than 1 or 2 of the same design. As a rule, Textile printers have minimums because, for each design, screens have to burned, sprayed, setup on the press etc.

It's not practical for short runs (our shop has a 15 shirt min) using traditional Silk Screen Techniques for textile printed designs. This is the domain where DTG printers shine, 1 off's. The down side, DTG's are very expensive. Only a small percentage of shops are willing to go this route as it's difficult to recoup the initial cost of the printer.

I wish we had one! I'd be using it more than the customers...

**Citywolf** · 10 April 2008, 10:50 PM

Thanks, gentlemen. I had hoped that Xara would recognize a "white" spot color in the same manner that Corel currently does. I prefer Xara but will have to continue with Corel.

Epson makes 8-ink / 8-jet printers for use with light CYMK plus the standard CYMK. More often green, orange, and blue are used in the additional jets.

There are printer drivers to communicate with the graphic program so I am sure Xara can print to an 8-color. However, DTG printing relies on a spot white which has no equivalent in a Xara palette. There is one in Corel.

Again, thanks for the help.

**RTK** · 10 April 2008, 11:11 PM

What is this Graphics format and file that Corel creates that only this printing method/RIP can interpret? Are we not talking about the type of inki-jet, as per my link? Grandma can create a file for Zazzle and this printer?

Cityworlf, there seems to be a some confusion here... (clearly). What is the printing method used? What is the printer used?

I have a 7 ink Epson in my basement (no white though - not needed when printing on white). Cy, LCy, Ma, LMa, Y, Black, LGray - the colour range is huge, and you are supposed to print an RGB file... Granted, it's not for printing on garments.. But the extra inks are there to increase the gamut.

Green and Blue inks? Eh? What Epson printer is that? Now I'm really curious... Please do educate us all, because you clearly know something that both wW and I have missed. If you are talking about "spraying" ink on dark garments - it requires more than one white, no?

Risto

**gwpriester** · 11 April 2008, 01:21 AM

Unless I am mistaken, the Epson printer driver makes the color decisions and not the user.Hexachrome printing CMYK plus a special green and a special orange, and 8 color printing uses the additional colors to add depth and detail to CMYK printing.

I really do not see what this has to do with Xara or CorelDRAW, or any other program. The Epson printer driver is going to offer you some control over the balance of inks.

What am I missing here?

**RTK** · 11 April 2008, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by gwpriester

I really do not see what this has to do with Xara or CorelDRAW, or any other program. The Epson printer driver is going to offer you some control over the balance of inks.

What am I missing here?

I think we are all missing something...

I'm not an expert, no matter how much I would love to be able to stretch my very limited (non-)knowledge - I'm not an expert.

The most confusing part is this quote by Citywolf: "Epson makes 8-ink / 8-jet printers for use with light CYMK plus the standard CYMK. More often green, orange, and blue are used in the additional jets."

CMYK is = Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black...

That's 4 colours...

"Light CMYK" I assume to be Light Cyan, Light Magenta --- That's 6 colours...

On my Epson I also have a Light Gray that increases the tonal range of black and white prints... That would be 7 inks...

Then you add Green, Orange and Blue... And most importantly the "White"...

That's 11 colours... It doesn't add up to an "8-jet printer".

Looking (Google looking) at these DTG printers (where you actually run a t-shirt (any stretched fabric) through a printer), they seem to be Cy, Ma, Y, B, White, White, White (and often another White).

There's obviously some confusion here, and it can only be cleared up Citywolf... What is the printer and what kind of file does it require?

Risto