# Start Getting Better Pantone Color Matches In DTG



## ROYAL SAVAGE

A lot of our fellow DTG printers seem to be experiencing problems when trying to match solid Pantone colors. This is not a difficult thing to do but it does require some practice and some patience. Here are a few tips on how to get great Pantone matches from your DTG equipment.
*Tip Number One *
Learn Photoshop! I cant teach you, need to do it on your own. All of us that operate at the upper level of screen printing and DTG production either know Photoshop or employ others that do. I have been doing contract printing for decorators for decades and I am still amazed how many people operate without this valuable knowledge. Photoshop has no secret button, no magic cure and no special filters to make you a better printer. It just has a set of tools to help you adjust your files to your machines liking.

Photoshop is the best tool any DTG printer can own. But owning it and using it are two different things. All of the problems we encounter cant be fixed in Photoshop but we certainly can get farther using it than not using it. We are fortunate to have a good back ground in this area and our knowledge of screen print separations is invaluable to us when printing on our Kornit machines. Many of the Direct-To-Garment equipment manufacturers are stuck on stupid in the art area. There has been an emphasis on selling customers on the notion that they dont need to know Photoshop. Without Photoshop you cant fix whats broken. Learn it!
*Tip Number Two*
After learning Photoshop, its time to run some tests to check your machines interpretation of Pantone solid colors. Create a grid of 25 boxes measuring about 2x2 in Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. Make five rows with five boxes in each row. Pick five ranges of Pantone solid colors such reds, blues, greens and yellows. Begin by filling the box on the left with the lightest shade of the color range that you desire to test. Fill the boxes across the row working toward the darkest part of the color range. A good example of a color range would be Pantone reds including the numbers 185c, 195c, 200c, 206c and 209c.


Prepare your file for printing on you DTG machine so you can print the grid on both white and black t-shirts as you normally would. Do not adjust your color in any way. After you have cured your shirts, return to your art room and review your printed color against your Pantone book. Rank your color for accuracy and try to determine which color ranges seem to be off the most. Look at your colors as members of a family such as reds, blues, greens etc. Identify which families are the most off from your Pantone book and your original file.

*Tip Number Three* 
Now, pull out your Pantone _Solid To Process Color Guide_ (thats the book with the dust on it) and compare your results. You will be shocked that all of your cursing at your gear has been misplaced. Elementary color theory tells us that a solid to process conversion will dull any solid Pantone color. It is elementary to those who know, but some readers here will not understand this theory because they have never been exposed to it. Remember DTG printing is strictly a four color process medium. The four color process medium is constrained by a color gamut that is limited and defined. This means that every Pantone color cannot be reproduced on your DTG machine. 

Now duplicate your original test file and bring it into Photoshop. Change you color Mode to CMYK (Image>Mode>CMYK). You will immediately see a color shift. Go to each box and change the color to the corresponding Solid to Process conversion using the appropriate Photoshop color commands. After you have completed this step you are ready to review the results. Compare your original Illustrator or Corel file containing the 25 boxes to your color converted Photoshop file side by side on your screen. This will give you a better idea of where the color is heading. Label your results and save them for future reference. Remember that you can never truly view your results as CMYK because you monitor displays RGB color. This is the only available visual we have prior to actually printing. 
*Tip Number Four
*Learn Photoshop inside and out and soon you will be able to accurately adjust color. Hitting accurate Pantone matches in DTG is something we do every day. Having patience and making the time to practice is the only way to learn. DTG is a thinking mans game and good results are not created just by pressing the print button.


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