# Solutions for improving white printing on black garments



## markus01 (Sep 26, 2007)

I am new at this so please be patient...our business does a variety of DTG ink printing with Kornit machines. The trouble we have is getting consistency in our white printing on dark garments. The garments themselves are receiving a consistent coat of pre-treat but we still struggle with getting a vibrant white on black garments.

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting a consistent, vibrant white image on dark garments?


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

markus01 said:


> I am new at this so please be patient...our business does a variety of DTG ink printing with Kornit machines. The trouble we have is getting consistency in our white printing on dark garments. The garments themselves are receiving a consistent coat of pre-treat but we still struggle with getting a vibrant white on black garments.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions for getting a consistent, vibrant white image on dark garments?


This is a very difficult question due to the complex nature of the machine. There are so many things that YOU as an operator can and should be doing, there is no single solution to getting a more vibrant print. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

1. When generating your underbase plate, be sure you adjust the curves down about 35% or so to really darken the underbase plate. Afterall, if the artwork isn't TELLING the Kornit to lay down alot of ink, the machine won't. It is a piece of hardware, and it does what it is told - nothing more, usually nothing less... 

2. Try printing at 545x545 - set your white ink limit curve to 100%, and your highlight curve to around 35%. This way, you are laying down a fair amount of ink on the underbase, but not overdoing it with the highlight white (which can pool up and ruin your image if you set it too high). This is for the Wasatch RIP - I have not used the Onyx RIP.

3. Make sure your printhead frequency is set to 10,000mhz. You can safely go up as high as 16,000 and still get great results, but you lose JUST enough detail to lose a couple of the more finicky clients... Stick with lower production numbers, but higher clarity! That is a good rule of thumb for general success.

Good luck with your venture, and good luck with the machine! Believe me, it CAN produce fantastic results.... You just have to get on a first-name basis with your machine. Get to know it. Take it out to dinner. Once you're extremely comfortable with it and all the settings, you will be amazed what it will produce!


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## markus01 (Sep 26, 2007)

Justin Walker said:


> This is a very difficult question due to the complex nature of the machine. There are so many things that YOU as an operator can and should be doing, there is no single solution to getting a more vibrant print. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
> 
> 1. When generating your underbase plate, be sure you adjust the curves down about 35% or so to really darken the underbase plate. Afterall, if the artwork isn't TELLING the Kornit to lay down alot of ink, the machine won't. It is a piece of hardware, and it does what it is told - nothing more, usually nothing less...
> 
> ...


Thanks for the response Justin - this gives us some other parameters to focus on!

A few quick questions if you please - so we are talking the same language, what are you referring to when you say 'underbase plate'? Also, where do I find things like the white ink limit curve, highlight curve, and printhead frequency? I am combing through the Kornit Manual but have yet to see any of those terms.

Thanks again!

- Mark


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

First of all, what RIP are you using? Both the white ink limit curve, as well as the highlight white limit curves are in Wasatch, not the printer itself (although the new Kornit software will have them in the Kornit app).

Regarding the underbase and highlight plates - these are the two extra channels in your artwork that you have to manually create before printing any images on darks garments.

There are two ways to set the printhead frequency - first, under Default Frequency in the parameters text file - by changing it here, it will change the system defaults. OR, you go to TOOLS > SERVICE MODE in the Kornit App, and enter the password (probably 1234). After you are in service mode, you load a piece of artwork like usual, and you have the option of changing the printhead frequency at that point - I suggest playing with the number between 10,000 and 16,000.


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