# Print settings for Corel Draw



## Brian (May 18, 2007)

Can any one using Corel Draw to print please post the settings that you use in Corel Draw and also in your RIP? The colours I see on my screen are not the same colours I get when I print.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Bryan,

Which printer / RIP do you have? Also, what format is the graphic in? These can have an affect on how your graphic prints. 

No matter what RIP and format you are working with, you should print out a color chart and have a color pallete that corresponds with that color chart. These will allow you to easily reproduce the desired color. If you don't have these, you can get one from this link - MultiRIP Screen Printing, Sublimation, Transfers, Photograph and Direct-to-Garment Printing RIP Software. 

Hope this gets you going in the right direction. To fully understand color management, you are going to need to take a course or two. Some many things can affect the way your colors come out.

Best of luck.

Mark


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

> print out a color chart and have a color pallete that corresponds with that color chart.


this is what I do too. Print out a color chart on a spare t-shirt, and keep that as a referrence when coloring your art work. This helps alot, I found it frustrating when I had the color just right on the screen, but didnt print out what I had seen.


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## TSmith (Mar 1, 2008)

"Print out a color chart on a spare t-shirt"


Thanks for the great idea!


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## Brian (May 18, 2007)

Thanks DA Guide. I have a Flexi Jet "S" and use the RIP that came with it. One Question: Before I print the color chart, do I have to change any settings in Corel Draw or my RIP and then use these same settings all the time as long as I select my color from the printed chart?


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Brian,

The Flexi RIP is made by iProof Systems - the same manufacturer of MultiRIP. Here is a video that explains on what MultiRIP users need to do to overwrite Corel's color engine.
- YouTube - Corel Color Management with MultiRIP Hybrid RIP Software 

The problem is that Corel wants to convert any object back into a CMYK color space and use SWOP to print it out. This is not going to give you the best colors. Printing in an RGB mode is the best thing to do. In order to overwrite Corel's engine, you will need to have your profiles in the correct color folder on your hard drive. I have no clue if the Flexi RIP drops them into this folder like the MultiRIP does or not. 

The bottom line is no matter what settings you have in the RIP or in Corel, you need to write them down when you print your color chart. Thus, if you want to reproduce the same colors that you have on the color chart, you know what settings to use in the RIP and Corel to get it. I would recommend you printing a couple of different color charts using different settings and see which one works best for your printer, your inks and your t-shirts. Changing any one of these variables or settings in the graphics or printing software will most likely change your colors.

Hope this helps.

Mark


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## the funk (Aug 8, 2007)

Any time I ever printed out of Corel (rarely) I have alway turned off all of Corel's color management and let the printer handle it, I dont really like corel that much though (except for the grid marks on the printable area, that's kinda cool). 

Have you ever stopped by the dtginks forums? There is a lot of good info there as well.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

FYI - Photoshop does a better job of processing colors than Corel when using your RIP.


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## the funk (Aug 8, 2007)

DAGuide said:


> FYI - Photoshop does a better job of processing colors than Corel when using your RIP.


Absolutely!


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## Brian (May 18, 2007)

Thanks for the info. I once used photoshop to print a design that was processed in Corel. Had to save the design as a jpeg before importing into photoshop.


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## molina67 (May 15, 2008)

I to am having a problem printing on black shirts with my DTG in corel. The manual tells you to make the page black in page layout, but when I print it's printing the entire size (13x22). When I spoke with Tech support, they told me to make the page color 400% black, but can't get corel to accept that. I am now using Paintshop Pro, which is one extra step, but I was wasting too much ink.


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## helmuc (Jun 25, 2008)

Returning to color chart:
You should be able to print it out directly from Your rip server
Example: Menu -> Print pages -> Color Charts

If You are printing vector image, I would suggest to continue in CorelDraw
1) mark the element
2) go to fill tool -> uniform fill -> in 'Palettes' choose 'Pantone matching system' -> in 'name' type in number or name from Your Pantone colour chart of Your rip server -> o.k.


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## Printzilla (Mar 22, 2007)

Welcome to the forums, and nice first post!!


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## cavedave (Dec 5, 2006)

A reason people have issues printing from Corel is when you print to a PostScript devices (which is what most users will be using for DTG) is all your vector artwork colors are converted to CMYK in the File-Print process even if you used RGB during the design (same for bitmaps but you can select in the Misc tab to override this).
If you use PhotoShop it doesnt do this.

If you send CMYK data and all you ICC profiles are not setup correctly (inthe RIP and Corel) you will have color issues.

A simple work around is instead of using File-Print, publish to PDF instead and so long as your RIP supports PDF you can just add this to your RIP and Corel doesnt change the color space on your objects. So you should then get the same as PhotoShop colors.

Another note: If you take Corel data into PhotoShop to print be careful of antialiasing. By default PhotoShop will antialias objects such as text and if you are printing this with an underbase the antialiasing can create white halos around these objects. Best to switch off antialiasing in PhotoShop or if you create the bitmap from Corel dont use it.

But PDF directly to the RIP should not have this problem.

Best regards

-David


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

I agree with David. All the iProof RIPs will allow you to drop in a PDF file into the RIP, but the problem is that it flattens the file. So you will need to use the Color Layer Auto Mask (Black Bgrd) setting. You will have access to all the RIP settings, but they are laid out a little differently.

What I recommend to most people is to buy Photoshop Elements. It is only around $60 or so and will be well worth it if you are using a dtg printer. It does not give you all the bells and whistles of the full Photoshop version, but it does give you basically everything a dtg printer needs in my opinion.

Mark


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## the funk (Aug 8, 2007)

The only thing (major) that lacks in elements is being able to assign a decent color profile to your palette. Now Im not sure if things have changed in 6.0 or whatever version they are on, but 4.0 was this way.


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## cavedave (Dec 5, 2006)

I have to say I am not a big fan of always converting vertor art work to bitmaps as a work flow. Its got its own issues such as antialiasing as I mentioned and then there is the resolution issue. If you have small text, you have to make sure you create very large bitmaps.

Its OK if you are just doing big bold graphics, but if you printing customers art work it still requires certain extra steps and knowledge.

I prefer to keep vectors as vectors. You also might get art work that is using Pantone named colors and converting this RGB will have its own color match issues.

Best regards

-David


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## Printzilla (Mar 22, 2007)

cavedave said:


> I prefer to keep vectors as vectors. You also might get art work that is using Pantone named colors and converting this RGB will have its own color match issues.
> 
> Best regards
> 
> -David


X2 - I could not agree more. This can cause a color matching nightmare!


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## gburgbeemer (Jul 26, 2008)

Hi:

Computer screens always show colors in RGB and those not perfectly so you will never have a match between the RGB colors you see on your screen and CMYK colors that print from a printer on to a subsrtrate.. You can get color correction devices for you monitor but the others are correct in that you can print out a color chart to see what the color you see on your PC will really look like on different fabrics.


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## jim55912 (Jun 10, 2008)

We print from Corel right to our Brother. I think the prints look nice. Am I missing something? Would they be better from Illustrator or other?


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## pmarikelly (May 10, 2007)

We print from CorelDraw all the time. Yes, you can set the page background to black to see what you're printing. Just remember to UNcheck the box that says: print and export background. You'll find it under Layout/Page Background which is the same window where you tell it the background is black.

T-Jet Tech support sells CorelDraw but they sure don't know how to support it. I swear they have a list of 12 answers that they apply to all situations. Once you fess up to using Corel you will never get past answer #6...you should go buy photoshop. Perhaps they get a kickback from Adobe every time they say it. If so, they're making some great money. If not, they're missing out on a revenue stream.


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## pmarikelly (May 10, 2007)

jim55912 said:


> We print from Corel right to our Brother. I think the prints look nice. Am I missing something? Would they be better from Illustrator or other?


Jim...photoshop is a completely different animal from Illustrator and Corel. Photoshop is raster art (bitmap...dots per inch). Illustrator and Corel produce vector art....geometric shapes based on mathematical equations. Lines and shapes are sharper in vector. Photos are better in raster.

We use CorelDraw for all DTG printing to our T-Jet 3. CorelPaint is the equivalent of photoshop and can do everything it can do if you need to work on photos. We print photos and other bitmaps from CorelDraw, too. We're such rebels. 

BTW, if you need a simple way to explain the difference between vector and raster to your customers, check out www.arttheclipartaardvark.com. It's a lighthearted book that only takes a few minutes to read. At only $7 per copy it's a great bargain. And as the commercials say, seeing the "aha" look on your customers' faces is priceless.


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## rbonamarte (Oct 25, 2008)

In reading all the posts here, the bottom line that I want to know is - Should I just buy Photoshop to print to my Flexijet and spare myself all the trouble with Corel? I have been having issues constantly with colors printing completely wrong. NOT WITH WHAT I SEE ON THE SCREEN, I know my monitor can be way off. I am talking about the actual RGB color code printing way off after getting processed and sent to the printer. I turn color management system off, doesn't fix the issues.


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## rbonamarte (Oct 25, 2008)

I followed the YouTube video that shows how to bypass color management settings in Corel rather than just turning it off. This made a huge difference, I highly recommend it to DTG-Corel users. Still would love any other input from more expereinced Corel users on this topic though.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Robert,

Photoshop does process Corel differently, but it is not the answer for vector graphics. The best thing that you can do is print a color chart and create your graphics using the colors from the color chart that has been printed / cured. When you go to print the color chart, type in the settings used in Corel, the RIP and your heat press so that you can easily repeat it.

An alternative to the full version of Photoshop is to try Photoshop Elements. You can get it for below $100.00 online and it processes colors basically the same. Sometimes when you buy certain things (i.e. cameras, web hosting services,...), they will give you Photoshop Elements for free. 

Best wishes,

Mark


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## BETO (Feb 1, 2008)

Hello guys!
Mark i got a question i got decostudio x4.
so you thing is better used corel photo paint then just used corel draw? thanks.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

BETO said:


> Hello guys!
> Mark i got a question i got decostudio x4.
> so you thing is better used corel photo paint then just used corel draw? thanks.


Robert,

I am not familiar with DecoStudio. So I can't answer that for you. Call your distributor that sold it to you. Good luck.

Mark


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## BETO (Feb 1, 2008)

Thank you mark i will.


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## rbonamarte (Oct 25, 2008)

My issue is often more than just being a shade off. Today, for example, some simple text I tried to print was setup for Green with a black outline. Now matter what setting I tried to print under, the text would print grey with black outline, as if it was converting it to black and white image. I double checked to only other option I could think of (convert text to shades of grey in the corel print options), but it was set to print in full color as it should be. Strange things like this give me headaches.


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## Brian-R (Apr 21, 2008)

Brian said:


> Can any one using Corel Draw to print please post the settings that you use in Corel Draw and also in your RIP? The colours I see on my screen are not the same colours I get when I print.


I don't print from Coreldraw, I print from Corel PhotoPaint. I convert images to CMYK before sending them to the printer. In PhotoPaint click on "Image" at the top of the page and then click on "Convert to CMYK." That's all I do and I don't have issues with colors printing wrong. Maybe I have just been lucky? I dunno, but it works for me.

Brian


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

rbonamarte said:


> My issue is often more than just being a shade off. Today, for example, some simple text I tried to print was setup for Green with a black outline. Now matter what setting I tried to print under, the text would print grey with black outline, as if it was converting it to black and white image. I double checked to only other option I could think of (convert text to shades of grey in the corel print options), but it was set to print in full color as it should be. Strange things like this give me headaches.


 
We used Corel initially but ended up switching to Photoshop because of maddening color shifts like this one. In Photoshop we do some fine tuning occasionally, but most things we can just print without adjustments.


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