# Opinion; DTG full color image on black



## cmrosko (Mar 20, 2008)

I'm looking for some feedback. 

This is my first experience with commissioning a DTG project. 
See the original art and subsequent DTG prints. ( note there is some glare effect from the flash that affects the image quality)
I'd like to see richer color, brighter whites and darker blacks but I suspect that this is probably the best that DTG will do on a black garment.

Also, does anyone know if DTG will print as well on 50/50 cotton poly as it does on 100 cotton?

I appreciate the input.

Thanks
Chris


----------



## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

How many times was your sample washed? What Brand was the DTG that printed it?


----------



## PeloquinPromo (Nov 21, 2008)

I personally would have removed the black from the original art and let the black of the shirt show, you'll end up with a better print. We have printed on our AnaJet DTG both 100% cotton and 50/50 with similar results, but do prefer 100% cotton.


----------



## cmrosko (Mar 20, 2008)

The shirt was not washed.
I'm pretty sure it was printed from a Kornit.


----------



## PressForProfit (Jun 11, 2008)

cmrosko said:


> I'm looking for some feedback.
> 
> This is my first experience with commissioning a DTG project.
> See the original art and subsequent DTG prints. ( note there is some glare effect from the flash that affects the image quality)
> ...


Like the other poster said...It is better to remove the black background. However, in looking at your image in photoshop the black background around the tiger is reading a RGB value of (20,20,20) while the interiors of the letters read a RGB value of (0,0,0). 

This is part of the issue with the black background looking a little grey/milky.


----------



## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

I think that the black background makes it looks like it was done via print-cut and not dtg. The benefit of a dtg is you print directly to the garment and can make the designs blend into the fabric. My gut reaction is that someone just printed the shirt as fast a possible and did not do a good job representing other dtg printers. I bet you will like the design much more without the black background. Just my opinion.

Mark


----------



## cmrosko (Mar 20, 2008)

> However, in looking at your image in photoshop the black background around the tiger is reading a RGB value of (20,20,20) while the interiors of the letters read a RGB value of (0,0,0).


In the original photoshop file the oval section of black background reads as C-73%, M-67% Y-56%, K-81%. (This is the same as the black dialogue box in the swatches window)

In the original photoshop file the black inside the headline type reads as,
C-75%, M-68%, Y-67%, K-90%.

Apparently this does make somewhat of a noticeable difference in the appearance of the black. Maybe I should redo all of the black sections of my art as C-100%, M-100%, Y-100%, K-100% ?


*


----------



## WholesalePrint (Sep 23, 2008)

True black is k 0% Unfortunately the language is correct but most people just drag to corner of color palette and assume it is black cause it looks darker. In a matter of short it looks like designer error causing it to look like printer error.


----------



## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I also agree that the black should be removed and let the shirt be the black color of the image. You would get rid of the oval around it and it would look like the tiger is jumping right out of the shirt. This is not a great print in my opinion. I would also think that a heavier layer of color would make it look more vibrant, as it looks like the minimum amount of ink was layed down, therefore giving it a faded look.

As far as printing on 50/50 compared to 100% cotton. You will not get as good results on a poly blend as the ink only adheres to natural fibers like cotton. On a 50/50 blend it will only adhere to 50% of the fibers.


----------



## WholesalePrint (Sep 23, 2008)

It would also make the print 50%cheaper


----------



## cmrosko (Mar 20, 2008)

Photoshop displays black as 100% k in cmyk files.

When I type 0%-cmy and 100%-k I get a pure black in photoshop.


----------



## WholesalePrint (Sep 23, 2008)

Sorry I meant to say 100% oops


----------



## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Here is the major problem with printing black on a black shirt. 

#1: It becomes difficult to match the black ink you are printing on a black garment because the dye used to make the garment black is not always the same and it does not always make the CMYK or RGB color values.

#2: Over time, the garment will fade and what looked black in the beginning... might look like a dull, flat black after a couple of washes. Thus, your ink will never fade at the same rate as your fabric... which makes the black background noticeable. This has been documented enough on the heat transfer side using a dark transfer paper.

By the way, the best looking black will probably be different from one printer to another; one computer to another; one fabric to another, and one RIP to another. There are a ton of factors that go into to getting the proper colors... this is why it becomes so important to run color charts and design / manipulate the graphic to the way your setup (graphic program, printing program / RIP and printer) is performing.

Mark


----------



## out da box (May 1, 2007)

REmove the black from the graphic, especially the large oval. It'll look 100% better. As for the brightness and saturaton, I would have expected it to look more like the original. I am looking for a good dtg to print on black tees myself. Anybody have any suggestions?


----------



## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

I can see an awful lot of white through the color layer. Removing the black background or not printing a white underbase under black, would be nice artistically, but that is easily remedied by adjusting the art to what you like. 

Problematic to me is the white showing through the color layer- which is more likely an operator problem. Search sunnydayz recent posts and take a look at the print on jean material that she has printed and washed. True, jeans in some ways will look better than a t-shirt due to less fibrillation, but since this shirt has not yet been washed the problem is more likely to be fibers not properly laid down during the pretreament. It could also be a too stingy color layer- needing a higher resolution or double pass of color.


----------



## bob emb (Apr 5, 2007)

_I have a Kornit and I would not give that as a sample. 1st thing i see is that there probably is not enough pretreatment on the shirt. If you do not have enough pretreat it makes the white look greyish and then the cmyk does not have a good base to print on. We do tons of blacks and we have a customer that has a lot of black on his designs, they come out perfect. But like Mark B said you can never get the same ink black to match the tee dyed black, but I can get a real mean black black. Nlack is a funny color it took us over 1 year to fine tune to get our blacks. Mark also mentioned about cmyk values in photshop very true but the ripping is also involved. _

_Bob _


----------



## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

Everyone is concentrating on the black too much. Its the whole print that is subpar. Its all washed out and easy to tell the underbase was not solid enough. Even the colors are pretty bad either due to not enough CYMK ink or white ink, or a combination of both.


----------



## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I totally agree zhenjie, I too thought that the ink was too light. It just looks really faded out, which usually means not enough layed down, or really bad pretreat method but I would say someone trying to save money by going light on the ink.


----------



## BBProd (Oct 29, 2008)

This may be a stupid question, but can you guys tell from looking at this shirt if a solid white mask was printed before the colors were printed?

Is it possible that the white that is showing up on this shirt is just a "spotty mask" rather than a solid oval?

Annnd, for that matter, is a solid oval of white needed or recommended? My understanding is that you _would_ want a solid oval of white as an underbase to make the design pop...but, I'm a noob, so....

Chris


----------



## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

BBProd said:


> This may be a stupid question, but can you guys tell from looking at this shirt if a solid white mask was printed before the colors were printed?
> 
> Is it possible that the white that is showing up on this shirt is just a "spotty mask" rather than a solid oval?
> 
> ...


Yes it looks like a full white underbase was printed with this. Howeer, it wasn't a very solid one either due to pretreatment or a low resolution. 

As other have suggested, printing without an underbase for the black areas would have been much better for this image. This just looks like a bad transfer instead of really showing off DTG advantages.


----------



## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Hard to truly tell if the colors are flat without seeing it in person because the lighting / flash on a picture can make something look bad or really good. Not to mention your monitor can change the colors as well. Not sure how fair it is to judge the colors without seeing it in person... but from my screen, it does look flat. So I understand what you are saying.


----------



## adrenaline (Aug 1, 2008)

That print is crap. They colours are not even matching at all. Send me the art work and I will print you one up and post it over. These are the prints that give DTG a bad name.


----------



## ghetotige (Nov 16, 2008)

I just recieved my DTG (HM1 Kiosk) last week and have been messing around alot with different settings, That look I achieved when I forgot to pre treat a black tee before printing.


----------

