Decal Dials Tutorial
Hello all,
I am reposting this tutorial that I wrote on RWI (when my account there existed) as I think many of you here will find it useful.
All credit for this idea, as far as I'm aware, belongs to Bart Cordell for his pioneering of the decal technique. The intent of this tutorial will be to help to those of you who have attempted to print decal dials in the past and have not gotten the results you were hoping for. Let's jump right into the tutorial:
First off, you'll need files to print. Here is my file for a 6538. I've attached an illustrator version, this is only intended for those of you that are using an exceptionally high resolution or low resolution printer. Anyone using a printer around 1200 or 2400 DPI will not need to use this file. Those of you with average printers will want to use the 1200 DPI or 2400 DPI file. Choose the one that corresponds to the maximum DPI capability of your printer. The higher quality the better the print job! I also attached a tropical dial pattern I created just for fun, although this will be harder to print as it requires color inks. I'll go into the details of this below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4k7pb97tuz...00DPI.tif?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0galxu9sex...00DPI.tif?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ocgoqi3mtj...orFile.ai?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4zzwaq9vq...pical.tif?dl=0 Additionally, just for you RWG folks, I've decided to add my files for the 1675 and the 6542. Here they are, in both 2400 DPI and 1200 DPI format: 6542: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fu9gywik7xa5yf/2400.tif?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4hvrk04eactoof/1200.tif?dl=0 1675: https://www.dropbox.com/s/13dscu5ai1uwb5q/1675SCOC1200.tif?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/xy94hboialo1ylj/1675SCOC2400.tif?dl=0 If you've chosen to use the illustrator file for the 6538, you'll need to export it as a TIFF at the quality of your choice in order for your print results to look decent. Illustrator uses a strange compression algorithm that causes prints at this small size to look awful if printed through Illustrator itself. So, export the illustrator file as a TIFF and open your TIFF up in photoshop. Now that we are in photoshop, you'll need to lay out a sheet to test print. I recommend test printing on cheapo 4x6 photo paper so that you don't waste your expensive decal sheets. For the sake of this tutorial, I'll be using A4 size paper, as that is what I have on me. If you are using a different size, be sure to select your respective size wherever applicable. Open up the TIFF file that you have either made with my illustrator file or downloaded in photoshop. Create a new file, select the appropriate size for whatever paper you are printing on, and most importantly make sure the resolution is set to the same resolution as your TIFF file (IE 1200, 2400). If it's not, when you paste the image into the new file it will not sized correctly, so this is very important. Look at "Resolution" - I set it to 2400 Now it's simply a matter of copying the dial image from your original TIFF file and pasting it into the new file you just created, and organizing your pasted images into a pattern that you'd like to print (I use a 5x6 rectangle). Once they are organized, be sure to flatten your image. Also, go to image->mode->grayscale if you are printing a purely black image. If not, keep this setting on bitmap Click "Flatten Image" Next, we need to make a custom printer profile. Most printer drivers that are installed by default don't have nearly enough alterable parameters to get a good print result. Just setting your printer to print "high quality glossy photo paper" isn't going to cut it if you want really crisp print results. I have a mac, so this part of the tutorial only applies to mac, however I'm sure the process is very similar to windows. A quick Google search for " alternate printer driver install windows" should give you a similar tutorial. For mac users, you'll want to go into your system preferences and select printers and scanners. At the bottom of this page you'll see a "+" symbol. Click this. Click the "+" Select the printer you want to use (it needs to be connected to your computer to show up). Click location, then select software. A long list of different drivers should pop up. Use the search bar to find drivers that are the same brand as your printer. Mine is an Epson 830, so I searched Epson 800. For Epson printers, the Gutenprint drivers have many more settings than the default drivers, so you'll want to use these. For other printers, you'll have to test different drivers until you find some that work. This is a pretty easy process. Now it is time to print. Try not to get too excited! Go to file->print and this dialog box should pop up (if you are using photoshop. If not I don't know what you're doing here). Be sure that your file Be sure that your file is centered, as printers tend to get wonky near the edges of the paper. This is also important to keep in mind when laying out the sheet you want to print. Be sure that the printer profile you made is selected, and that the rest of the settings are identical to mine. Click "print," and you'll be brought to another dialogue box. Now it's time to get into the nitty gritty of your print drivers you installed. You'll have to do your own experimentation here, but usually just clicking "best" on all of the settings will give you a good result. Ideally, you want your file to print very slowly and at a quality corresponding to the maximum quality your printer is capable of (Google this). Here are my settings for reference. The platen gap is important to set at 0.0 since you are using relatively thick paper. This step will require some experimentation to get ideal results. If you have an Epson printer you are in luck, as these settings have worked well for me. If you are printing a colored dial of any sort (IE a tropical dial), you'll need to mess around with the ink density settings. I found that decreasing yellow ink density to about .70 gave me good results for the tropical dial pattern that I attached above. The rest of the settings are identical, except of course you'll select RGB instead of grayscale. Now you can print your decals! Be patient and give the ink 24 hours to dry before spraying clear coat on the paper - seriously. I hope this tutorial was useful.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0galxu9sex...00DPI.tif?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ocgoqi3mtj...orFile.ai?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4zzwaq9vq...pical.tif?dl=0 Additionally, just for you RWG folks, I've decided to add my files for the 1675 and the 6542. Here they are, in both 2400 DPI and 1200 DPI format: 6542: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fu9gywik7xa5yf/2400.tif?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4hvrk04eactoof/1200.tif?dl=0 1675: https://www.dropbox.com/s/13dscu5ai1uwb5q/1675SCOC1200.tif?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/xy94hboialo1ylj/1675SCOC2400.tif?dl=0 If you've chosen to use the illustrator file for the 6538, you'll need to export it as a TIFF at the quality of your choice in order for your print results to look decent. Illustrator uses a strange compression algorithm that causes prints at this small size to look awful if printed through Illustrator itself. So, export the illustrator file as a TIFF and open your TIFF up in photoshop. Now that we are in photoshop, you'll need to lay out a sheet to test print. I recommend test printing on cheapo 4x6 photo paper so that you don't waste your expensive decal sheets. For the sake of this tutorial, I'll be using A4 size paper, as that is what I have on me. If you are using a different size, be sure to select your respective size wherever applicable. Open up the TIFF file that you have either made with my illustrator file or downloaded in photoshop. Create a new file, select the appropriate size for whatever paper you are printing on, and most importantly make sure the resolution is set to the same resolution as your TIFF file (IE 1200, 2400). If it's not, when you paste the image into the new file it will not sized correctly, so this is very important. Look at "Resolution" - I set it to 2400 Now it's simply a matter of copying the dial image from your original TIFF file and pasting it into the new file you just created, and organizing your pasted images into a pattern that you'd like to print (I use a 5x6 rectangle). Once they are organized, be sure to flatten your image. Also, go to image->mode->grayscale if you are printing a purely black image. If not, keep this setting on bitmap Click "Flatten Image" Next, we need to make a custom printer profile. Most printer drivers that are installed by default don't have nearly enough alterable parameters to get a good print result. Just setting your printer to print "high quality glossy photo paper" isn't going to cut it if you want really crisp print results. I have a mac, so this part of the tutorial only applies to mac, however I'm sure the process is very similar to windows. A quick Google search for " alternate printer driver install windows" should give you a similar tutorial. For mac users, you'll want to go into your system preferences and select printers and scanners. At the bottom of this page you'll see a "+" symbol. Click this. Click the "+" Select the printer you want to use (it needs to be connected to your computer to show up). Click location, then select software. A long list of different drivers should pop up. Use the search bar to find drivers that are the same brand as your printer. Mine is an Epson 830, so I searched Epson 800. For Epson printers, the Gutenprint drivers have many more settings than the default drivers, so you'll want to use these. For other printers, you'll have to test different drivers until you find some that work. This is a pretty easy process. Now it is time to print. Try not to get too excited! Go to file->print and this dialog box should pop up (if you are using photoshop. If not I don't know what you're doing here). Be sure that your file Be sure that your file is centered, as printers tend to get wonky near the edges of the paper. This is also important to keep in mind when laying out the sheet you want to print. Be sure that the printer profile you made is selected, and that the rest of the settings are identical to mine. Click "print," and you'll be brought to another dialogue box. Now it's time to get into the nitty gritty of your print drivers you installed. You'll have to do your own experimentation here, but usually just clicking "best" on all of the settings will give you a good result. Ideally, you want your file to print very slowly and at a quality corresponding to the maximum quality your printer is capable of (Google this). Here are my settings for reference. The platen gap is important to set at 0.0 since you are using relatively thick paper. This step will require some experimentation to get ideal results. If you have an Epson printer you are in luck, as these settings have worked well for me. If you are printing a colored dial of any sort (IE a tropical dial), you'll need to mess around with the ink density settings. I found that decreasing yellow ink density to about .70 gave me good results for the tropical dial pattern that I attached above. The rest of the settings are identical, except of course you'll select RGB instead of grayscale. Now you can print your decals! Be patient and give the ink 24 hours to dry before spraying clear coat on the paper - seriously. I hope this tutorial was useful.