Improving DTG Design

[Boldline]

I'm finishing up a job and then will send it over shortly! thanks guys!

[prozyan]

I'm finishing up a job and then will send it over shortly! thanks guys!

Better be mine!   

[Boldline]

LOL yes Derek! Doing yours now actually!


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

[Boldline]

Ok here is the link. It was designed in Illustrator CS4 but I saved it out as a editable vector pdf so you guys can open it with your design program of choice.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iqye6b1ohvlq0ne/ATV%20DTG%20Test.pdf?dl=0

[Boldline]

Did anyone have any luck with it or need to in another format or attached here instead of linked?
Just let me know.
Any thoughts on how I could direct my client to make a profit with these customized DTG shirts?
Originally he wanted traditional screen printing but that would be impossible for the amount of customization. That's when we were talking DTG.

[sqslabs]

If I end up firing up our GT-541 tomorrow, I'll print one out for comparison.  If someone brought me that sample, I'd guess the print head was set too far from the platen, resulting in the lack of sharp detail. 

[mk162]

we printed it here, looks awesome, I just can't get a good pic of it...it looks grayed out and junk...

what's your mailing address?

[inkman996]

Heres my print done on a GT541 no pre-treat. All I did was convert all the blacks to RGB chose a red I know prints well and a yellow that looks good as well. Single pass no adjustments to the vivid setting. As you can see it did not fill in any of the black and things look a bit crisper than your pic, blacks are richer as well.

[Boldline]

What's the eas


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

[inkman996]

What's the eas


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

[Boldline]

Ipad sent my reply before I was ready! Lol


Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com

[mimosatexas]

Wow.  Seeing those side by side really highlights how horrible the black printed in the original.  Just look at the thickness of the lettering at the bottom and the detail in the tires.  Crazy...

[Boldline]

Wow I agree, that is an amazing improvement over the initial print!!! Thank you all for your input and for printing it out on my behalf and to have a discussion about it. I am impressed with the differences in the prints and can't wait to see your example as well, mk162.

It just seemed like such a waste of good detail to have it all fill in like that. It's nice to see the results and know its a print issue. I will also have to check if the client is sending it in CMYK rather than RGB. If the local Big Frog is over-compensating for dull CMYK colors, that may play a part. My client asked for your info so he may be in touch with you to see about switching away from the Big Frog here.

I think he's still in a tough spot trying to profit from these shirts.

[mk162]

i literally did nothing to the print other than pretreat it.  I just imported the file and hit print.  It'll ship out tomorrow.

[Boldline]

Just heard back from my client. Here's a couple pieces:

"No doubt that looks better! Definitely put me in touch with them."

Then he also wrote:
"I’ve really been analyzing the images and shirts since you emailed me and I’m starting to think if we simplified the design it would print better. I hate saying that and even debated not bringing it up to you because the line work and detail you put into is beautiful and I didn’t want you to think I didn’t like it.  Because of the detail lost in print the beautiful line work becomes blurred and you lose a lot of the colors, see attached, and I was thinking if we reduced the amount of line work it may print cleaner. Also we will have to take a look at that sample he mailed too because maybe it will be better and we won’t have to change anything."

I wrote him back and reassured him he would not have to simplify to compromise for the bad printing.