HELP: darker clear background when I print my design on transparencies

[DCSP John]

the problem lies within your printer settings.
Tool around and you will find. Forgot what the exact fix was,
but it was in the printer settings for us.

John

[3Deep]

I'm still saying it's a fine halftone of dots, but he might not be able to hold those dots when he burns films or they wash out, I've had it happen and didn't notice until I burn a screen which then it held every halftone because I'm burning 230 and high mesh counts.

[yoonbokim]

Here is some context about the settings available to me as well as what I used (I tried both color handling: "printer manages colors" and "photoshop manages colors")

[yoonbokim]

Some more

[yoonbokim]

Printer

[Frog]

Debbie Downer here, I also have to mention at some point (at least somebody does) that you are playing with copyrighted art there, even though you are by no means the first (or last) to "tongue it". I've seen more than one softball team incorporate it into their uniform logo.
But be careful, you may be starting on a slippery slope. Today, Rolling Stones tongues, tomorrow, the Mouse, or Harley, or bootleg sports stuff.
We've all been asked to print this stuff.

[yoonbokim]

Debbie Downer here, I also have to mention at some point (at least somebody does) that you are playing with copyrighted art there, even though you are by no means the first (or last) to "tongue it". I've seen more than one softball team incorporate it into their uniform logo.
But be careful, you may be starting on a slippery slope. Today, Rolling Stones tongues, tomorrow, the Mouse, or Harley, or bootleg sports stuff.
We've all been asked to print this stuff.

I understand. Thanks for your advice! We are just using this design as a dry run to see if I can complete the entire process of screen printing a shirt

[Frog]

Hey, it's a new one on me, but I'm also intrigued by Prince Art's idea of using the "Gloss Optimizer" setting as a possible problem.
I needed to look up just what it even was, and found (among other results) this very old explanation on a digital photography forum
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790

[yoonbokim]

Hey, it's a new one on me, but I'm also intrigued by Prince Art's idea of using the "Gloss Optimizer" setting as a possible problem.
I needed to look up just what it even was, and found (among other results) this very old explanation on a digital photography forum
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790

Hey Frog!
In the printer settings, do you think I should be setting it as "Printer Manages Color" or "Photoshop Manages Color"
or does it not matter?

[yoonbokim]

Hey, it's a new one on me, but I'm also intrigued by Prince Art's idea of using the "Gloss Optimizer" setting as a possible problem.
I needed to look up just what it even was, and found (among other results) this very old explanation on a digital photography forum
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/8695790

Also, should I be doing "Normal Printing" or "Hard Proofing"

[Frog]

Hey Frog!
In the printer settings, do you think I should be setting it as "Printer Manages Color" or "Photoshop Manages Color"
or does it not matter?

Also, should I be doing "Normal Printing" or "Hard Proofing"

Both of those questions would be better answered by someone with a setup more similar to yours than I have. I print from a WF1100 with no RIP. Very different menus for me also as I rarely output directly from Photoshop in favor of CorelDRAW.

[yoonbokim]

Just to confirm, is that only one piece of film? From the picture, it looks like a smaller piece stacked with a larger piece.

Are you seeing a fine halftone pattern anywhere outside of your main image?

What inks are you using? Standard Epson, or something else?

I looked up the Epson Surecolor p400, and I see that it includes "gloss optimizer". If you've got just one piece of film, and no halftone pattern showing, my first guess is that your printer is printing the gloss optimizer across the whole surface of the film. I'd look for a way to turn that off, and see if that fixes the problem.

I turned off the "Gloss Optimization" and it worked!! Thank you so much - no more white box around my designs 

[Frog]

Just to confirm, is that only one piece of film? From the picture, it looks like a smaller piece stacked with a larger piece.

Are you seeing a fine halftone pattern anywhere outside of your main image?

What inks are you using? Standard Epson, or something else?

I looked up the Epson Surecolor p400, and I see that it includes "gloss optimizer". If you've got just one piece of film, and no halftone pattern showing, my first guess is that your printer is printing the gloss optimizer across the whole surface of the film. I'd look for a way to turn that off, and see if that fixes the problem.

I turned off the "Gloss Optimization" and it worked!! Thank you so much - no more white box around my designs 

Well, what was first referred to as "darker" was actually "whiter". I am guessing that whatever makes up the Epson Gloss Optimizer reacts with the "waterproof" coating on your film. To the surprise of many, when first encountered, this "waterproof" layer actually reacts something fierce with water. (like your white splotches)
Epson obviously intends their gloss optimizer to be used on photos, and not our transparencies.

[Sbrem]

Debbie Downer here, I also have to mention at some point (at least somebody does) that you are playing with copyrighted art there, even though you are by no means the first (or last) to "tongue it". I've seen more than one softball team incorporate it into their uniform logo.
But be careful, you may be starting on a slippery slope. Today, Rolling Stones tongues, tomorrow, the Mouse, or Harley, or bootleg sports stuff.
We've all been asked to print this stuff.

I was thinking of pointing out the copyright infringement too, but figured it would come up eventually. If a newbie, they should know that it's wrong and illegal to print someone's copyrighted designs without paying for a license or having permission. As a printer, if you were sued, not knowing would not work as a defense. That being said, practice with any art, make one for yourself, it's all fine as long as you aren't trying to sell it. My first t-shirt that I printed was Mickey Mouse, hand cut linoleum block...


Steve

[mk162]

I did a print that years later I found out was a blatant ripoff of another logo.  It haunted me for a long time.  Luckily it wasn't a lot of shirts and I always undercure, so it probably washed out on the first wash(I'm kidding about the last part).

I was also really ticked at myself for not knowing.  But there really isn't a way unless you google search every image that comes your way.