Tayda UV printing - what counts as white?

[benevolent-fur]

I've been looking around the internet for a answer to this question with not much success; when it comes to Tayda's UV printing, what counts as white in an artwork? Is it literally only pure white i.e. #FFFFFF, or do off-whites like shown down in the image below count? I understand that white is supposed to be on the WHITE layer and painted in RDG_WHITE, but I'm struggling to understand exactly what tones this refers to. Anyone have insight?

 

[Nostradoomus]

have you ever emailed tayda about it

 

[benevolent-fur]

Not yet. I thought I'd check the brains trust here first given Tayda's instructions seemed a bit obtuse to start with.

 

[Nic]

I would say, if it's FFFFFF you put it in the White layer, else it go in the color layer.
Here is my reasoning.
What goes on the white layer is what a normal color printer would not print, so if there is any color pigment it's not white.

 

[mkstewartesq]

What goes on the white layer is what a normal color printer would not print, so if there is any color pigment it's not white.

This is an important point and bears some further explanation. Most printers that print on paper do not print white. If there is something pure white in your picture, what you are seeing is the white color of the paper with the color on top of it.

But when you have an off-white and you print it on paper what you are really seeing is a combination of the printer printing the part of the shade that is not white on top of the white paper. The end color you see is the combination of whatever light shade the printer has printed combined with the underlying white backing of the paper.

In short, any color that is not pure white should go in the color layer. But you should also replicate the design (i.e., the shape, not the shade of color) in the underlying white layer. So, for example if you have a white that is tinged a little yellow, put that color in the color layer and also replicate the same shape under it in the white layer so that you get the combination of the color and the white to end up with the off-white color you are intending. Failure to replicate the shape in the underlying white layer will mean that your “off-white” color will print only as whatever light tint makes it “off-white“ without any of the underlying white component.

This is really no different than printing out things like waterslide decals on waterslide paper. When you print them, the colors may look vibrant but once you take them off of the white backing you will notice that they are actually pretty translucent because the white backing contributes so much to their perceived color. This is why, when you put a waterslide decal on any enclosure other than white, the end colors may not match what you were anticipating when using the graphics program (unless you had the foresight to both change the background in your art program and set the color interpretation to show you a color that is the combination of the chosen color and the colored background (I believe this is called “screen” view in Adobe illustrator but I may be misremembering).

M

 

[Nic]

But you should also replicate the design (i.e., the shape, not the shade of color) in the underlying white layer.

That is so true, thank you for correcting me.
I always get a white layer under me color UV prints (if not already printing on a white enclosure). IF I have a part of my design that needs to show as white (pure white), I go for the print white twice option.

 

[sticky1138]

Not sure if this is what you're trying to accomplish, but when I need to print an off-white color, such as a really light gray, I put it in the color layer on top of the white layer and it prints as intended. Of course the actual color that comes out depends on how close your monitor is calibrated to the printer.

 

[LukeFRC]

I've been looking around the internet for an answer to this question with not much success; when it comes to Tayda's UV printing, what counts as white in an artwork? Is it literally only pure white i.e. #FFFFFF, or do off-whites like shown down in the image below count? I understand that white is supposed to be on the WHITE layer and painted in RDG_WHITE, but I'm struggling to understand exactly what tones this refers to. Anyone have insight?

Typically in print white would be 0/0/0/0 - FFFFFF only works in HTML
I don’t know how Tayda works but how I would normally do it is make a seperate layer called white, and then make a spot colour (as opposed to process colours) called white or whatever, and use that for that layer

Same with an uv gloss varnish layers or metalic films or whatever

 

[benevolent-fur]

Thanks everyone. Good to see that my thoughts on the issue weren't a million miles off. It seemed like a really obvious thing until I started reading through the Tayda info and noted it wasn't 100% clarified. Probably just me being a perfectionist, but I'd like to avoid having to send off for a second enclosure! Good advice about the white underlayer.