Acrorip 10.5 and XP 15000 can't get right

[AMartinez]

Anyone with success, care to share their certified settings for this combo.  While I love the user interface and the color reproduction of acrorip over EKprint, I spent a full day yesterday, burning through ink and film searching for the perfect settings using custom ink settings, and all ink settings, 720 vs 1440, mix vs med vs med+lrg drops, and mostly I got thin prints that couldn't fully cover up the color of the t shirt (white base prints), and when I finally got thick white base that should have been capable using 30-40% color/80% white, after cure the print was FULL of pin holes and the print became almost completely see through when held up to the light, I never experienced this with EKprint, and nothing has changed except the software, same printer, ink, powder, film, etc.

And just to make sure I then used the same image into ekprint just to make sure I didn't screw something up, and it came out perfect just like I'm use to.

[Mr.Carter]

20 minutes ago, AMartinez said:

Anyone with success, care to share their certified settings for this combo.  While I love the user interface and the color reproduction of acrorip over EKprint, I spent a full day yesterday, burning through ink and film searching for the perfect settings using custom ink settings, and all ink settings, 720 vs 1440, mix vs med vs med+lrg drops, and mostly I got thin prints that couldn't fully cover up the color of the t shirt (white base prints), and when I finally got thick white base that should have been capable using 30-40% color/80% white, after cure the print was FULL of pin holes and the print became almost completely see through when held up to the light, I never experienced this with EKprint, and nothing has changed except the software, same printer, ink, powder, film, etc.

And just to make sure I then used the same image into ekprint just to make sure I didn't screw something up, and it came out perfect just like I'm use to.

Happens when you have too much white ink more than required and fast curing of the film always bake the film at low temperature with more time 2-3mins

[AMartinez]

1 hour ago, Mr.Carter said:

Happens when you have too much white ink more than required and fast curing of the film always bake the film at low temperature with more time 2-3mins

That's kinda what I figured, but then when I lower the white ink the final print is more transparent, less ability to block the shirt color coming through on the white sections.

As far as curing, I have always cured the same way 350° at 2.5-3 min. even with EKprint, and have never had this issue before.  

Do you use EKprint or acrorip?  I'm getting the feeling acrorip wasn'tade for small 2 channel white printers, maybe they threw it in on the last revision to include us who use it, but it seems like it's just not optimized for it.

[johnson4]

5 hours ago, AMartinez said:

That's kinda what I figured, but then when I lower the white ink the final print is more transparent, less ability to block the shirt color coming through on the white sections.

As far as curing, I have always cured the same way 350° at 2.5-3 min. even with EKprint, and have never had this issue before.  

Do you use EKprint or acrorip?  I'm getting the feeling acrorip wasn'tade for small 2 channel white printers, maybe they threw it in on the last revision to include us who use it, but it seems like it's just not optimized for it.

They have supported 6 channel printers for awhile, the Epson 1430 is one example. 

[johnson4]

On 12/18/2022 at 1:07 PM, AMartinez said:

That's kinda what I figured, but then when I lower the white ink the final print is more transparent, less ability to block the shirt color coming through on the white sections.

As far as curing, I have always cured the same way 350° at 2.5-3 min. even with EKprint, and have never had this issue before.  

Do you use EKprint or acrorip?  I'm getting the feeling acrorip wasn'tade for small 2 channel white printers, maybe they threw it in on the last revision to include us who use it, but it seems like it's just not optimized for it.

It's tough switching RIPS, and this is a good example. 

 

nothing in EK crosses over to acro. I used I think 38 percent CMYK in acro, but 80 in EK. The same for the white, it was less than half in Acro. 

 

It's all a learning experience and figuring out why that issue is occurring and not coming to conclusions based on assumptions. 

 

It's part of the reason why I had so many hours in testing for color reproduction and profiling the RIPS. It took me forever to figure out how to get a profile in EK. Cadlinks is built in. Acro was the easiest when made externally. Beyond that- I had to learn how to proficiently use them which takes quite a bit of time- for me anyway. 

 

You won't find a perfect RIP. You are either going to sacrifice quality, speed, color accuracy, or convenience. None of them offer all of the above. After you have spent 4-6 weeks with Acro, and have EK under your belt, you should then try another RIP and spend the same time with it. Cadlink for example, but you are limited to 15 days free trial. It becomes apparent after you figure out how simple they are to use, but the downfalls of each one. 

 

I have reached out to all of them. Literally. Pick your poison, because most of them just are what they are with the exception of added supported devices and small changes for those devices- if you are lucky. 

 

All of them can and do work great- it just depends on how much effort you put in and which "downfall" and " perk" you want. I dislike Acro, but the next guy has made a million bucks with it this year. It's all preferences. 

 

When it boils down to it, it's trial and error and part of the DIY learning curve. I'm going on 2 years and 3 months doing this for my only income. I still learn something new daily which may or may not change something I have previously said. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by johnson4

[AMartinez]

5 hours ago, johnson4 said:

It's tough switching RIPS, and this is a good example. 

 

nothing in EK crosses over to acro. I used I think 38 percent CMYK in acro, but 80 in EK. The same for the white, it was less than half in Acro. 

 

It's all a learning experience and figuring out why that issue is occurring and not coming to conclusions based on assumptions. 

 

It's part of the reason why I had so many hours in testing for color reproduction and profiling the RIPS. It took me forever to figure out how to get a profile in EK. Cadlinks is built in. Acro was the easiest when made externally. Beyond that- I had to learn how to proficiently use them which takes quite a bit of time- for me anyway. 

 

You won't find a perfect RIP. You are either going to sacrifice quality, speed, color accuracy, or convenience. None of them offer all of the above. After you have spent 4-6 weeks with Acro, and have EK under your belt, you should then try another RIP and spend the same time with it. Cadlink for example, but you are limited to 15 days free trial. It becomes apparent after you figure out how simple they are to use, but the downfalls of each one. 

 

I have reached out to all of them. Literally. Pick your poison, because most of them just are what they are with the exception of added supported devices and small changes for those devices- if you are lucky. 

 

All of them can and do work great- it just depends on how much effort you put in and which "downfall" and " perk" you want. I dislike Acro, but the next guy has made a million bucks with it this year. It's all preferences. 

 

When it boils down to it, it's trial and error and part of the DIY learning curve. I'm going on 2 years and 3 months doing this for my only income. I still learn something new daily which may or may not change something I have previously said. 

Ya I definitely get what you're saying.  I personally, because I'm not high volume, yet anyways, I prefer color accuracy and quality over speed.

With EK I get perfect quality prints that last forever with no issues whatsoever, but the greens are so dark and ugly, I can't get a bright green to save my life, I do have another brand of ink coming so that I can compare and see if that makes a difference.

I Love the user interface and workflow of acro, and the colors are much more accurate and vibrant, BUT I cannot get a perfect print and press like EK.  The best smoothest cleanest prints don't have enough ink or white or both to properly cover up the shirt it's on.  Then when I do get enough ink and white coverage, the print is pin holes and hairline cracked everywhere.  I have tried what it seems like most people do on acro which is 25-35% ink and white, those are the one that come out very smooth and clean, but slightly translucent after cure and press.

I guess at this point I will keep producing with EK while tinkering with acro on downtime.  I also only have the demo for EK and am not looking forward to spending the money for the full program.  Is there much difference between the demo and full program? Besides the watermark, I have a workaround for that, are there any actual functional benefits?

By the way the comparison post you made a while back, I found to be dead on accurate between EK and acro, from times to colors to quality.

[johnson4]

31 minutes ago, AMartinez said:

Ya I definitely get what you're saying.  I personally, because I'm not high volume, yet anyways, I prefer color accuracy and quality over speed.

With EK I get perfect quality prints that last forever with no issues whatsoever, but the greens are so dark and ugly, I can't get a bright green to save my life, I do have another brand of ink coming so that I can compare and see if that makes a difference.

 

31 minutes ago, AMartinez said:

it likely won’t, it’s EK. It’s always that odd green no matter what you do. Light Purples too. 
 

 

31 minutes ago, AMartinez said:

I Love the user interface and workflow of acro, and the colors are much more accurate and vibrant, BUT I cannot get a perfect print and press like EK.  The best smoothest cleanest prints don't have enough ink or white or both to properly cover up the shirt it's on.  Then when I do get enough ink and white coverage, the print is pin holes and hairline cracked everywhere.  I have tried what it seems like most people do on acro which is 25-35% ink and white, those are the one that come out very smooth and clean, but slightly translucent after cure and press.

different RIP can mean different cure regimen. Lower your temp, increase your time. That or use a preheater to slightly remove moisture before powdering. It’s a sign of overloading the transfer with ink. You could very easily be putting down more CMYK without noticing it which limits how much white you can put down for your overall total ink makeup, which is one example that could happen in this scenario. Aside from user interface, this is literally the only other aspect that makes switching RIPS hard. 
 

31 minutes ago, AMartinez said:

I guess at this point I will keep producing with EK while tinkering with acro on downtime.  I also only have the demo for EK and am not looking forward to spending the money for the full program.  Is there much difference between the demo and full program? Besides the watermark, I have a workaround for that, are there any actual functional benefits?

not really, custom page sizes and some other things like that- but nothing that would be be official in that aspect. 

31 minutes ago, AMartinez said:

By the way the comparison post you made a while back, I found to be dead on accurate between EK and acro, from times to colors to quality.

Thanks, I did my best with it. 
 

For years I’ve seen comparison after comparison, wondering and just not able to “know” with data. I finally was able to just buy them all and do a test so I can make the best decision for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by johnson4

[AMartinez]

Thank you guys for the tips, I didn't give up lol and I finally got good prints with 35 ink/75 white and mix drops, the color seemed a bit light still, so I will tweak a little more, but it's 90% of the way there now.

[Mr.Carter]

On 12/21/2022 at 8:39 PM, AMartinez said:

Thank you guys for the tips, I didn't give up lol and I finally got good prints with 35 ink/75 white and mix drops, the color seemed a bit light still, so I will tweak a little more, but it's 90% of the way there now.

Acrorip gives best prints on medium+large dot size

[AMartinez]

8 hours ago, Mr.Carter said:

Acrorip gives best prints on medium+large dot size

This is the setting I started on, and yes I agree the image looked much more solid and bold color, however this was the actual reason I was asking about icc profile for Andy's ink because the colors were off with this setting, much darker shades.  I have another ink coming with an icc profile and I'm hoping this will allow me to use med+lrg with the correct colors.

 

I thought I understood what the dot size was doing, however with acro the dot size changes the colors/shades/brightness of the image so that confuses me a bit.

Edited December 23, 2022 by AMartinez

[johnson4]

3 hours ago, AMartinez said:

This is the setting I started on, and yes I agree the image looked much more solid and bold color, however this was the actual reason I was asking about icc profile for Andy's ink because the colors were off with this setting, much darker shades.  I have another ink coming with an icc profile and I'm hoping this will allow me to use med+lrg with the correct colors.

 

I thought I understood what the dot size was doing, however with acro the dot size changes the colors/shades/brightness of the image so that confuses me a bit.

Sounds look too much CMYK ink. The drop size is the Picolitre size of the ink drop. Light is usually for photo's, or small. Medium/large is the standard I use and most use. Try lowering your CMYK values and pickup one of those cheap profilers for a couple hundred bucks. You can also send out and pay $100 for a custom profile from some of the guys as well.