lablover 218 Posted January 20, 2015 WOW So, got the stuff in today from Cobra Ink and got the epson all set up. First thing I notice is straight from the printer the photos look FLAT and pretty dull. Ok, I have a scrap Poly shirt I'll press something on it!! BOING!! There are the bright colors. I guess this is normal? I will say if it is it sure will be hard to adjust the print output for final results. Any Tricks here? I guess I could use my scrap shirt but it's only gonna last so long...LOL I'm using a Mac, solo that being said none of the cobra ink videos on color profiles really works for me..It's all windows. The Mac Printer settings are not the same at all. Any tips here from Mac users how you set your printer up for default? And yes, I'll be waiting for Wildgoose response I will say I was pretty shocked at how different the print on paper looks from the final heat applied finished product. My Order from Conde gets in tomorrow so I will have other items to play with. I have a few iPhone cases right now that I will have to do as well. I can see the biggest thing to watch is using that parchment paper to protect the platen etc. On my demo shirt I ended up with a red haze from god knows where?? I think I set some of the hot parchment on the shirt after the fact...LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted January 21, 2015 I'm still new at this too so not sure how much I am going to help you out but for the profiles with a mac you will be controlling the printer THROUGH Illustrator so if you have not already loaded the profiles into the appropriate spot in the adobe app section you need to. Richard should have sent you the profiles after you purchased the ink. They come in an email attachment. He gives enough help in his video to figure out where to stick them and then you probably have to restart AI to get them to show up. On windows based platform the writer profiles go with the printer but on the mac you need AI or another similar program. In AI within the print options you will find the spot where it lets you choose the profile you want to use and it will I've you a list of them all. They DO look washed out when printed and it IS a little tricky to adjust. Old poly shirts are nice to use. I was looking for some specific color matches and so I printed a series of boxes about 1"x 2" each colored slightly different and also printed right beside them the specific CMYK numbers so I could tell which one was the best color. I noticed the profiles are not exactly as close with the sub ink as his are with the pigment ink that I use for regular transfers. That's a bit of a bummer but I also noticed you can alter the look by altering the cook time and I also noticed that with my printer setup if I wasn't careful it would think I had regular paper instead of matte photo best quality etc... Learning curve that I am still barely getting used to myself. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted January 21, 2015 totally normal- the inks change some when when they gas (sublimate) that is why profiles are so important Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted January 21, 2015 Wait until you print a chunk of black and it's brown on the paper. That'll make you scratch your head but it's perfectly normal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
knucklehead 530 Posted January 21, 2015 Why not just go to walmart, or somewhere, and get a couple yards of poly fabric to practice with? Maybe different weights? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lablover 218 Posted January 21, 2015 Why not just go to walmart, or somewhere, and get a couple yards of poly fabric to practice with? Maybe different weights? Now that is a great idea!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jarrotto 78 Posted January 21, 2015 There are color profiles for the ink. You need to load them into ColorSync for Mac, then set up photoshop, illustrator or whatever program you are using. Richard has made excellent videos describing every step. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lablover 218 Posted January 21, 2015 There are color profiles for the ink. You need to load them into ColorSync for Mac, then set up photoshop, illustrator or whatever program you are using. Richard has made excellent videos describing every step. Yup, got that all done. Unlike windows, the program...i.e Illustrator handles all the color work. I remember in windows you could do a lot of the adjusting in the printer settings...Macs are different. Think I got it all figured out. I just have to do some testing with the different profiles to see what works best with different Sublimation papers etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ravenwind / One Off Grafx 187 Posted January 21, 2015 Give Cobra a ring they can help you get set up. Conde has a couple of starter kits that run like 75$. But the Poly fabric is a great idea Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jay2703 704 Posted January 21, 2015 Yup, got that all done. Unlike windows, the program...i.e Illustrator handles all the color work. I remember in windows you could do a lot of the adjusting in the printer settings...Macs are different. Think I got it all figured out. I just have to do some testing with the different profiles to see what works best with different Sublimation papers etc. Works like that in Windows too. You can determine whether the software or printer controls the color settings. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
