faded print result

[Barbara1979]

Hi,

I am printing black and white vector images. Some files i am getting a nice rich black print while other files i am getting a faded black print. I can't seem to work out what settings are different on the faded ones. If anyone can give me some tips.

Thanks Barbara

[Doug A Roberts]

from an rgb or cmyk doc? do you mean rich black in the technical sense (i.e. a combination of K and other colours) or colloquial? what do the illustrator preferences say under 'Appearance of black'?

[cinziamarotta]

To get a rich black you should use these values: C40 M40 Y40 K100 (for CMYK printing). If you are using black color with just the 100 K you'll get a faded black ... To properly view the blacks set preferences like this:

[Barbara1979]

Thabk you. I tried this and still got a faded print. I printed in rgb and got a solid print but can't seem to get a solid print for another one in rgb. Not sure what I am doing wrong trying to match the setting with the one that is printing correctly.

Sent from my iPhone

[Monika Gause]

Barbara1979 schrieb:

Not sure what I am doing wrong trying to match the setting with the one that is printing correctly.

Why not start by describing what you're doing with the correct one? Also from Illustrator?

And please: show them. Screenshots and photo of the printout.

Also: Which version?

Which printer?

Which system?

Do you know about color management?

[Barbara1979]

I am using version 16.0.4

Laser printer

Mac

In the solid print I am getting a nice shiny finish and the faded one is a dull matt. When I switched the file from cmyk to rgb I got a shiny black print. I tried that on the teepee print and it didn't work still a full matt grey. I printed over the top of it to hopefully show the difference.

Sent from my iPhone

[Monika Gause]

There are no images in your post.

Which Mac OS?

Which printer exactly?

Which color management settings and printer setup?

How is color defined?

Have you compared the color values in the files?

[Barbara1979]

Laser canon LPB9100cdn

OS X El Capitan

let illustrator determine colours

Srgb

Relative Colourimetric

I have compared the colour values in both files that are printing how i like them and they don't work.

Not sure colour defined.

[Barbara1979]

[Monika Gause]

So you are printing RGB documents?

Please check how color is defined in the documents.

[Barbara1979]

The file is created as a cmyk

The srgb come up in the colour management in the print options.

Sent from my iPhone

[Monika Gause]

Please answer precisely, otherwise this won't get us anywhere.

Which file is CMYK?

Which color is assigned to the objects?

Which options exactly are set up for printing for both files?

[Ton Frederiks]

If you select these, what values do you see in your color panel?

[Barbara1979]

I get a nice black from both of these colour values. I have tried both on the file and not getting a nice black only faded

H 344% S 11% B-0 R-0 G-0 B-0 C-0 M-0 Y-0 K 100%

H 344 S-11% B-0 R-0 G-0 B-0 c-75% M-68% Y-67% K-90%

I have also tried the colour value given early on and also 20/20/20/100

[Ton Frederiks]

But there is a big difference looking at your picture and you have 2 totally different values.

The top "moustache" one looks black to me, what value does that have?

[Barbara1979]

thank you, i seemed to have worked it out. I loaded to files into photoshop and changed the colour setting to 250% ink coverage and black generation heavy.

I am getting a nice black on all prints.

I will try and do the same in illustrator. 

[Ton Frederiks]

I am afraid that your solution brings back the dark ages of color management.

You will probably not get very accurate color separations this way.

Why not use the setting in the Illustrator Preferences > Appearance of Black > Printing/Exporting > Output All Blacks as Rich Black.

That way the 2 different blacks you are using will print as rich black.

[Barbara1979]

Ok thank you. I will try this.

Sent from my iPhone

[Ton Frederiks]

Maybe you did use a 100% Grayscale value for the one and 100% Black for the other?