Printers with the White Ink Option provide under-printing for non-white media or objects, over-printing for backlit applications on transparent media and/or printing white as a spot color.
IMPORTANT
White ink is re-circulated in the system to limit any settling of the ink. For this to take place, the printer must be left powered on at all times.
A white ink bag must be present in order for the printer to function properly. Don't forget to agitate the white ink bag gently once a day.
Perform Printhead Maintenance for white even if the printer is not used that day. Regular maintenance is required to keep the white printheads functioning properly. Daily maintenance is important even when white ink is not being actively used. Failure to perform daily maintenance can result in nozzle dropouts. The purpose of maintenance is to clean the nozzles of the printheads and thus ensure better image quality. Refer to Maintenance Guidelines for an explanation of how to perform daily maintenance.
NOTE
Prepare the ONYX Thrive software for handling white ink print jobs. See Configure ONYX Thrive for White Ink
When working with white ink there are three data layers available that allow you to determine the area the white ink will cover and also how it will appear (or not appear) in relation to other colors, depending on the layer it is placed in. You can determine the density of the white ink by altering the drop size. The layer setup is defined in the media model but can be modified as a job printer setting within the ONYX software.
The Quality-Layered print mode is used to print white ink applications such as under-printing for non-white media, over-printing for backlit applications viewed 2 nd surface or as middle layer for a day-night application. The print mode can be used to print three, two, or one layer of image data or printer generated flood data. All layers are independent of each other.
Quality-Layered layers are defined in ONYX media - mode options, but may be optionally overridden within a Quick Set - Media Options, and optionally overridden on a per job basis by modifying the printer settings of a processed job in RIP Queue - right click the job and edit print settings.
Layers can be defined at any of the following locations:
Defined in the media when the media is created
Selected in a Quick Set
In the printer settings of a job in the RIP Queue
See Print jobs with white ink for more information.
You are not required to use layers when you print white spot data. It can also be printed with print modes other than Quality-Layered as long as the ONYX media profile (media model) has been made with a CMYKSS ink configuration with spot colors defined.
White ink data can be applied to a print job in two ways: to print a Printer Flood Fill layer or to define Spot Data.
Define a Printer Flood Fill Layer
This is the easiest way to print white ink. It does not require any pre-rip file preparation. All that is required is to define a White flood Fill layer. It will print a white layer that contains the whole image (bounding box) . There is also an option to control the amount of flood by choosing the drop level. The higher the drop level number the greater the amount of white ink. See Print jobs with white ink how to set up a White flood fill.
Use Spot data to define the white areas
There are two spot channels available: Spot 1 and Spot 2. In general Spot 1 data is used for white ink and Spot 2 data is for high gloss. However the same spot data can be used to print either white ink, high gloss, or both.
There are two ways to add the spot data to your print job:
Spot Data Image Preparation -The white data is created in image editing programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop. You must use specific naming conventions and image use protocols in order for the ONYX RIP-Queue software to process the data as desired. This method may be the best choice if the desired white ink spot data includes complicated selections or if data is being created for outsourcing. A reasonable level of proficiency in these programs is recommended to use this technique. See Create Spot Data in Photoshop or Create Spot Data in Adobe Illustrator.
ONYX Spot Layer Tool – The white data is created in ONYX Thrive with the Spot Layer Tool. It offers many options to process an image, and thus allows various possible configuration choices. You can save these configurations as Filters and place them in a Quick Set and this makes it possible to re-create with minimal effort settings that are often used. All work with the Spot Layer tool requires an ONYX media profile with at least one spot color. See Create Spot Data with the Spot Layer Tool.
All of these methods can be used either independently or all at the same time. For example, you may generate the spot layer information for parts of an image in Adobe Photoshop and then go on to specify a Flood Layer Configuration in ONYX Thrive. This can result in a Flood Layer and a Spot Layer followed by a CMYK Layer. The spot data and the flood will occupy two layers of white density and the CMYK image data can occupy the third layer. You can determine the print order of these layers in ONYX Thrive.
The following are some specific examples of the ways that the white ink workflow can be applied.
|
Application |
Bottom |
Middle |
Top |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Backlit First Surface (printing on the front side of the media) |
White (spot data or printer generated flood) |
CMYK |
CMYK |
CMYK layers contain same data. |
|
Backlit Second Surface (printing on the back side of clear media) |
CMYK (mirrored) |
CMYK (mirrored) |
White (spot data or printer generated flood) |
|
|
Day-Night (First or Second surface) |
CMYK (mirrored) |
White (spot data or printer generated flood) |
CMYK (mirrored) |
CMYK data is reversed or right-reading |
|
Opaque |
White (spot data or printer generated flood) |
White (spot data or printer generated flood) |
CMYK |
3 layers |
|
Opaque |
<empty> |
White (spot data or printer generated flood) |
CMYK |
2 layers |
Backlit Application
The backlit application involves printing onto a transparent or translucent material and mounting the finished piece onto a light box or location where illumination from behind is possible. In the backlit application, white ink is intended to provide a light diffusing layer. This application is possible using either 2 or 3 layers.
Day-Night Application
Similar to backlit, the day-night application also involves printing onto a transparent or translucent material. A day-night print can be viewed either front-lit or backlit. This is achieved by printing color data on two separate layers with a white diffusing layer in the middle.
Opaque Application
The opaque application involves printing CMYK data onto non-white media. For this application, white ink is required both to enable the printer to produce images where white forms part of the image content, as well as to act as a base for the CMYK color set.