RGB vs CMYK?

[REDLINETX]

Anyone know what is best color mode of files to send to DTG, Some say RGB, some CMYK and some say even raster images (is that even the same?) Does it matter?

-Mike

[LLamp]

Hey there!! I am going to have one of the team members who work closely with DTG reach out to you.

[Chuggins]

RedLine! Long time no talk too.

The best color space to do all your work in is RGB. When you are done, save the design as the file type that is recommended by your printer: tiff, png, jpeg, bitmap, etc. Tiff will have greater depth of detail but be a much bigger file. Png will be a much smaller file but will have a little loss of color detail, not as much as a jpeg however. Jpegs loose a lot of color depth and detail.

Bring that file into your printers graphic software and make your color adjustments there. You will always see at least some color shift when bringing an image into a new CMYK color space.



Now to complicate things a little bit. If you can get the cmyk color profile for your DTG printer and set that up in the graphics program you use, then do that. That way you know ahead of time what colors are reproducible in your design.

Hollar at me if you have any deeper questions!

[REDLINETX]

Thanks Chuggins!

[lryerkerk]

Chuggins has got it right, but CADlink, the RIP used with Polyprint DTGs, makes things a bit easier for you. Since you're going to get deeper blacks and other colors typically with RGB you'll always want to use that color setting. CADlink translates this color range in the manner needed to best represent the image when printed through the Polyprint using CMYK+W.

I stick with using a high resolution PNG, TIFF or Illustrator file when using CADlink.

The issue that garment printing brings us to is how the color of the garment will affect the image. This will happen sometimes, especially when going in between manufacturers. I always recommend testing a new fabric or manufacturer you're printing on before selling it with any DTG. This will allow you to confirm if the colors need to be tweaked any and you can setup a template, or queue in CADlink, for that garment.

[Chuggins]

lryerkerk Bringing home the deeper education! Love it.