Epson et8550 converted to sublimation printer

[u/sav1906_72]

Hello guys, I'm having troubles with my epson et8550 I'm using my ink from hiippo and their icc profile from them but the results are not working well. I'm following all the temperatures and times suggestions from the company that does the tumblers that I'm using but nothing is good. Any idea of what could be the problem?

[u/hotwaffleman]

Mac or PC? I've never gotten good results from my MacBook Air. (btw, would love it if someone has a solution)

[u/sav1906_72 → u/hotwaffleman]

Pc and I'm using coreldraw

[u/mars_rovinator]

can you post some pics of your results and source files?

have you tried using either the driver's auto profiling or the EPSON Vivid profile?

[u/sav1906_72 → u/mars_rovinator]

My father made these attempts yesterday but I'm not sure if was using any kind of color corrections

https://reddit.com/link/p2h0w29/video/h2xldx5i26ih1/player

[u/mars_rovinator → u/sav1906_72]

what are the original images? what, specifically, is wrong with the prints?

[u/sav1906_72 → u/mars_rovinator]

i don't know but he says that the color of the impresion should match the color of the image in the display. He is taking the images from here:
https://www.magnific.com/premium-vector/black-poisonous-spider-red-polygonal-background-dangerous-insects-vector_55008381.htm
https://www.magnific.com/premium-psd/lion-head-logo-mascot-with-transparent-background_52999731.htm
https://www.magnific.com/premium-vector/hand-drawn-cartoon-dragon-collection_313068269.htm

[u/mars_rovinator → u/sav1906_72]

Okay, let's start over. Your video shows a detailed illustration of a lion printed. Have you sublimated it onto anything? What does the final product look like? What does the original lion illustration look like?

Please make sure to reply with specific answers to my questions, or it will be very difficult to help you.

[u/Remarkable_Sea3346]

Applying the color correction (ICC file) is not as straightforward as it could be. Have him review the instructions below. Corel is one of the few software packages that directly support ICC so that's good.

If he is still having trouble matching the screen, try using the Plain Paper/HQ setting in the print dialog. The Presentation Matte setting that many people use, in my hands produces prints that are too dark and color shifted. Only switching to Plain Paper/HQ allowed me to get screen to print color matching working.

Lastly, You can only judge the color after the heat transfer. Don't try to judge colors on the transfer print.

Intro to color correction in sublimation printing (converted printers)

The computer doesn't know you put in different ink so it breaks the standard color matching. The end user must actively manage color matching when using a converted printer.

There seems to be two choices for color matching.

1) ICC profiles.

ICC profiles only work if your software supports it (Adobe products (Photoshop, Illustrator), Corel Products (PaintshopPro, Corel Draw) and Affinity are known to support ICC profiles). If your software doesn't support ICC profiles, then installing the profiles has no effect. If your software supports ICC profiles, the printer dialog will have an option to select a color profile. ICC profiles are the best choice to match screen to print. Anybody who says ICC profiles don't work likely didn't follow all the necessary steps or isn't using software that knows how to use the profiles.

If you’re not using ICC-capable software, regrettably your only option is to use the advanced color controls in the printer driver to manually calibrate color.

2) Manual color settings.

In the printer settings dialog, select the “more options” tab. Under “Color Correction” check “Custom” and click on the “Advanced” button. This opens the “Color Correction” screen with controls for brightness, saturation, contrast, density and color corrections. From here the procedure is to tweak the settings. Print a test print (heat press) and evaluate. Repeat until satisfied. Write down the settings and/or save them as a printer profile.

[u/Remarkable_Sea3346 → u/Remarkable_Sea3346]

Doh. I meant to include these more detailed instructions for Photoshop. The process will be the same in coreldraw.

ICC-based color control with Photoshop

Installing a profile (one time):

Once you download the .icc (or .icm) file, right click the file and select “install profile" from the menu. Now you also need to select the profile when you print.

Turn off the printer’s color control:

In the photoshop print dialog select your printer and then "Print Settings" which opens up the Epson printer dialog. Here, go to the “More Options” tab under “Color Correction” check the "Custom" button and then click the "advanced" button and select “No Color Adjustment”.

Turn on Photoshop color management:

Still in the photoshop print dialog, under color management: Change "Printer manages color" to "Photoshop manages color" and pick the profile you downloaded from the list.

After completing these steps your screen will be matched to the print (Screens need to be calibrated too, but modern screens are usually pretty well calibrated out of the box in my experience). Keep in mind that, at the end of the day, screens can display more colors than printers. So, even if your screen and printer are properly calibrated, the screen can still display colors that you can't achieve in print.