SPECIAL COLOR INK GUIDE
(Metallic Silver & White)
This document describes the characteristics of special color inks (white ink and metallic silver ink) used with
XC-540MT, important notes, maintenance, and printing method using these inks. For other matters, refer to the
XC-540/XC-540MT Setup Guide and the XC-540/XC-540MT User's Manual.
When using metallic silver ink and white
ink, be sure to read this rst.
Thank you very much for purchasing this product.
To ensure correct and safe usage with a full understanding of this product's performance, please be sure to
read through this manual completely and store it in a safe location.
Unauthorized copying or transferal, in whole or in part, of this manual is prohibited.
The contents of this operation manual and the specications of this product are subject to change without
notice.
The operation manual and the product have been prepared and tested as much as possible. If you nd any
misprint or error, please inform us.
Roland DG Corp. assumes no responsibility for any direct or indirect loss or damage which may occur through
use of this product, regardless of any failure to perform on the part of this product.
Roland DG Corp. assumes no responsibility for any direct or indirect loss or damage which may occur with
respect to any article made using this product.
1
Contents
Contents ........................................................................................................1
Chapter 1 Getting Started ..................................................................................3
1-1 What This Document Assumes and Related Manuals ...........................4
What This Document Assumes ................................................................................................... 4
Related Manuals ..............................................................................................................................4
VersaWorks Online ........................................................................................................................... 4
1-2 Before Starting Operations ....................................................................5
Important: Characteristics of Inks and Important Notes....................................................5
Before Starting the Day's Work .................................................................................................... 5
1-3 Important Notes on Printing ...................................................................6
When Performing Pullback Printing .......................................................................................... 6
When Using Transparent Media ..................................................................................................6
Chapter 2 Getting Ready ....................................................................................9
2-1 Preparing VersaWorks .........................................................................10
Starting VersaWorks .......................................................................................................................10
Creating a Folder for Saving PS Files .......................................................................................10
2-2 Printer Preparations ............................................................................. 11
Making the Printer Settings and Loading Media ................................................................11
2-3 Creating Printing Data ..........................................................................12
Basic Approach for Creating Printing Data ...........................................................................12
Creating Data for Printing ...........................................................................................................12
Blend Print and Layered Print (Metallic Silver and CMYK) ...............................................18
Chapter 3 Printing .............................................................................................21
3-1 Print Job Setting ...................................................................................22
Printing Only with Metallic Silver Ink ......................................................................................22
Blend Print (Metallic Silver + CMYK) ........................................................................................24
Layered Print (Metallic Silver CMYK) ..................................................................................26
Layered Print (CMYK Metallic Silver )..................................................................................28
Printing Only with White Ink ......................................................................................................30
Printing with While, Metallic Silver, and CMYK Ink .............................................................32
Printing with White and CMYK Ink ...........................................................................................35
3-2 Starting the Print Operation .................................................................37
Starting the Print Operation .......................................................................................................37
Printing a Metallic Color Chart..................................................................................................38
Chapter 4 Advanced .........................................................................................41
4-1 Pullback printing ...................................................................................42
Pullback printing (White Metallic silver/CMYK) .............................................................42
Pullback printing (Metallic silver/CMYK White) ..............................................................49
4-2 Performing Texture Printing..................................................................55
What is Texture Printing? .............................................................................................................55
Create The Texture Printing Data ..............................................................................................55
Performing Texture Printing .......................................................................................................61
Printing a Texture Chart ...............................................................................................................61
Contents
2
Copyright and property of this Software and this manual belong to Roland DG Corp. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any from or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
VersaWorks is a registered trademark of Roland DG Corp.
Windows is a registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft® Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.
Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States.
Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, PostScript, PostScript 3, and Illustrator are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. ©2007 Adobe Systems
Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Other company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
http://www.rolanddg.com/
Copyright © 2009-2011 Roland DG Corporation
Chapter 5
Maintenance ........................................................................63
5-1 Maintenance ........................................................................................64
Message for Ink Circulation ........................................................................................................64
When Dot Drop-out Etc. Cannot be Corrected ....................................................................64
Chapter 1
Getting Started
1-1 What This Document Assumes and Related Manuals ............4
What This Document Assumes ..................................................4
Related Manuals .........................................................................4
VersaWorks Online ......................................................................4
1-2 Before Starting Operations .....................................................5
Important: Characteristics of Inks and Important Notes ..............5
Before Starting the Day's Work ...................................................5
1-3 Important Notes on Printing ....................................................6
When Performing Pullback Printing .............................................6
When Using Transparent Media ..................................................6
3
4
Chapter 1 Getting Started
Chapter 1 Getting Started
1-1 What This Document Assumes and Related Manuals
What This Document Assumes
Before performing any operations described in this guide, make sure that all the following preparations are
complete.
Assembling and installing the XC-540MT unit
Installing VersaWorks on your computer, and connecting the computer to the XC-540MT via a network
Related Manuals
Read the following documentation for information about setting up the XC-540MT unit and VersaWorks.
(1) Setup Guide
This manual covers details about how to use the XC-540MT, including how to set up the printer and where to
locate the printer, etc. Be sure to read this manual.
(2) User's Manual
This manual describes operation methods in detail. After you've read the XC-540MT Setup Guide, be sure to
read this manual.
(3) VersaWorks Quick Start Guide
This manual explains basic operations of VersaWorks, including how to set up the program. Be sure to read
Chapter 1 of this manual and make necessary setups on your computer. It is also recommended to read Chapter
2 of this manual and become familiar with how to use this program.
VersaWorks Online
This document describes the important notes for using the metallic silver ink and white ink as well as the basic
printing method. You can get the latest information about Roland VersaWorks and the information on printing
methods requiring more complex settings by viewing VersaWorks Online.
If you want to learn more about the features of Roland VersaWorks, or if you want to use metallic silver ink and
white ink more eectively, be sure to visit VersaWorks Online.
URL: http://dg4.roland.co.jp/en/RVW2forWeb/index.html
5
Chapter 1 Getting Started
1-2 Before Starting Operations
Important: Characteristics of Inks and Important Notes
The usage and handling of white ink and metallic silver ink involve some important considerations that do
not apply to ink of other colors.
Be sure to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of inks before you use it.
White ink and Metallic Silver ink settle and separate.
If it is allowed to stand, the precipitated material may solidify and cause clogging of the print heads or
other malfunction. Be sure to observe the cautions in this manual.
Maintenance must be performed.
Always keep the main power switched on. If the main power is switched o, the automatic maintenance
function stops working, and may result in malfunction.
We recommend operating the printer at least once a week.
If the printer is left unused for a long period of time, ink precipitation may occur, resulting in an incorrect
ink discharge such as occurrence of dot drop-out. In such cases, the precipitated and solidied ink needs
to be discharged. This work requires two SOL INK cleaning cartridges. For how to perform the work, refer
to the description below.
P. 64, "When Dot Drop-out etc. Cannot be Corrected"
Drying inks
After output, allow the ink to dry suciently. Note that white ink and metallic silver ink in particular require
printing at a high density, and so are more dicult to dry than CMYK inks.
Use an auxiliary drying unit (DU-540).
We strongly recommend performing lamination.
Depending on conditions, the weatherability of metallic silver ink and white ink may be inferior to that of
CMYK inks. Therefore, laminating is strongly recommended.
Maintenance requires two SOL INK cleaning cartridges, so be sure to have these on hand.
Before Starting the Day's Work
Remove just the white and metallic silver ink cartridges, shake them gently, then reinsert
them.
The cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink cartridges do not need to be shaken every day, but
new cartridges for these colors should be shaken when you install them.
The ingredients in white and metallic silver ink tend to settle. Each day, before starting the day's operations,
be sure to carry out the above steps. Allowing the ink to stand without carrying out these steps can cause the
settled material to harden, resulting in malfunction or other problems.
6
1-3 Important Notes on Printing
When Performing Pullback Printing
What is Pullback Printing?
Pullback printing refers to a printing method in which the white-ink (or metallic silver ink) undercoat is printed
rst, and then CMYK color is printed on top of white ink (or vice versa); in the process, the already printed
media is pulled back to the original position once, and then overprinting is performed.
Allow the ink to dry thoroughly.
Dry the ink suciently before you perform pullback printing with the next color. Performing pullback
printing before the ink has dried enough may make attractive printing impossible or cause problems such
as reduced weatherability.
Drying time diers according to various conditions, but as a general guide you should use an auxiliary
drying unit (DU-540) and also allow the media to stand for an additional 15 minutes.
In particular, when you're pullback printing a white or metallic silver undercoat with CMYK inks, allow the
undercoat to dry thoroughly before you overprint it. If the undercoat is not dry enough, dierences in
dryness may cause variations in the overprinted CMYK colors.
Using the middle pinch rollers
The middle pinch rollers may smudge the printed surface when the media is pulled back. When you per-
form pullback printing, we recommend securing the media in place using only two pinch rollers (one on
the left and one on the right).
Never use the media take-up system
Performing pullback printing requires pulling the media back, and so the take-up unit cannot be used.
When Using Transparent Media
Loading transparent media
Set the [EDGE DETECTION] menu item to "DISABLE". Transparent media cannot be loaded unless this set-
ting is made.
Ensure a margin of at least 75 mm from the leading edge of the media to the printing- or cutting-start
location.
Important notes on the amount of media remaining
When you use transparent media, the presence of media cannot be detected. In such cases, printing opera-
tion does not stop when the media runs out, and there is a chance that the platen or the like may become
soiled by ink or that ink may get inside and damage the machine.
If media runs out while printing is in progress, immediately press
to quit printing.
Chapter 1 Getting Started
1-3 Important Notes on Printing
7
Chapter 1 Getting Started
Using the middle pinch rollers
The middle pinch rollers damage media slightly, and on transparent media this damage can be very notice-
able. If such damage is a concern, we recommend securing the media in place using only two pinch rollers
(one on the left and one on the right).
Automatic crop-mark detection
Automatic crop-mark detection may not be possible for some media, such as transparent media. In such
cases, perform alignment manually.
8
Chapter 2
Getting Ready
2-1 Preparing VersaWorks ..........................................................10
Starting VersaWorks ..................................................................10
Creating a Folder for Saving PS Files .......................................10
2-2 Printer Preparations .............................................................. 11
Making the Printer Settings and Loading Media ........................11
2-3 Creating Printing Data ..........................................................12
Basic Approach for Creating Printing Data ................................12
Creating Data for Printing ..........................................................12
Blend Print and Layered Print (Metallic Silver and CMYK)........18
9
10
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
2-1 Preparing VersaWorks
Starting VersaWorks
On the computer you're using, start VersaWorks. For information on how to start the program, see the Roland
VersaWorks Quick Start Guide. After starting the program, go to the upper left of the main screen and check to
make sure that "Model (or Nickname) of Your Printer" is displayed, and that "Status" is set to "Ready to Print."
Creating a Folder for Saving PS Files
Before you actually print an image you draw using application software such as Adobe Illustrator, it is necessary
to save the image as a PS le (s). And then, you can print the image by loading the PS le (s) on VersaWorks.
Because of this, you should create a folder for saving PS les in advance. It is recommended to locate the folder
in the root directory on your computer's local disk.
Procedure
Open [Computer] (or [My Computer]), and then open [Local Disk (C:)].
On the [Organize] menu, click [New
Folder]. (Or on the [File] menu, click
[New], and then click [Folder].)
Enter the name for the folder, and then
press the Enter key.
Here you name "MT-WH_print", for example.
11
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
2-2 Printer Preparations
Making the Printer Settings and Loading Media
When Using Transparent Media
When you're using transparent media, make the necessary printing settings on the printer and load the media
accordingly.
Procedure
Press and make the following settings.
[EDGE DETECTION] to "DISABLE."
Load transparent media into the printer.
When the media warps or partially oats, ensure a margin of about 200 mm from the leading edge of
the media to the printing- or cutting-start location.
Be sure to use the media clamps when you load media.
When Using Media Other Than Transparent Media
Load the media using the method described in the XC-540/XC-540MT User's Manual.
12
Chapter 2 Getting Ready Chapter 2 Getting Ready
2-3 Creating Printing Data
Basic Approach for Creating Printing Data
When Using Metallic Silver Ink
When you print using metallic silver ink, you can create the printing data according to the two methods
below.
Specify the spot color so as to use only the metallic silver ink.
Apply the spot color named "RDG_MetallicSilver" to the areas you want to print using the metallic silver
ink.
Use the exclusive metallic color special colors library.
From the exclusive metallic color special colors library, select the metallic color to be used which is the
combination color of CMYK ink and metallic silver ink.
When Using White Ink
Apply the spot color named "RDG_WHITE" to the areas you want to print using the white ink.
Creating Data for Printing
Create the data for printing using the metallic silver ink and white ink.
The program used to create the printing data is Adobe Illustrator CS3. For detailed information on drawing
methods and how to work with palettes, refer to the documentation or online help for Adobe Illustrator
CS3. If you're using another version of Adobe Illustrator, operations may be somewhat dierent from those
explained here.
1.
Open the exclusive swatch library.
At the swatch palette menu, select [Open Swatch Library], then [Other Libraries].
The "Select Library" window appears.
NOTE: The swatch palette is displayed by going to the menu and selecting [Window], then [Swatch].
2-3 Creating Printing Data
13
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Open folder in the order of [Computer] (or [My Computer]) → [Local Disk (C:)] →
[Program Files] → [Roland VersaWorks] → [Swatch] → [Illustrator], then select "Roland
VersaWorks.ai."
Depending on the settings of your computer, the extension ".ai" might not be shown.
Click [Open].
The swatch library containing "RDG_MetallicSilver" and "RDG_WHITE" is displayed.
Open the same folders as in step , then select "Roland Metallic Color.ai."
Depending on the settings of your computer, the extension ".ai" might not be shown
Click [Open].
The swatch library is displayed which is containing the "metallic color" created by mixing the metallic
silver ink and CMYK ink.
By saving the ".ai" le selected in steps and into the folder below, you can register each swatch
library to the Adobe Illustrator's library.
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS3\Preset\Swatch
("C" is the name of your computer's local disk.)
Once the registration is performed, you can open the library directly from the swatch palette menu, eliminating the need to search the le every time you start Adobe Illustrator.
2-3 Creating Printing Data
14
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
2.
Create the illustration, and specify the spot color that matches the color you want to print.
Create the illustration.
Be sure to draw the illustration in the CMYK mode.
Specify each spot color that matches the color you want to print.
Desired ink or color Spot color name
Metallic silver ink RDG_MetallicSilver
White ink RDG_WHITE
Metallic color
(Metallic silver/CMYK combination color)
RVW-MT-Silver, RVW-MT-Bronze, RVW-MT-
TitanBlack, etc.
Using the metallic silver ink, you can perform the blend print and the layered print by combining the
ink with the CMYK ink.
P. 18, “Blend Print and Layered Print (Metallic Silver and CMYK)”
Specify "RDG_WHITE" for
the areas where you want to
use white ink.
Specify " RDG_MetallicSilver " for the
areas where you want to use metallic
silver ink.
Areas where you want to use metallic color
From the metallic color special colors library (Roland Metallic
Color), specify the color such as "RVW-MT-Bronze"
2-3 Creating Printing Data
15
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
3.
Create the PS (PostScript) le.
Select [Print] from the [File] menu.
Select [Roland VW].
When a nickname is set, or when more than one
printer is connected, select “Roland VW_(the
nickname of the printer used for output).”
Click [Setup].
Click [Continue].
2-3 Creating Printing Data
16
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Turn on the [Print to le] option.
Click [Preferences].
Click [Advanced] in the [Layout] tab.
For Windows 2000: In the "Print"
dialog box (the window at the very top
of this page), go to the "Layout" tab and
click [Advanced].
Click the down arrow to the right of
the [Paper Size] box, and then click
[PostScript Custom Page Size] from the
list that appears.
For "Custom Page Size Denition,"
enter the values in the "Width" and
"Height" elds.
Enter values for the same size as the illustration
you created in step
2
.
2-3 Creating Printing Data
17
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Click [OK] three times to close the "PostScript Custom Page Size Denition," "Roland
VersaWorks Advanced Options," and "Printing Preferences" dialog boxes.
The "Print" dialog box returns.
Click [Print].
Click [Print].
Specify the destination and le name
for saving, then save the le.
Example: " C:\MT-WH_print " for the folder to
save to, and " mt-wh.ps " as the le name
Click [Save].
The CMYK layer of the image is saved as a PS
le.
Open the folder you saved to and make sure the le has been created.
Select the folder you created in "Creating
a Folder for Saving PS Files" on page 10.
Assign the name you want. It may be a good idea to
assign a name that indicates that the le uses white
and metallic silver ink.
2-3 Creating Printing Data
18
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Blend Print and Layered Print (Metallic Silver and CMYK)
Using the metallic silver ink, you can perform the blend print and the layered print by combining the ink with
the CMYK ink. By this means, you can realize the metallic expressions that cannot be made only with the CMYK
ink. The printing methods are dierent between the blend print and the layered print, and so are the metallic
impressions of the CMYK colors. Select and use the types of printing to suit your taste.
P. 24, “Blend Print (Metallic Silver + CMYK),” p. 26, “Layered Print (Metallic Silver CMYK),” p. 28, "Layered Print
(CMYK Metallic Silver )"
* When you perform “Printing with White, Metallic Silver, and CMYK Ink” (page 32), the printing method is
limited to the blend print.
Blend Print
(Image of printing method)
In performing the blend print or the layered print, you can specify the colors from the metallic color
special colors library. However, if you specify the metallic colors with the same names for the blend
print and the layered print, the tones of the colors are dierent between them. We recommend that
you check the tones of the colors by performing the test printing or printing out the Metallic Color
Chart.
Seeing the metallic color chart for the layered print, you may feel a slight inconsistency between the
names and the tones of the colors. This is because the colors listed in the Metallic Color Chart are
named based on those for the blend print.
P. 38, “Printing the Metallic Color Chart”
The metallic silver ink and the CMYK ink are blended
to be a single layer for printing.
Media
Metallic Silver and
CMYK
2-3 Creating Printing Data
19
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Layered Print
(Image of printing method)
The metallic silver ink and the CMYK ink are separated into the different layers
and printed in that order. (Metallic silver ink CMYK ink)
The metallic silver ink and the CMYK ink are separated into the different layers
and printed in that order. (CMYK ink Metallic silver ink)
Media
Metallic Silver
CMYK
The printed image is to be
seen from this side (the printed
surface of the nished results).
CMYK
The printed image is to be seen from
this side (the opposite side of the printed
surface of the nished results).
Media
Metallic Silver
20
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