100% black is rastered ?

[Jan Devera]

Hi all,
finally i have Epilog Zing 16, 40 Wats, its really great machine no problems so far.

But today i noticed that when i engrave for example stamps or something else, places where is 100% black in my file, is rastered (small dots).These spots should be perfectly clear, without any engraving no ? Anybody have any experience with this ? For engraving im using Acrobat...

Thx for reply :)

[Mike Null]

Black and shades of black will normally be rastered. On many machines red is set to cut but only if it's a hairline or .005" or less.

[Michael Hunter]

Make sure that you are using RGB colours (NOT CMYK) - this can make a difference to the way the Epilog drivers interpret things.

[Jan Devera]

but its 100% black so there should be no rastr, and no engraving at all on these spots
i forgot to mention that im using stamp mode in epilog driver

[Jan Devera]

ah that could be true, thanks
and one more question, is possible change somehow units in epilog print to european units ?

[Mike Null]

You should be able to do that in your graphics software.

[Dan Hintz]

but its 100% black so there should be no rastr, and no engraving at all on these spots
I'm confused by your statement... anything other than 100% white will engrave. 100% black will definitely engrave.

[Rodne Gold]

He's using stamp mode , probably an inverted image?

[Larry Bratton]

but its 100% black so there should be no rastr, and no engraving at all on these spots
i forgot to mention that im using stamp mode in epilog driver

If I am understanding this correctly, your expecting black NOT to engrave? It's just the opposite. Anywhere you have black, or varying shades of grey and/or black, it will engrave (raster). RGB color settings are what need to be used, not CMYK.

[Michael Hunter]

As per Rodney - I think that Epilog's stamp mode inverts the image so black is untouched and white engraves.
It is most likely a CMYK problem causing the unwanted dots - best stick to RGB for everything.
(Never used stamp mode myself and the manual is in the workshop, so I'm only trying to remember what I read).

My Epilog driver ONLY works in centimetres - I can't see a way to change it to inches (not that I want to).
Again, a read-the-manual jobby.

[Mike Null]

Whenever I've seen stamp mode the image is inverted but black still engraves.

[John Noell]

In the Epilog stamp driver, black does not engrave (as that mode inverts and mirrors; thus the pure RGB black becomes white). And yes, you can set both Corel and the Epilog driver to use metric or American "standard".

[Bill Cunningham]

The epilog stamp mode uses ordinary black and white (RGB) inside two hairline 'fences' everything inside the inner fence is inverted, the white engraves, and the black stands proud, (just like it would look in the finished impression) it also engineers a step slope to add stability to the 'standup' portion of the stamp (makes the base of the letter a little wider than the top face). The outside hairline fence becomes the cutting path to cut the stamp out after everything inside the inner fence has been engraved.

[Larry Bratton]

Bill,
Thanks for clarifying that. I have never made a stamp with mine, so I am glad to know that.

[Jan Devera]

Thx for help, problem was really with cmyk colors, rgb black works fine. Its quite confusing anyway, epilog driver should be smarter and support or convert cmyk colors properly....

[Dan Hintz]

Thx for help, problem was really with cmyk colors, rgb black works fine. Its quite confusing anyway, epilog driver should be smarter and support or convert cmyk colors properly....
It's not an issue with the driver, per se, it's an issue with conversion between the two color spaces... it's not a direct mapping (though to be fair, black shouldn't be an issue).

[Jon Colley]

Dan is correct; Although in some packages, the color correction profile is determined by what color space you are in. In this case, it may be that the RGB color profile doesn't alter the black but the CMYK does.

[Bill Cunningham]

It's not an issue with the driver, per se, it's an issue with conversion between the two color spaces... it's not a direct mapping (though to be fair, black shouldn't be an issue).

Actually, for 4 colour cmyk printing, I use a cmyk black mix that is noticeably blacker (even when displayed on screen in RGB) than the common K100 black.. 'K' alone does not give a nice deep black.. If your printing something and want a BLACK black.. try C65,M53,Y51,K100 and look at it next to plain K100 Black is not always black..