Dave, after bugging you with a bunch of questions on painting on your previous posts, I hope you don't mind a few questions about decals.
What dpi do you print at 300?, 600? or something different?
I use the highest DPI the printer will print. 600 is the norm....but artwork is more important as no matter the DPI if the art is low-res it doesn't matter.
I've read on some other boards (science fictions models) that those hobbyists tend to put on a gloss coat of some type before applying decals, then either a gloss or flat coat on top to seal and protect the decals. Do you tend to use any of those techniques?
Decals always work better on a gloss surface. It does not have to be show car gloss a mile deep....just not a rough flat surface. I shoot for more than semi-gloss but less than show car. I seal with Testors Dull coat of Future/Pledge floor shine for gloss finish.
It looks like you did an outline around the outside of the "Ashland" decal as a trim line. Do you ever try and make this line a color similar to the paint color that is going to be under the decal?
I just didn't cut that one as close as I should. What I did there was print a black cut out line on the white decal paper for the white boarder of the logo. A gray cut line may have been better.
On another topic, you wrote "Only ALPS printers print white and you need artwork that tells the printer to print white". Is that an easy process? For example, if you prepared the artwork for a decal and were going to send it to a someone to print on a ALPS printer, what would you have to do for the areas that you want to print white?
I can't tell you how to create artwork for an ALPS as each person that prints with an ALPS may have a different process. I create a separate layer for the white ink in black so I can print 'spot color' and pick white. But I have seen guys use all different colors to print white....the printer just sees the art and asks you what color ink it should uses. Check with whoever is printing as to method.
I plan to eventually create some artwork for decals and either have them printed on a laser printer, or send them to someone to print on an ALPS printer. I've used Adobe Illustrator in the past (nowhere near an expert), but it has been a while. I used to have a student version on my home computer, but the old program won't install on my newer operating system. So, I'll need to get some vector based graphics software at some point. I've tried Inkscape, one of the freeware programs, but don't really care for it. I know you have a considerable amount of experience with graphics programs. Do you like CorelDRAW versus Illustrator? Illustrator is really expensive, and the CorelDRAW is less expensive but still not cheap.
CorelDraw user from V3......AI is popular but when I tried it I still preferred Corel. But I self taught myself Corel so it's why I am comfortable there. Find a 2nd hand copy of CorelDraw 12 which is cheap and all you need. You get no Corel support....but when you buy a new copy full retail you get VERY little support anyway. Plenty of user groups that offer better help.
If I go the print on a laser printer route in the future, I'd need to get it printed somewhere as I don't have a laser printer. Any particular things you need to do to prepare the drawing file for laser printing? Any particular features you need to ask about at a print shop for printing decals?
Artwork needs to be the best vector art as you can do. All text needs to be converted to curves....just select 'all' and convert to curves on the FINAL save before printing. Have the printer set to 'best' or highest quality setting.
Thanks.
