The Perfect Printing Blog

Photo Tex Specs Vs Magiclee Fab Tac Specs Test Results

elevatep — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:30:43 +0000

The following are the results of the Photo-Tex versus Magiclee Fab-tac testing (including statistics) in table form. More information on the testing can be found in our previous post of the test summary.

Photo Tex Vs. Magiclee Fab Tac Test Results

	Photo-Tex	Fab-tac
General
Manufacture	Photo Tex Group	Magiclee
Maximum Roll Width	60″	50″
Porous	non-porous	porous
Roll Core Size	3″ core	2″ core
Backing Material	paper back	polyester back

Specifications
Thickness	10 mil	8.0 mil
Weight	240 gsm	230 gsm
Adhesive Thickness	unmeasured	1 mil
Whiteness	unmeasured	73
Brightness	unmeasured	70
Gloss (600)	unmeasured	2

Compatibility
Dye	Yes	Yes
Pigment inkjet	Yes	Yes
Solvent	Yes	Some

Performance
Repositionable	indefinitely	initially repositionable
Surface Residuce*	none	heavy residue**
Residue removal	n/a	not permanent
Ease of Printing	good	good
Storage sensitivity	fair	good
Color Output	fair	excellent
Ease of Application	fair	excellent
Fade Resistance	excellent	excellent

Price***
24″ x 100′	$205.00	$201.00
36″ x 100′	$290.00	$272.00

* = Surface residue after 4 weeks
** = The testing surface was glass and wood, other surfaces may vary
*** = based on pricing at www.itsupplies.com on 08/20/08

UPDATE 09/02/08:

We have had a piece of Photo Tex now for over 18 months that has been repositioned hundreds of times, left in water, and placed on a variety of surfaces. It has only recently showed signs of losing its adhesive abilities. We have investigated the tunneling and storage issue with Photo Tex directly and have discovered it was simply a bad batch (we’ve updated the table accordingly). No subsequent rolls have had this issue. We are testing the gamuts further and will post updated results.

Review: Fab-tac material vs. Photo-tex material Summary

elevatep — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:33:30 +0000

After a few weeks of testing, our results are compiled from our Fab-tac (by Magiclee) versus Photo-tex (by the Photo Tex Group) competition. In the beginning, both materials seem very identical and are very close in thickness, weight, and outward appearance. See the Summary Data and Results in this post.

Photo-tex is water resistant (hence is more prone to tunneling on the roll and ruining your print if you don’t store the roll correctly. This is because the air bubbles can build up between the lining and the actual material.

Fab-tac is not water resistant and therefore should be coated after printing in order to last the longest time in UV light or in other harsh environments such as being outdoor. It is easier and much more friendly to print on since the material is unlikely to separate from the backing.

Photo-tex does not have as good of a color gamut when tested on an Epson 9800 printer and an HP Designjet Z3100 printer. This is both a qualitative and quantitative difference (both looking at it by human eye and through a Gretag Macbeth Spectrophotometer. )

When stuck to a surface for a period of more than a few weeks, Fab-tac is no longer able to be repositioned. Once it is removed at this point the adhesive is left behind on the surface. It was not very difficult to remove, but this could be a problem for areas of sensitive surfaces. Photo-tex is repositionable indefinitely and did not leave any noticeable residue during our testing.

The Fab-tac material is significantly cheaper per square foot than Photo-tex is. Other noticeable differences were that the Fab-tac material was easier to store when unprinted and kept better over time.

As a result, we feel the Photo-tex is still the more unique of the two products as it seems to be repositionable for extremely long periods of time. Fab-tac has some great applications in terms of being vivid and not being a permanent adhesive. We will continue to use both Photo-tex and Fab-tac depending on the individual job application and preferences of the client.

See a summary of the data in the following table: Fab-tac vs Photo-tex Summary Table

BlueCubit’s New Nesting program for mac - ImageNest Review

elevatep — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:51:10 +0000

BlueCubit’s Imagenest program is a new “front end” software designed to more efficiently use paper space for wide format and medium format printers from 17″ and larger through a process known as nesting. Nesting is fitting multiple smaller images onto a single piece of paper (can be a sheet or a set amount of a roll). Therefore this works with both roll paper and sheet paper. This can save a lot of money when printing on larger rolls of expensive material. Nesting is typically a feature only found in high end RIP (Raster Image Processor) software. Best of all, ImageNest works on Apples’ Mac computers. Most RIP software at the professional level is only available for PCs.

Whether you’re using ten image or several hundred, you can rotate, resize, and position any individual image with one click. ImageNest supports many file formats and automatically makes sure files of different resolutions and embedded color profiles are print ready. See the below screen shots for examples of how this program functions.

(Click to Enlarge)

The images are nested in a method that simplifies cutting without using an XY Cutter. This does not minimize wasted paper space quite as much as other RIP programs will, but it simplifies the cutting process using non-automated machines. Each cut going across the width of the paper leaves only one row of images. I don’t believe there is a way to utilize the other nesting method, but I have an early version of this software.

If the number of images will not fit onto the page size you have specified, it will create as many pages of that size as needed. This feature of ImageNest would be very helpful for people who own printers such as the Epson 3800, that does not take roll paper, and would like to batch print multiple images onto large paper sheets such as 17″ x 22″ (say a set of nine 5″x7″s).

The price starts at only $99 for the 13″ wide version, making BlueCubit’s Imagenest a very affordable alternative to other RIPs. The price goes to $599 for the 44″, making it slightly less competitive in that size market. Overall the program has worked great and is highly recommended.

Check out more information and download a demo at BlueCubit’s website - http://www.bluecubit.com.

Vector Banner Creator Launches - Beta v1.3

elevatep — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:13:43 +0000

Elevate Printing has launched beta version 1.3 of the Vector Banner Creator — an application to design your own banners online. The simple process allows users to upload files, resize and rescale, change the canvas size and aspect ration, and instantly see a Proof of the final output banner. Currently payment and checkout through Google Checkout is supported.

The Vector Banner Creator beta has initial support for .PDF files, .AI files (Adobe Illustrator), and .EPS files (encapsulated postscript files) with future support for many more. We are always looking for comments, suggestions, and any glitches you find in our Beta Software and can gladly send you some gift certificates, free stuff, and other rewards for helping our programming team out with the testing. The Vector Banner Creator promises to simplify the process of creating and designing vinyl banners online. The original the project was titled “Vinyl Banner Creator” and future releases will expand to raster images such as JPG, GIF, BMP, and PNG. We hope this simplifies the printing of vinyl banners for people looking to upload a .PDF, .AI, or .EPS file and design a banner online. (Elevate Printing Homepage)

OnOne Software Finally Releases Liquid Resize Preview

elevatep — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:30:34 +0000

After a much anticipated delay on the Beta version of the new technology OnOne Software purchased from Irmgard Sabet-Wasinger and Ramin Sabet, the two inventors of the revolutionary technology. Instead of the typical cropping where linear lines of pixels are removed, Liquid resize can take out dynamic lines of pixels that do not effect the important content of the photos. If you have not heard or seen this before, we highly recommend you watch the video of how awesome this technology is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qadw0BRKeMk

There are a few minor glitches in the preview software, such as the brush size appearance when you zoom out of the image. It has crashed once when I tried to animate the resizing of a very large photo. The final version is set to be released as a Photoshop plug-in, like the rest of the OnOne applications.

Download the preview software for free here:

http://www.ononesoftware.com/liquidresize

Chuck Anderson for the Mountain Dew Green Label Art Gallery at Country Club Chicago

elevatep — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:59:58 +0000

Mountain Dew brought together some of the top artists in the world for their Green Label Art project. The Chicago gallery features the work of Chuck Anderson (NoPattern).

Pictures from the GLA Event at Country Club Chicago:

More pictures avaible at countryclubchicago.com and everyoneisfamous.com

Nigel Evan Dennis (Electric Heat) at Threadless Gallery

elevatep — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:53:48 +0000

Come support Nigel Evan Dennis (Electric Heat) at:

The Gallery at the Threadless Store
1110 Broadway St
Chicago, IL

02.01.08 - 03.26.08
With the Gallery Opening on 02.01.08, from 7-9pm

More information available at the Threadless.

Chuck Anderson (No Pattern) at Threadless Gallery

elevatep — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:02:32 +0000

Come support Chuck Anderson (No Pattern) at:

The Gallery at the Threadless Store
11.09.07 - 11.23.07
Opening party on 11.09.07, from 7-9pm

More information available at the Threadless website News Page.

Nine-Twelve at Get Knifed Gallery

elevatep — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:41:44 +0000

THE TRUTH OR THE LIE

Georgembowlesart.blogspot.com - www.Ekaweeka.com/georgebowles

9/12 Is coming… to the Get Knifed Gallery at 1932 S. Halsted St #201. (Chicago)

The gallery opens September 12th from 7PM to 11PM and runs through September 14th 6PM to 10PM. This close is during the Chicago Arts District Second Friday Gallery Crawl. Feel free to come out its sure to be a great time.

More information available at GetKnifed.com