Who can print black marquees that stay black when lit up?

[taylormadelv]

I tried a few different versions of EMDKAY printing with no joy. I've tried Kinko's with no joy. How do I print a marquee (not screen printing!) with a black background, that actually STAYS BLACK when it is illuminated from behind. Everything I have tried (via injet) allows lots of light through the blacks and makes them look grey or worse.
Websites say that "translights" should be black but I have had many problems and I am suspicious of this. Any solutions and if you have a solution, maybe photos?
Thanks!

[Well Fed Games]

Would it be possible to print a second marquee, clear except for black areas, to put behind the "real" one for extra blockage? I'm going to try Basement Arcade Grafix when John gets up and running again. You may want to specifically ask the people who run EMDKAY, GameOnGrafix, etc, as they are the most knowledgeable.

[taylormadelv]

I communicated this in detail with EMDKAY and he printed several versions of a marquee, on different stocks and I still had issues with blacks. I keep reading that "translights" are supposed to accomplish this but my printout didn't look as awesome as a movie poster.
Old marquees almost always have a layer of white between the artwork and the light source, I am guessing that this may be a key.
Anyone else wanna chime in?

[dfmaverick]

Movie posters in the theatre are usually printed on both sides.

I don't know if it is printed 4 color (CMYK) either. Standard black would be:

Cyan 0%
Magenta 0%
Yellow 0%
blacK 100%

Printer's black could be used which is:

Cyan 80%
Magenta 80%
Yellow 80%
blacK 95%

If 4 color process is being used, using printer's black would essentially be using 3-4 times the ink in those areas than straight black. It's a possibility that could help, but that is based upon a bunch of assumptions. However, I don't know for certain that it would help. Check with all printers before using such a mix since it may depend on their printing process.

[BobA]

I have an emdkay marquee above my jukebox and it stays black where it is black.  I think it all depends on the amount of light you have behind it.   I am using a nova matrix LED array in a very shallow shadow box.   

When I have tried to used inkjet or laser the blacks are very grey.   By doubling the marquee and sandwiching both between plexi the black is very much improved.   A layer of white at the back to diffuse the light more also helps.  Again it comes down to reducing the amount of light that is transmitted by lower the light level or making more black blocking.   

In the worst case a mask that is clear in the colored areas and black where you need actual black can also help.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Can you show what the marquee looks like?  if it has discrete areas of black you want to be opaque, could you back paint it?  or print a black color separation type thing (that's the same as what BobA suggested, I guess).

[taylormadelv]

For my next custom printed marquee, I will try a process called "Duratrans". This is hyped as the best back lit printing process available but expensive. My next marquee will be for my Midway mini and it will have lots of black, so this will be a true test. I will post my results....

[rikitiki]

just curious what type of image is it?
I see alot of common complaints/posts on blacks both for translites and even sideart
and have found part of the problem to be in the file or type of file.

So many of the files on AAL dont use BLACK it may look black but is it trully a BLACK.
also Vector images will produce a truler black than a raster this is true of colors as well.
Even at the same RGB or CYMK values.

The last factor besides the material used is the printer and the man behind the curtain that can give you the best results.

[Blanka]

Maybe you can put a black custom cut vinyl mask on top of your design. This cutting can be done quite accurate, to say 1 point size difference max.

[shrunkenmaster]

also Vector images will produce a truler black than a raster this is true of colors as well.
Even at the same RGB or CYMK values.

Do you know why this is? I know you're the man when it comes to print.

[D_Harris]

Has there been a resolution or answers concerning this issue?

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[D_Harris]

Ok, I guess not. It seems that if black is an important color on your marquee then anything other than screen printing will produce sub-par results.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[Lormax]

If you can find a clever way to attach aluminum foil to the black areas, it definitely won't bleed through.