printer prints white background although Motiv is set to transparency

[Simzj]

hello

i would like to print tshirts with my oki printer, but the Motiv cut out with affinty photo/designer is printed with a white background. But the file is set with transparent Backround and export in PNG.

What do I have to do to make the printer print a transparent background ?

In Photoshop, a clipping path must be drawn. Does this also apply to affinity? And how do you do that ?

Kind regards 

Simon

 

 

[Old Bruce]

2 hours ago, Simzj said:

What do I have to do to make the printer print a transparent background ?

Have nothing in / on the background. A lot of software will show a "white" background instead of a checkerboard pattern as the default setting.

PNGs need to be set to include transparency (it may be termed Alpha). Transparency is on by default in the basic PNG export for the three Affinity applications.

[Simzj]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

Have nothing in / on the background. A lot of software will show a "white" background instead of a checkerboard pattern as the default setting.

PNGs need to be set to include transparency (it may be termed Alpha). Transparency is on by default in the basic PNG export for the three Affinity applications.

That's exactly my problem, the background shows the checkerboard pattern for transparency but when I print it, this area is printed white

in photoshop, a clipping path must be drawn around the Motiv, otherwise the transparent area will also be printed in white. Do you have to do that with affinity too? If yes, how does it work ?

 

[Simzj]

With Mac OS 

[Simzj]

i open the png file with the preview from Mac, and go to the print button and print. So I don't use any special program for that. 
I also tried to print directly from affinity without converting to png and it doesn't work either  

 

[thomaso]

8 minutes ago, Simzj said:

i open the png file with the preview from Mac,

Does it display its transparency in Preview? (you can customize Preview's transparency display color in its preferences)

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, Simzj said:

That's exactly my problem, the background shows the checkerboard pattern for transparency but when I print it, this area is printed white

Maybe too obvious but I have to ask anyway: Is the printer actually printing with white ink or is that just the color of the paper or other material you are printing on?

[Simzj]

11 hours ago, thomaso said:

Does it display its transparency in Preview? (you can customize Preview's transparency display color in its preferences)

Yes, that's why I'm so confused, as I said, I have a test version of Photoshop there, it's the same problem, only if I create a working path and then a clipping path around the motif, it works there. is there such a function in affinity?!

 

[Simzj]

10 hours ago, R C-R said:

Maybe too obvious but I have to ask anyway: Is the printer actually printing with white ink or is that just the color of the paper or other material you are printing on?

it is a laser white tone printer that can print with white ink (oki es7942 wt). I use it to print on a transparent film. It is then pressed onto the t-shirt and then it should only have the motif on it without the white background.

If I use the png's for a website, then the function is that only the Motive can be seen without a white background, only the printer prints it. hence my desperate question

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Simzj said:

Yes, that's why I'm so confused, as I said, I have a test version of Photoshop there, it's the same problem, only if I create a working path and then a clipping path around the motif, it works there. is there such a function in affinity?!

In Affinity you can create a clipping object for instance from a pixel selection. But that doesn't necessarily solve your problem. Compare this short thread & sample files:

What if you use another application for printing? How about printing from Affinity? Or, e.g. export as PDF + print from Acrobat?

Also, even it sounds odd, maybe it works if you remove the transparent parts (once more?) with the magic wand tool within Preview.app, as described here:

https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/prvw15636/mac

[Simzj]

1 hour ago, BofG said:

If the design has no white at all, you should be able to disable the white in the printer settings.

I had a look, and it seems the clipping path is needed to knock out white. I'm assuming that it's using PostScript. Have you tried making a clipping path in Designer, exporting to a PDF and then printing from Adobe Reader? If that doesn't work I think you are out of luck. CAD link do some RIPs for the Oki range, but they are not cheap.

the trouble is that the Motiv contains white. with clipping path and convert to pdf I have not tried. I still want to try that. How do I create a clipping path in affinity?

where can I find the CAD RIPs?

 

[Simzj]

7 hours ago, BofG said:

Put your image into a Designer document as a layer, then use the pen tool/boolean to create the clipped area, then drag the image to be a child of the curves layer.

The cadlink RIPs can be seen here:

https://www.cadlink.com/product/digitalfactory10/

Unfortunately, despite trying everything, it's the same problem see pictures

[Simzj]

the pdf also shows the white background although affinity is set to transparent and i created a clipping curve and inserted the level there. strange 🤨

[firstdefence]

I wonder if your printer has a setting that replaces transparency for white such as a matte colour. Any chance we can get the .afdesign file uploaded to make a look at?

 

[Hangman]

14 hours ago, Simzj said:

the pdf also shows the white background although affinity is set to transparent and i created a clipping curve and inserted the level there. strange 🤨

Even with your clipping path, Apple Preview will not show a PDF with a transparent background though it will for PNG files as @thomaso mentioned earlier. That doesn't mean the transparancy isn't there, if you open the same PDF in Acrobat Reader you can switch the Show transparency grid on in the Preferences to see the transparent background...

For PNG files in Apple Preview, you should by default see a grey background to indicate transparency in place of a checkboard grid but you can change the colour to anything you like using Preferences...

Edit: or select Show Image Background from the View Menu to show the checkerboard background.

[thomaso]

4 hours ago, firstdefence said:

I wonder if your printer has a setting that replaces transparency for white such as a matte colour.

I wonder as well. That's why I asked above whether you ever got with your printer + mac setup a desired result, respectively whether you get the full set of options offered in your printing dialog. Maybe there is a related setting, respectively, maybe you need to install the virtual printer as TCP/IP printer to force macOS using the OKI driver (instead of macOS driverless "Airprint" via "Bonjour") to get all its print option displayed, @Simzj

[Simzj]

14 minutes ago, thomaso said:

I wonder as well. That's why I asked above whether you ever got with your printer + mac setup a desired result, respectively whether you get the full set of options offered in your printing dialog. Maybe there is a related setting, respectively, maybe you need to install the virtual printer as TCP/IP printer to force macOS using the OKI driver (instead of macOS driverless "Airprint" via "Bonjour") to get all its print option displayed, @Simzj

the funny thing is that it works with Photoshop and clipping path and Macsetup. I've only been working with affinity since then because a photoshop subscription is too expensive for me. and as I said, when I embed the png file from affinity in a website etc, it doesn't show me a white background. or if i can open the png in the preview it also shows me the checkerboard pattern for transparency. that's why I'm so confused that he prints white to me. With photoshop the same problem is only if I don't set the clipping path. but with affinty it doesn't work with clipping path.

[Simzj]

I don't know that with a tcp/ip printer, where can I find something like that?

sorry if I have such a trouble, but I can't imagine that affinity has no possibility. I did it in such a way that I create the Motiv  in affinity, then export it as a png file in photoshop test version, open a clipping path there and print it that's how it works right now. but why the clipping path doesn't work in affinity is a mystery to me

[Simzj]

[Hangman]

As @firstdefence mentions above, it would help if we could see the source Affinity file or a variation of it at least with your clipping path included, that would make it easier to potentially diagnose the promlem you are experiencing.

Could you also upload a scrennshot/s of your Print dialgoue settings?

[Simzj]

Ok do you mean this ?!

 

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

Could you also upload a scrennshot/s of your Print dialgoue settings?

The OP prints from the macOS Preview.app – which doesn't offer any relevant setting here. Instead Affinity seems to lack in creating a "real" clipping path which gets recognized by Preview.app:  (Here's this sample file for download.)

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Simzj said:

the funny thing is that it works with Photoshop and clipping path and Macsetup.

1 hour ago, Simzj said:

I don't know that with a tcp/ip printer, where can I find something like that?

Since it does work for you with this printer + Preview  but just does not with Affinity files it seems to be caused by Affinity + Preview.app. Thus a different printer driver possibly might not enable you to avoid this issue.

However, if you want to check all options in an original OKI printer driver you can setup a printer via macOS System Preferences … Note that "Standard" doesn't give the option to choose a custom driver whereas "IP" does:

 

[Hangman]

Would a Layer Mask not work in place of a Clipping Path in this instance?

[Old Bruce]

I have to put in my 2 ¢ here.

I honestly believe that this is a problem with the Operating System and Printer Drivers for a Printer that uses White ink/toner for clear areas in the artwork.

In other words, Serif would have to do some massive rewriting of their printing system to accommodate the Oki printer.