Designing a GIS map helps improve the color accuracy of your printed materials. Best practices may include using CMYK colors which account for the bleed area found within the whole page by making use of suitable image files meant for clipart, exporting at a right resolution and picking a file format that is fit during export. This applies to every type of printing including plotters, but the process is particularly crucial when it is for a map that is to be printed on a high-quality large-format printer like the Canon TM-305 printer.
Benefits of Using Canon TM-305 Printer for Large-Format Printing
The TM Series redefines the capability of the entire large-format printing process. The TM-305 printer is ideal not just for printing technical documents, GIS maps, and CAD drawings, but it is also useful for printing signage, posters, and displays. It produces beautiful results with the support of Canon’s LUCIA TD pigment ink which is resistant to water. The TM-305 also comes loaded with technologies developed by Canon such as PF-06 printing head, an interactive operation panel, 5-color LUCIA TD set of pigment ink and L-COA PRO image processor. It also features direct printing with USB drive, 60% quieter printing, and a flat stacker basket. On top of all that, the TM-305 also offers the Free Layout Plus which allows users to tile nest and produce custom layouts.
Challenges of Designing a Print Map
The main difference between the way colors are reproduced on a monitor and on paper is the model of colors. Colors are displayed on monitors with the usage of red, green, and blue light (RGB) whereas plotters and printers use a total of four ink colors which are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK).
What You See May Not Be What You Get
Designing maps is often done using GIS software on monitors that make use of the RGB color model. For maps that are designed for the web, what you see on screen is usually what you get with just a little variation. However, for maps that are to be printed on the Canon TM-305 Printer, what you see on screen will not be what you get on paper.
Not All Black is the Same
Black ink makes the color black much easier to be printed on paper than displayed on a screen. However, black is also the color that usually gets messed up when changing RGB colors to CMYK values. You can technically get something that looks like black by stacking dots of cyan, magenta, and yellow ink. However, this process may waste the ink of the Canon TM-305 Printer and the result may look blurry.
Ink Application Limits
Many printers also warn against going beyond ink density higher than 300 which means that if you add cyan, magenta, yellow, and black together, the total value needs to be below 300. This can help prevent lying down excessive ink from the Canon TM-305 Printer that may not dry as fast as expected and can cause pieces of paper to stick together.
Always Know Your Equipment
Whether you are designing a map for a commercial offset printer, desktop printer or the large-format Canon TM-305 Printer, the map will always be printed on an exact device with specific settings.
