Inca Digital and HumanEyes partner to improve lenticular quality
Large format inkjet printer manufacturer Inca Digital and 3D/lenticular software specialist HumanEyes have been honing their skills and expertise to produce the best lenticular printing results that can be found today.
The volume and accuracy of the inkjet drop on an Inca Digital Spyder 320 enables printing onto10-40lpi (lenticule per inch) material commonly used in the wide format sector. An Inca Spyder press uses small 28 picolitre ink drops which, when combined with Inca software and highly tuned engineering, enables more lenticular ‘flips’ to be achieved and additional images to be seen than other flatbed equipment. As a result printers can now produce excellent lenticular results with relative ease.
“The higher the lpi, the narrower the lenticule and the thinner the lens. In order to create a lenticular effect we need to take several images/views and slice them into 1 pixel wide strips that are printed together under each lenticule to create the effect. The more slices we can put under a lenticule the greater the effect will be,” explained Amir Veresh, vice president of marketing & business development at HumanEyes. “We undertake regular tests with Inca Digital and have produced dramatic results which have considerable potential for creative display and promotion applications.”
HumanEyes, which supplies software to optimize the image adjustments required for lenticular, has worked closely with Inca Digital over the past 2 years. Paul Anderson, applications specialist for Inca Digital, said, “The higher the quality of the wide format machine the easier it is to handle lenticular and the lower the wastage level. The Spyder 320 and Spyder 150 have the advantage of a static bed, high resolution, low drop volume and extremely accurate drop placement. Last year Inca introduced the white option and this too enhances our lenticular capability.”
Veresh continued, “Customers buying flatbed presses are investing in quality, innovation, and speciality printing. Wide format flatbed is a natural market for lenticular because of the need for creativity differentiation and added value innovative applications.”
HumanEyes has recently released the new LensFree workflow that will allow users to print backlit 3D and other lenticular effects with plain glass (or plexiglass) replacing the lenticular lens. This, in the applicable cases, will reduce the cost of printing because glass is significantly cheaper than lenticular substrate and allows users to create new applications such as interior and exterior building decoration, highly durable signage. Inca’s Spyder printer produces excellent results on glass with many Inca customers printing onto glass regularly. This quality can partly be attributed to the printer’s colour gamut and a feature that allows the operator to define the percentage of ink jetted onto the substrate for depth and vibrancy.
Anderson said, “Lenticular 3D printing is increasingly popular for all areas of advertising promotion but particularly for point of sale and exhibition displays. It is proven that a dynamic image has up to 88 percent more impact in a busy sales environment. It is a mean of turning heads and making people look twice to see if the change they thought they saw really happened. Spyder has a great track record of printing onto glass, producing some exciting results so we’re looking forward to trying this out.”
“We believe that five years from now most high end digital wide format print shops will be providing their customers with lenticular printing services. With the growth in demand, lenticular lens’ prices will decrease and end product prices will reduce. Nevertheless, lenticular will always remain a speciality process and enjoy higher margins than conventional printing,” added Veresh.
Anderson concludes, “The quality and precision of printing on the Inca Spyder enables users to diversify into new markets. Machine accuracy is an important factor in good lenticular printing. In sharing our knowledge and the expertise of HumanEyes with Inca customers we enable these customers to produce excellent results too.”
