- Trapping... anyone know anything about it?

I've found that when trying to print small white type on dark colorful backgrounds, the ink tends to want to bleed into the type. A graphic artist I know told me that the trapping option in Photoshop can correct this problem to some extent.

The file I am trying to print is a TIFF cd-face (which you peel off and stick on the CD) and the paper is glossy.

What "trapping" value would you recommend to help with the printing? How does this work?

I am printing 6-7pt white text on black background, from a home PC onto an HP Deskjet 930c.

in article nofxb.123732$, The Cerebral Ass ©
at wrote on 11/26/03 8:50 PM:

I've found that when trying to print small white type on dark colorful backgrounds, the ink tends to want to bleed into the type. A graphic artist I know told me that the trapping option in Photoshop can correct this problem to some extent.

The file I am trying to print is a TIFF cd-face (which you peel off and stick on the CD) and the paper is glossy.

What "trapping" value would you recommend to help with the printing? How does this work?

I am printing 6-7pt white text on black background, from a home PC onto an HP Deskjet 930c.

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Photoshop trapping will not help much to your inkjet.
You need larger or fatter or bold type.
-
High end Ripping can save such type in a black background. At least - make sure your black is only black
and not a mixture of colors.
You are probably in RGB though.
-

MSD

Trapping is a technique used in the printing industry to reduce ink registration issues.
Since CMYK is by definition is a 4 color process, each sheet of paper has to be gripped, registered, and printed four separate times; once for each color. The mechanical process of registering a sheet of paper at four different ink stations is one of hope and optimism. If you are printing on white paper and you have a red area that is surrounded by a black border, any misalignment, red or black, will result in a white gap between the red and black. Trapping introduces an overlap so that misalignment is hidden. The idea is to print lighter colors first and oversized then print with black or dark colors, 'trapping' the lighter colors with the dark color. There is more information in the Photoshop Help Files under...

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Printing (Photoshop) > Creating color traps

After you have converted an image to CMYK, you can adjust the color trap. Trap is the overlap needed to ensure that a slight misalignment or movement of the plates while printing does not affect the final appearance of the print job. If any distinctly different colors in your image touch, you may need to overprint them slightly to prevent tiny gaps from appearing when the image is printed. This technique is known as trapping. In most cases, your print shop will determine if trapping is needed and tell you what values to enter in the Trap dialog box.

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HTH

Mr3

"The Cerebral Ass

Trapping is not something you need with regard to a HP deskjet. You need to make the type bigger, 6-7pt is very small and is at the limit of readability for black ink on white paper, you can do what Wharfrat suggested and use a larger or bolder font.

What about creating the text in black or another colour and have a white surround instead. It can be done in illustrator but I am not sure about photoshop though. In illustrator change the type to black/relevant colour then make a stroke of 1-3pts in white for that text object using the appearance palette, remember to put the stroke behind the fill.

Stuart

The Cerebral Ass © wrote:

I've found that when trying to print small white type on dark colorful backgrounds, the ink tends to want to bleed into the type. A graphic artist I know told me that the trapping option in Photoshop can correct this problem to some extent.

The file I am trying to print is a TIFF cd-face (which you peel off and stick on the CD) and the paper is glossy.

What "trapping" value would you recommend to help with the printing? How does this work?

I am printing 6-7pt white text on black background, from a home PC onto an HP Deskjet 930c.

Layer Styles>Stroke.
Or outer glow?

I've used this before for a quick fix too.

"Stuart" wrote in message

Trapping is not something you need with regard to a HP deskjet. You need to make the type bigger, 6-7pt is very small and is at the limit of readability for black ink on white paper, you can do what Wharfrat suggested and use a larger or bolder font.

What about creating the text in black or another colour and have a white surround instead. It can be done in illustrator but I am not sure about photoshop though. In illustrator change the type to black/relevant colour then make a stroke of 1-3pts in white for that text object using the appearance palette, remember to put the stroke behind the fill.

Stuart

The Cerebral Ass