Lcars printing question..help needed

S

saberMaN

Well-Known Member
hey guys

does anyone know of a good material to print a lcars display on? a friend of mine owns a printer store and i need to know which paper or other type of material to use. it will be backlit with tinted plexi on top. but i dont want it to look "paperish"

any help or advice would be very heplful

thanks

saberman
 
Looks great, Bobatrek! (Love your website, btw :thumbsup)

Do you have any pics/examples of your printed graphics backlit?
 
what im worried about is it looking to paperish when backlit but it appears from those photos archivial paper seems to be a decent choice

any more pics??
 
saberMaN Do not print it on paper, it will look cheap. You have a friend who owns a print shop? He should be able to tell you which material you can get for a good price. Again I have seen crapy trek graphics sold on ebay. All printed on paper.
 
Last edited:
If you don't print on the right materials, you will get bad results over time. Have you ever put a paper in the window and checked it in a week? The image is faded. Same with printing on paper. Over time the image will fade when backlit.
 
Although I have had no complaints in regards to fading over time, I will follow up with this.

I have put in a call to my supplier - that sounds bad - to see what he can tell me. I will also put a sample up in the attic window and see that happens over time - say two weeks in direct sunlight? I'll keep you posted.
 
Well I am not sure how you are light the graphic and for how long, But someone else could have it backlit with a light that never goes off. Over time it will fade. (That is a fact.) Also the effect you get with paper is not good. When you hold a photo to the light, you can see the grain/fibers of the paper.

If you end up doing it cheap, you end up with something cheap. You get what you pay for. There is a reason why the art department didn't use paper for backlit graphics.

I have spent many years researching over books, magazines, dvds ..etc, to find the right information on making the graphics from show. Trust me I know the right way and the wrong way to do graphics.
 
Check with your local commercial electrical sign shop. Their job is to supply lighted graphics for use indoors & outdoors. UV resistance is the determining factor on what will fade quickly and what won't. Different types of light sources put off different amounts of UV and use outdoors is always subject to sunlight. Tell them what you are trying to do. If they do any lighted digital graphics for Point of Purchase companies they will know what to use. There are many different films and inks that work best with them, there are clear spray & adhesive vinyl overlaminates and different printers. Each combination works differently so you need to see what works for them.
Below is a good supplier of materials, their pdf catalog will answer many questions.
http://www.fellers.com/
Catalog link
http://www.fellers.com/index.cfm/spKey/products.htm?spId=AF3E3842-9EE0-D5A2-89226E085550C435
 
Too bad we can't get together, Joe! I have been researching Trek and especially LCARS panels for well over a decade for my site and the panels I am printing I have been doing for over six years.

I agree with you - poor paper will fade, as will the ink, but this is why it is being done on archival paper which is, well, made for archival purposes, i.e. to last a very long time.

Mine do look great backlit, and no, they won't last forever, but I have found is that my buyers want a mix of affordability and durability. They get this. I still have one of my first printed panels and it is as crisp and beautiful as when it was finished.
 
Okay, as of noon, I have placed the below in the back of my car so it will receive the most sunlight possible.

I'll post on it in a week to show the fading degree.
 
Too bad we can't get together, Joe! I have been researching Trek and especially LCARS panels for well over a decade for my site and the panels I am printing I have been doing for over six years.
Click to expand...

I did ask you, about a year or two back, but you did not want to. :/

Right now I am ok working on my own.
 
IIRC, what I didn't want to do was send you an original AI file for one of the ships I had... I don't think anyone here would disagree with me on that.

Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect and admiration for you and your work - it is simply gorgeous! That being said, I would love to buy one of your finished Starbase MSDs - can you PM me with size and price options?
 
umm..I never asked for ai files, I wanted to see if you wanted to buy my illustrator files?


As to buying the starbase msd you can look in the yarkyard section for the thread on this. The sizes and price is in the thread, I will not do different size. The size I have there is the only size I am making now.

bobatrek said:
IIRC, what I didn't want to do was send you an original AI file for one of the ships I had... I don't think anyone here would disagree with me on that.

Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect and admiration for you and your work - it is simply gorgeous! That being said, I would love to buy one of your finished Starbase MSDs - can you PM me with size and price options?
Click to expand...
 
You are right - you did ask, but I didn't have the funds at the time to buy your AIs. I apologize - my mistake.

I checked the JY but I guess I'm blind. I saw the post with the Star Base and the three sizes for your MSDs:

46"x23"
60"x40"
100"+

But I can't locate the prices you posted.
 
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