Decal color experiment

[Holeinthehead2]

Decal color experiment. 
Obviously on clear (ordered white)
Colors come out like stained glass, so color of car effects end result. 
Areas that are white in the original art (photoshop)
Are clear on decal. 
Still determining what direction...

[Beans]

That is what I always experienced too.  Figured out that in order to get a totally opaque image you will need a printer that prints the actual color white.  Or use the white decal paper and get really good with an exacto knife

[Mike 1017]

You can also try to match the color of the background to the color that you painted the car with. Metallics won't work.

Mike

[peteski]

4 hours ago, Beans said:

That is what I always experienced too.  Figured out that in order to get a totally opaque image you will need a printer that prints the actual color white.  Or use the white decal paper and get really good with an exacto knife

That is exactly it.

Most computer printers (ink jet and laser) print using 3 translucent inks (cyan, magenta, yellow) and opaque black to produce a wide range of colors, but since they are translucent, they also require that the print media be white (like paper).  If you print your decal on clear decal film and apply the translucent image to a non-white surface, the color of the surface the decal is applied on will affect the color of the decal.  You need either opaque inks (not feasible in home printers) or white film decal paper.

Alps MicroDry printers are home printers which are capable of printing white ink and overlaying color inks over that, producing decals which can be applied to any color surface without affecting the final color.  But those are long discontinued and quite pricey of you can still find one working. They also use ink ribbon cartirdges which are getting harder to find and also expensive.