Sticker advice wanted

[jonwil]

1.What program do people use to make their stickers? (a free solution would be nice)

2.Does anyone have a suitable sticker template for any of these parts:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6239 the tail used on many recent smaller airplanes and helicoptors

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=64453 the windscreen used in trucks and stuff

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=52031 the curved roof piece used for trucks and vans and stuff

3.Can anyone tell me how to get accurate color matching so that when I print on my Canon Pixma MP-510, I can get proper color matches?

Specifically I am interested in matching Dark Green, Dark Blue, Light Bluish Grey, Red and Yellow.

I attempted to use the color values from http://www.peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/colorguide.cgi but they dont produce accurate results for some reason (the dark blue came out looking purple and the light bluish grey came out looking pink)

I am printing onto glossy standard size photo paper with a sticky back.

[Legoless]

I believe I am correct in saying that TLG uses the standard RAL colour palette- this is a universal colour system whereby each shade of each colour (albeit a finite number of them) are allocated an RAL Code- this is so that if Factory A is assembling widgets made by Supplier B and Supplier C, both suppliers will have painted the parts in (hopefully) matching colours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAL_%28color_space_system%29

If you can discover the correct RAL code for the items then you might have more luck in printing. However, printers vary a lot in colour production, also your printer settings will affect it. Also, different inks and coloured plastics will age differently- making colour match a case of trial and error.

[jonwil]

http://www.peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/colorguide.cgi implies that LEGO use Pantone colors.

[davee123]

[Peeron's Official LEGO Color Guide] implies that LEGO use Pantone colors.

Or, at least they did in 2003-- that's when LEGO gave Peeron the color palette (JUST before they switched to the new colors, oddly enough). They also gave us the RGB and CMYK values that they use, again (assumably) for the 2003/2004 palette.

Technically, the RGB/CMYK colors that LEGO uses aren't necessarily the color of the BRICKS, but rather the color that they print in various printed media to try and match the color-- possibly including instruction (I'm not sure).

Also, remember that your printer's calibration could be different than what's used in LEGO. Plus, you're using an inkjet, which can vary depending on the ink levels in your print cartridge. You MIGHT get better results with a color laser printer (but those are expensive, of course).

DaveE

Edited May 28, 2011 by davee123

[Lego Otaku]

Also, remember that your printer's calibration could be different than what's used in LEGO. Plus, you're using an inkjet, which can vary depending on the ink levels in your print cartridge. You MIGHT get better results with a color laser printer (but those are expensive, of course).

DaveE

Prints does look better with color laser printer, and they aren't expensive if you look in the right place, and snub at the genuine toner carts. I got mine brand new for only $87 USD. Originally it was around $300 new, they were on clearance sale at Office Depot, plus they honored the $50 printer trade in because the original price was higher than $199 so final price was only $87.

Printed about 100 pages before I got low toner warning on the starter set. $80 later with DIY refill kit, I could go about 500 more pages (manual claims over 2,000 but that's mostly text with limited picture, I do mostly manual and quick photo). The starter cart for Samsung color laser printers didn't need chipping if it's refilled before it runs empty.

True the per-page cost can be a bit higher than ink but I do have the benefit of not changing carts after every 100 prints, not worrying about bad prints due to clogged nozzles, not worry about leaking ink from well used printer, don't have to worry about paper getting wet as toner don't run like ink, and not bemoaning about spending another $50 for full set of genuine ink carts that only lasts 100-150 full page photo prints. If I needed quality photo prints, a trip to local Walmart is usually better and still cheap.

As for the software, many people used Microsoft Office or Word but if you don't want to pay a lot for it, you could try Open Office instead. In the program, start word processing, then you use menu Insert - > Picture -> from File. Browse to the file you saved and load that. Once the picture is loaded, double-click the picture to get options. Select Type tab (if not on it), then click Keep Ratio (if not checked) and set the size to match LEGO's part size. For minifig, the sizes are listed in Minifig customization. For other parts, you'd need to measure it or find the information beforehand.

Edited May 29, 2011 by Lego Otaku

[jonwil]

Tried printing a few test pages and the colors came out a bit wierd.

So I called Canon support and they told me to try "deep nozzle cleaning".

Tried that and my printer printed nice bright yellow.

Now I just need to hope that I can find some correct RGB values for my paint program that will (when printed) match the colors of the bricks they will be applied to (especially the dark blue and the light bluish grey)