Printing Design; Color Printing; Full-Panel Ribbon; Short-Panel Ribbon - DataCard SD260 Installation And Administration Manual

Printing Design

Color Printing

Color print ribbon is available in full‐panel and short‐panel styles.

Full-Panel Ribbon

Full‐panel color printing uses a print ribbon
with three color panels: Y (yellow),
M (magenta), and C (cyan). The ribbon also
includes a K (black) panel and a T (topcoat)
panel. The printer applies the YMC color panels to the card first, prints black
components using the K panel, and then applies the T (topcoat) to protect the
color image from damage.
Laminating printers support full‐color print ribbons without a topcoat (T) panel.
These include YMCK and YMCKK ribbon. The topcoat or patch overlay applied by
the laminators provides protection against wear and color fading, so the print
ribbon topcoat panel is not needed for most overlay materials. However,
DuraShield overlay materials require that the ribbon topcoat be applied first.
Laminating printers also
support full‐color print ribbon
with a front‐side ultraviolet
(UV) fluorescing panel, YMCKF‐KT. The UV printing is undetectable under normal
lighting and is meant to provide another form of security. Refer to your printer's
Driver Guide for more information about setting up a card design that uses the
UV panel.

Short-Panel Ribbon

Color print ribbon also is available in a short‐
panel option. The color area for short‐panel
ribbon is 1.57 inches (40 mm). The ymc panels of
short‐panel ribbon are approximately half the
length of a full card. (In this guide, "ymc" in lowercase, instead of "YMC," refers to
"short‐panel" color panels.)
When you print with short‐panel print ribbon, you define the location of the color
area in the card design. Color printing begins when the software detects a color
pixel and continues for the length of the ymc panels.
14 Elements of Card Design