Two things the Product Designer does for products that wrap round and for printers that work in CMYK.
Turn a Mug in 3D
A side of a mug, a tumbler or a bottle is printed flat and then wraps round. Mark that side and shoppers see their design on the real shape, and turn it:
- Open the product, then Product Designer › OPEN DESIGNER, and pick the side that wraps.
- In the 3D View card, switch on Wraps Around.
- Type the Diameter and the Height in cm (a 325 ml mug is about 8.2 cm across and 9.5 cm high), and switch Has a Handle on or off. The card says how far round the print area goes ("78% of the way around"): the middle of the print area faces the shopper first and the handle is opposite it.
- Press SAVE.
What the shopper sees: a 3D button on that side in the designer and under its picture on Check Your Design. It opens the design on a lit, glazed cylinder. They drag or swipe to turn it, use the arrow keys, or press the two turn buttons. Back closes it. On a phone or computer that cannot draw 3D, the design is shown laid flat instead.
The 3D view is only a preview: the price and the print files stay as they are (the print area, flat, the way it is printed). Its code loads only when a shopper opens it, so your product pages and the designer stay as fast as before.
CMYK PDFs for Your Printer
Print files are made in sRGB, which most print shops and DTG printers take. An offset press or a print shop that works in CMYK may ask for CMYK files. Turn them on and every print file also comes as a PDF in CMYK:
- Ask your print shop which profile they print with. Most coated-paper presses in India and Europe use Coated FOGRA39; some send you their own profile (a file ending in .icc or .icm).
- In Settings › Product page › Product Designer, switch on CMYK PDF for Printing and press SAVE.
- Under CMYK Profile, keep Coated FOGRA39, or choose Your Print Shop's Profile and, in the Print Profile card below it, press UPLOAD PROFILE and pick their file (up to 12 MB). Mercayo checks it is a CMYK printing profile and keeps it private. REPLACE changes it; REMOVE goes back to Coated FOGRA39.
Files made from then on have the CMYK PDF beside the PDF, PNG and SVG: on the order's Print Files card (DOWNLOAD PDF (CMYK)), in the Print Queue (each file's menu, and PDF in CMYK in DOWNLOAD ZIP) and for your print partner (Files to Send).
What is in the file: the print area with its bleed (and crop marks, if you turn those on) as one CMYK picture at the area's print quality, converted with relative colorimetric intent and black point compensation, and the profile named and embedded in the file, the way PDF/X files say how their colours are meant to print. Where the design has nothing, no ink is laid.
Text is pixels in this file. Words and shapes are drawn at the print size and DPI (300 DPI is sharp for a mug or a card), not kept as fonts. Your printer can still use the sRGB PDF, which keeps them as vectors, for anything printed very large.
A CMYK file that would be over 50 MB (a very large area at a high DPI) is not made: the order's card says so, and the PDF and PNG are ready as usual.
Settings
In Settings › Product page › Product Designer:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| CMYK PDF for Printing | Off | Every print file also comes as a PDF in CMYK |
| CMYK Profile | Coated FOGRA39 | The profile the CMYK PDF goes through, or your print shop's own one |
Mercayo may set either for your store. The 3D view is set on each product's side, not in Settings.
Questions
Where does Coated FOGRA39 come from? It is the "Coated FOGRA39 (VIGC 300%)" profile from the International Color Consortium's profile registry, made by VIGC with X-Rite and shared for anyone to use and embed. Mercayo uses it unchanged.
Can I see the CMYK colours before printing? Open the PDF in a viewer that shows CMYK (Adobe Acrobat's Output Preview) or ask your print shop for a proof. Bright screen colours (a vivid green, a neon pink) print duller in CMYK on any press.