3D effect without glasses! About lenticular printing

19 August 2021

It takes approx. 3 minutes to read this article

With the help of a special film, lenticular printing allows you to achieve optical illusions on flat images and without the need for special instruments.

Lenticular printing is not very impressive and is most popular in the advertising and printing industry. The technology to create it is still developing rapidly, which allows to reduce the costs associated with the production of this type of material, even in small print runs. The availability of software to convert images specifically for printing allows you to obtain 3D effects also at home.

What is lenticular printing?

Lenticular printing enables creation of printing products with animated and spatial effects. This method is based on the use of lenticular film (lenticular) on the appropriately prepared image. Then the image is printed on an inkjet printer, combined with the lenticular foil and laminated.

Lenticular foil is made of transparent material – polystyrene, polyesters or polypropylene – and does not absorb light, thanks to which the printouts obtained are very bright and clear. On one side the surface of the film is smooth, and on the other side it is embossed with lenses

Applied to the image prepared in a special program, it gives the impression of movement and depth when moving the print. The lenses must be properly matched to the image, which is an extremely difficult task requiring precision.

When we change the angle of the print, the part of the image under the lens changes. The latter works similarly to a magnifying glass, zooming in on individual elements.

Types of

There are several visual effects that can be achieved with lenticular printing:

3D – some elements are “pulled” from a flat surface, creating an impression of depth;
flip – the transition of one image to another when changing the viewing angle, the change of images is abrupt;
morphing – gradual change of one image into another;
zoom – a gradually increasing or decreasing object;
animation – effect that creates the illusion of movement in an image, obtained with the help of a sequence of interlaced images.

Application

Lenticular printing allows you to achieve interesting and impressive prints, which attract the attention of the audience. Although this technique is not used so often nowadays, it is still widely used in many areas:

production of various promotional and advertising materials and products;
production of printing products: calendars, stickers, discount cards, business cards, postcards, notebooks, etc;
decoration of gifts and souvenirs;
creating gadgets: mouse pads, key rings, magnets;
creation of inserts with animations and special effects for brochures, catalogs, leaflets, calendars;
large format printing of lenticular posters, mobile advertisements, display panels;
outdoor advertising: citylights, stands, as well as billboards created from several interconnected 3D sheets, etc.

Lenticular printing is most appreciated in marketing. Studies show that three-dimensional images better and longer attract the attention of recipients, as well as more memorable.

A technological innovation is the special fly-eye film, which allows you to observe the effects from all angles, not only in a position perpendicular to the viewer, as required by ordinary film.

Main photo: Tom Claes/unsplash.com