What Is a Lenticular Printing and How It Works

Struggling to stand out or position your brand is a thing of the past. Now, you can grab attention with ease using three-dimensional (3D) lenticular printing!

What is a lenticular? It is a material with different angles of reflection. This attribute of lenticulars makes them unique and impressive when used for prints. Multiple images combine in one lenticular print to give an illusion of a moving or 3D object when viewed from a different angle. Let us take a deeper dive to understand what is lenticular printing.

What is Lenticular Printing?

Lenticular printing refers to specially prepared graphics designed to work alongside a lenticular lens. This allows viewers to see different images depending on the angle they view from. Designing graphics to give this effect is known as “interlacing.” Interlaced images are a set of multiple images in their desired sequence used to create the illusion of motion or 3D.

Lenticular-printed everyday products include business cards, postcards, bookmarks, greeting cards, notebooks, posters, stickers, and magnets.

What is a lenticular card? Lenticular prints grab the attention of everyone who sees them, which is why they are used for movie posters. They are also great for child audiences and printing materials for schools.

Lenticular Printing Technology

How does lenticular printing work? This technology allows for the creation of 3D images. The process begins with capturing two or more images from different perspectives. These images are then printed on a special lenticular lens sheet. When viewed from different angles, the images appear to move or change. For example, a lenticular image of a person might appear to be smiling when viewed from one angle and frowning when viewed from another.

They can be used to create a wide variety of 3D effects, including animation, zoom, and rotation. The technology is often used for marketing purposes, as it can help make products more eye-catching and memorable. However, it also has a wide range of applications.

How to Сreate a Lenticular Print Design

What is lenticular art? When creating a design, the first thing is to decide on the effect you want. The list of effects isn’t inexhaustible, but they’re enough to get you noticed. After that, you’d only need to choose between animation and 3D.

The zoom, flip, and morph effects are under the animation category. The zoom effect makes an object appear nearer or farther, as the case may be. Tilting or flipping the art activates the flip effect. Lastly, the morph effect transforms the object or image into something entirely different or partly similar. This transformation can be dramatic.

What Is 3D Lenticular Printing?

3D lenticular is made from 3D art. Therefore, they have a certain depth that makes them look realistic. Although you do not need to add depth files to your 3D art, including them will make your prints mirror real-life objects better.

That said, there are things you’d want to avoid when designing for a 3D print. These include:

• A white or light-colored background: images and transformations become difficult to notice

• An overly complex animation: they are challenging to recreate, and there’s a good chance you won’t get the desired outcome. The best designs are usually subtle and not overt.

• Difficult to read fonts: some font types are not the easiest to read and should be avoided. These include tiny fonts, serif or italicized fonts, and fanciful fonts.

• Only use hi-resolution images, at least 300dpi. Using quality images will ensure your prints are quality.

What to Look for in a Lenticular Printing Service

When searching for a lenticular printing service, the most important thing to ensure is that the printing company has a history of previous jobs you can look up. Prints like this can be challenging to recreate. As such, only do business with a company that has a proven record of delivering quality.

Usually, these companies have in-house experts vet your artwork to ensure they are up to standards and will only print if this is the case. Some printing services offer free online proof and will only print when they give you the nod and you approve.

4over4.com is one of the few 3D printing services that fit the bill. We have been around for over 20 years and are vastly experienced in all kinds of prints.

To order your prints, visit our page., choose the lenticular product you want to print. You'd get a price estimate before checking out. Finally, upload your design in EPS or vector format.

If you are wondering how to make a lenticular card or how to make lenticular photocards, we'd be happy to help. Talk to us now.

FAQs

Q: What is a lenticular poster?

Lenticular posters are pieces of lenticular art created using the lenticular technique. This technology uses lenticular lenses to create the illusion of 3D display or motion lenticular. By alternating between two different images, the lenticular picture can flip from one to the other, giving an optical illusion.

Q: how do lenticular images work?

Lenticular printing is a technology that utilizes lenticular lenses to refract images, allowing for the creation of printed images with an illusion of depth or animation effects. The method of lenticular printing was first patented by Gavin Hess in the US. The process involves interlacing two distinct images into a single lenticular photo, creating an effect where the image transition one to another.

Q: What is lenticular technology used for?

A: Lenticular technology is commonly used to create products such as lenticular wall art, lenticular posters, 3D images, and animated graphics.

Q: What are the types of lenticular effects that can be achieved?

A: Lenticular printing can create effects such as flips, morphs, animation, and 3D depth perception, depending on the design and printing process used.

Q: Can lenticular printing be used for creating 3D images?

A: Yes, lenticular printing is often used to produce 3D images that appear to have depth and dimension when viewed with the naked eye.

Q: What are the benefits of using lenticular printing for artwork?

A: lenticular graphics offer the ability to create eye-catching images that change or move, making them more engaging for the viewer's experience.

Q: How can one create a lenticular print?

A: To create a lenticular print, one needs to interlace multiple images with an illusion of depth or animation and then print them using the lenticular technology to achieve the desired effect.

Q: What is the resolution of a lenticular print measured in?

A: The resolution of a lenticular print is measured in LPI (lines per inch), indicating the number of lens lines per inch on the lenticular sheet, with higher LPI resulting in better image quality.