Mastering Lenticular Printing: A Comprehensive Guide to Materials, Techniques, and Printer Choices for Stunning Visuals – Let’s Lenticular [1]

If you recall my previous posts, I’ve had several meetings with HR because I didn’t go to work. First, I used all of my sick leave, then annual leave, then ADOs. At one point, I blamed my unstable mental health(I fell in love UwU dopamine overloaded) and requested unpaid leave, but I didn’t quit in the end because I still needed the income, I valued my gov.au email address, and I heard from people that you never get sacked from a cushy government job anyway.

So, the government doesn’t really fire you, even if you don’t show up for a whole week or sometimes, even two weeks. Instead, they arranged another meeting with higher-ups in HR and forced me to change my status from permanent to casual. So, since November, I’ve been secretly unemployed; well, I am employed, but I don’t request shifts, so I don’t know my exact employment situation. I can still use my gov.au account.

The other day, I had a job interview, sitting in my luxury chair, with a small Korean company of 18 staff, which relatively pays slightly better than the market. We chatted for an hour, asking questions back and forth, including the book I most recently read and my feelings from my last visit to Korea. You’d expect an instant job offer after an enthusiastic hour-long interview, but I received an email saying, “After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that…” Perhaps I was too dubious and had too many questions about the company’s existence while conveying a somewhat nonchalant attitude, stating, “I am currently working a cushy gov job, and I’ve heard a lot about Korean companies’ underpaying/overworking culture.” I’m still in doubt. I even asked the interviewer, “Why does such a small company pay more than a big corporation? It’s not very Korean, is it?”

When I applied for a job at Epson last week, I had to type in my expected salary for a year, excluding tax but including superannuation, so I typed 100,000 AUD, and I never heard from them again. As a loyal customer of Epson printers, it’s their loss (???). I just don’t like the idea of them assuming they’d hire someone who sets the lowest salary expectation with the highest degree and a lot of experience. I have an Epson printer; they’re alright, nothing spectacular or glorious. I bought it simply because I wanted to do lenticular imaging.

Let’s Lenticular!

Here are the requirements:

1. Lenticular Sheets/Films/Lenses: They are only sold in bulk, and the factories are either in China or the US. Either way, it’s not very cost-efficient, including shipping fees if you are a hobbyist like me. Don’t buy higher than 50 LPI¹! I purchased 50, 75, 100 LPI and had to discard the 75 and 100 LPI because those are only for laser; high-definition printers, not for us hobbyists. Stick to 17, 25, 40 or 50 LPI at max if you have a home photo printer or even high-end inkjets. ONLY those industrial superpower laser printers, can go over 75 LPI. Save your money, as I’ve learned this for you.
2. Photo Paper: Opt for high-quality and glossy ones. If you think about it, we are going to see the image reflecting through the lumpy layer over it, so I don’t think normal paper or matte photo paper will work great with it.
3. Masking Tape: You need to stick the photo to the lens eventually, or I found that UV glue² works better for me, even though it can be quite messy.
4. Software: I used Photoshop only because I pay yearly subscription, but use Grape instead because it’s free from mathematics, makes the process easier, faster, and it costs zero.
5. Printer: Buy Canon; I don’t like Epson.

See you in the Let’s Lenticular [2].

1. LPI: Lenticule Per Inch ↩︎
2. Unsurprisingly, I had a uv lamp anyway ↩︎