What is Lenticular Print?

Here at EBI we specialise in a wide variety of print solutions, from packaging to secure print to direct mail – but one of the techniques we are most often asked about is lenticular print.

One of our most eye-catching solutions, lenticular print has to be seen to be believed.

What makes lenticular print so attention-grabbing is the depth and motion it appears to have. When viewed at different angles, a lenticular print piece appears to move. This could mean the image appears to zoom in or out, the colours may change, or the characters or figures within the image may seem to be moving. Many different movements and effects are possible – the sky’s the limit!

It may appear to be magic, but there is a logic to lenticular print.

Lenticular printing uses tiny lens, which bend light to make things appear bigger or smaller. Without these lens, the effect would not be possible at all.

To create the image, we first take two different images – our “start point” and our “end point”, and digitally cut each image in dozens of thin strips. These strips are weaved together so that they alternate, in a process called interlacing.

After this, we place a transparent plastic layer made of many tiny hemi-spherical lens, which are called lenticles. This layer is able to bend the light that passes through it, so that depending on the angle you view the image from, you see only half of the printed strips. When you move either your head or the image, the image flips back and forth between its “start point” and “end point”, creating an illusion of movement and depth.

This entire process only works when it is printed with extreme precision – the lenticles must be exactly lined up with the strips underneath.

Here at EBI we stock a wide range of lens types, allowing us to achieve all sorts of effects, including flips, zoom and morph. Because of the precision required, it is sometimes only possible for a company to achieve lenticular printing on a larger canvas – but our expertise allows us to create the effect on a poster large enough to fit a bus stop (or larger!), or a card small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Intrigued? Contact us to find out more about lenticular printing, and how it can work for you.