Nail printing apparatus and printing control method for nail print apparatus

A nail printing apparatus comprising:

• a finger/toe placement section including a placement surface on which at least one of a finger and a toe is placed, the at least one of the finger and the toe having a nail on which a drawing is to be made;
• a drawing tool which touches a surface of the nail of the at least one of the finger and the toe placed on the placement surface and makes the drawing on the surface of the nail;
• a drive unit which moves the drawing tool;
• and
• a control unit which controls the drive unit, wherein
• when the drive unit moves the drawing tool while drawing on the surface of the nail, the control unit controls the drive unit so as to perform drawing direction limiting processing in which the drawing tool is allowed to move from a first point of the surface of the nail to a second point of the surface of the nail which is lower in height above the placement surface than the first point and the drawing tool is prohibited from moving from the second point to the first point in a first area and a second area of the surface of the nail, the first area being set on one side of a center line of the nail in a width direction of the nail, and being an area except a first specific area, the second area being set on the other side of the center line of the nail in the width direction, and being an area except a second specific area;
• each of the first specific area and the second specific area is an area for which a specific figure is to be drawn, the specific figure being a series of figure in a design to be drawn on the nail and being a figure for which a moving distance of the drawing tool in the width direction is shorter than a predetermined limit value;
• and
• the control unit controls the drive unit so as to draw the specific figure in continuity without performing the drawing direction limiting processing in the first specific area and the second specific area.

A printing control method for a nail printing apparatus including a finger/toe placement section including a placement surface on which at least one of a finger and a toe is placed, the at least one of the finger and the toe having a nail on which a drawing is to be made;

• and a drawing tool which touches a surface of the nail of the at least one of the finger and the toe placed on the placement surface and makes the drawing on the surface of the nail, the method comprising:
• performing drawing direction limiting processing when the drawing tool is moved while drawing on the surface of the nail in a first area and a second area of the surface of the nail, the first area being set on one side of a center line of the nail in a width direction of the nail, and being an area except a first specific area, the second area being set on the other side of the center line of the nail in the width direction, and being an area except a second specific area, the drawing direction limiting processing being processing in which the drawing tool is allowed to move from a first point of the surface of the nail to a second point of the surface of the nail which is lower in height above the placement surface than the first point and the drawing tool is prohibited from moving from the second point to the first point, wherein
• each of the first specific area and the second specific area is an area for which a specific figure is to be drawn, the specific figure being a series of figure in a design to be drawn on the nail and being a figure for which a moving distance of the drawing tool in the width direction is shorter than a predetermined limit value;
• and
• the specific figure is drawn in continuity without the drawing direction limiting processing in the first specific area and the second specific area.