at the end of the day here...
with sublimation, there are so MANY variables, it really is down to what paul, and i, and others have said...PRACTICE....and then some more..
yeh you might go through 2 x 36 mugs, but it will get you the result you looking for - write ever time/temp/pressure increase / decrease downon note pad - go forward in increments of 10 +/-
not every machine out any factory will be the exact same.....not every paper / inks will work same as the other guys, not every mug/mouse mat or what ever will print the same, as each person had individual pressure / times / temps settings.....
you get where i,m coming from here...even if you go down the "cough" supported route, there will still be things to alter / tweak till you get the perfect result
so many variables it boils down to practice, trial n error = learn - how much cash you spend learning ( wasting mugs ) depends on how quick your own person learning curve is - some people get it very quick, others cant grasp some basic fundamentals and it takes em longer = more cash = more frustration