Digital BW, The Print

Robert,

A RIP is generally associated with printing page layouts from programs like 
Quark, using Postscript. However, because this gives you access to CMYK 
values, people have used RIPs to produce quad workflows. Doing so on your 
own when you are new to the field is really not advisable.

RIPs come in 2 flavors: software and hardware. The latter are faster and 
dedicated to certain machines,  while the software (most with copy protection) 
are more versatile because drivers can be added. Most RIPs work on PCs,  
some, like ImagePrint, also work under Mac OS 9. 

Bottom line, if your printer is supported by the R9 / inkjetmall / Conetech piezo 
plug in, that's your cheapest, easiest way to print quads. Leave buying a RIP 
until you understand  quad partitioning workflows and have lots of time, ink 
and paper on your hands. Actually,  no ink on your hands is needed!

The other alternative that's even cheaper than the above are Paul Roark's 
RGB curves that work with the MIS inks and the Epson driver. You can 
research our archives and address questions to resident guru Paul himself.

As for inks, besides MIS, there is a more expensive inkset sold by inkjetmall 
that produces deeper blacks and has some different hues to choose from: 
PiezoTone inks. 

Good luck


Antonis




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Robert C Wittig" <rwittig@c...> 
wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm new to the group and a total newbie to the B&W Print field.
> 
> I am planning on purchasing an Epson 3000 printer (used), and using MIS
> Quadtone inks with it, to produce B&W images.
> 
> My first question is about RIPs... I have about a week's on-line research
> behind me on printers, etc., and have just this morning finally
> discovered that a RIP is a Raster Image Processor.<g> Although there is a
> lot of stuff written about them on-line, most of it is still over my
> head.
> 
> I currently have Photoshop and Illustrator, plus a lot of other Imaging
> softwares, bit raster and vector, and I understand the basics of those
> programs, and the difference between raster and vector images pretty
> well.
> 
> Is a RIP for an Epson 3000 a physical chip, software, or both?
> Is a RIP either necessary or advisable, if one has Photoshop/
> Illustrator... and therefore the capability of rasterizing vector images
> in Photoshop?
> Is a PostScript RIP the best, for what I am intending to do, or are there
> better choices?
> What is the cost involved... roughly?
> 
> I'm sure there are a lot of questions I am not yet informed enough to
> even now, to ask, so I will stop here.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any suggestion, comments, URL's, etc. that anyone
> has to offer.
> 
> 
> -wittig http://www.robertwittig.com/
> A business is as honest as its advertisements.
> .