Digital BW, The Print

Terry,

I am afraid you are right. It is a "we sell the materials and it is 
up to you to figure out how to use them" approach. There is nothing 
wrong with that if honestly communicated and given the size of the 
market even understandable.

It sort of comes down to the old chicken or the egg. They don't 
support the software end because the market is too small and the 
market does indeed stay small. It seems like there are a lot of 
questions about how to get started in quad printing from people who 
have very little knowledge in the area and, as Mark Tucker said in an 
earlier post, they are likely to buy something assuming there is some 
support when there isn't. When this occurs it is bad for everyone.

Hopefully as the market and interest does grow someone will take an 
interest in the software side and customize an existing profiling 
package specifically for quad inks.

Thanks,
Martin

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "TerryR" <terryr1028@h...> 
wrote:
> Martin,
> 
> 
> I really think the only reason that Inkjetmall offered the free 
> profiles was to generate interest in the ink prior to developing 
the 
> software that they intended to sell. Some manufacturers will offer 
> profiles usually with their brand of paper along with the ink, but 
> most choose not to for a good reason. Many potential buyers do not 
> yet understand how to utilize and apply the profiles which results 
in 
> great expense to support the profiles. The Enhanced Generations and 
> MIS archival inks have done exceptionally well even though there 
are 
> no profiles available.
> 
> Curves are a whole different ball of wax, even Cone makes you pay 
for 
> them with the Piezo B/W software. Paul Roark has probably done more 
> than anyone out there to help promote and generate interest in a 
> product that he does not even sell. I think that maybe with the 
> quads, many manufacturers treat the inks as paints if you will, 
> allowing the artist to utilize them in the way that they see fit. 
The 
> quad market is still relatively small and the attitude is that the 
> users that are interested are much more advanced.
> 
> There are a few companies that sell ink and paper that will offer 
> generic curves just to get someone interested in the products. I 
> guess that is just the nature of the market so to speak. I believe 
> that most companies will shy away from offering free curves, etc... 
> until the "novice" user can utilize them with little to no 
problems. 
> The vast majority of desktop users either do not have the tools, 
> time, or inclination to want to go that deep. Once there is an 
easier 
> way, maybe even at the O/S level, more interest will be shown by 
the 
> manufacturers.
> 
> Terry
> 
(snip)