Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Martin Wesley" <
mwesley250@e...> wrote:
snip...
> My impression is that the idea of using ICC profiles to print with grayscale
> inks is not a new one. I gather that many people gave it a try but even the
> most sophisticated and expensive profile generators and spectrophotometers
> failed to produce profiles that gave satisfying prints.

Hi Martin, most of us dinking around with this stuff don't have all of 
the expensive toys, and various pieces of software to pull it all 
together.

> With Jon's announcement it would appear that they have made a breakthrough
> in this area, perhaps writing a profile generator designed to work with the
> very reduced color gamut of the gray inks.

Actually, I think existing software can characterize these sets very 
well. The trick is editing in good seps, and even properly evaluating 
an "ideal" sep based on info from the initial characterization profile, 
or other measurements. The RGB drivers are hard to manage in some 
areas.
From his statements, that hue, K ink, and paper white can be previewed 
I would gues they are standard RGB icc profiles, that somewhere along 
the way have been curved for good seps.
They could have arrived there a few ways, some beyond me. WHat would be 
very cool is if they were able to design the software for building the 
profile for an "ideal" that includes the partitioning, rather than 
standard color mapping.
What they are abandoning is the ability for a reinforced K, since the 
RGB can't do it. So choice of K ink will be more of a factor than with 
other 4 channel drivers that allow some UCA.
I think if people start really thinking about all of the ways to work 
with profiles, includiond editing after converting (while previewing), 
this system implies an openness not previously available.
Tyler