Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Antonis Ricos" <antonisphoto@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 1:00 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: OPM in theory (to Martin's q.)


> Martin,
>
> there may be more OPM profiles in the future, but this isn't necessarily a
> commitment on the part of Bowhaus. They may share profiles they make for
> themselves as much as I and others may share here on the list.  The only
> limitation to this free-flow is that increasingly IJC users will take
advantage of
> the individual ink controls and load up their inks in a non-standard
order.  That
> would make for yet another variable in the matching game.

Antonis,

I really wasn't thinking that Bowhaus would provide a lot of profiles but
rather that new profiles would be shared by users. Some general standards on
ink order would be helpful though but obviously voluntary.
>
> Development of OPM - not just profiles - seems to proceed very slowly;
bursts
> of new stuff and real progress followed by periods of complete stagnation.
If
> you look at their web site, Bowhaus is primarily a company that offers
> scanning and printing services. IJC is a byproduct of their inhouse needs.
In
> that sense, IJC is here to stay and has a long future, but at the same
time
> development isn't likely to proceed at the pace a real software company
might
> be able to sustain.  If they only figured out how to support the large
format
> printers without the present limitations,  their pricing would make this
the
> bargain of the decade. But  it is what it is, and when they are ready to
move to
> the next revision we'll see what happens.
>
> As for tools to help with partitioning the inks, there is indirect help
within IJC,
> but no "tools" per se.  Deciding where to start an ink and how to taper it
off,
> however, isn't as difficult as it sounds. A new user has plenty of
existing
> profiles as guides, and the software has an amazing feature in which it
can
> automatically print all active inks (jets) separately one after the other
in a
> 0-100% grayscale. So you get to see what each ink is doing as well as a
> composite of all these together in a separate grayscale.

That sounds pretty slick. Are you using this to fine tune individual prints
or just the prewritten profiles?
>
>  If you look closely at the composite grayscale, you begin to see the
effects of
> bringing, say. a darker ink into the lighter values: you see the device
dots that
> happen as the ink starts to kick in. By moving it further down "under" the
> heavier densities of the lighter ink, you can successfully hide those
dots.
>
> It's actually fun to play with this because soon you will realize the
benefit of
> the smaller-drop-size printers: you can get away with bringing a darker
ink
> further up towards lighter values because the smaller device dots don't
> become apparent quite so easily. Thus a 2200 has a huge advantage over,
> say, a 7000 which appears clunky by comparison. Or, by the same approach,
> you get to use all 6 inks in a 7000 to hide its dots much better  than
software
> that only uses 4 inks. Plus you know what each nozzle does. IP, as an
> example,  randomly picks among the pair of inks of the same density (Cyan
/
> Photo Cyan, Magenta / Photo Magenta) in an effort to equalize their usage.
If
> you have a bad nozzle in one of your heads, good luck tracking it down,
plus
> you are waisting 2 ink positions that could be used as toners.

Interesting about the 2200 vs. the 7000. Where do you think the 7600 falls
in comparison?
>
> Another consideration in  adjusting how "soon" a darker ink comes into the
> gray scale has to do with the total load of ink that is layed down  for
that part of
> the scale. Less actual fluid is needed to produce the same density with a
> darker ink than with a lighter one. Something to think about when tweaking
to
> reduce bronzing in glossy papers, for example.
>
> All this is swell and wonderful, as they say, except it won't run on your
PC - so
> how about we swap one of my Macs for one of your PCs and then I get to
test
> the Ergosoft RIP!...  : - )

Too bad I don't have that 386 with the 8 MB of DIMM chip RAM. I could make
you a great deal. Actually this could be a great opportunity for Mac users
to sell off older machines to PC users for OPM and buy newer Mac's. Wait a
minute! Do I smell a conspiracy here!<G>
>
> Oh well, enough theory - let's go make some prints now....

You don't get much mileage on the list doing that. <G>

(snip earlier)