Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Martin 
Wesley" <mwesley250@e...> wrote:
> 
> Roy,
> 
> Being on Windows I'm afraid I haven't followed QT-RIP any 
better than
> IJC/OPM. It too needs to be included in the discussion of 
software that
> offers both a "canned" and detailed control approach.
> 
> Sounds like you have the potential to do what Sundance is 
doing with the
> Septone inks and Pixelpixasso, that is have two sets of 3 gray 
inks in the
> printer with a single black and use software to blend say warm 
and cool
> grays as desired. Or am I getting this wrong?

Sure, you can easily use those inks.   But I would think you
could actually make better use of 7 inks.   Like a photo and
a matte black,  or  toners that would make it easy to split tone.
Maybe 4 grays and c,m and y to make any tone you like.
The thing I like is the flexibility to decide on your own
personal scheme.

On my 7500, my plan is to use 5 grays and 1 toner so I can
get neutral prints as good as the 1160 even though the
7500 has much larger dots.  The sepia prints are less 
important to me but I'll still have that capability.  You asked
earlier whether all these new workflows could produce 
better prints -- I'm hoping yes because I can taylor the ink
set to what the printer needs and what I consider the most
important.


> >
> > After working for a while with these "raw" 16-bit curves, I 
found
> > that
> > partitioning at this level is very simple.  So the new and 
exciting
> > thing is another program I'm calling QuadProfile.  With a 
couple
> > of very straightforward calibration steps to measure the 
relative
> > densities of the various inks, all the partitioning curves are
> > generated automatically.  This works for any set and any 
number
> > of inks.  The generated curves give a monotonically 
increasing
> > density but the exact shape can be customized.  Adding toner 
to
> > the gray is fairly easy but manual so far.
> 
> Is this all written down some place on the net where people 
can go and check
> it out? I know you have probably posted it but it can't hurt to put 
it out
> there again.

I'm working on that.  Descriptions of what and how seem to
take by far the most time.

> >
> > I'm sure this will raise lots of questions so here's a few 
answers:
> >
> > System?
> > This is a Mac OS X system -- Linux if you do the port.
> 
> Being a Mac dummy, does mean you cannot do what people 
are considering with
> OPM. Buy a cheap used Mac G3 and use it as a print server? 
How much
> computing power do you need to run QT-RIP?

Well it does have to run OS X which is a little more demanding
but with extra memory I would think a G3 would do it.  I've
got to get around to loading a old iBook as see for myself.

> 
> >
> > Printers?
> > Any Epson printer supported by Gimp-print is possible.  I'm
> > figuring on all the 4-digit model numbers, and several of the
> > 3-digit models (860,870,890,960,980).  Others?
> 
> Well there seems to be a real interest in Canon printers.

So far I know nothing about Canons but there are in the
gimp code. so its within the realm.

> >
> > When?
> > The basic QuadToneRIP code has been running for quite a
> > while.
> > The QuadProfile system is working on my computer, but it's
> > currently several programs and shell scripts to connect it all
> > together.  I've been working on putting this all in one program
> > and one descriptor file.  I have a lot of printing that I need to
> > do this month, so work on this is lower priority -- sorry.  If
> > anyone is familar with running shell scripts and the Terminal
> > program, a beta version with shell scripts can be used.  
Email
> > me at
> > quadtone <at> harrington <dot> com
> 
> Shell scripts? Terminal program? You lost me there. How 
familar with the Mac
> and OS X does a person need to be to work with it at this 
point?

I've probably made too much of a deal about this.  It mostly
boils down to text editting a description file and running a
couple programs, instead of a cute graphical interface.
For someone who has never used a Mac, its like me who
has pretty much never used windows.

> >
> > Densitometer?
> > It's certainly a very useful tool, but I've been able to get good
> > results trying a flatbed scanner for the partitioning.  Contrast
> > decisions can for the most part be done visually.
> >
> Thanks for the info,
> Martin

Roy