Digital BW, The Print

Keith,

You wrote:

>Any thoughts about a UT based replacement to the VM-S inkset?

How strange you should ask.

Note that, I believe, a dual-toner rip is or should be out soon.  Once there
is individual control of the jets, a hextone machine can tone both
directions -- cool and sepia.   The Bowhaus system is probably going to be
able to do this.

Also, I've made a UT-Sepia toner (that MIS has) for this and for quads.  On
quads this makes a UT-vm-s that goes from warm (UT base ink) to sepia --
which, to me means a dedicated sepia print that I'm not going to bother
with.

I do think the Epson driver might support a state-of-the-art vm-s up-grade,
and I have started down that path already.

Since I'm still most interested in matte papers, I'm thinking of an
Eboni-based, matte-paper-only neutral/selenium gray based ink.  Eboni is
less warm than the UT black inks.  As such less color pigment is needed to
make it into a neutral-toned ink.  I just did some initial fade testing on
an Eboni-based cyan-position ink.  It did very well indeed.  In past initial
testing Eboni black has beaten all the competing black inks I've tested on
matte paper.  So, this black with less color pigment should make a superior
neutral ink -- and an excellent base gray for a new vm-s. ("Eboni-VM-S"?)

I'll probably change the variable-tone approach for my current hextone
printers (1280 and 7500).  I'll do some testing on my 1160, but for the next
VM-S, I'm leaving quads behind.  (It's been good.)  There will be new
densities, so the old curves will not work.  The 1280 and 7500 are the only
drivers I'll support.   (They appear to be useable in the 1290, 7xxx and
9xxx machines.)

These plans are somewhat vague, but that is the direction I'm migrating.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com