Digital BW, The Print

Steve,

>... is it not theoretically 
>possible to run a grey quadtone inkset next to a four colour inkset 
>and still be able to run perfectly good prints from both.  I know 
>this is dedicated RIP stuff - but is it feasible?

Yes, I think it is feasible.  Until Bowhaus crashed, I thought I'd probably
use that system.  However, being a PC user, I know of no easy, inexpensive
RIP that can do it.

>Secondly, I find significant shifts in colour due to different 
>papers types with my UT inks at the moment.

Yes, papers print differently.  I find some of the acid-free matte papers
print with cold shadows, for example.  I like to neutralize these.

>  For example, my Imajet matt has a slightly green tinge

I'm not familiar with it.  

I find the UT inkset verges on too magenta in the shadows with some papers.
The tones have been compromises among the papers that I believe are most
often used.  A full color inkset with a full grayscale inkset is the
ultimate, but it may be hard to control accurately without a very good RIP.

(An MIS customer is going to try to set up a 7000 -- with RIP, I assume --
with a black, 2 grays, and 3 colors.  I'm skeptical that the 7000 is up to
the job.)

>the somerset velvet slightly magenta and PR/EAM neutral.

You can see how I weighed the papers for the balancing -- EEM for drafts, PR
for final cotton prints.  UltraSmooth was also up there in importance.

>  If the UT2 for the 4000 or whatever has 
>greater toning range, how can it be 'easier' to control the shifts 
>and tones than today with a relatively narrow tone set?

The Epson driver's built-in cross-overs handle a lot of the "heavy lifting."
There is no very-light gray ink.  (It's just not needed on modern, small &
variable-dot hextones.)  Also, there actually is no cold toner.  It's a full
cold-tone inkset -- dark and light grays are all that is needed now.  The
C82 matches the 2200 Image Print quality with only a single gray ink
density.  Image Print runs the light black all the way into the highlights
when in B&W mode.

So, the UT-2 inkset includes a cold inkset (dark and light cold grays -- in
the cyan ink positions), a raw carbon inkset (dark and light un-toned grays
-- in the magenta ink positions) and, in the yellow position, a sepia
toner/light ink (which is 84% the UT-2 light-magenta-position ink).  

The UT-2 inks are close to the densities that the driver and papers were
designed for.  As such, they print nicely with no controls.  

When RGB curves are used, they can be very detailed, but very simple ones
work amazingly well.  (That is one reason the sliders work to control the
inks.)  As an example, I have an RGB neutral curve where the main cyan (cold
inkset) and magenta (carbon warm inkset) curves start and end at (0,0) and
(255, 255).  Then in the interior, there are just 3 points -- one each at
50%, 25% and 75%.  So, one can control the midtone, highlight and shadow
relative tones very easily with simple up or down moves of these few points.
This is easy enough that I think many will be comfortable getting into it to
profile to their liking.

The un-wanted inks are easy enough to cut off.  I tend to just drop the
curves from 75%.  They mostly become the black ink control curves,
contributing little ink to the mix. 

The yellow position is really very open.  I use if for the sepia toner.
However, it can be any custom toner or even a light gray ink.  

>Jumping the gun entirely, any idea how quickly MIS / yourself will 
>respond to the 4000 release?  

I think it would be easier for me to port the inkset to the 2200 first.
There may need to be changes made for these printers, but I expect the 2200
and 4000 to be very close.  So, I'll probably borrow a 2200 first to set it
up.  Then, (assuming I'm successful), I'll order the 4000.  I hope to do the
2200 project in January.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

_____________________________________



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> Steve,
> 
> >I just can't wait to see what the Epson 4000 will bring in terms 
of 
> >specialist B&W inksets.
> 
> >I am pretty sure Paul will already have been rubbing hands 
thinking 
> >of wonderful ways to make the most of its eight inks.  
> 
> Well, actually the matte and photo blacks and the attributes you 
are
> describing below are the main advantages I see.  The light K may 
be more of
> a problem than benefit.  I'll take the Epson driver approach, so 
it's
> another out-of-control ink.  So, it's basically going to be a UT-2 
with a
> light K that is probably tones slightly to neutralize it.  I'm 
afraid the
> shadow tones for the neutral prints will be too warm otherwise.  
(It's going
> to take some experimenting to get it right.)
> 
> >The thought of self aligning heads and auto nozzle cleans are 
enough 
> >for me on their own!
> 
> >I guess that first port of call is something like the UT2 set 
with 
> >Photo and matt black installed, perhaps with an additional grey 
> >position?
> 
> The UT-2 is now a two-toner (cool and sepia) setup.  I'll continue 
that for
> the 2200 & 4000.  
> 
> The sepia toner spot (yellow position), however, is really 
designed for
> custom toning.  The sepia I use is just 8% y, 8% m and 84% UT-2 
light
> magenta.  (Magenta is the raw carbon ink position in UT-2.)  I 
suspect some
> will want to not only mix different shades of sepia -- e.g., 
change the
> ratios of the y & m -- but also mix their own toners.  The cold 
ink is so
> cold (c - y = 0.14 at 50%) that it wouldn't take much of an 
additional cold
> toner to make a cyanotype tone.  The old carbon/carbo prints seem 
to have
> hues that are determined by the pigments that were used.  The 
yellow spot in
> the UT-2 inkset can, similarly, be used to achieve any number of 
subtle (or
> not to subtle) tones.  It's wide open, and since the inkset 
depends on the
> Epson driver to do most of the cross-overs, the curves are much 
easier to
> deal with than the older partitioned curves.
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com



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