Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Steve Kale <stevekale@b...> wrote:
> Well it would be easy to make a curve that had gloss optimiser in it and you
> could simply either the C or M slot if you are using QTR with colour inks.

Exactly.

> (A UC ink curve already mixes LC, LM, and LC to give a cool curve.)  But a
> few questions arise:
> 
> * my understanding is that the optimiser goes on after the ink in the R800.
> That is the ink is laid down and then the optimiser follows.  With QTR and
> optimiser in one of the cartridges, optimiser would get mixed into the
> dither pattern.  So this may be an issue.

No. The gloss optimizer is mixed in with the dither pattern. It's the only way it can work. GLOP is just beads of the encapsulating resin that the colored (CMYK) pigment particles are coated with in the rest of the inks. It's applied between the pigment particles in lightly pigmented (or non pigmented) areas of the print, to insure that everything gets the same amount of glossy resin.
 
> * one would have to be sure that a 21/2200 can actually jet the optimiser.

Good point. But I'm guessing that it can. The R800 lays down smaller ink droplets than the 2X00. That means the R800 pigment (or GLOP) particles have to be at least as fine as the 2X00 particles, or the R800 would never be able to pull off its "tiny drop" magic.

> I don't know enough about the mechanics of the optimiser on the R800.  Is it
> laid down like ink or does it have some other apparatus?

Exactly like ink. Just another ink slot. Except it's "clear" ink, resin only, no pigment inside the particles.