Digital BW, The Print

Richard,

> What's the best way to provide a good preview for this printing 
process?
> It is not quite what ICC Profiles and CMMs are designed to do, is 
it?

I used Roy's soft proofing technique to build a series "proofing 
profiles" for QTR with toned images.  You simply print a 21 or 51 
patch grayscale target from QTR, OPM, ImagePrint, etc, with the 
desired profile and settings.  You can also use blended profiles.  
The soft proofing profile is only good for that set of parameters.  

Once you have the profile created and saved in your normal PS profile 
directory, you can open images in PS, set up a soft proof and see how 
your print will look when it comes off the printer.  It will 
accurately reflect both tonality and toning.  It works great.  
Another benefit is that you can take an RGB image, set up the soft 
proof, then use channel mixer or other method to convert to BW while 
viewing the final soft proof.  

Download Roy's procedure from his QTR site.  Works like a dream.

Lou