Digital BW, The Print

>>Any recommendations on this RIP beast would be greatly
>>appreciated. Thanks.


Mat,

you may get some answers faster by looking through the
archives here (i.e. search past messages). Many of us
have answered similar questions many times and you
may not always get people to repeat their answers.

Briefly, you options are as follows:

- you can use RGB curves designed by Paul Roark for MIS
inksets (no cost) for use with the Epson driver

- you can use QTR (Quad Tone Rip) by Roy Harrington
($50 shareware)

- you can buy Inkjet Control and OpenPrintmaker from
Bowhaus ($250)
or the Lyson Digital Darkroom bundle based on same

- you can buy ImagePrint from Colorbyte ($500 and up)

- you can buy StudioPrint by Ergosoft (around $1,500 and up)

- you can opt for the R-9 plug in for photoshop (under $200?)


Most of these work in both platforms. StudioPrint
is Windows only.

I'm sure you can find the related sites for these
through google or the links in our Links area of the
home page.

Currently, popular solutions for bw-only are 
QTR and IJC/OPM

for both bw and color (more of a full service RIP):
ImagePrint and StudioPrint have many followers.

Down the line, you will find a big dividing line between
software that lets you design your own profiles (or curves)
and others that rely on canned profiles. The latter are
easy out of the box but you'll never get the control
and fine tuning of the others. Control comes at a cost:
you have to spend some time learning and have a
densitometer or spectro on hand.

StudioPrint is expensive but allows a fair amount
of control for bw (plus supports color).
IJC does the best for ease of making profiles
and best-bang-for-your-buck in offering
a nicely integrated interface.
QTR has many happy customers who like
the results, especially for the low price. 

Assuming perfect profiles, they can all
produce equally perfect prints. The differences
come in what is involved in making profiles
and other interface and convenience matters.

I am mostly familiar with IJC, which is what I have
been using and find I have no reason to go to
anything else. But, of course, you'll have to
reach your own conclusions depending on your
particular needs.

Good luck.

Antonis