Digital BW, The Print

> As for testing, I did start with small test prints and some 
> came out well.  Since I switched to roll paper to start to 
> get this show printed problems have come up.  BUT I stand by 
> my assertion that knowing what is going to happen with any 
> particular combo requires you to print that combo... there is 
> no method to preview what might happen or even get a hint for 
> that matter.  

Yes, but there are also soft-proofing tools available so you can preview in
Photoshop.  I have not tried these tools yet and so I can't comment.  Others
on this list use the soft-proofing tools and perhaps can help.

> I tried using the Entreda cool and warm and 
> then I tried warm and sepia.  While QTR can produce extremely 
> subtle gradations between the pure cool and pur sepia:  all 
> those gradations are along a single color change line.  
> Basically from a greenish (pure cool) tone to a brownish 
> (pure sepia).  

Most curves that I have looked at in detail generally have cyan added to
cool down the blacks for the cool curve and for the warm curve generally
rely on the warmth of the matte black.  Sepia adds yellow.  This is for
Epson Ultrachrome inks in a 2200 because that is what I have.  And this is
of course a simplification, you need to look at the curves to see what they
are doing.  In any case, you're right, the curves define what is possible to
change with the slider, you can't go outside what was designed in the curve.

Remember that these curves were designed to create a look similar to
wet-processed prints of various types, so you're not going to be able to get
major color changes with pre-defined curves.

> No way to get to any other tones that I can 
> see.  It apparently is the case that I can produce the other 
> possibilities thru custom curves I make later.  

Correct

> One thing 
> that is odd ... the cool tone is really what most would call 
> a warm tone.  I realize that this is likely a limitation of 
> the paper (a warm toned variety) and the ink set (UC).

Of course the paper has the effect of putting the print in context but I can
get a pretty cool print using the standard curves and slider.
 
> I am trying to get them to work .... and I've heard a lot 
> about QTR, hence why I'm tring it.  Now if I could just 
> figure out how to avoid the huge difference in brightness 
> between PS and QTR (a PS view of the file is about 50% 
> brighter than a QTR print, so you have to either reset it to 
> print or keep another copy - anonying but workable).

Okay, this is a different subject and you should search the archives to read
up on this.  Briefly, you need to first make sure you have a calibrated
monitor, that will help a lot.  Second, I would recommend you use Roy's
gray-lab, gray-matte and gray-photo icc profiles.  Use gray-lab as your
working space and then when you print, do a "convert to" gray-matte and save
that as your TIFF file.  Your prints will be closer to what you see on the
screen.  Please read the archives, there has been a ton written on this.
The above holds true if you are using grayscale working space.  If you are
working in RGB, use rgb-lab as your working space and rgb-matte as the
"convert to" before you save the file you send to the printer.

> Thanks for your help Paul, and sorry for the "tone" of my 
> first post but of late it seems there is a lot of software 
> out there with no support but great abilities... you would 
> think that in order to capture a market away from the likes 
> of PS the authors would at least put out a small tutorial or 
> the like.  I'm just frustrated that is all.

Just keep it real, keep it cordial and folks will help.  Frankly, I don't
think Roy is trying to compete with Adobe. :-)  I won't start a debate
regarding commercial SW support vs. independent developers and community
support, but you just need to understand QTR was developed by a photographer
for a community of photographers and enthusiasts and for your $50 payment,
you are getting just that.  Try the program out and come up the learning
curve and you will be happy.  If not, then you always have the option of
spending many hundreds of dollars on a commercial RIP that frankly will
probably take longer to come up to speed on than QTR.  I was creating nice
prints with QTR within 15 minutes of installing it.

Paul