Digital BW, The Print

Dan, here is a "new" solution some people are pursuing-
You need a RIP that will let you have a multi part K, just as you have
multi part C and M, and now that we have the K3 inks, the RIP needs to
be able to have multi part colors in more than two parts.
I know StudioPrint does it, not sure of the others.
So, you have, in the newest Epsons, a 3 part k as well as your colors.
All you need (along with your spiffy RIP) is a really good max K gen
CMYK profile. All neutrals will automatically be replaced with your
nicely partitioned K inks, and very minimal color inks will be used,
only for neutralizing hue, or tinting if you like. Your hue will show
nicely in soft proof, and your entire workflow can be RGB letting the
RIP convert on the fly.
I know it already works for the standard UCs, with only a 2 part K,
and am waiting for the x800s to come out, and StudioPrint support, to
do it with 3 parts.
Obviously high quality profiles are vital.
In the meantime, I also know it works with a 4 part K because...

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "dfaprinting"
<dfaprinting@y...> wrote:
> ... wouldn't it 
> be nice to have a 12 channel printer? 4 black, CcMmYRGB, or 3 black 
> plus the others and an orange, or maybe GLOP just for fun.

...the Roland/ErgoSoft Davinci system is already out there and
working. It uses 4 Cone quads for K, and has CcMmYOG, er somethin'
like that, and uses the workflow above, and works well from all
reports. RGB workflow, CMYK profiles and RIP, 4 part max gen K, etc...
So some poor man's versions of that could be very close. Too bad
something like PressReady for current printers isn't out there for us.

Tyler
www.custom-digital.com