Digital BW, The Print

Earlier I mentioned that I purchsed the Colorbyte Software ImagePrint 
4.0 software RIP to run one of the color printers in my office. By 
coincidence I found out the the RIP also supports Lyson and Cone Quad 
inksets. As a result of the matched densities, the RIP also will work 
with the MIS Full Spectrum inks.

The RIP was designed as a large format color printing RIP. It is 
available as a modular software package. That is you can buy ot to 
support a single printer, multiple printers, with or without 
postsrcipt support. The RIP starts at approx. $1,550.00 US, but from 
what I have been told a desktop printer version is just about ready 
for release at $750.00 US. The desktop version lacks the image layout 
features of the full RIP.

Out of the box the RIP comes with approximately 30 paper ICC 
profiles. All of the popular Hahnemuhle papers are there but they are 
under the Lyson tradename such as Lyson Standard Fine Art. The 
developer is adding papers all the time and they are placed on his 
website in a download area for customer use. They will also profile 
papers that you may need but have not been previously profiled.

A great asset of this RIP is that you can print a quadtone image to 
one printer and then print a second image to your color printer using 
the same software RIP. The RIP will print both single channel 
grayscale images as the Piezo driver, or it will print multi-channel  
RGB images in grayscale and do the conversion on the fly.

The biggest change in my workflow that I noticed, is that the printed 
image truly matches the printed image. The WYSIWYG aspect of this 
program is a great asset. The print quality is superb. Grayscale 
tones appear to have a special smooth flannel like appearance. 
Comparing this RIP to the Piezo driver is unfair and perhaps 
subjective because they both have different dither patterns. One 
thing that I did notice is that I am seeing shadow detail in my 
prints that I never saw before. The tones are smooth and do not 
exhibit any kind of banding. The best part of using this RIP is (and 
I will capitalize) THE BLACKS ARE THE BEST I HAVE SEEN! Yes, that is 
right, this RIP produces the deepest black densities that I have 
seen. A subjective comment as I have not measured the blacks, but I 
must say that they are superb. Finishing up a print recently I had to 
back off on the black density a bit.

The ImagePrint 4.0 RIP is a new entry into the grayscale quadtone 
market. It provides a new option to a market that lacks options. 
Comeptition in the long run is healthy and will mean that all of the 
players must develop new. better, and high quality products to stay 
ahead of the curve.

My best to all for a healthy, happy and above peace in the new year.

Mike