Digital BW, The Print

On 30/03/10 8:30 PM, "dlruckus" <dlruckus@...> wrote:

>> 
> I actually was referring though to the QTR forum which you
> apparently already know about.
> My understanding, possibly in error, is that you want to control the actual
> tint of your chosen inks, ie: the peizo B&W ones, beyond what you can get with
> different paper choices alone and I believe that you mentioned wanting to do
> so with a minimum of color inks introduced into the mix.
> If so, you can get that by using the QTR software itself without the need for
> Argyl or Gutenprint at all. It's facilities aren't restricted to oem inks or
> their matches and as a rip itself it offers more direct control than the oem
> drivers do as I understand it. IMO it would allow a much shorter learning
> curve and time to success than the other route offers.
> If, however, you want to substitute the peizo inks for the normal grays in a
> full oem set and still produce color prints from the result as well, you will
> have to go the profiling software and a RIP way as has been mentioned before
> here and in the Argyl forum.

That latter is what I'm asking about, an ink configuration where neutral
grays are substituted for Epson's OEM grays. I believe that the densities
are close, so I suspect there is benefit in this setup even while using the
Epson drives and a custom colour profile. However, I understand that a RIP
is required to gain control over how the grays are generated, and to ensure
that they remain colour free. It's encouraging to know that Gutenprint
offers a way to get there.

QTR is an outstanding tool, and I appreciate all that Roy does for our
community. When I started out I was using only K and LK in a 2200. I moved
to Cone inks a few years ago, and now use QTR for profiling / linearity. My
tools for toning are ink selection and paper choice.

Thank you for all the information, Duane.

Terry.