Digital BW, The Print

I'm up and running with QuadToneRIP on Linux.  Now I'm trying to establish 
a set of curves that work well with my Lyson QuadBlack inkset.

The QuadToneRIP package includes a special CMYK document (inkpattern.psd) 
that I'm supposed to print out without any re-rendering or resampling, to 
see the individual effect of each ink.  Trouble is, I can't seem to print 
this document from GIMP (which is all I have in Linux).  The document 
displays in RGB Mode, and I can't find a setting equivalent to "Print Space 
= Same as Source".  When I print, the document looks like each ink tried to 
do its own thing in its own place (i.e., four "ghost" images).

I've created curves with CALIBRATION=YES in the ink descriptor file, and 
have loaded these curves in to the PPD driver.

So here are my questions:

--*-- Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong in GIMP with the inkpattern.psd file?

--*-- Is there an alternative way to come up with a set of curves in a 
Linux-only environment?

--*-- Any suggestions for reasonable starting values for the Lyson 
QuadBlack inks?

Thanks in advance,

Allan

Hi Allan,

I don't know of anyone that has been able to print from gimp in Linux. The
problem seems to be in gimp-print. The QTR2 ppds just won't show up when you
define a printer. My work around is to define the printer using webmin then
to print using qtcups.

Roger

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Allan Metts [mailto:ametts2@...]
  Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2003 5:57 AM
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  Subject: [Digital BW] Calibrating Lyson Inks on Linux



  I'm up and running with QuadToneRIP on Linux.  Now I'm trying to establish
  a set of curves that work well with my Lyson QuadBlack inkset.

  The QuadToneRIP package includes a special CMYK document (inkpattern.psd)
  that I'm supposed to print out without any re-rendering or resampling, to
  see the individual effect of each ink.  Trouble is, I can't seem to print
  this document from GIMP (which is all I have in Linux).  The document
  displays in RGB Mode, and I can't find a setting equivalent to "Print
Space
  = Same as Source".  When I print, the document looks like each ink tried
to
  do its own thing in its own place (i.e., four "ghost" images).

  I've created curves with CALIBRATION=YES in the ink descriptor file, and
  have loaded these curves in to the PPD driver.

  So here are my questions:

  --*-- Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong in GIMP with the inkpattern.psd
file?

  --*-- Is there an alternative way to come up with a set of curves in a
  Linux-only environment?

  --*-- Any suggestions for reasonable starting values for the Lyson
  QuadBlack inks?

  Thanks in advance,

  Allan


        Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
              ADVERTISEMENT




  Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and
other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint

  If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to
unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this same
page.

  Please follow these basic guidelines:
  - Include your full name with your message.
  - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
  - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep
them short.
  - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject header.
  - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or flames
  - Complete your Yahoo profile.
  - Before posting a question, search the message archives and the various
resources on the homepage.




  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Allan,

Hopefully you've got the programs that Roger has mentioned.  This
area is the major difference from the Mac OS X usage.

I haven't ever used gimp so I'm not sure why it doesn't work.  The
inkpattern file is a Photoshop file which might be a problem so I
could provide a CMYK tiff if that would help.

To get curves for the Lyson inks it's essential to find out the densities
of each ink.  The inkpattern file is convenient since it shows each
ink separately in a 21step wedge.

Roy

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Roger L Sopher" 
<rlsopher@c...> wrote:

> Hi Allan,
> 
> I don't know of anyone that has been able to print from gimp in Linux. The
> problem seems to be in gimp-print. The QTR2 ppds just won't show up when you
> define a printer. My work around is to define the printer using webmin then
> to print using qtcups.
> 
> Roger
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: Allan Metts [mailto:ametts2@m...]
>   Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2003 5:57 AM
>   To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
>   Subject: [Digital BW] Calibrating Lyson Inks on Linux
> 
> 
> 
>   I'm up and running with QuadToneRIP on Linux.  Now I'm trying to establish
>   a set of curves that work well with my Lyson QuadBlack inkset.
> 
>   The QuadToneRIP package includes a special CMYK document (inkpattern.psd)
>   that I'm supposed to print out without any re-rendering or resampling, to
>   see the individual effect of each ink.  Trouble is, I can't seem to print
>   this document from GIMP (which is all I have in Linux).  The document
>   displays in RGB Mode, and I can't find a setting equivalent to "Print
> Space
>   = Same as Source".  When I print, the document looks like each ink tried
> to
>   do its own thing in its own place (i.e., four "ghost" images).
> 
>   I've created curves with CALIBRATION=YES in the ink descriptor file, and
>   have loaded these curves in to the PPD driver.
> 
>   So here are my questions:
> 
>   --*-- Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong in GIMP with the inkpattern.psd
> file?
> 
>   --*-- Is there an alternative way to come up with a set of curves in a
>   Linux-only environment?
> 
>   --*-- Any suggestions for reasonable starting values for the Lyson
>   QuadBlack inks?
> 
>   Thanks in advance,
> 
>   Allan
> 
> 
>         Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>               ADVERTISEMENT
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and
> other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:
> 
>   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
> 
>   If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to
> unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this same
> page.
> 
>   Please follow these basic guidelines:
>   - Include your full name with your message.
>   - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
>   - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep
> them short.
>   - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject header.
>   - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or flames
>   - Complete your Yahoo profile.
>   - Before posting a question, search the message archives and the various
> resources on the homepage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Roger,

At 09:40 AM 10/12/2003, you wrote:

>I don't know of anyone that has been able to print from gimp in Linux. The
>problem seems to be in gimp-print. The QTR2 ppds just won't show up when you
>define a printer. My work around is to define the printer using webmin then
>to print using qtcups.


I've been able to print from Gimp, and the QTR2 printer is indeed showing 
up for me.  I had to configure the printer using lpadmin, however -- the 
GUI printconf tool (a.k.a. gnome-printer, a.k.a redhat-config-printer) 
indeed fails to show any of the QTR2 PPDs.  In fact, printconf also fails 
to show the QTR2 printer after I've set it up with lpadmin.  There's some 
sort of a compatibility issue with CUPs versus Foomatic versus gimp-print 
drivers.  I've seem posts that seem to be discussing this, but I haven't 
researched the issue enough to figure out exactly what is going on.

However, I see that qtcups gives me the QTR2-specific options for the 
printer, whereas I can't find a similar dialog in gimp-print.  All I get is 
a command-line for what gets sent to "lp" behind the scenes.

How are you printing with qtcups?  Are you saving an intermediate file, and 
then running "qtcups <filename>"?  How do you control sizing, layout, etc.?


My biggest problem right now is printing out inkpattern.psd in a "raw CMYK" 
manner, so I can calibrate for my Lyson inkset.  Apparently, re-rendering 
it in any way will spoil the document's ability to print 21-Steps for just 
one ink at a time.  Can you think of a way I can do this?  Roy has offered 
to send me a CMYK TIFF file.  Is there a way I could get this printed in 
qtcups?

Thanks in advance,

Allan

On Tue, 2003-10-14 at 07:25, Allan Metts wrote:
> Hi Roger,
> 
> At 09:40 AM 10/12/2003, you wrote:
> 
> >I don't know of anyone that has been able to print from gimp in
> Linux. The
> >problem seems to be in gimp-print. The QTR2 ppds just won't show up
> when you
> >define a printer. My work around is to define the printer using
> webmin then
> >to print using qtcups.
> 
> 
> I've been able to print from Gimp, and the QTR2 printer is indeed
> showing 
> up for me.  I had to configure the printer using lpadmin, however --
> the 
> GUI printconf tool (a.k.a. gnome-printer, a.k.a redhat-config-printer)

I used webmin to set up the printer. Probably much the same as you do.
The printer shows up in gimp but not the quad modified ppds. If you
print to the quad printer from gimp I think,it defaults to a non-quad
mode, probably postscript2, and essentially produces a black only image.

>  
> indeed fails to show any of the QTR2 PPDs.  In fact, printconf also
> fails 
> to show the QTR2 printer after I've set it up with lpadmin.  There's
> some 
> sort of a compatibility issue with CUPs versus Foomatic versus
> gimp-print 
> drivers.  I've seem posts that seem to be discussing this, but I
> haven't 
> researched the issue enough to figure out exactly what is going on.
> 
> However, I see that qtcups gives me the QTR2-specific options for the 
> printer, whereas I can't find a similar dialog in gimp-print.  All I
> get is 
> a command-line for what gets sent to "lp" behind the scenes.
> 
> How are you printing with qtcups?  Are you saving an intermediate
> file, and 
> then running "qtcups <filename>"?  How do you control sizing, layout,
> etc.?
> 
I print from qtcups by moving the image from my windows machine to the
Linux box. I bring up a terminal window, change to the directory that
the image is in and then do a command line like qtcups foo.tif

That brings up qtcups and you can do the settings from there. All of my
sizing is done in windows before I transfer the image for printing.
Qtcups has screens for centering etc in its properties menus. 
> 
> My biggest problem right now is printing out inkpattern.psd in a "raw
> CMYK" 
> manner, so I can calibrate for my Lyson inkset.  Apparently,
> re-rendering 
> it in any way will spoil the document's ability to print 21-Steps for
> just 
> one ink at a time.  Can you think of a way I can do this?  Roy has
> offered 
> to send me a CMYK TIFF file.  Is there a way I could get this printed
> in 
> qtcups?
I made tiff copies of the psd files using photoshop in windows. As far
as I can see it didn't change sizing or the like. Probably would be a
good idea to get it directly from Roy but I don't think that doing it
yourself in pshop would be a problem. I emailed Roy a while ago and
suggested that he change the images to tiff from psd in the Linux
distribution of QTR2 due to the compatibility problems but I don't think
he has done it yet.

I reloaded redhat and rebuilt the printer drivers in trying to put
together a how to for QTR2 in Linux and now when I try to quad print
from qtcups the print stream goes to never never land and no printing is
happening. I obviously have screwed up something in the set up but i
haven't figured out just what yet. After years of working in a lab you
would think I would have kept better notes. Oh well.

> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Allan
> 
> Roger
>                         Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> 
> 
> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls
> and other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
> 
> If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish
> to unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting
> this same page.
> 
> Please follow these basic guidelines:
> - Include your full name with your message.
> - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
> - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to
> keep them short.
> - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject
> header.
> - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or flames
> - Complete your Yahoo profile.
> - Before posting a question, search the message archives and the
> various resources on the homepage. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.