Digital BW, The Print

I've really learned a lot on this forum over the past couple of weeks. 
Thanks so much for your kindness and courtesy!

I've been gathering details of the UT-2 inkset and workflow in bits and 
pieces, and I want to make sure I understand what I'm waiting for.

I was just about to pull the trigger on the original UT inkset for my 
1280, when I heard about the comparitive advantages of UT-2, so I've 
been waiting eagerly for the new set to become available via MIS.

Is it true that the UT-2 inkset will allow me to skip Step 2 in the 
Roark workflow (Load and apply the desired Image Adjustment Curve)?

http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/workflow_roark.html

Will I be able to just convert my image to grayscale (using any one of 
the available methods), save it as an RGB file, and print?

As I understand it, the variable tones (cool > neutral > warm) are 
achieved by adjusting the color sliders in the Epson print driver, 
rather than applying the desired Image Adjustment curve in Photoshop. Is 
that true?

Finally, Roark's workflow is optimize for Epson Archival Matte paper. 
Does anyone know how it performs on Epson Heavyweight Matte? or Epson 
Enhanced Matte? I thought I read somewhere that the Archival Matte was 
replaced by the Enhanced Matte? or that they were the same thing. Could 
someone clarify?

Thanks!

Mike

Mike,

>I've been gathering details of the UT-2 inkset and workflow in bits and 
>pieces, and I want to make sure I understand what I'm waiting for.

I have updated one of my web pages to give more detail.  
See http://home1.gte.net/res0a2zt/V-tone.html 

>I was just about to pull the trigger on the original UT inkset for my 
>1280, when I heard about the comparitive advantages of UT-2, so I've 
>been waiting eagerly for the new set to become available via MIS.

I hate to have people just waiting.  Why not buy a set of UT carts for the
1280.   I don't know when MIS will make the UT-2 inkset available.  Calling
them to ask for it might help push them. 

>Is it true that the UT-2 inkset will allow me to skip Step 2 in the 
>Roark workflow (Load and apply the desired Image Adjustment Curve)?

For the middle range of tones -- traditional silver-print tones -- you can
print from grayscale files and use the driver sliders to control the tones.

For the more extreme tones, including carbon and sepia, RGB curves will be
needed.  I have some samples on the web page.

The system seems to print reasonably well on all the papers I've tried.
Between driver paper settings and the sliders, you'll have a lot of ability
to get the results you want on most papers.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com