Digital BW, The Print

I've got a 1280 loaded with a set of the new piezo inks, which I have
never been able to use because (like quite a few others) I have been
consistently unable to get an even 21-step wedge out of it using the new
ICC profiles.  After quite a bit of fruitless fiddling followed by
months of waiting for good news from others who had had the same
problems (and working on color printing in the meantime), I have pretty
much given up on this setup.  However, I do want to get back to some
black and white, so I am wondering if there is any easy way to use these
inks -- which have given me beautiful results in the past, using the
clunky old piezography plugin -- with different software.

My computer is a Mac running OSX 10.2.8.  So, from what I've seen on
this group, it seems one next step might be QTR.  But a quick scan of
the web site didn't turn up any profiles for piezotone inks.
ImagePrint's web site does have some profiles that look relevant, but so
far I've been unable to make their demo work.  (I get the first half
inch of the print and then it stops and will print no more until the
machine is rebooted.)

Any hints or pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks,

        Benjamin 

------------------
Benjamin C. Pierce
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/photos

Benjamin,

>I've got a 1280 loaded with a set of the new piezo inks, which I have
>never been able to use because (like quite a few others) I have been
>consistently unable to get an even 21-step wedge out of it using the new
>ICC profiles.  ...
>I am wondering if there is any easy way to use these
>inks ... with different software.

RGB curves could probably tame them.  I think the ink order is such that the
Epson built-in cross-overs will work (unlike the older ink order where the
light inks were the same as the darker ones).  The main problem I see with
the inkset is that it just has way too much light ink in it.

The yellow-position ink is so light as to be unnecessary.  So, for the blue
curve, just have it turned off until you drop it like a rock near 100% to
turn on the black ink.  This is where one might run into problems.  That
light ink may be so light that the driver won't accept the steepness of the
curve necessary to avoid a flat spot in the ramp.

The other 2 curves I'd have as sweeping "S's."  I'll send you draft
Photoshop curve that will show the basic form I'd use.  

Good luck.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

When I bought piezo, they did not have the ICC thing, it was still with the PS plug-in. 
Never could get any consistancy with it. The so-called profiles that shipped with it were 
useless for me, not linear at all.

I started to be satisfied when I dumped that plug-in and started to use QuadToneRIP. With 
QTR and a little work, I have quickly achieved a much better profiling of the ink/paper 
combos.


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Benjamin C. Pierce" 
<bcpierce@c...> wrote:

> I've got a 1280 loaded with a set of the new piezo inks, which I have
> never been able to use because (like quite a few others) I have been
> consistently unable to get an even 21-step wedge out of it using the new
> ICC profiles.  After quite a bit of fruitless fiddling followed by
> months of waiting for good news from others who had had the same
> problems (and working on color printing in the meantime), I have pretty
> much given up on this setup.  However, I do want to get back to some
> black and white, so I am wondering if there is any easy way to use these
> inks -- which have given me beautiful results in the past, using the
> clunky old piezography plugin -- with different software.
> 
> My computer is a Mac running OSX 10.2.8.  So, from what I've seen on
> this group, it seems one next step might be QTR.  But a quick scan of
> the web site didn't turn up any profiles for piezotone inks.
> ImagePrint's web site does have some profiles that look relevant, but so
> far I've been unable to make their demo work.  (I get the first half
> inch of the print and then it stops and will print no more until the
> machine is rebooted.)
> 
> Any hints or pointers would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
>         Benjamin 
> 
> ------------------
> Benjamin C. Pierce
> http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/photos

On Jul 1, 2004, at 8:16 PM, Benjamin C. Pierce wrote:

> My computer is a Mac running OSX 10.2.8.  So, from what I've seen on
> this group, it seems one next step might be QTR.  But a quick scan of
> the web site didn't turn up any profiles for piezotone inks.

They are there, the best thing to do is download QTR and walk through 
the install and set up. The nice thing about it is that if you have 
access to a densitometer you can create your own custom curves. I did a 
couple of quick tests with the ICC method and wasn't happy when I 
compared them to QTR.

One note, the piezo set up that I got when I downloaded QTR had the old 
ink placements you may need to make changes if you are using the 
current ink placements.

cort

--
Cort Anderson
Training Wheels, llc
www.trwheels.com
620-488-2960
620-488-3196 fax

Try the Bowhaus driver. Open Print Maker. I used the old one with Piezo inks 
in a generic hextone config and it worked well. The latest version is for OS10. 
The download used to be free. Don't know if it still is. You can contact 
spike@...

Mike

> 
> One note, the piezo set up that I got when I downloaded QTR had the old 
> ink placements you may need to make changes if you are using the 
> current ink placements.
> 
> cort
> 
> --
> Cort Anderson
> Training Wheels, llc
> www.trwheels.com
> 620-488-2960
> 620-488-3196 fax

Many thanks for the responses and suggestions to my query the other day about 
non-piezo software solutions for piezography inks.  After experimenting with several 
(BO, QTR, and a custon curve generously provided by Paul), I'm so impressed with 
how well things work in the non-piezo world that it seems best just to begin by 
forgetting about piezotones entirely, switching to UT2 inks, and getting the benefit of 
all the calibration work people have already done for that setup!

       - Benjamin

Benjamin C. Pierce
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/photos