QTR-Quadtone RIP

dannyvanrijswijk <nightf3v3r@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> What if I just skip the QTR RIP software and use the standard print
> command...
>
... if I would like to print with these carbon inks ... and do this just
> with the standard print command from within Photoshop: how does the printer
> software know that it can print with all 8 ink gray cartridges?  ...
>

The printer doesn't "know" what ink is in it.  It was written with the
assumption of Epson CMYK inks in it.  A B&W inkset must be made to be
compatible with this assumption if the Epson driver is a target workflow.

The Epson driver is an RGB driver -- those are the signals that sent to the
driver.  It converts that to CMYK.  As Ernst said, we use RGB Photoshop
curves to control what the driver does.  The driver is not on ABW mode.

The built-in LC to C, LM to M, and C, M, Y to gray/black cross-overs are
things that must be worked with.  You can't change them, but you can
definitely manipulate them and utilize them in a positive way.  The gray to
dark gray cross-overs are excellent, working very well with ink dilutions
where the lighter ink is 30% darker ink, remainder water (with a fair
amount of latitude in dilution range).

Interestingly, if one just puts the LLK and LK in all dilute gray and color
positions, the image printed by the driver will be light.  What used to
match the CRT monitors best were the midtone MIS inks in the UT sets.  The
"UT-C" dark gray carbon (UT-C was about equal to 30% MK [see Eb6], denser
than LK, lighter than PK) and "UT-LC" (30% UT-C), when loaded into an Epson
printer in all "color" positions, worked very well with the Epson drivers
at their default "Color Controls" settings.  With the very bright LCD
monitors, the LK and LLK lightness is about as close as the MIS inks with
those bright monitors left at defaults.

If one combines the MIS LLK-LK-LLK and UTC-UTLC inks in a single set, you
get nicely spaced carbons.  See the QTR partitioning curves at the bottom
of page 4 of http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/4000-6K-Plus.pdf .  The
Eboni-6 progression mimics this and adds an LLLK.

That PDF also shows on page 5 a way of setting QTR up with 2 overlapping
partitions.

The Epson driver is, by nature, a driver that splits the inks into 3
overlapping channels.  A curve that controls this progression or partition
can be embedded into an ICC using QTR's Create ICC-RGB, and the workflow
becomes a "color managed" Epson driver workflow that, with 100% carbon
inksets or with blended inkset, makes a very convenient workflow that
matches the prints to the relative densities shown on a well calibrated
monitor.

I use the QTR rip for when the Epson driver does not allow the control I
like.  The inkset I have in an Epsone 4000, PDF noted above, I use carbon
plus color LC and LM for tone control.  The Epson driver cannot control
individual inks as needed to print with this ink setup.

For monotone inksets, including 100% carbon versions, or where blended
carbon + color inkset are used, the Epson driver with ICCs made with Create
ICC-RGB makes a very good option.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com


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