QTR-Quadtone RIP

--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "Jamie Creed" <jlcreed@...> wrote:
>
> I've referred to both of your work/files before I started this 
> little project, and they were both very helpful and led to success 
> in scanning the 21 step wedge with my Pulse setup.
> 
> Now I want to try and go 1 step further and try to scan the Ink 
> limiting/curve creation targets in calibration mode with my Pulse 
> setup. At the moment I do as you do Ernst and spot scan a random 
> number of patch's which visually look close to the Ink Limits, but 
> being able to scan all patchs in 1 swoop would be good use of my 
> equipment and would enable me to monitor suppliers ink formulations 
> for any variance and also keep an eye on the paper suppliers 
> coatings, again for any variance in production batchs.

First, QTR targets are "weird". Only two of the three colors are
actually used. If memory serves, the red channel is the density,
0-255. (you can check this easily in PhotoShop). I think the blue
channel is the "ink selector". The selector is binary...

1 = ink 1
2 = ink 2
4 = ink 3
8 = ink 4
16 = ink 5
32 = ink 6
64 = ink 7
128 = ink 8

If you want to do something like having equal parts of two inks, turn
two channels on at the same time by adding their numbers.

The big question, are you using cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks,
or a pure monochrome set? The Pulse reads a strip at the top of the
chart called the "Target ID", or TID, that's in an octal (base 8) code
of cyan, magenta, and yellow. The TID tells the pulse how many patches
there are in each row, and on the chart, in total. The "Row ID" at the
beginning of each row identifies the row number. The TID and RID need
to be in the right colors. If you're using color inks, use a density
of 128 and use the selectors to get the proper CMYKRGBW codes. You
can't print them TID or RID with monochrome inks. So if you're using a
monochrome inkset, you need to print a TID and RID on a color printer,
at the proper size, and glue it over the monochrome chart.

Or make a chart for the color printer with just a TID and RID, no
patches, and a chart for the monochrome printer with just patches, no
TID or RID, and run the paper through both printers. Frankly, I find
cutouts easier.

Ciao!

Joe