QTR-Quadtone RIP

No, I'm not applying magic or anything, just doing what the good 
doctor told me to do. This is a straight quote from Roy 
Harrington: "For Windows where it's necessary to save a tiff file, 
you should Convert to Profile using either Gray Matte Paper or Gray 
Photo Paper.  Then save the file for printing in QTRgui." Since I use 
Windows I now make this conversion and the print results are very 
close to the image on the screen, except that contrast is a little 
low, which is confirmed when I use Color Proof. I apply Curves with 3 
correction points in Photoshop to correct for this: Input 64/Output 
58, Input 128/Output 128 and Input 192, Output 198; this gives me a 
perfect match. This information is not part of the QTR Help facility. 
For the QTR version 2.5.0.9 that I use you can find this information 
in Program Files/QuadToneRIP/icc/gray-readme.rft.

Regards,

Frans Waterlander

--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "dlruckus" <dlruckus@...> wrote:
>
> OK Joost, here we go--guaranteed to 99% confuse.
> 
>  1-- Profiled monitor using Colorvision or Eye-one hardware or 
(with a
> little of what in US is termed "Kentucky windage") using Adobe 
Gamma.
> 
>  2-- Your own "QTR Create ICC" generated paper/ink/printer profiles 
OR
> the generic Gray Matt/Gray Photo profiles provided with the QTR 
issue.
> 
>  3-- You are correct in your understanding of softproofing. That is
> what it is supposed to do. Assuming your monitor is properly 
profiled
> and your printer is linearized it will give you a very accurate
> picture of what your file will look like when printed. (Usually a 
bit
> shocking if you have only looked at the screen image while editing
> it.) Since Lab, in my understanding also, seems to be the target for
> linearizing, I assume that is why it is recommended that one convert
> files to the Gray Lab profile before editing them.(in practice , I
> personally haven't seen much difference between Lab space,GG2.2 or
> GG1.8 because to me they all look the same on the monitor anyway 
while
> editing without softproof on.)
> 
>  4-- Here just IMHO-- It has been my experience that, when I have 
done
> a good job of editing a file I want to print, it shows very little
> change under softproofing beyond the dulling down due to the papers
> limited dynamic range showing. On the other hand, I often work in
> rapidly changing ambient light situations which isn't a good 
practice
> but is better than no practice. In that circumstance softproofing
> seems to help overcome some of the difficulties in working that way.
> Toggling between views then often Does show big variations and I can
> edit to compensate. It has also been my experience that, if properly
> edited and OK under softproof, a file can be printed directly 
without
> any profile conversion at all and just dumped to the printer via 
QTR.
> That would seem to validate your Lab/linearize point also. I don't
> normally do that but generally convert to profile before printing as
> my old eyes may just be missing subtleties showing in the other 
prints.
> 
> I can't really say what is transpiring with Frans' efforts. It 
defies
> my experiences. I'm almost inclined to recommend that he quickly go
> out and buy a fist-full of lottery tickets as his luck seems to be
> running well;-)
> 
> Hope some of this has made sense to you.
> 
> Regards,
> Duane
> 
> --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "Joost Horsten" <j.h.j.h@> 
wrote:
> >
> > --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "fwaterlander" <frans2001@> 
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > 
> > > As a "last resort" I browsed through the QuadToneRIP directory 
on my 
> > > harddrive and discovered, in the icc subdirectory, a readme 
file with 
> > > instructions to Convert to Profile using either Gray Matte 
Paper or 
> > > Gray Photo Paper. To the best of my knowledge this information 
is not 
> > > included in the QTRgui help or User guide. After conversion I 
get the 
> > > excellent monitor-to-print match that I was hoping for and I 
will NOT 
> > > have to tweak my images!
> > 
> > Now I must confess I'm completely lost :-(
> > 
> > This is what I did when I started off with QTR 9 monts ago (as 
> > mentioned above), but without good results. The difference 
between 
> > print and screen only increased. I also don't understand why this 
> > should be needed, since the whole idea of profiling in QTR (as I 
> > understand it) is to linearize your whole system against the LAB 
space.
> > 
> > Furthermore, Tom explained in this thread a much different use of 
these 
> > very same profiles, i.e. softproofing. I thought I understood 
that (teh 
> > softproof compensates for the fact that paper cannot show the 
whole 0-
> > 100 lab scale). 
> > 
> > Perhaps its my scientific training of years ago, but I just can't 
bear 
> > I that apparently still don't understand this... Can someone more 
> > knowledgeable than I bring some (white) light in my (black) 
darkness??
> > 
> > Joost
> >
>