QTR-Quadtone RIP

> 2) In other people's experiences, how does QTR compare
with Paul's > workflow using the Epson driver in general?

Mark,

I've been using Paul Roark's curves with UT7 on an Epson 2200
for a few years and have been very pleased with the results.
I've recently considered switching to QTR, so I've been trying to
figure this out for myself. I haven't yet managed to get QTR to
work reliably. Here's my summary so far of the advantages and
disadvantages of each approach:

Roark curves

+ simple to use
+ excellent results
+ easy to create soft proofing profiles
+ uses Epson driver
- not so easy to linearize (1)
- can't put MK and PK ink in same printer  (2)
- can't mix curves
- can only adjust default ink limit

QTR
+ can put inks in arbitrary slots, so easy to put MK and PK
inks in at once
+ can mix toning of different curves, separately for highlights,
shadow, etc
+ easier to create new curves yourself
+ ability to adjust ink limits might allow higher dmax
- minimal documentation and hard (at least for me) to get
going
- changing driver resolution settings changes tones, so need
to reprofile (3)
- more likely to produce banding effects (4)
- don't seem to be able to kill print job once started

Notes

1. QTR's CreateICC should allow you to linearize the Roark
curve and turn it into an ICC profile, but I've found that this
only worked on some of my curves.

2. But Paul says you can get good dmax with greys alone.

3. This and subsequent disadvantages all due to QTR's use of
gimp driver.

4. Seems that most users stick to the highest quality settings
(eg, unidirectional 2880) to avoid this problem, which on my
machine (Epson 2200) means that a 4x6 test print takes ten
minutes to print. With the standard Epson driver, the lower
resolution settings produce almost indistinguishable prints
much faster.

--Daniel