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Help with Mac and please

Help with Mac and please

2018-05-23 by laymanesq@...

Hi. I'm currently trialing QTR and PrintTool for macOS to make digital negatives.

I think I've got a handle on how to adjust the .txt files that are the mac equivalent of the ink descriptor files .qidf on a PC.

Now I might be wrong about the way to install the changed curve but I've tried a couple of options.
1. Opening the .txt file with the Quad_Drop_Profile tool - (Runs a script and says curve installed)
2. Running the install3880command - (Runs a script and says curves installed or words to that effect)

Either of these techniques allow me to select the new profile in PrintTool, but I'm having a couple of problems with the output I'm getting from PrintTool.

1. I've changed my ink descriptor file to no longer use Y ink, but the negative is still coming out with a Yellow tinge.

2. I tried adding a grey curve, but it seems to be doing the opposite of what I want it to do. I've tried using both syntax GREY_CURVE="0;0 5;5 10;10 etc etc 100;100" and also adding a link to the curve with GRAY_CURVE=/Applications/QuadToneRIP/Profiles/3880-UC/CurveEp3880Cot320ArgV1.acv

If anyone could point me in the right direction I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Ken.

Below is the current version of the ink descriptor file I'm trying to use.

# Using 3 inks and deleted the curve and added grey overlap 10

PRINTER=Quad3880
CURVE_NAME=Ep3880UCK3cot320ver8
GRAPH_CURVE=YES

N_OF_INKS=8
DEFAULT_INK_LIMIT=100
BOOST_K=0
LIMIT_K=70
LIMIT_C=0
LIMIT_M=0
LIMIT_Y=0
LIMIT_LC=0
LIMIT_LM=0
LIMIT_LK=85
LIMIT_LLK=100

N_OF_GRAY_PARTS=3
GRAY_INK_1=K
GRAY_VAL_1=100
GRAY_INK_2=LK
GRAY_VAL_2=50
GRAY_INK_3=LLK
GRAY_VAL_3=35

GRAY_HIGHLIGHT=10
GRAY_SHADOW=10
GRAY_OVERLAP=10

GRAY_GAMMA=0.7

GRAY_CURVE="0;0 100;100"

N_OF_UNUSED=5
UNUSED_INK_1=C
UNUSED_INK_2=M
UNUSED_INK_3=Y
UNUSED_INK_4=LC
UNUSED_INK_5=LM

#COPY_CURVE_C=K
#COPY_CURVE_M=K
#COPY_CURVE_Y=K
#COPY_CURVE_LC=K
#COPY_CURVE_LM=K


Re: [QuadtoneRIP] Help with Mac and please

2018-05-24 by Simone Simoncini

Hi. the yellow hinge could be a warm hue of the black ink. I always found that QTR is very reliable in terms of respecting ink limitations. One thing you could do, just as a control point, is to open the .quad file with Textedit and see if all the supposedly unused inks are actually unused, which means that you should find a serie of zeroes for all the 256 levels of the specified ink.

As for the curve, saying that "it does the opposite" it seems that maybe you built the curve reversing dark and light values. If I remember correctly, you can enter 21 readings of densities from your test strip, from the lightest to the darkest, and it works beautifully.

I am not an expert in that respect because I always preferred to work with phtoshop correction curves, but as far as I remember, that preocedure is the right one to use.

hope it helps.
S.
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On Thu, May 24, 2018 at 12:56 AM, laymanesq@... [QuadtoneRIP] <QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Hi. I'm currently trialing QTR and PrintTool for macOS to make digital negatives.

I think I've got a handle on how to adjust the .txt files that are the mac equivalent of the ink descriptor files .qidf on a PC.

Now I might be wrong about the way to install the changed curve but I've tried a couple of options.
1. Opening the .txt file with the Quad_Drop_Profile tool - (Runs a script and says curve installed)
2. Running the install3880command - (Runs a script and says curves installed or words to that effect)

Either of these techniques allow me to select the new profile in PrintTool, but I'm having a couple of problems with the output I'm getting from PrintTool.

1. I've changed my ink descriptor file to no longer use Y ink, but the negative is still coming out with a Yellow tinge.

2. I tried adding a grey curve, but it seems to be doing the opposite of what I want it to do. I've tried using both syntax GREY_CURVE="0;0 5;5 10;10 etc etc 100;100" and also adding a link to the curve with GRAY_CURVE=/Applications/QuadToneRIP/Profiles/3880-UC/CurveEp3880Cot320ArgV1.acv

If anyone could point me in the right direction I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Ken.

Below is the current version of the ink descriptor file I9;m trying to use.

# Using 3 inks and deleted the curve and added grey overlap 10

PRINTER=Quad3880
CURVE_NAME=Ep3880UCK3cot320ver8
GRAPH_CURVE=YES

N_OF_INKS=8
DEFAULT_INK_LIMIT=100
BOOST_K=0
LIMIT_K=70
LIMIT_C=0
LIMIT_M=0
LIMIT_Y=0
LIMIT_LC=0
LIMIT_LM=0
LIMIT_LK=85
LIMIT_LLK=100

N_OF_GRAY_PARTS=3
GRAY_INK_1=K
GRAY_VAL_1=100
GRAY_INK_2=LK
GRAY_VAL_2=50
GRAY_INK_3=LLK
GRAY_VAL_3=35

GRAY_HIGHLIGHT=10
GRAY_SHADOW=10
GRAY_OVERLAP=10

GRAY_GAMMA=0.7

GRAY_CURVE="0;0 100;100"

N_OF_UNUSED=5
UNUSED_INK_1=C
UNUSED_INK_2=M
UNUSED_INK_3=Y
UNUSED_INK_4=LC
UNUSED_INK_5=LM

#COPY_CURVE_C=K
#COPY_CURVE_M=K
#COPY_CURVE_Y=K
#COPY_CURVE_LC=K
#COPY_CURVE_LM=K



Re: Help with Mac and please

2018-05-24 by gregjfarmer@...

Hi,
It appears you are only using the "grey" and black inks. They are carbon inks and give a warm result. To get a neutral result you will need to use some cyan and magenta.
Regards
Greg

Re: Help with Mac and please

2018-05-24 by laymanesq@...

Thanks for your comments Simone and Greg, I really appreciate your help.

Maybe what I was thinking was a 10% yellow tinge is actually just the warmth of the grey inks. However when I tried to use all the unused inks at a limit of 2 (to replace the Y 10 ) I was using, the colour of the negative didn't change at all. I also have one step wedge that I managed to print that is completely grey. I can't figure out how I managed to achieve that.... As an aside I can't find any .quad files on my computer?

With regard to my second question about the grey curve. When I insert the grey curve into the ink descriptor file I get a result that seems to be reversed. However; if I apply the same curve in PS, save the flattened file as a .tiff then load print that file with PrintTool (doing the inversion in PrintTool) I get the correct result. Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

GRAY_CURVE="0;0 2;3 10;11 15;15 21;18 25;19 30;21 35;24 40;26 45;28 51;30 55;31 60;33 65;35 70;36 75;38 80;41.66666 88;47 95;60 100;100"

I built this curve in PS using %ink values, so the above figures are taken straight from the curve. The more I think about it I gather that's not the right way to do it? Should these figures be luminosity values? In which case I'm totally lost now.

Thanks
Ken

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