QTR-Quadtone RIP

I'm using QuadTone on a Mac. For various reasons I have Photoshop on
a Win2K PC 
instead of the Mac. I prepare the images on the PC, save as TIFF,
grayscale, gray gamma 
2.2. I then use Photoshop Elements on the Mac to open and print the
image.

I'm confused by the existence of the Gray Matte and Gloss ICC
profiles. I've read that 
QuadTone ignores embedded profiles, but also that one may convert
one's image to these 
profiles.

I'd appreciate any guidance on whether these profiles, and the Gray
Lab space, are 
applicable to my current workflow and on understanding their function.

many thanks

andrew

Andrew, you are right that QTR ignores ICC profiles and color 
management as we normally use it for color images.  QTR just takes 
the numbers in the file and sends them to the printer using the 
formula and curves of your chosen profile(s).

If you edit a file in the Gray Lab workspace, you have the numbers in 
the file mapped a certain way.  When you convert to Gray Matte or 
Gray Photo, those numbers are remapped to work better with the 
dynamic range of the paper.  So, the numbers in the file change, and 
when QTR prints, it uses these new numbers, which hopefully match up 
well with the paper being used.

On a Mac, you apparently can print directly from Photoshop.  In this 
case, you would Print with Preview and set up Gray Matte as your 
destination profile, using perceptual and Black Point Compensation 
(if printing to matte paper).  This will do the conversion on the 
fly.  In Windows, I have to convert to the final print space first 
then import that into QTR for printing.

Hope that clears it up.

Lou

--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "andrew" <andrew@a...> wrote:
> I'm using QuadTone on a Mac. For various reasons I have Photoshop on
> a Win2K PC 
> instead of the Mac. I prepare the images on the PC, save as TIFF,
> grayscale, gray gamma 
> 2.2. I then use Photoshop Elements on the Mac to open and print the
> image.
> 
> I'm confused by the existence of the Gray Matte and Gloss ICC
> profiles. I've read that 
> QuadTone ignores embedded profiles, but also that one may convert
> one's image to these 
> profiles.
> 
> I'd appreciate any guidance on whether these profiles, and the Gray
> Lab space, are 
> applicable to my current workflow and on understanding their 
function.

> 
> many thanks
> 
> andrew

Lou,

yes, thank you that does clear things up.

Since I'm only using Elements on the Mac, which doesn't have any option to print with a 
profile but will honour an embedded one, I will be obliged to convert to the profile within 
Photoshop on the PC, just as you do.

And yes, on a Mac QuadTone simply presents as another printer with some custom dialog 
settings for the various options: curves, ink limits, etc.

thanks again

andrew

--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "Louis Dina" <lbdina@c...> wrote:

> Andrew, you are right that QTR ignores ICC profiles and color 
> management as we normally use it for color images.  QTR just takes 
> the numbers in the file and sends them to the printer using the 
> formula and curves of your chosen profile(s).
> 
> If you edit a file in the Gray Lab workspace, you have the numbers in 
> the file mapped a certain way.  When you convert to Gray Matte or 
> Gray Photo, those numbers are remapped to work better with the 
> dynamic range of the paper.  So, the numbers in the file change, and 
> when QTR prints, it uses these new numbers, which hopefully match up 
> well with the paper being used.
> 
> On a Mac, you apparently can print directly from Photoshop.  In this 
> case, you would Print with Preview and set up Gray Matte as your 
> destination profile, using perceptual and Black Point Compensation 
> (if printing to matte paper).  This will do the conversion on the 
> fly.  In Windows, I have to convert to the final print space first 
> then import that into QTR for printing.
> 
> Hope that clears it up.
> 
> Lou
> 
> --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "andrew" <andrew@a...> wrote:
> > I'm using QuadTone on a Mac. For various reasons I have Photoshop on
> > a Win2K PC 
> > instead of the Mac. I prepare the images on the PC, save as TIFF,
> > grayscale, gray gamma 
> > 2.2. I then use Photoshop Elements on the Mac to open and print the
> > image.
> > 
> > I'm confused by the existence of the Gray Matte and Gloss ICC
> > profiles. I've read that 
> > QuadTone ignores embedded profiles, but also that one may convert
> > one's image to these 
> > profiles.
> > 
> > I'd appreciate any guidance on whether these profiles, and the Gray
> > Lab space, are 
> > applicable to my current workflow and on understanding their 
> function.
> > 
> > many thanks
> > 
> > andrew