New 1160 Variable-tone, cross-platform Ultra Tone curves:


I have made some new curves for the 1160 to control the MIS Ultra Tone B&W inkset.  
There are two sets.  One (for example UT11 ...) set is for Epson Enhanced/Archival matte.  
The second set (UT-EUS ...) is for the soon-to-be-released Epson UltraSmooth cotton, 
no-optical-brightener (truly archival) matte paper.

(Note that I use EEM routinely for drafts, sample prints, display 
prints that are not going to be sold as archival, and many other purposes.  
I think it is an excellent value and paper for up to 30 year 
life-expectancy work. I use cotton-based paper for limited-edition, 
numbered, signed prints or wherever print life of more than 30 years is wanted.  
I think the new Epson UltraSmooth is the best, in part because it does not 
have the flaking problems of the other cotton papers.   With no optical brighteners 
it will also not yellow from light exposure.    
I think the cotton paper with UT carbon pigments (no dyes) is archival; 
I do not consider EEM/EAM to be archival.)

The new curves produce 4 very useful tones.  The "UT11-N1" is neutral, similar to a 
"selenium" tone; "UT11-MW-3" is 0.03 units warm, similar to PiezoTone WN & MIS FS; 
UT11-C+3 is 0.03 units cool, about like the old "nc" curve with the MIS VM inkset; 
and UT11-W1 is 0.10 units warm, about twice as warm as the old vm inkset or 
the original MIS quads.  

The curves are much smoother than the old vm curves.  I have been told some 
don't even see the dots even with a loupe.  

The UT11 curves are cross-platform, running on PC and Mac.

Resin coated papers can be printed with the UT inkset about as well as 
the UltraChrome inkset.  As with the UltraChrome inkset, a "Photo Black" 
must be used.  MIS has a fine one.  Most of the RC papers have some reflective 
artifacts (like bronzing or slight dusting), but this is typical of all pigments on 
RC papers.  Cheap Epson Glossy Photo Paper (available at Costco) appears to be  
the most free of these defects.  I think matte paper is still the most 
reliable and what I mostly use.

For the UT curves, I use "No Color Adjustment" (in the driver color
management box) and Adobe RGB (1998) (Edit, Color Settings).  Other than 
these settings, the workflow is the same as the older vm curves workflow.

I hope these prove useful.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
