Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

New user. Moved from LR and Canon Print Studio Pro.  Used pattern printing (a usually standard option in the canon driver) to help with corrections. Used it in program in PSP and via canon driver in On1 print module and LR. For some reason the option does not appear in the driver settings when in qimage, but does in other programs  (LR, On1 Affinity for example).  Does qimage disable it? if so why?

There was a thread in 2016 asking the same question, but the answers weren't clear to me

Any thoughts or help??

Steve

Hi Steve,
I had never heard of pattern printing so my curiosity rose.
I did an hour or so of research, and found it is a plug in specifically designed for a few software printing programs. (PS, LR, Elements, and a couple more.)
See this video from Jose    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlaj8-5W5mU

I downloaded the plug in for the Canon Pro 100.
I installed it. Unfortunately, it only will activate when using this software. See screen snap below.

"Print Studio Pro is a plug-in software that you can start from
  following application programs.

  - Adobe Photoshop
  - Adobe Photoshop Elements
  - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
  - Digital Photo Professional
I wonder who paid off whom for that exclusivity

Anyway, after watching Jose' and his video, I know that all those adjustments and MORE come inside Qimage ultimate.
Just for starters, look at the SEL Color tab in Image editor.
Fred

 cant seem to get images to post here- I put up examples with screen snaps on DPR in the printing forum
All my other programs allow this option Affinity , On1, lightroom, ACDsee allow this option in the driver options- for some reason it does not appear in qimage

Steve

PSP is a plug-in, and as far as I can tell doesn't install as a stand-alone .exe, which is why it would work in Adobe products, as well as the others mentioned (although getting tech support for non-Adobe programs might be difficult).  QU doesn't support plug-ins, and going out on a limb here, probably won't for some time to come, if ever.

--JustGeorge

George,
Look at the time>    Does your mother know that you were up so late?
Fred

hmmm.  Your reply was at 3:24am.  Maybe we're both just early risers?  That will be our story, and we'll stick to it.  Don't tell anyone else.

Be good, or else don't get caught,

--George

It appears that something was turned off (possibly accidently)  in the programming of QI. The behavior of the canon driver is curious.

The Canon  PRO-10 and PRO-100  drivers show the option to pattern print in ACDsee, Affinity, LR , PL3 and On1 but not QI.
The Canon  Pro-10 and PRO-100 XPS drivers show it in all of the above but not QI.

Steve

Steve,
You have it reversed.
The deal is that the printers will print from the Canon stable, but the permission to use the PLUG IN for Pattern Printing is limited to certain software. PS LR Elements, etc.
Qimage has plug ins that work with Photo Shop, Lightroom, too. When you download Qimage, it also installs the plug ins for those programs with how to meld them.
This is not a Qimage problem. This is a contractual issue whereby only certain software can access the plug in for the Canon printers so named.
It would be like  Affinity users complaining that they cant use the Qimage plug in to export images directly to Qimage.
The plug in was not written to work with Affinity.  (as yet)
The instructions to use Pattern Printing advi9se that you go to file/ automate... etc etc.... This links the software with Pattern Printing. This is the same for activating Qimage's plug ins with PS and Lightroom. Paintshop Pro and Affinity are not included.
Make more sense?
Fred
PS Be aware that using the XPS driver will expose you to various bugs and idiosyncrasies. Not recommended

Canon simply doesn't make that feature available in their 32 bit drivers: only the 64 bit drivers.  As far as I know, Canon is the only company that has drivers that have different features depending on whether you are running a 32 bit or 64 bit application.

Qimage is currently 32 bit software in order to be compatible with both 32 and 64 bit operating systems, XP, etc. in one application.  Any 32 bit application that opens the printer driver will not see that pattern printing feature.  We are working on a 64 bit version of Qimage but it will be a while before it is ready.

Regards,
Mike

That explains it, although the XPS driver does show the option in qimage when I ran it. Is XPS a 32 bit driver.

Thanks

I can work around this for now when I need to get a pattern print. Its really helpful for adjusting an image to taste. I have never been sucessful at looking at an image and understanding that it needs a bit more cyan or just a little more contrast/brightness. I can however see what I like in a pattern print and the driver tells me what to add to get there.

Perhaps it would be a useful utility for qimage.

Steve

(Hopefully Mike won't see this post!  ;) )  If I'm reading you right, you want to tweak your image before you run an actual print.  There's a way to do something like this in QU, but it's not very user-friendly for users such as myself.  (I'd say it's somewhat klunky, but I won't, just in case you-know-who sees this.)

As I posted in a different thread over on DPR, I usually print on RR Polar Luster Metallic, but sometimes it's not the best paper, or I don't have the size I want/need (no 13x19 metallic at this time); using the "Edit Image" function in QU, I can change brightness, contrast, tones, colors, etc, to suit the paper, and save those as separate settings for that image, or to use with other images when changing to that paper.  Most of my prints hang in my home, but move from location to location (room to room, hallway to room, whatever), and I'll want to change how the print presents.  And occasionally I need to get the print to be a closer match to my monitor (17-in HP notebook).  (Just to be clear:  I run a print on the different paper, if it isn't right, I'll tweak the printing parameters before running another print, and generally get it right on that next run.  And then save that edit as a Job.)

The only reason I have issues with this procedure is that I only work on that 17-in monitor (I change location, including sometimes working out on the deck).  And while the notebook is generally fast enough for most of my needs, the image editor preview window is a little small and more than a little slow, especially when toggling the effect change between before and after.  Folks with regular/normal computer setups probably won't run into this.  But I will admit, if I'm not in a hurry, I do use it and it works find.

I don't know if that's what you're looking for, but you might spend some time playing around with it so that you're familiar and comfortable using it; for me it took some getting used to.  It might be a useful tool on occasion.

If none of the above is what you were talking about, then just ignore all of this!