So shall we both wipe our messages after the 5th message in this thread?

Finding solutions where no problem exists creates only confusion.

Still wonder why it doesn't work for Jack.



met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

This is strange. You can actually tone the print with ink color mix sliders and it still keeps the "neutral" B&W for the actual print.
Qimage makes on the fly an RGB image of a greyscale file  but as far as I know the driver B&W mode accepts both RGB and greyscale and consider it greyscale. At least it did so with Epson ABW modes and still does with HP Z B&W mode. So that can not be a reason. I guess the driver skips the ABW mode and takes the color mode instead and prints a "neutral" B&W as the file itself is a B&W image.

I guess you should reinstall the driver. Something makes a short circuit there.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Dinkla Gallery Canvas Wrap Actions for Photoshop
http://www.pigment-print.com/dinklacanvaswraps/index.html

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To reduce the confusion, if you use a greyscale image, bring it in Qimage, select printer driver does CM in Qimage, select ABW mode in the driver, add a sepia ink mix there, there will be no sepia print?   An R=G=B monochrome file wouldn't change that workflow.



met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

Right. I had that in mind too for this (Arjo's) case. The borders then not subject to color changes that affect the image.
Another function could be negative values in that extra 1-2 border feature so no 3 border setting is needed.

Not unlike Arjo I use a print filter to let the Z printers put gloss enhancer on the total image but not the borders, Economy mode. Then the canvas addition made in PS will get covered too so I can not use that. Then one either takes wider borders to be cut back or the crop marks are not used and the image is placed where some waste paper on the roll can be used to get the unequal border. The creation of templates, frames etc usually isn't worth the work if the job isn't repeated that often. And as described gives the same color issue.

An argument could be that Qimage isn't a desktop publishing tool but there's a twilight zone between document creation and plain image prints. I often need slightly more border underneath a print for signing. Last time I had to make 4 leperello's, each 8 images, next to one another on 44" wide paper and 16 feet long. I used Print to File to put 8 images after another with 5 mm border around each and at the sides, no crop marks, so the images with 10 mm in between. Then in PS I added 15 mm canvas to one side of the Leperello as there would be text written on that side. The 4 long images brought back in Qimage and 3 mm border added + dashed lines for manual cutting over the length. The 3 mm to chop off after the folding. Printing took a long time but was perfect. 550 MB per leperello, something like 2.3 GB in the print spooler. With unequal borders possible it would have been even easier. Using DTP software it would have taken more time and at printing not producing the Qimage quality.

met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

While it may have worked for you on the Mac could it be that the "softproofing" of Lightroom makes the difference. If I google for softproof and Lightroom I see all kinds of messages. Read the threads on the Luminous Landscape forum for example. There have been upgrades though.
Drivers for Snow Leopard may not have been a solution either, there are color management issues with recent Epson drivers + Adobe software + Snow Leopard's Colorsync.

Not familiar anymore with Epson drivers but are the only choices CM off + on, or is there also a "let application do the CM" choice?
Your images have profiles embedded so Qimage doesn't (have to) assign a profile? A gamma 2.2 - 1.8 issue?

I didn't reply on this one for some days as it is always complicated to find the flaw in someone else's CM. Not to mention when it is about the difference between two CMs of the same person.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

Fred,

What I read is "how do I create multiple images on one print page with unequal borders around them?".

And the rest describing a method that may work or not.

Something I would like to know too if it is an easier method than adding some extra canvas at one side of the image in Photoshop or elsewhere.
Nicest way would be an extra one or two side border feature in Qimage. But that doesn't exist.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

While it may not be intended that way there's a method from one image file too. With custom color management settings you could select a QTR (RGB) B&W profile and the conversion to B&W (+customised for printer/ink/media) happens on the fly to printing for that image, the other image not selected goes by the normal color ICC profile setting.

That kind of B&W profiles can be created from Photoshop curves too:

http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Embedding_Photoshop_Curves_in_ICCs.pdf
more there for the B&W curves.

The Qimage job can be saved and will do that custom color management setting again but not if recalled as settings or with the queue cleared after the recall. A wise limitation.

Done it with a QTR RGB B&W profile.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

That would be possible I think with curves to alter the color and after that the conversion to B&W. But the beauty of the PS channel mixer to monochrome is the preview in B&W while the color curves are still editable. Making one or more B&W batch conversions in Qimage is quite a job (but could be PS curves transferred) and still are general choices, not image content specific. If the preview can get an extra monochrome choice while in color mode it would be like PS.

The question is whether Paddy actually needs this information, he may have his B&W's already.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

I wondered whether you had a printer driver that uses a color mode and a B&W mode like the Epson R2880 or the older R2400 Two driver modes that can not be used in Qimage in the same printrun. The best thing you can do is a good custom profile that keeps the greys as neutral as possible.

You may have the B&W image already but for conversions from color to B&W I always use Photoshop's channel mixer with monochrome output. More or less simulating the spectral sensitivity of B&W films + filter choices.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

The colors in the design setup in RGB mode? For optimal quality and the artwork original a vector design, I would use the intended print size + 360 PPI resolution + anti-aliasing selected (if available) in Bonzai3D's export. Export as Tiff 8 bit. If you need a web page or smaller print make an extra rendering.
Could be that Qimage doesn't pick up the original (virtual) size + resolution when using Original Size for the print, check the job queue whether 360 PPI is quoted for that image. It will work without problems with Photoshop Tiffs.

That is what I do with vector designs from for example Xara Xtreme.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

Paddy,

Could you be more specific, which printer, what printing modes of the printer?


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

Roy,

The preference in profiling is to not compensate (for absolute neutrality sake) the off white paper color by printing ink there, it would reduce reflectance more. The eye adapts to the base white and accepts/compensates that gamut bias as long as there is no strong competition to the eye with another cooler print next to it or white background. The same approach is used for the normal softproof to a degree, the white will be the (calibrated, monitor profiled) monitor white, the gamut however influenced by the paper above the paper white. With paper white simulation there will be a shift in the RGB 255.255.255 from the monitor white, that influence decreasing above the white. Similar for black ink simulation. So there is a print representation in the normal softproof but not totally. In fact is all a simulation as the additive color mixing RGB monitor isn't like subtractive mixing CMY(K) ink on the print.

There's an analogy between the color temperature of your monitor and the viewing light for proofs. The color temperature doesn't have to be equal to do the job. The eye adapts. There is also the Kruithof curve, with less light the preference is for a warmer light. A lot of the cheaper LCD monitors can not be dimmed so in that case it is better to use say 6500K or the default which will also be cooler than 5000K. The viewing light usually stays below 5500K and there's now a tendency for photography to go down to 4700-4100K in relation with the lighting at home or in galleries. A match on color temperature between viewing light and monitor will be difficult, but the eyes adapt.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

Roy,

A printer profile is there in the first place to translate you image gamut as good as possible to the gamut possible with the inks and paper it is made for. That print will build on the paper white physically available. In profile creation there is often a choice to keep the image neutrality absolute or starting from the paper white, the last is almost never neutrally white. In both cases the profiling compensates (subtracts)the physical existence of the paper white in the gamut but differently. That sums up the printing device side of the profile. For soft proofing another, related part of the profile is used. In the profile the paper white spec is available too and has to be used (added) for paper white simulation. If the soft proofing feature of the application doesn't try to simulate the paper white on the display then that doesn't tell anything about how good the profiling to the print works. In advanced profile editors the two profile parts can be edited separately to get the display and print more related. Something that should only be done when you have done everything to get your display and printer/print media properly calibrated and profiled.

If Qimage does a white paper compensation by default it is very little if compared to the difference in the whites Photoshop creates on the switch between original and softproof with paper white compensation on.  I do not see it. Select a profile for a warm paper like German Etching. Select a profile assigned image and switch between original and softproof with space and keep your eyes on an RGB 255 area.

I prefer print proofs anyway.

As far as I know soft proofing doesn't have a standard and it is the developer who has to brew the mix.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

Fred
[/quote]


How does it do for ink costs? Is there a way to compare ink costs for various printers?

[/quote]

Depending on the subject and media preset a square meter will take 5 to 12 ml of ink for most printers. A square meter is roughly 11 square feet. The 1900 will add gloss enhancer like the HP Z models do on gloss papers. Then a maximum of 15 ML of ink per square meter for the heaviest subject is a save bet. This doesn't count the cleaning process or what is left in carts that are declared empty. The Epsons do not have a great reputation on ink economy, a lot of ink is wasted. The older Epson 9000 on average used 17 ML a square meter, a 220 ML cart on one roll of 44" wide x 40' Photorag, all ink use included. On my HP Z  models it is 40% less including the use of gloss papers + gloss enhancer. You will see other estimations like 2 ml a square foot all included for the Epson 3800.

Sorry, answers like that are never simple.

Happy 2010 to everyone on this list.

met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla
Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/