Thanks Mike. I have since run multiple jobs on that same roll of paper and didn't experience any hiccups.

And thanks for explaining the rationale behind the job naming. I depend on the job log since I do a lot of repeat orders for clients, even some after several years. I would say it is a business critical aspect of QImage for me. Even when a job fails to reload properly (I have reported this issue awhile ago), I can still read the original job information on screen and re-create the job.

Cheers!

Brad

I also notice in v2020.109 that the manual job naming dialog appears at the start of processing which threw me at first. May I ask why this was changed?

I just upgraded to v2020.109 having been using v2019.115 for a long time (and I've been using QU for years). This has never happened before. The very first two jobs I ran with v2020.109 did something weird. The first job (12 pages) had been processed and sent to the printer and was printing just fine. As I normally do when the next job uses the same paper, I spooled up the second job. To my surprise, the first job stopped partway through one of the pages and the printer started printing the second job!

Is it possible for QU to kill a job-in-progress on the printer and start another job?

My printer is an HP Z3200ps. QU is running on Win10 Home 64 bit.

Thanks.

Brad

I produce excellent B&W images on my HP Z3200 on matte (Breathing Color Elegance Velvet) and on canvas (Breathing Color Lyve). I set the printer to use only the grayscale inks, so there is no colour "leakage" in the profile. My clients generally provide the B&W images pre-converted. If I do it myself, I use the B&W adjustment layer in Photoshop and sometimes luminance masks (Tony Kuyper's plug-in). In some cases, the image shadows will plug up, so I use a curve to bring that up a bit before printing to get the most contrast on the paper. I print with Black Point Compensation. I don't use Qimage nor the printer driver to do the B&W conversion.

Cheers!

Brad

Hi, MelW.

This machine is used in my graphics business and is under a maintenance contract. This specific driver glitch arose in the context of a service ticket with HP. As you might expect, their first action was to ensure I was on the latest firmware and drivers. So my only (but good) reason to upgrade to the latest drivers is to ensure my business is supported.

Having said that, I need the printer to work with Qimage Ultimate (which I also keep up-to-date); that is pretty much non-negotiable since my workflow for the last 10 years has been built around Qimage. Obviously, I am back on the 2015 drivers, for now, but I will want to move forward as soon as this issue can be resolved.

Based on what Mike has recently discovered, it seems this issue might affect a lot more than the HP Designjet users.

Cheers!

Brad

Hi, Mike. I'm running version 1709 (16299.64) 64-bit. I was also having the same problem with version 1703 64-bit. I'm using Intel.

Cheers!

Brad

Mike, I really appreciate that you went to this much effort. Actually, I have been at this for days over a span of a couple of months. I have been through a complete uninstall (devices, drivers, driver packages, etc.) and re-install several times, then "updating driver" to the latest one. That hasn't worked. My HP service tech suggested that the new installer (released on Nov 15, 2017) which "installs" the Sep 27, 2017 driver might work better. It didn't.

If other folks have managed to get the Sep 27, 2017 driver installed, but have discovered other issues (with gloss enhancer, margins, etc.), then I don't need the grief. I'm sticking with the driver that works.

And I'm passing the notes from this topic to HP.

Cheers!

Is anyone else having trouble with the HP Designjet PCL3 driver v61.173.21104.400 (Sep 27, 2017)? My HP service tech recommended I upgrade to that driver as apparently HP has addressed a bunch of issues. But it appears QU doesn't like it; QU either crashes or declares "Printer selected is invalid."

My system is running Windows 10, 64-bit and my printer is an HP Z3200ps.

I'll be re-installing the printer with the older v61.121.362.41 (Aug 12, 2015) driver since I know QU was happy with that one.

Cheers!

Brad

Hi, Mike. I notice that the QU resets/forgets the Job Log column widths when I quit and restart QU. It also resets/forgets the column widths right after renaming a job. Specifically, I like to enlarge the Job Log window and then drag the column width slider to expand the size of the File Name because my job names tend to be fairly long. It is nice that QU remembers the overall window size, but it tends to reset/forget the column widths.

E.g. open the Job Log, drag the column sliders around to change the widths to some new settings, then rename any job, click OK. The columns widths will reset immediately.

Cheers!

Brad

Thanks guys.

First, thanks to Fred for confirming the issue is real, but perhaps under-reported. This paper "creep" issue happens only on the thicker textured papers which are perhaps not popular with photographers, but certainly are with my art reproduction clients. It's not a problem for small jobs (1 or 2 prints). But I frequently enough get clients who want 10 or 15 copies of an image and then the paper "creep" can become noticeable.

Of course, I do ensure that the spindle hubs are pressed in tightly when loading the roll, etc. That by itself won't fix the problem. In fact, some roll stock (looking at you Hahnemuhle) has a diameter, when the roll is new, that is actually larger than the spindle hub, allowing the first dozen turns of paper to "creep" over the hub after enough prints. I suspect the problem is due to the thickness of the paper and tiny variations in density, or something. The spindle and spindle hubs only control the paper at one point in the paper path, which is about a foot back of where the rollers are pulling the paper through. The "creep" occurs at the rollers.

Mike, I'll try the margin adjustment trick and see if that helps. Thanks.

Cheers!

Brad

Yes, I have. I am proposing an enhancement to Intellicut.

By default, IC mode doesn't solve the situation that I encounter with certain roll papers that slowly drift sideways as you print through the roll. A prime example is Breathing Color Elegance Velvet which is a thick fine art paper. After a few prints into the roll, the left margin will have moved. Knowing this happens, I set up those prints in Ctr mode. That way, if the roll drifts left or right, I won't lose any image when I trim off the left and right edges.

However, Ctr mode doesn't bring the images together in the middle of the media so as to optimize the cut lines . Hence, the suggestion of a Ic mode with Ctr option.

Cheers!

Brad

Greetings! I'm still having this issue recalling some jobs from the log. However, I tried something today that worked. First, recall "Settings" only. Then recall "Job" (with images). That did not generate the stream of "Control has no parent" alarms.

EDIT: Sorry, this is not foolproof. I just tried to recall a job from a couple of weeks ago, "Settings" only and it threw the error.

Cheers!

Brad

Let me add that centering "across" the roll (left-right) is the real requirement. There is no "drift" in the other direction as this is the direction the feed rollers operate.

Due to the fact that some roll stock (e.g. thick fine art paper) will slowly "drift" left or right, I tend to center my prints so I get consistent margin widths. Therefore, it would be great to have a mode of Intellicut that packs the images for optimum cutting, but also centers the images so that if there is any waste, it is equally distributed around the outside.

Thanks.

Cheers!

Brad

Hi, Fred. Yes, it works in the Z3200. I can dial up the copy count within QU. And I often to this. As it happens, in the case above (9 copies), since QU can't do all 9 in the one setup, I would/do/did run the first 8 copies as a 2-up arrangement times 4 copies in the driver. This reduces spooling time and spool file size. Then I setup the second media size (shorter) and do the final copy times 1.

In making 5 copies, there is also the extra ink used and the print time, in addition to the paper. Since I print on rolls, I'm careful to minimize wastage "down the roll". And if there is wastage across the roll, I'll set it up so I can trim off as large a piece as possible since I can use the scraps in sheet mode for small projects.

Cheers!

Brad