Mirrored prints. Two weeks ago I was afraid it had something to do with the HP Z3200 drivers so did not dare to discuss it here. Saw no other comments in the forum either. But lost two 100x140cm big prints that way.  Trials then showed it really had to do with files being just within 1GB or just above 1GB. Tried a much older QU version and it did the same, HP printer preview showed it again. Having more time today I tried Photoline for the prints and the >1GB file printed correctly. So I thought not the Z3200 drivers to blame and logged in to report my issues and then I see it is solved. Was there a bug reported in the forum?  Could not find it.

What are the specific conditions?

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

No problems with managing the media presets. Sync is also alright and I downloaded all the additional and custom media presets from the Z3200PS and transferred them to the Z3200 Photo printer. They landed all in the additional map but work. Slightly less saturation in the Z3200Photo output after media calibration there but quite identical. First check what could cause that as making a double set of profiles is a lot of work.

William, I wonder whether this reply is still required.

I went through the HP driver + utilities downloads today for a Z3200PS A version and a Z3200 Photo B version, both 44". Further W10 and QU conditions like your setup.
Tried the PCL drivers, the new utility replacements and buried them deep in my archive as not suitable. HP too much listening in too on that software.

Loaded what is probably still a W8 level PCL driver for both printers + Print Utility 1.17.0.3    Deselected HP support and Alerts.  Back to old situation I had a week ago but with one printer more.
Most likely the PS driver of that period will act the same but I hardly use that one. Made my own default printer settings that are loaded when I Shift click the Printer Properties window of QU. I only change printer settings in the HP printer driver itself, never in QU.

What may cause trouble are spontaneous changes of the printer' s IP address but quite easily solved in my experience. W10 protection scheme running at the background I guess.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

I think it will not be faster or more reliable if compared to the already existing QU uneven border feature which I find not fast enough. There is a learning video for that one.

If QU had a Canvas like feature in the Image Editor or added to the High Precision Cropping Tool, more or less a crop window that goes over the image size edges then I would favor that. It could be made without actually changing the image file and even on the fly working when added to the HPCT feature. Saved as a filter you can add that 'negative crop' to all the images.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Alright, my usual workflow is then adding white canvas to all the images in Photoshop with an action. Only to fill up the 37mm at both sides to keep the file size acceptable, 100% JPGs will not grow much then. The 10,5mm border all around added in Qimage Ultimate. Usually  I do not encounter such wide border differences though.

To create unequal borders in printing  in QU is a longer path in my experience. Although Print to File could do something similar automatically too and use the output of that for the print run. Make a print page of 400,5x500,5 mm, print size A3 centrally. Corner marks added later in the print run. Keep an eye on the assigned color spaces though, they may differ as the files are from different sources. I would probably go for the paper profile added in Print to File and have the print run without CM done to avoid double profiling faults.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

I would never cut the sheets to the size of the print page you need in the end.  I would use Corner Marks + 0.5mm white Border+ width added to the border width you already will add or not add. After the print is made cut just within the Corner Marks, you will have two short lines remaining up to the last cut to be made. If the cut print edges fall behind the frame or matte in the end you can even forget the additional 0.5mm and cut on the Corner Mark lines themselves.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Mike,

Despite this morning's outdoors bursted water pipe; You made someone at the other side of the pond very happy today.
Works like a charm now.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Hello Mike,

Thank you for the work done to make it more consistent.

However I do not really understand why the crop aspect ratio is related to the total size of the print in both Border and Border+ settings. I would relate the crop aspect ratio to the image crop resulting from the print size and border size setting. Am I missing a choice that would create that in High Precision Print Cropping? I like the on the fly approach of that tool, nothing saved to the image and a good display of the image + crop.

I see that the crop aspect ratio is always related to the overall print size aspect ratio so image size + 2x borders border size. For both Border and Border+ choices. If I use the Frame simulation of (the now free) Picture Window Pro and change the matte width in the Frame menu, apply  the settings and use the dual window display; Frame simulation + Image with Crop next to it then the crop aspect ratio provided is the actual image crop ratio. Change the matte width and the crop aspect ratio changes too.  In Qimage Ultimate this relates most to the setting Print Size choice (say 600x500mm), Border (say 50mm) + Crop scissors on, the image then becomes 500x400mm.  But whatever your choice of border width in QU the crop gets the aspect ratio of 1.2 as a result of 600/500mm. I would like to have 1.25 as a result of 500/400 like PWP does it. In QU with Border+ you get the ratio 1.167 of the overall size 700/600 where 1.20 of 600/500 would be handy.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Normal sheet sizes + border choices would create a similar situation as a fixed frame size does.

Mike, thank you. It will be nice when it is solved.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Correct, I have even studied the making of film masks for film separations in offset printing processes. Where the inks had an even worse representation of pure cyan, magenta, yellow for color mixing while the color negative to start from had a construction that aimed at the use of color print paper with its chromogenic photo dyes. I mentioned the strength slider to neutralize at least a part of the mask. The rest should be done with a profile to compensate the shifts per color mix area but even there problems appear as the development of the color negative film has never been that stable and by that the mask density changes per batch too. On top of that is fading of the negatives, especially for the 1970's color film it can be horrible. Vuescan has some choices to compensate for all that but you still have to do color editing.

There is another issue; the RB spectral sensibilities of most camera and scanner sensors fit quite good for the Cyan and Yellow dye densities in developed film but the Green filtered pixels do not fit as well spectrally to the Magenta dye of color films.

It would be easier today to make color negatives and use an X-rite Color Checker to make a RAW or ICC profile and use that for the output of that batch of developed color negative film. Not to mention the maskless color negative films as used in air photography. Slide material is even easier and digital takes are most convenient. However what I have in color negative film is 40 to 50 years old. So you struggle to get it right and RAW editing tools offer more in my experience. ACR accepted the inverted DNG files exported from Vuescan.

BTW, a good link you added there.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Right, and possibly an orange mask filter for color negatives there too, the input based on a mask only part of the color neg film and a strength slider that goes down to zero for B&W negatives. 

I use scanners and cameras for that work and Vuescan allows export of a DNG packed inverted negative scan or take that has no other editing done in Vuescan. It is basically not a RAW file though but a Tiff in disguise. From there I can do the job further with several image editing programs. A true RAW but "positive" file might give even more editing possibilities.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Hello Mike, thank you for the reply. I have done all kinds of things and in my opinion there is no saved crop for the image/print size and no round scissors icon on that print on the main live view. I do hope your change might solve it as I see no better way to describe it than I already did. Possibly I should make a screen video to show what goes wrong.  Windows 10 here. I will update QU to 2021.101 but I recall this is going on with several versions.

Edit: Mike,  an artificial image made in Photoshop, size 500x400, Tiff saved.  Custom print size 600x500mm, inner border 50mm, crop scissors button off. Check "Print(s) Crop" window. No crop to be seen as expected. Close window. Crop scissors button on. Open P-C window again. A left right crop shows, while the inner border is still kept at 50mm so there should be no crop at all. Size of the print on the Print Page is still 600x500mm and looks as if there is no crop done.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Sometimes you have a frame available and an image that comes close enough in aspect ratio to fit in that frame with equal borders around if the width of the borders is a bit adapted.  So I set a 50x60cm print size where the image + 40mm border should fit in more or less, crop scissors on. Load the image and check in the "Print(s) Crop" window what is cropped. Avoid "Save crop image/size", no "Done" and close the window at the top X. When I change the border width to get a nicer crop based on what I have seen I see no changes in the "Print(s) Crop" window. Either  the window recalls a former "Save crop image/size" or things are not refreshed. I guess I do something wrong. Another question then; where or how can I remove a "Save crop image/size" tag? As that may have happened before I did the actions described above. I have had difficulties there months before and thought this is no feature for me though I also recall that I used it with success in the past. QU version 2021.100 here.

It is most obvious when you take an image of say an aspect ratio/size 400x500mm, set a print size 480x580mm and have an inside border set of 40mm.  Should fit nicely without a crop added even with the crop scissors enabled. Now change the size of the border to 100mm and after that to 10mm. The print page window shows the crops resp. top/bottom and left right as it should be. But the Print Cropping Tool window does not, at least in my case it does not adapt. Fresh image file with new name, all the save aspects of the Print Crop Tool window off.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Yet it would be nicer to have a feature that converts the negative to positive before any image editing can/should be done as that lets the image editing tools act like they would do on a normal positive image. Preferably a negative<>positive conversion in the RAW file as I mentioned in an older thread;

http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/request-new-feature-(negative-to-positive-button)/?action=printpage


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

Kelly,

2. We are writing about printing to the Z3200 from Qimage Ultimate, consider the last as your application and have color management settings correct there. Let us limit the topic to HP media present in the HP driver choices and still available on the market. For example the HP ID Premium Satin Paper 260 gr/m². Shift+click on the driver icon (not the top one in QU but the one in my reply at 5.). Select that paper in the driver, have the driver default setting already on Application Color Management (but check here) + Roll or Sheet (manual) + image quality setting (requesting 300 or 600PPI) + the printing page say A3 + landscape or portrait. O.K. there. Then go to QU's color management, select Application Color Management there + the HP ID Premium Satin Paper printer profile + Relative Color rendering + BPC. O.K. there. Do not alter settings like print page size, media choice or landscape/portrait after that in Qimage Ultimate's menu!!

Images you print should have a color space assigned, that is done in Capture One when you process from RAW to Tiff or JPG to the Output map. Use AdobeRGB as the color space for example. Take your Tiffs or Jpegs from that C1 Output map with the QU menu thumbs page of that map. Check Display Image Info of one of the thumbs (right click) and look for the AdobeRGB presence in that file. If not there, no AdobeRGB was assigned/saved for that file in C1. The default color space replacement for non-assigned images is sRGB by Qimage if it can not find other clues in the file's EXIF. There can be a color shift if you edited a file with AdobeRGB set as the color space in the image editing application and it gets sRGB attached somewhere on its route to the print. It could be that printer color management (as you describe giving better color) just guessed better what color space you used in C1 or another image editing application. Or you knew what you used in C1 and selected that for the printer driver CM, two choices for RGB files processing there (PCL3 raster photo driver): AdobeRGB or sRGB. Printer profile is in the black box there so no access to it.

3.  You absolutely have to get the default HP paper profiles installed in the Windows system for QU's color management to function. Normally a Synchronise Paper Presets does that. Media Presets and the linked Printer Profiles are taken from the printer harddisk and so distributed to one or more systems that have access to the printer. Try to get the Printer Utility working for that task. Calibration is not needed at that point and will not help in distributing the profiles. Calibration is meant to keep the color fundament to a certain standard, over time for the printer hardware (heads mainly) and small changes between paper production batches can alter the color fundament. With calibration keeping that standard you do not need to make new profiles, the fundament remains the same for the profiles made in the past. Your color issues right now are not related to that, normally these shifts are hardly noticeable.

4. Check minimum sheet sizes you can load on a HP Z3200/3100. Roll width minimum is 30cm, length of a sheet (paper transport direction) should be similar, width of a sheet at least 21cm.
Set print page preview in the HP driver to check whether the image is turned before the printing start. You can cancel it then. Do not alter the landscape/portrait mode from the QU menu, do it in the printer driver as already written in 2. There are issues with HP drivers integration with QU. A letter size paper sheet will have a printable area of roughly 205x262mm. Do not lock the rotation of a landscape image when printed on a portrait printpage. Make sure the image is not printed over several sheets, there will be a QU warning anyway. Find your way in the QU settings is best I can write.

5. I come back to that, Lunch is served.
Edit: Shift/Click on the Properties text as shown in this screengrab.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken