Just some quick thoughts before the Guru's jump in with better suggestions, and starting at the beginning...

Have you checked your colour problem area is within the gamut of your printer and/or monitor?

Fortunately, QU 115 now has a means of checking gamut.

However, if the problem area is OOG of either your printer or your monitor's display, you will have to rectify that issue to have even the faintest idea what to expect from your postprocessing adjustments.

Will stop now as I don't want to muddy the water for Fred and Terry who will doubtlessly give you better and more accurate troubleshooting information shortly.


Roy Sletcher

Dedicated QU user and habitual lurker on this forum.

At my age learning something new every day isn't the problem, it is trying to remember it the next day.

Interesting comments from Terry and Jeff, and I am in complete agreement with their analysis.

Our local club competitions and the judging process seems to follow the same pattern. Easy to criticize the judging though. In my town we have a million souls in our catchment area and we need 30 judges per year for 10 competitions. The gamut runs from the good, the bad to the plain yuk. Then again the pressures of judging forces them to examine the image, form a definitive judgment, and give a score all within 60-100 seconds. Do it over and over again until they have got through the 100 or so entries. Not an easy task. But they certainly should do better.

I try to evangelize printing at our local club, and for my efforts am considered something of a nut case. I am always amazed when a person with a couple of thousand dollars of gear slung around his neck and an even larger amount in the bag on his back, whilst salivating over the latest ad greatest camera soon to be released tells me, "PRINTING IS TO EXPENSIVE

It gets better when he proudly shows his multi megapixel camera body with umpteen stops of dynamic range. Also explaining he is shooting raw to capture maximum data, AND THEN POST PROCESSES IT DOWN TO 1080 x 870 pixels in 8 bit sRGB to post on his website, or enter the local competition. Effectively discarding some 80% of the data he has paid so dearly to capture.

OK Rant off I had better stop now.

Fred's comment about meeting for coffee with frinds to exchange and view prints sounds interesting. Will try it with a few of my friends and see how it goes.

As for a term for the output of the ubiquitous phone image brigade: wow about "Crapola". Google it. An accepted term for rubbish, at least on this side of the Atlantic.

Have a good day!

Roy S
-Old age and treachery trumps youth and enthusiasm-

Grateful thanks Terry,

All is well now. So simple when you know where to look.

I had tried other things without success.

You and Fred are the best!

Regards

Roy Sletcher

Hi Fred or Terry

Have attached jpg which hopefully displays and shows problem.

Suddenly my thumbnails do not appear and I have a title bar instead for each file. The files DO exist as clicking on top title bar in stack loads the image as shown in printing module

Have tried a few rebuilding option, but without success.

Not aware of any recent PC changes. Last time used was 5 or so days ago and all was well. No major system changes I am aware of.
 
Re-profiled my 2 monitors today, but that is routine and has not caused problems in past.

Hopefully it is something simple and you can get me back on the road to righteousness with minimum disruption

Will provide additional info as requested.

Reinstalled program, but did not help.


Roy Sletcher

Busted - I have just reported you all to the IRS.

The Men in Black with Briefcases are on their way. Be prepared to forfeit you ill gotten gains.   

rs

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2016 to Fred, Terry, and not forgetting the main man Mike C.

Although primarily a lurker, I log in regularly, and have benefited greatly from your various comments and insights concerning the use of Qimage Ultimate.


Roy Sletcher

Thanks Mike.

That is very clear and I appreciate you writing it in terms I can understand.

rs

Very well Explained Terry and Mike.

I can understand the points you are making, and it makes sense to me.

I use a Canon Pro100 with Qimage ultimate.
One of the available Canon drivers under windows has the letters XPS in the name.
I use it because the documentation vaguely alludes to it being a 16 bit printer driver.
Am I correct in believing that it also complies with all the 8bit windows printing parameters mentioned by Terry and Mike despite Canon's vague claims to the contrary.

Roy Sletcher
(Serious lurker on this site)

Thanks Geraldo,

You are the man. 

The problem had returned, and I had been too busy to be able to troubleshoot the cause.

Just did  a preliminary test after reading your message.  Some of my files had alpha channels which I deleted and voila!!

Now able to save and print from clear PSD and TIF files.

If the result holds up it would suggest Qimage is incompatible with Photoshop Alpha Channels.

Pity, but I can work around that.

Sometimes things are not what they seem, so still need to do more testing to be certain.

Thanks for the suggestion Geraldo, much appreciated

Roy Sletcher

Thanks Fred and Brian for reply.

I had previously tried to post a message about this problem, but for some reason could not find it again. Seemed to vanish. Probably me, but I find the editor and interface on this board somewhat cumbersome and not very intuitive..

Now for the good news, for me anyway.

After enduing this problem for a week or so it inexplicably went away. About 50 or more are now viewing and printing OK with the problem persisting on 4 or so. That I can live with. 

Not sure what caused the change, although I must confess to some random unscientific fiddling with settings.

Reason I needed to retain the layers if possible, is because I print batches of cards, with differing messages and personalized data contained on the various layers, which I switch on as needed. Flattening whilst feasible, would have hindered my workflow.

Thanks again for the rush to help it is much appreciated.

Back to lurking.

Roy Sletcher

Up until recently I have been able to print Photoshop PSD files containing layers without any problem.

Recently the layered files have started to print differently. The masked areas now print a solid black instead of the images that is on the layers and is normally printed as displayed in Photoshop

I have attached a screen image to illustrate. The areas showing black print black, even though the layered files contain images of logos or type matter that is displayed correctly in Photoshop, and prints correctly from Photoshop.

Is it one of my settings, or has something changed recently in Qimage ultimate?

Hope my explanation is clear. Happy to answer any questions to try and resolve this.


Roy Sletcher
Long time lurker

OK - If this uploads it is a screen shot that explains my problem more clearly - I think!

Hi Guys,

Mainly a lurker in awe of the diverse problems that are solved by Fred and Terry.

Here is my problem, which has appeared  recently. Possibly something has changed in Qimage or PS, or more likely I have a wrong setting somewhere.

For the longest time I have been printing Photoshop PSD files containing layers in Qimage. The file used to display correctly on the desktop and print correctly.

Recently, not sure when, the non image areas of the Layered PSD files now show up as black, and worse, print as solid black in the non image area.  Still display and print correctly in Photoshop.

I have tried to attach a screen shot so you can see what I am talking about. Not sure if it is attached correctly.

Reason I need the layered PSD file is that I print many greeting cards, and use the layers to switch custom messages for individual prints. Relatively quick and efficient.

Any suggestions from the "Brains Trust"?

Roy Sletcher

I also appreciate your response Fred.

Indicates the value of this site.

I use the same features, and your answer has saved me from my clumsy method of cutting and pasting each time from a separate text file.

Many thanks for your dedication to this forum.

Not forgetting Terry who handles the night shift, metric equivalents, and any translations into English spelling  ;-)

Roy Sletcher

Sympathies Fred. Terrible what our British cousins have done to our language.

Suggest you stay away from Skype, and just keep to written email to avoid the tomato/tomato thing and worse.

This is an ongoing horror story with my English family.

Best

Roy S.

PS - 8 x 6 4up should print on A3+ if his printer permits borderless setting, and depending how large the trim marks are.