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Author Topic: I just purchased lifetime licensed QImage Ultimate. Very impressive! Need help.  (Read 1925 times)
Hockensmith
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« on: February 08, 2023, 05:55:12 PM »

I own an art gallery and have a portfolio of images that are sold in limited edition. QImage ULT’s database and job recall will prove invaluable to our print department and perhaps allow me to be a photographer more and spend less time making sure that I am printing the portfolio correctly.  (I will have little need for package printing and for most of the wonderful features that have been incorporated into this multi-purposed (Swiss-army-knife) program.) Our PCs are connected to a Qnap network and we running two PCs printing to three Epson Printers, an older 7800, an Epson Surecolor P9000 with commercial ink (violet), and a new Epson7570 wititsit proprietary media installer system. I have watched many of the videos and think I got a handle on it unit I try to proceed to print. Hopefully, someone can help me find the specific videos that address my lack of understanding or just offer me simple advice.

First up, I need to understand just how to print a single image centered with equal or controllable white borders for an art-style limited edition print. What “Sizing methods” is best for this style of bordered-single-image printing? Is there a specific video that discusses this special sizes panel? (The image below is the Panel that I need to be explained)
 
I have a fairly good grasp of how the printer interface panel functions in conjunction with the properties tab that leads to the PS2023 printer properties driver, however on one printing attempt the media size in QImage was set to 13x19 and the PS print driver would only set itself to 17x22 in. When I would change the PS printer driver to match the QImage paper size the PS2023 print driver box would revert to 17"x22”. I repeated this multiple times and conclude stat I wasn’t in the proper paper size mode or something like that… (this malady was altering the centering of the bordered art print. )Does anyone have a clue what I was doing wrong?
 

Here are a couple of beginner's setup questions:

1.   After achieving an effective setup, and I save the Job, where does it store that job data, or does the setting data get stored?  Does saved job settings save the image with the data or does it look at the image in the location it was imported from… ( meaning that all images must remain stationary for job setting to be effective)

2.   I have set my editor preference to PS2023, and it will kick out of QImage live view out to PS2023 (for editing or adjustments). After making editing or cosmetic corrections will I have to save to the network and reload the thumbnail back in QImage or will it kick it back (like the adobe suite)


I hope my post and questions are worded enough for understanding ,,, I know I have many more questions so I appreciate all the help this community can offer. ( I tried to post 3 screenshots for clarification but this form seems to not accept jpegs under 256K)

John S. Hockensmith

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« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2023, 09:17:06 PM »

First up, I need to understand just how to print a single image centered with equal or controllable white borders for an art-style limited edition print. What “Sizing methods” is best for this style of bordered-single-image printing? Is there a specific video that discusses this special sizes panel? (The image below is the Panel that I need to be explained)

You may want to rewatch the Getting Started video as it was updated just today with info from the 2023 edition.  Check timestamp 16:40 near the end of the video: it shows sizing a print to the center of the page with a specified white border:

https://youtu.be/nJQZl_C4MeM?t=1000
 
Quote
I have a fairly good grasp of how the printer interface panel functions in conjunction with the properties tab that leads to the PS2023 printer properties driver, however on one printing attempt the media size in QImage was set to 13x19 and the PS print driver would only set itself to 17x22 in. When I would change the PS printer driver to match the QImage paper size the PS2023 print driver box would revert to 17"x22”. I repeated this multiple times and conclude stat I wasn’t in the proper paper size mode or something like that… (this malady was altering the centering of the bordered art print. )Does anyone have a clue what I was doing wrong?

Here is the timestamp from the same (above) video showing how the printable area affects print size.  I suspect you are trying to "make" a 13x19 and print it on 13x19 paper... which can't be done unless the driver is in borderless mode.  That might be why PS is setting it to 17x22.  This is a pretty common mistake when trying to "create pages" to print in Photoshop: creating, for example, a 13x19 "page" in Photoshop and then expecting to print a 13x19 design on 12.766 x 18.766 or smaller which is the printable area of a 13x19 sheet.  I'm just guessing that you are doing this: creating final "pages" in Photoshop.  If so, there is no need to do that: add your prints to a 13x19 page in Qimage since there is rarely ever a need to pre-prep pages in Photoshop: Qimage is much better at that.

https://youtu.be/nJQZl_C4MeM?t=790
 
Quote
1.   After achieving an effective setup, and I save the Job, where does it store that job data, or does the setting data get stored?  Does saved job settings save the image with the data or does it look at the image in the location it was imported from… ( meaning that all images must remain stationary for job setting to be effective)

In Qimage, click "Utilities" from the top menu and then "Explore Qimage Application Data".  When File Explorer opens, saved jobs are in the "Save" subfolder and automated jobs (from the job log, created automatically when you print) are under the "Log" folder.  You don't really need to know this from within Qimage: when you click the Recall button (or use File|Recall), Qimage automatically shows you files in the "Save" folder where you saved jobs.  And if you click the "Open Automated Job Log" button at the top of the main window, it'll start in that "Log" folder.

Quote
2.   I have set my editor preference to PS2023, and it will kick out of QImage live view out to PS2023 (for editing or adjustments). After making editing or cosmetic corrections will I have to save to the network and reload the thumbnail back in QImage or will it kick it back (like the adobe suite)

You'll have to save your edits from Photoshop (that's probably obvious) but when you switch back to Qimage, Qimage will automatically update the thumbnails.  So if you are in the same folder (in Qimage) where you saved the new copy or edited copy (in Photoshop), Qimage will automatically refresh the thumbnails when you switch back to Qimage.  If for some reason it doesn't, you can click F5 to refresh them anyway.

Regards,
Mike
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Hockensmith
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« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2023, 10:25:38 PM »

Great! You gave us what we need for now... I'm sure that there will be more questions to come... We are really excited to have this software!


jsh
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Hockensmith
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« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2023, 03:37:41 PM »

The next question is regarding Media Type Setting in the printer panel.

When I use the dropdown box to see the various “media types” available, scrolling down I also get some of my icc profiles we made custom. It is normal for me to see icc profiles under the “Media Type“ dropdown list?
When I was using an older rip and printing directly for the Photoshop print driver, we use a custom media setting that we create on the Epson printer interface panel.

We ran Epson printer interface routines for measuring the paper thickness and platen heights. Then we input these under printer-defined settings to input custom paper/media at the printer level. We switch the printer to the custom settings before using the matching paper/media type. \

The newest Epson (7570 requires the paper thickness and platen gap to be defined in the media installer in order to send the paper to the printer.)  This begs the question, Do custom paper settings at the printer level get used with QImage or does QImage override the printer's custom settings? What should the Epson printers be set to in regard to media type? (Particularly the newest 7570 media installer interface)

The last part is to address a very thick (very expensive) handmade deckled paper from Awagami. This is a very fibrous Awagami Bizan (extra thick) paper that is picking up ink from the printer head and dragging around on the white border. Not good. I expect the printer head needs to be set at the highest height and the platen gap as well. Awagami suggests that we use "velvet fine art paper" as the media type. (Is the setting "Poster Ppr Prod 210" wider?)

We have used the media type Velvet Fine Art Paper as the suggested setting in QImage. How can QImage max out the height of the paper thickness and platen gap? And, does the custom setting at the printer level interfere with the QImage media/type instructions?


Thanks in advance
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« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2023, 03:56:29 PM »

All of the questions you are asking have nothing to do with Qimage: those are all handled by the driver.  You are not seeing ICC profiles in the media types: Qimage is simply listing the media types that the driver is reporting.  The names might be the same (as some of your profiles) but if Qimage is showing them in "Media Type", it is a media type (reported by the driver), not a profile.  Again, the driver makes that list of media types that you see on the Qimage screen, not Qimage.

The head clearance and ink density are all controlled by the media type selected, so when you select a media type those values are set based on the stored settings for that media type.  In drivers that allow you to add your own (custom) media types, the driver updates the media type table with your custom type so that it appears in the dropdown in Qimage.  If it doesn't, it means the driver doesn't comply with Windows requirements (doesn't update the table as it should) which isn't the end of the world: you can still click "Properties" and select it in the driver.

We may get spoiled by Qimage having much more control over driver settings (without actually using the driver properties dialog) than other software but remember that you can always click that "Properties" button and make settings directly in the driver like any other software... so it isn't a limiting factor.

Regards,
Mike
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Hockensmith
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« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2023, 04:19:38 PM »

Got it!

thanks again
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Hockensmith
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« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2023, 11:06:36 PM »

Making Progress,

Everything seems to be working great with our Epson P7570, but we have a follow-up question about media type settings for our other Epson printer.

On the Epson P9000, we have created custom paper settings for some of our papers that require a higher print head or different suction, etc. These user-defined paper settings have been saved on the P9000 printer’s keypad interface.  These custom paper settings that are saved on the P9000 printer's board are not showing up in the QImage “media type” dropdown menu. All the custom Media settings for our P7570 show up in the QImage’s “media type” dropdown menu and work correctly (because the 7570’s r Media installer utility communicates with the QImage media type interface.) The Older Epson model P9000 does not communicate with QImage’s Media Type interface. Likely because the older P9000 does not have Epson’s new Media Installer utility)

The question is - Does QImage use the settings we set for the “media type” dropdown box menu or does it use the settings that we select (as saved as custom paper types) on the P9000 printer's user-defined Keypad? Is there a way to get the custom paper type on our P9000 to show as an option in QImage’s “media type” dropdown? How can we create custom media/paper settings for the older P9000 using QImage?

Your replies have shed light and we are making significant progress.

Thank you for your insights and great support!

jsh
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« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2023, 01:50:30 AM »

I don't want to sound like a broken record but I feel like I need to keep saying this until the "lightbulb" goes on (with respect to media types).  So I don't mean to be disrespectful in being emphatic about this but:

Qimage does not have media types!

So when you ask how to get a custom media type to show in "Qimage's media type dropdown": there is no such thing.  That is the driver's media type dropdown: Qimage is just showing you what the driver reports.  So the bottom line here is that you are asking the wrong question.  The right question is "How to I add custom media types to the driver".  Once they are added to the driver and you can see them inside the driver, they can be selected via the driver dialog and they should also show up in the Media Type dropdown on the Qimage window because all that is doing is echoing the media types that the driver is communicating to Windows.

So knowing this is how it works, here's what I suggest.  I have the P8000 driver which I would think is quite similar to the P9000 and in that driver you can open the driver (via the "Properties" button in Qimage) and on the "Main" tab in the driver, drop down the Media Type and select "Auto Aquire" at the bottom.  That is supposed to "get" the custom media types that you've added into the printer.  Hopefully the Auto Aquire feature will get the custom papers you added via the printer panel.  The "Custom Settings" button next to Media Type in the driver also allows you to import settings for papers and those custom settings show thickness, suction, and a lot more.  So that is the proper area to be adding and managing your paper types.  Once the driver is "fixed" and showing your custom media types, they will show on Qimage's main window automatically.

Mike
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Hockensmith
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« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2023, 03:16:40 AM »

I apologize for not being able to articulate the question and its nuances… I do believe you answered my question and I can’t wait to get back to the studio and implement importing the media types into QImage.
John S. Hockensmith
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