I want to outsource my large canvas prints using Qimage

mseawell

Newbie

Posts: 2

I want to outsource my large canvas prints using Qimage

« on: September 03, 2013, 12:30:16 PM »

Hello everyone! This is my first post. I've been using Qimage(U) for about 6 months and love how it just flattens Lightroom for my print purposes. Anyway, I want to know the best way to set up Qimage for canvas prints at a lab. I have a Canon 9500 MKII printer and love the results but I can't print canvas. I fellow photographer buddy recommended a place to me and I've used him with good results. Recently he upgraded his printers to a HP series. I want to make sure I'm giving him a file that is prepped for canvas printing. All I've been doing is giving him a .Tiff file but I'm sure I could be doing a lot better using qimage. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Mark


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Mack

Full Member

Posts: 224

Re: I want to outsource my large canvas prints using Qimage

« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2013, 05:09:31 PM »

I have a Canon 9000 II and print canvas all the time through the rear feed slot using Qimage Ultimate. The 9500 II shouldn't be that different? Huh?

I print on 17x25.5 and some odd 16.8x36 inch (cut from roll) canvas panoramas. Biggest issue is getting the canvas to feed right on the load else I'll get the "Feed/Paper Skew" warning. If I open the top panel while loading, I can see the canvas load about 1/4" ahead of the black guide bar. If it is off a little bit, the "Skew" error pops up after the head passes and reads the white canvas edge for alignment. What I do is tug on the canvas so that the canvas is parallel to the black bar before the head can travel the entire width to align it so it has about 1/4" even and parallel to the black bar across the width so the "Skew" error won't pop up.

Some have suggested taping a piece of leader paper onto the canvas to get a better grab and alignment to the scan of the leader, but I had the tape separate and the mess got wrapped up inside the printer requiring dismantling. Not cool, so I'd avoid doing it that way.

Fwiw, I'd invest in some x-rite profile maker hardware for the canvas too. Either the ColorMunki Photo or the i1 Photo Pro 2 and use the profiles from them. Should be far ahead of any commercial printer doing it that way too.

Mack


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Terry-M

The Honourable Metric Mann
Forum Superhero

Posts: 3251

Re: I want to outsource my large canvas prints using Qimage

« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2013, 09:40:15 PM »

Hi Mark,
Welcome to the forum and it's good to hear you are enjoying the quality of Qimage printing.

Quote

All I've been doing is giving him a .Tiff file but I'm sure I could be doing a lot better using qimage. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

QU has a feature for preparing images for out-sourced printing, it's called "Print to File" from the File menu.
You can read about it in the Help, Contents, Learn by example "Example 25a: "Preparing Pages of Prints to be Sent to an [Online] Printing Service"
You will need to know what is the preferred resolution required by the printing outfit and the profile they would like you to use. Some may even let you have their printer profile to embed in the image.
The advantage of using the PTF feature is that QU smart print sharpening can be used - one of the reasons why QU produces excellent prints.
(EDIT) I should have mentioned the other reason for high quality prints from QU, that is the interpolation method used - "FUSION" is world class and beats anything other software offers.

There are others on the forum that use print-to-file for out-sourced printing regularly (I don't) so they may be able to offer specific advice, otherwise ask again if required and we can probably still help you.

One other point, QU has special canvas printing features: canvas wrap borders and a canvas shrinkage allowance setting.

Terry


« Last Edit: September 04, 2013, 07:22:48 AM by Terry-M »	Logged

mseawell

Newbie

Posts: 2

Re: I want to outsource my large canvas prints using Qimage

« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2013, 09:20:42 AM »

Thanks for the info but I should have been more specific. These canvas prints are huge (90X125cm) so I can't print them. The print to file sounds like what I need. Apparently, since this is canvas aggresive sharpening should be used. Thanks and if anyone else with experience in this matter has anything to add, feel free.

Mark


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Ernst Dinkla

Sr. Member

Posts: 410

Re: I want to outsource my large canvas prints using Qimage

« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2013, 09:56:40 AM »

Quote from: mseawell on September 03, 2013, 12:30:16 PM

First ask which HP printer model and what driver, RIP, he is using. Could even be Qimage Ultimate he uses + the HP driver. The way I do it. The HP drivers will ask for either 300 or 600 PPI at the print size. As canvas will not give much more quality with 600PPI I would make an AdobeRGB asigned 8 bit Tiff of 300PPI at 90x125 cm size with Print to File. Whether aggressive sharpening is wise has to be seen, if the image data is limited I would be careful with sharpening. What is important is communication with the print shop that the size will be printed like described so not rasterisation happens again. If it will be printed on an HP (Eco)solvent or Latex printer then a RIP will be used and it is unsure what input PPI that RIP will ask.

--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
July 2013, 500+ inkjet media white spectral plots.


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