Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Hi
Is it possible to use Qimage to prepare an image for printing at another location?  Resizing, output sharpening, etc. then send the file to the printer in another town to print through his own software.
I have Qimage Ultimate (latest version)from when I had my own printer.  It seems Qimage expects to have a printer on-site.

That's what print-to-file is for.  You can drop down "Printer" and select "Print to File" on the bottom of the list.  The alternate way is to select "File", "Print To" and select "File".

Once you do that, you'll be prompted for the paper size, resolution, and the color space (profile).  Then you just use Qimage as normal: after arranging prints like you normally would in the live view, when you click the print button, it will print each page to file(s) instead of a printer.

Regards,
Mike

H Mike
Thanks for that.  Do I need any printer-specific information from the printer?

Does the printer need to do anything else on his end, or just select the file and Print?

Sorry, but neither of us has ever done this before and I am having several very large prints made on canvas and don't want to make any big mistakes.

Thanks
Larry

You should ask the store or business that will print for you what color space he prefers. (profile)
He might say RGB or Adobe RGB or something else.
If you look at the screen snap, you see where you can accommodate his request  in the COLOR SPACE line.

There is also a red "V" for video which might help located on that same screen.
It is a tad old in so far as the buttons are different, but the information is solid.
I access Print to file with a Right Click on the Properties button on the right side of the printer and settings tab.
Mike will be later to fill in what I might have missed.
Fred

I see no one else has any comments.

I have reviewed Qimage "Print to file" and printing to canvas and understand most of it and tried the settings with an image.  I set the print size, the mirrored edge and back wrap, sharpening - no problems and will get the icc profile for the printer/canvas/ink combo. 

When printing to canvas, the canvas is on a roll, so only width of paper applies - I think.  So how does the page dimensions and placement of the image on the page in Qimage relate to the canvas width and the image placement on the canvas?  I don't understand what page dimensions and orientation I should use for Print to File for ultimate printing on a roll of canvas (say 44" wide).

I'm also a little confused regarding the portrait and landscape settings.   Sometimes when I switch these settings, the page orientation changes and other times, the image orientation changes, but I can't seem to get the image oriented on the page the way I think should be used for printing to a canvas roll.  Does this matter when printing to file, or is this done when actually printing?

Larry

If you are not designing full pages and you want to send individual prints, just check the "RIP individual prints" option when you print (after clicking the print button).  That will make a file for each individual print which is what you want if printing on roll paper and it won't matter what size page you use when laying them out as long as the page is big enough to fit the prints.

Regards,
Mike

Hi Mike

Thanks for the reply.

Does this apply to "Print to File", which is what I'm doing rather than printing directly myself.

Larry

Hi Mike

I tried what you suggested and I don't see "RIP individual prints" option.

I printed the image to file and had a look at it.  Everything looks OK but the whole page is included instead of just the image.

Cheers
Larry

It's there every time you click the print button: and it only appears when you are in print to file mode.  See attached.

Mike

OK, I found it and it works - only the image with wrapping shows now, the rest of the page is gone.

Thanks again Mike

Cheers

Larry

Two questions:

1. My original tif file is 16 bits, but after I print to file it ends up as an 8 bit file - why?

2. After I print to file, a solid black line is on the bottom and right side of the image - at the edge of the actual image itself as if this was a fold mark and I can't seem to get rid of it with the different fold and crop settings.

Thanks
Larry

1: All output is 8 bits/channel.  That is driven by the fact that there is no such thing as a 16 bit Windows printer driver.  Qimage simulates 16 bits/channel using 8 bits so you will not be able to tell the difference visually.

2: That line is in your original image.  Zoom in and look at the original and you will see it.

Regards,
Mike

Hi Mike

Thanks for the reply. 

I checked and the line isn't in the original image.  Also, now when I bring the image into Qimage, it looks all strange (looks fine in Affinity Photo) and the print size isn't working correctly now.   Do you think Qimage has become corrupted?
Should I remove Qimage and download another copy?

Cheers
Larry

Hi again Mike

I downloaded the new version and the problem I mentioned in my last post remains - it also kept all my previous settings.  I seems to have corrupted my thumbnail as well.

Cheers
Larry

Next step tried- (again, this is printing to file for canvas)

I deleted the tif file and regenerated it.   The strange appearance (looked like a sand pattern) was gone, but adding canvas borders, folds and crop marks resulted in that line again - it looks like a solid fold line at top and right side of the image proper.  When I printed to file, it created 3 copies then Qimage froze.

Any suggestions for what to try next?

Thanks
Larry

You'll probably need to provide a link to the original file and a screenshot here showing what you are talking about regarding "line".  There are only two ways a "line" can print: if the line is in the original or you placed a photo mat on the print.

Mike

Ok, I give up - I have prints to make and I don't have any more time to waste with this software

Mike
I didn't see your last reply.

I used Qimage for many years printing from a Canon wide format (44") printer with no problems.   My printer failed so I stopped for a few years. 

I'm now using a commercial printer in another town and was trying to save him a little time by preparing my prints in Qimage by printing to file. 

I've had nothing but trouble trying to make this work and think Qimage is somehow corrupting the files because I've never seen this kind of strange behaviour (please review my other posts) with software before and I've been using computers for 50 years.  I'm not making this up.

I'm in the process of printing a series for a gallery exhibition and I don't have time to deal with problems like this right now.  I think all traces of Qimage needs to be completely removed from my computer and replaced with a new version. 

Regards
Larry

Larry,
Mike is simply asking for the tif file  and a screen shot of what you are seeing.
Provide that, and you  will have your answer.
Fred

If you want help, you can answer my questions: post a screen shot and a link to the original file so I can look at it.  If you can't be bothered with that, so be it.  You get back out of these inquiries what you put into them.

Mike

You mis-read me

I was not being critical nor rejecting help, I was just providing my observations about what happened and I just don't have much time right now.

I don't see how a screen shot nor one file would capture these things that happened.

1. I kept getting the unwanted lines that I mentioned and thinking I did something wrong, kept trying different settings to try and get rid of them - nothing worked.

2. During this process, the thumbnail became corrupted as well as the image that shows up on the screen.  They looked like the image was covered with sand with just some of the image showing through.  I ended up deleting my original tif file so the thumbnail would be regenerated.  So this corrupted image was lost.  (Actually, these corrupted files looked kind of interesting and I thought about trying to making a print of them.)

3.  The lines appeared when I tried again.  I tried a "print to file" again to see what happens.  It resulted in 4 files being created in my directory from this one "print to file" action.  Then Qimage froze and I had trouble exiting the program.

I spent several hours over several days trying to make this work.

I am willing to send you the original tif file and one or more of the results of the "print to file" action if you think it will help with these 3 issues.  I can send the original files through WeTransfer if you provide an email address.

Larry

There's a reason I ask for those files.  Didn't think I'd need to justify the reasons but if you want all the gory details, here goes...

A full screenshot showing the setup just before you print shows me the live view, how the print(s) are laid out, what placement method you are using, what size you are printing, the page size you chose, whether crop is on or off, and many other parameters.  It helps me recreate the same conditions for testing.  A screenshot or file (since you are printing to file) showing the actual "line" you are referring to also shows me what you are talking about.  There are a lot of things that can be described as a "line".  It could be a solid line, broken line, noise, part of a shadow box, ghost window, and there are many of those that I can recognize right away (none related to Qimage) but I can't if I cant see what you are doing.

The original file is needed because often the file is corrupted, has some sort of incompatible transparent or alpha mask, or some other issue.  I have Affinity Photo and while I have not had any issues, I have gotten sample files from others where I have found that it inserts a corrupted transparent background in some cases.  Again, I need the original to see.  Keep in mind that no one else is having a problem so obviously I need to see your files since I have no other way to see what is happening.

I already know that Qimage cannot create lines on its own so the line is either in the original (either there visually or is the result of some file corruption) or a parameter is being misused (the screenshot typically shows me that if it is the problem).  Qimage also cannot, under any circumstances, corrupt a file.  That has never happened in the 25+ years of Qimage.  It simply can't happen because even when you edit an image in Qimage, it is non-destructive: Qimage has no code in it anywhere that can overwrite or alter originals.  So I already know Qimage did not corrupt or alter your files.

My email is the same as you find on the support page if Qimage: mchaney@ddisoftware.com

Mike

I got the files: thanks for sending those.  No need to send a screenshot now because the original TIFF you sent shows the problem: the lines are in that original TIFF.  You can see them in Qimage by just opening the TIFF in the image examiner and then scrolling in to 800% and going to the bottom right corner of the image.  There is a row of "undefined" pixels on the very right and bottom edges of the image.

Take a look at the attached.  The first screenshot shows Qimage's image examiner: it shows the pixels as black because Qimage doesn't support transparent layers in TIFF files.

The second screenshot is from Affinity Photo: it shows the undefined rows of pixels as transparent but they are clearly undefined (not part of the image).  It's also interesting that Affinity opens the TIFF as a raw file and wants to develop it.  So it's not your "standard" TIFF.  It hasn't been flattened either if it still has a transparent layer.

Regards,
Mike

Thanks Mike

Very strange about the tif file - I'll have a look again.

Cheers
Larry