Oddly, I seem to be right behind Ernst in looking for B&W printing stuff and found this old unanswered thread in searching.  Seems it must be somewhat popular as it has had over 1,200 reads but no response until now.

The QTR stuff is sort of outdated for the new "i1 Pro Photo 2" I find.  It won't show 21 step in those 21 step targets in a strip mode scan, maybe 20.  Something to do with the way the targets were made up maybe.  It suggests using the old outdated x-rite ProfileMaker 5.0 software too over the new stuff.  Dunno.

Right now I've been fighting the "burple shadows" in the 21 step targets that transition from a warmer yellow highlight, but found I can tune the inks via the Curves in Editor.  The Eyedropper on a target step will show on the Curve as a "Loc" (Location) and a "In" (RGB value), the third window "Out" (in RGB) is the one I can set to add or subtract a given color at that selected eyedropper point.  I can see and set each point in a 21 step tablet there and Save it out as a Curve filter.  Example:  Change it to maybe 0.5 plus or minus in the "Out" window and you can see which way it needs to go to make that step neutral.  In my case, I have to have the Blue selected too since I am working on that curve.

I haven't gotten to the Linearization part yet as adding and subtracting a color of ink seems to influence the readings somewhat.  I don't know if you can change the brightness (Luminosity) of each of the 21 steps in the Curve tab and save the color & linearization both, but maybe you can?  Might be too tedious to do the 51 step wedges other than just seeing if they do have a gradual density change.

In the "QTR User Info" (Pages 25-26) PDF file, they show suggested values in a Linearization array window for dMax of the black from 1.600 to 2.400 in 0.050 steps.  Would be interesting if one could move the curves somehow and Save them as a Curve filter or general Filter to be applied when needed.  The Levels tab of QU doesn't provide for a Save as far as I see, so it may be need to be done in the Curves tab to Save it?

I'm not too happy with QTR RIP GUI interface (Clunky old Drag-and-Drop Windows 98 looking thing.) as the images I get out of it are soft and not as sharp as can be done with QU.  Really is a remarkable difference between the two there, and QU has a much better sharpening engine and adjustable too.  The tone density between the two is substantial too (i.e. the QTR RIP using their quid extensions and no OEM print driver vs. an ICM made out of it for QU/whatever using an OEM print driver.).

Too bad Mike hasn't added some B&W tab on QU for the Color and Linearization construction somehow for us B&W printers.  Should be far better than some RIP packages out there if it were there since he has the best sharpening I've seen using QU. (I did see the sepia filter buried in QU somewhere, but it is more like a gold "Sundowner filter" as it is way too much sepia if it is.)


Mack

Get these first:

21 Step Grayscale L* gamma target: http://cameratico.com/media/images/articles/17/21-step-Lstar-grayscale-target.tif

Linearization Spreadsheet: http://www.piezography.com/PiezoPress/blog/piezography-k7-inks-and-curves/checking-your-linearization/

Spreadsheet download for Excel or Open Office or LibreOffice (freeware): http://www.piezography.com/Linearization-Checker.zip


Entering my own L*ab values in ColorPort (x-rite software) with their "i1 Photo Pro 2" on Spot mode into the yellow window of the spreadsheet above, I got a Before and After of the linear line.  Took a bit of work in the +Curves tab in Qimage Ultimate to get it right, but the line is looking pretty darn good using the data from reading the 21-step target above.

I wasn't happy with the targets in QuadTone RIP as they appear to be uneven in density in each square (More like a graduated ND.).  Outdated to work with the Scan mode of the newer i1 spectrometer heads and software as well.  The above L* TIF step-wedge image is smoother and larger for targeting in Spot mode too.

If you see the Black Line to the right of the magenta one, apply a bit of negative RGB at that part of the line in the +Curve window in Image Ulitmate.  If it is to the left of the magenta line, apply a few points positive to the value for that density in the +Curve.  The Eyedropper will help you find which 21 step you need to target and change the "Out" value in a few steps (1 or 2 if close to the line, 5-6 if further away).  Print target again with the newly Saved Curve (Use some name) in QU, and enter new L* values into the spreadsheet yellow blocks again and see if it is closer once dry.

Now I'm off for the Color Change (Purple shadows) and see if I can clean that up a bit in +Curve window too?  Maybe use the Blue channel only and leave the L* value alone (Use all the RGB numbers in the +Curve editor pane for the linearization part.).


Attached:  Screenshot of Epson 3880 with the 4 colors of black/gray ink (Only using the 3 and not the Matte now).  You can see the two charts made from Open Office and the linearization of the three inks:  Without the +Curve mods, it is outside the linear line on the right and not straight.  With the tweaks made to the RGB numbers for the steps on the Curve line and saved as a Curve filter, it is almost perfect! You can see the slight dip in the straight line part of the +Curve window (Little circular dots where it has been tweaked downward.) in the upper-right Editor window where I applied negative RGB numbers in the "Out" pane which moved the black line to the left under the magenta one in the spreadsheet to make it linear.

Purpose of this is too keep the ICM paper profile that I generally use, and will also let me add coloration inks to the B&W images later on same paper as a filter (or maybe along with the Curve too?) such as Sepia, Selenium, Warm, Cool, etc.  With the way the ICM profiles are made in QT RIP, that ability is sometimes hampered as it messes with the RGB portion so you may not get the color you want, plus I get to keep the ability of the better sharpening engine in Qimage Ultimate which you lose with the QT RIP interface. 

Whew!


Mack

Ernst:

Yes, the above screen snap was linearized in Qimage Ultimate alone based on the readings off the 21-step L*gamma chart (It is L*ab based in readings and very close.).  I used the TIFF step-wedge link above and was using the spreadsheet by Jon Cone (in the above link) and using his dye inks in the the 3880 (I'm using the normal color DYE inkset array, not the K7 gray inks, fwiw, as I want to adjust the coloration a bit at times as in toning.).  I just changed the +Color line a bit in Qimage to force it linear.  I also re-did Cone's linear regression spreadsheet to read 1 to 21 (from the 0-100 numbers) under "Steps" so I can go immediately to that step in QU and move the +Colors tabs "Out" numbers a bit.  I saved it as a "Curve filter" under the +Color tab to apply later when I mess with it.

For fun, I entered the step-wedge numbers off a QU generated print from the above method and fed them into the QuadTone RIP program and the numbers from its Linearization came out perfect too needing no adjustment.  So the QU way above and its image seem to be happy in QTR as well.  I managed to smooth out that screenshot's non-linear hump in the screenshot just using Qimage Ulitmate's +Curve tabs "Out" RGB numbers and Jon Cone's regression spreadsheet.

Ernst, if you have an image to print, try printing it in the QuadTone RIP and then print the same image in Qimage Ultimate.  The sharpness in QU is very apparent at my end  I leave the QU 'Sharpness' set to around 12 and I shoot with a Nikon D800E so the sharpness should be apparent out of that camera.  The QuadTone RIP looks to be really, really soft and a bit out of focus for whatever reason with the same image.  Not too happy with it side by side against Qimage which is far sharper so I'll stick with QU as Mike seems to keep it updated and current whereas QuadTone RIP seems to be iffy at times, plus it hangs in Task Manager > Details in Windows 8-64 as multiple Quadtone.exe and some other *.exe that needs to be shut down hard (End Task) for those multiple entries.  It's just not a well executing program, too old maybe, and support via their Yahoo! group is very slow to non-exisitant too.  It needs a lot of current TLC, and some of the Info/User files were written way back in April 25, 2005 for some of it and do not apply to current hardware.

I do find some errors that pop up in QuadTone RIP to that date back to 2009, i.e. the "Error I/O 32" one that still haunts the program.  The GUI for it is sort of kludgy too on seeing the size of the postage stamp-sized image on it too as the GUI isn't sizable in Windows 8-64.  I'm sure Mike could do a far better job on the programming if we can convince him on some B&W RIP program or addition to QU since he has already has a good one for Color with QU.  Someone should give him some Epson printer loaded with K7 gray inks (haha!) and a truckload of Canson paper.  Plus, we'd have Terry and Fred to pick on too when it blows chunks!   

(my $0.000002 ... and sundry subliminal hints too.)


Mack

Ernst,

I've given up on QuadTone RIP as Qimage Ultimate has a far better sharpening engine.  Try the same print from both and compare the two programs.  No sense dealing with "soft and fuzzy prints" from QuadTone RIP that cannot be adjusted.  Their forum is sort of slow too, as this one has jumped almost 150 reads since I restarted this thread in 2-3 days (Lots of lurkers?).  Got tired of the "Error I/O: 32" messages (Dating back to 2009?), and it hanging up in Task Manager too needing an "End Task" to kill multiple hangs of quadtone.exe too.

I believe I have addressed the "dMax" using Qimage and using the Epson driver below.  Needed to redo some stuff too.

So far I made a couple of changes.

1. The link for the 21 Step Lab stepwedge above is in a Gray Gamma 2.2 mode.  As such, it will not allow me to change any coloration to it in QU.  I saved it in Adobe RGB 1998 as a TIF and all is well there now.  I checked to make sure the L values remained at 5 points in each step increase/decrease and they do.  I also added the step numbers to the chart as I got tired of counting steps, and also Adobe RGB 1998 in red so I know I am using the correct one and not the linked one above that only deals with B&W and no color additions I may apply in QU.

2. For Jon Cone's Linearization spreadsheet above, I changed the 1-100 scale for the steps (Bottom, x-axis) to 1-21 to match the steps in the 21 step-wedge above.  Makes it easier to pick out which one to change the "Out" RGB value in QU Curve portion (Making it a more positive RGB number moves the black line up on the L scale, negative moves it down on the L scale.  If the black line is touching the magenta, 1-2 points might do it, if there is a lot of white space between them, maybe 4-5 points is needed.

3. My initial dMax values weren't that low (or black) on the Canon Glossy Paper which I used for this experiment.  However, within the Epson driver there is a "Color Density" adjustment and moving it up the percentage scale made the black Step 21 target definitely blacker.  I got the following L (Luminance) dMax values off the x-rite i1 head below for Step 21 by increasing percentages (Lower L# = blacker):

0%  L=12.113
10% L=9.753
20% L=8.29
30% L=7.626

I seem to recall that anything less than 1 difference is where you can settle on from some QuadTone RIP articles without flooding the paper with ink.  I settled on the 20% More Color Density value (to be set in the Epson Driver Properties > Paper Configuration Page window) as the 30% wasn't as great (1 value) as from 10% to 20%.  This is using my initial profile written for the Canon paper too so I suspect my initial setup is buggered and I need to redo the i1 Photo Pro 2 reading and alter the settings in the i1 Profiler software program to produce a blacker black (I think there is a couple of settings in the i1 Profiler to do that?).  I use 20% more Color Density now, although it might be a bit better at 25% density, but that's debatable.

Then I ran a new linearization reading for the step wedge at 20% more color as I could see the black getting bunched up on the right of the wedge and darker overall.  Linearization line moved to the left.

Tweaked it in using Curves and the Eyedropper.  Just raising and lowering the "Out" setting in the Curve for each step gave me the screenshot below.  I got more dMax over the above screenshots, and it is very linear (I can see a bit of the black line at step 16 on top and a bit under at step 19, but it is pretty darn good overall.).  Maybe even more so than QuadTone RIP produced one since I can tune each of the 21 steps in Qimage individually and not follow a "curve of ink grey colors" as in QuadTone RIP.

I have been using an expensive x-rite "i1 Photo Pro 2" to do this L*ab reading stuff, but their cheaper ColorMunki Photo shows the L*ab values in the upper right hand corner of the Color Picker program within it.  It should work too.

Later, I will attack the bluish color I see in the steps around 10 to 18 and see if I can negate that color.  I should be able to do this in Qimage too and maybe just address the color at those steps too.  Dunno.


Mack