Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u

v2022.108      Nov 8, 2021

Priority: Med

2022.108 raises the bar for print clarity with new "Forge" interpolation method.  See example (extreme upsample): http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/forge.png

Regards,
Mike

What exactly is Forge and should we always use this option on a large format printer like an Epson 7900 or Canon P2100?

Forge is the newest interpolation type.  It replaces Fusion as the default/recommended interpolation method.  Always use it unless you are in a rush for time and you have to print a lot of stuff fast.

Mike

Just  so I understand use Forge for regular printing unless you want to print fast then use Fusion?

All the quality vs speed metrics are listed on the Printing Options page (Edit, Preferences, Printing Options).  There's even a help button there that explains that dialog.  Forge is best now.  If you are REALLY pressed for time or you are a company who needs to print thousands of snapshot prints per day, you could use Vector as it is very fast and the interpolation is fine unless you are stretching low res photos really big.

As with all the other interpolation methods that have been released over the years, the most recent is the latest and greatest.  So Forge is the latest and greatest and it beats the prior best (Fusion) that was the star of the show for a decade.  So because you should always strive for the highest quality, use Forge unless you have an archaic (slow) computer or you have some special need like you are batch printing thousands of passports per day: then you can decide based on the quality vs speed if you want to change it to a method that is faster but might give up 5% in the quality realm.

Mike

BTW, this is really not a complicated thing to decide.  Just use Forge.  Fact is, nobody is really going to care that it takes Forge 19 seconds to process a 13x19 print vs 10 seconds for the old Fusion.  It'll take your printer several minutes to actually print it so you have to be a real outlier for an extra 9 seconds to not be worth getting the best print quality possible.

Oh, I also wanted to mention...  If you open an old job that was saved in 2022.107 or prior, it'll obviously be set to the old "Fusion" when you load the job.  This is as intended: jobs should load faithfully to how they were printed/saved initially.  Should you change it from "Fusion" to "Forge" and reprint it?  I'd say no, unless you are just bored.  Remember, differences in interpolation methods only show up at either high magnification or with high amounts of "stretching"; that is, if you printed a really low res photo at a large print size.  Otherwise you'll need a magnifying glass to see the difference between interpolation methods.  But starting with 2022.108, I'm personally always going to use the new Forge method.  My logic is as it has always been: why not print the best possible optimized quality that is available, whether or not you need to put your nose to the paper to see the difference?

Mike