Re: Multiple Printer RIPs
Re: Multiple Printer RIPs
- Subject: Re: Multiple Printer RIPs
- From: Derek Cooper <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:51:26 -0400
On Jun 8, 2007, at 11:17 PM, vanita cyril wrote:
Thank you all for the advice. i'm diligently researching every RIP
mentioned.
One more you should consider - gmg ColorProof. I recently went
through a similar exercise evaluating numerous RIPs for my workflow,
and in the end settled on gmg ColorProof with the ColorServer plug-
in. Totally different approach to driving printers that doesn't make
use of ICC profiles. RIPs I evaluated:
- Onyx Postershop
- EFI ColorProof XF
- Colorburst Pro
With Onyx, you have to pay $100 for the evaluation, which comes with
no documentation for the Media Manager (the part that builds the
substrate profiles). The only documentation available is for version
6.5 (current version is 7) that is available for download from their
site. I asked them about docs for version 7, and was told I could pay
another $100 to get the DVD. I was un-successful in getting
Postershop to drive my Epson 9800 over TCP/IP (even though I could
get it to drive an Epson 7600 over TCP/IP), talked to their support
centre, but never got a call back. In the end, this product might be
amazing, but from my observations, you have to spend lots and lots of
time with each substrate, and without documentation, you have to
guess at what changes to make and where in the wizard. It's not
intuitive, and often left me very frustrated.
With EFI, I was unsuccessful in getting their dongle to be recognized
by either the Windows or Mac install of the product - without it
recognizing the dongle, you can't install the server component on
either platform. Nothing in their support FAQ on the issue. But it
turns out there is a bug with the latest shipping version and you
need a patch. I never got the patch from EFI for Windows (even though
I was told I would through their online forum). I got the patch for
Mac from my dealer. My final observation on the product (once
installed) - it's good, but not great. I just couldn't get it to dig
into the black enough. The substrate I used for my testing can do L
6.8, but the best I could do with EFI was close to L 13.
Colorburst was the only one of this three that didn't have support-
based *issues* in my eval. To me, it appears to be primarily targeted
at those users who want to download substrate profiles already made
for printer-vendor based substrates. If you use other substrates (say
Hahnemühle), you build those from scratch. I hunted around for platen
gap and media thickness settings in Colorburst, but couldn't find
them. Eventually moved on in my eval. Without control over those, I
was genuinely concerned about banding control. I'm sure those
settings are there, somewhere.
Good luck in your evaluation! It's a daunting one, but depending on
your expectations, worth the time. I'm driving an Epson 9800 and
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8000. Epson 7600 is being de-commissioned this
week (if anyone wants it!).
Derek Cooper Photography
www.derekcooper.com
www.reproducingart.ca
V 613-767-9106
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