StudioPrint by ErgoSoft

[r010159]

Does anyone have experience with this RIP by ErgoSoft? It is developed for the Fine Art photographer for the accurate reproduction of their image. This software has won numerous awards. It looks to have some of the functionality that I am looking for in a a RIP. But does it work as advertised? Is it well documented in the user giide? Have any of you found this RIP very useful for its intended audience? What is the diffrrrnce between the "raster" version and the more professional version costing $400 more?

[TylerB]

yes I've used it for color and Piezography, from x600s up to x900s. Not sure about the "raster" version, I'd assume that means for the postscript version, which does cost more and not generally needed for fine art work. It's a good RIP, to evaluate documentation you should just get it and review it. Like most full featured RIPs there is a lot to learn and get your head around, they aren't for everyone. My experience is that you should make sure there is something you need and can't do without it, before getting into it. I used it for linearizing and limiting on unusual papers, not otherwise usable with standard media settings, some spot color work, and Piezogarphy. I no longer print color, but I still use the RIP for B&W with the Cone inks. For standard color work on papers made and coated for inkjet, I wound up using the supplied Epson screening and RGB profiles, after years of tweaking with CMYK and multichannel work. But I still did that in RIP for the production tools I was so comfortable with..
I would ask them for some docs to review before anything else.
Tyler

[r010159]

Thank you very much for the info.  I will obtain the documentation before my purchase.

FWIW one reason for me to consider RIPs is a "side effect" of my CMYK profiler. The RGB profiles that it generates ar very good. But the forte of Copra are CMYK profiles, which  are noticeably better. (ie: more accurate) in some areas. There are other obvious advantages to a full featured RIP. Right now, I will consider using StudioPrint as another learning experience in my understanding of the factors that go into the accurate reproduction of fine art images using both standard papers and inks, and also the more exotic varieties.

Bob

[aaronchan]

I think not that many people have used Ergosoft RIP in Lula.
I used to use it a lot when I was doing Piezo B&W print just like TylerB.
My version could only support CMYK printer and back in that time, I had an ipf8300 which I turned off the RGB channel and to test it as a cmyk printer. The process is simple and easy.

But personaly, let's say you have a CMYK printer (9880,9890) and want to "play" with the copra cmyk profile, i would recommand you to use Wasatch RIP. I used to hate it so much because I was using it with the Z3200 which is a 7 channel printer. But later on, I was using it with the Z6100 (cmyk) printer, it works great. and the simplicity of it really helps to determine weather you have a good icc profile or not. So for experimental work, Wasatch would be a better choice.

aaron

[r010159]

The only concerns I have about the Wasatch RIP is that some report it is cery difficult to set up, and the lack of documentation and technical support made it an impossiboe situation for them. However, I do not mind a real technical challenge, and as a consequence, I have learned allot. I wonder if they have documentation on the Internet? Some technical support will be useful.Bon

[aaronchan]

May I ask what printer are you using?

[r010159]

Epson 3880. I do also have a Canon PIXMA Pro 10  but there is limited support by 3rd party RIPs.

[aaronchan]

The 3880 is consider as a CMYK printer.
It will be easy to work with Wasatch RIP.
The procedure of using the wasatch rip is very simple:
1. determine individual ink limit
2. linearize individual ink channel
3. set the total ink limit
4. print the CMYK profile target
5. use 3rd party profiler to create the ICC profile
6. import the icc profile to the right place
Done!

Aaron

[r010159]

What would be a goo, local to the USA, seller for the Wasatch EIP? One local business returned my telephone call who I found to be clueless about the details of this RIP and even some of the version that are available. Does Wasatch have good technical support? This does sound like a promising purchase.

Bob Graham

[TylerB]

I do see the 3880 supported as an individual channel option in StudioPrint. I'd say follow Aaron's advice, though I have no experience with the Wasatch. There are many settings to dink with in StudioPrint, though I see the defaults for dot sizes and light ink settings may be good starting points. These things can bury you in a world of tweaking and testing, perhaps the Wasatch gets you there quicker. If either or both allow a demo period, I'd strongly advise that, there's nothing like hands on. Regarding the limiting and linearizations, even those choices aren't simple and require testing, they will also heavily impact the quality of your resulting CMYK profiling.
Without getting into all that, I'll just add this, which may help determine if you want to go down this path-
It's true, I think I got somewhat more accurate results with cmyk and n channel tweaking and profiling. There are MANY settings to explore, and many gotchas as well. Much will depend on the screening quality of the RIP, and it's color engine.
However, there are ink densities and combinations in Epson's screening that just can't be reached with a RIP, and I spent years and brain cells trying. So, even though I think I had marginally better accuracy, and deliniation between very close colors seemed better, saturation of Epson's RGB screening just can't be hit. If that's not your priority, maybe that's not a big deal. But given the options to make and optimize RGB profiles, I finally went with the RGB option with Epson's screening provided in the RIP, for normal color work on inkjet papers.
Of course, printing color on something like Arches Cover is an entirely different issue... you can do things with a RIP and CMYK(+) you can't otherwise do...
intelligent use of dot sizes and light Ks, along with heavily limited colors, and again dot size control and light inks, and full GCR and gray optimization will get you low gamut setups for B&W work far surpassing the ABW driver in quality and control.. these kinds of things, and maybe specialty Piezography setups, are for me what sets RIP work apart. Otherwise I'm not sure they are worth all the excedrin involved... if you love the ins and outs of putting ink down, it's printmaking stuff...

[Ernst Dinkla]

Do not expect much magic on the partitioning of the LLK, LK, K with the Wasatch SoftRip, it is either baked in or goes along with the partitioning of the LM, M and LC, C channels. I have the Wasatch SoftRip and it could be used quite nice with the old 6 and 7 channel Epsons but failed miserably on the HP Z's 12 channels. I have it 13 years now and did 2 or 3 upgrades and it has been idle most of that time. Service was not longer than 6 months per upgrade and my requests for better B&W methods did not interest them, its market is sign, sublimation, textile etc. Complaints about 3 lousy default CMYKetc profiles for the Zs were not solved, the replacement profiles were worse. Bad black generation, bad N-color approach.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2014 update, 700+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[r010159]

I see the Wasatch RIP does not support the Epson 3880. I called a dealer who sells StudioPrint. They know very little of their products. This lady was giving me prices of $2000. She did not understand that was for the larger format printers. I quoted a price for my printer that I found on their own website. She was surprised. Then to save face, she told me that she needs to contact ErgoSoft to obtain current pricing. Isn't this amazing? So I am asking ErgoSoft for another dealer's contact information. LOL

Bob

[aaronchan]

I see the Wasatch RIP does not support the Epson 3880. I called a dealer who sells StudioPrint. They know very little of their products. This lady was giving me prices of $2000. She did not understand that was for the larger format printers. I quoted a price for my printer that I found on their own website. She was surprised. Then to save face, she told me that she needs to contact ErgoSoft to obtain current pricing. Isn't this amazing? So I am asking ErgoSoft for another dealer's contact information. LOL

Bob

get a desktop version RIP
If the RIP support 3800, it will support the 3880

[r010159]

OK. Will do.

Bob Graham

[TylerB]

call here-
http://www.ergosoftus.com/ergosoft/contact/index.php
I know several good people there.
I know it supports both the 3800 and 3880, I opened it and set up a 3880 environment to make sure.. light ink settings. dot sizes, all there...
I know they offer it in demo mode

[r010159]

Thank you! I am going to wait for a reply from Wasatch as to how functional their RIP will be with the Epson 3880. Their RIP is documented to only support the 3800. But if I purchase the raster version of StudioPrint, I think there will be only a couple hundred dollar difference. StudioPrint supports the 3880 directly. So at this point, it looks like I will purchase StudioPrint. We shall see tomorrow.

Bob

[r010159]

I have ended up purchasing Ergosoft StudioPrint.  I have been reading a technical paper on that talks about its advanced features. Incredible. I can also purchase their profiler that closely integrates with the RIP. This approach provides even additional control that a standalone profiler cannot provide. However, I am very happy with my current profiler, Copra with ColorAnt.

Thanks to all of you for your input!

Bob Graham

[TylerB]

was REALLY hoping you'd try it in demo first... hope it works out.

[r010159]

Hmm...it looks like I do not always do the intelligent thing. But there was no mention on their site about a demo version. On the other hand, the sales rep of the Wasatch RIP told me that I can always purchase their RIP to see if it works for my printer, but they could not tell me if it does work for the Epson 3880. Both the StudioPrint and the SoftRIP by Wasatch are the only two RIPs that are relatively affordable and give me the features I am looking for in a RIP. I hope this works out for me.

Bob