Topic: Larger than 129" length Z3100 (Read 4951 times)

bristolc · « **on:** February 29, 2008, 08:23:22 am »

Hi all,

I am struggling to work out how to add a custom paper to my Z3100 44" that is longer than 129 inches as the driver will only let me specify to that size.

Any clues?

Many thanks

Andrew Stagg

rdonson · « **Reply #1 on:** February 29, 2008, 09:23:53 am »

I believe that's a limitation of the driver. Ernst Dinkla has researched this pretty exhaustively and reported on it here and in his Yahoo group.

Basically I think you'll need a RIP and the RIPs currently available aren't very good for the Z3100.

Recked · « **Reply #2 on:** February 29, 2008, 11:44:50 am »

Hello Ron,

Not to change the subject, but your statement about rips not being very good for the 3100 right now caught my eye as I was hoping to finalize a purchase decision this week for a rip and my 3100.

Can you please elaborate on your statement so I can better understand. HP lists a number of rips here and I have been trying to plough through the vendors web sites and make a determination without much luck I might add.
http://h30267.www3.hp.com/country/us/en/pr...?pageseq=948272

Thank you

Quote

I believe that's a limitation of the driver. Ernst Dinkla has researched this pretty exhaustively and reported on it here and in his Yahoo group.

Basically I think you'll need a RIP and the RIPs currently available aren't very good for the Z3100.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=178206\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

rdonson · « **Reply #3 on:** February 29, 2008, 12:20:56 pm »

Quote

Hello Ron,

Not to change the subject, but your statement about rips not being very good for the 3100 right now caught my eye as I was hoping to finalize a purchase decision this week for a rip and my 3100.

Can you please elaborate on your statement so I can better understand. HP lists a number of rips here and I have been trying to plough through the vendors web sites and make a determination without much luck I might add.
http://h30267.www3.hp.com/country/us/en/pr...?pageseq=948272

Thank you
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=178243\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

My comment on the RIPs was based on the experiences others have related with RIPs and n-channel printers like the Z3100 here.

One example might be ImagePrint by Colorbyte - they've said for almost a year now that support for the Z is "coming soon". No credibilty left there.

You might check Neal Snape's site for a review on the EFI designer and what it can do.

I think Ernst has mentioned the shortcomings of Ergosoft's RIP and the Z here.

I think some of it boils down to what are you looking for from a RIP on the Z. If its just image placement then maybe Qimage is all you need although its limited by the HP driver. If you're looking for better color profiles do you expect the RIP to work with the built-in spectro? Are you looking for better ink mixing algorithms?

namartinnz · « **Reply #4 on:** February 29, 2008, 04:14:48 pm »

Quote

Hi all,

I am struggling to work out how to add a custom paper to my Z3100 44" that is longer than 129 inches as the driver will only let me specify to that size.

Any clues?

Many thanks

Andrew Stagg
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=178198\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hi Andrew

I you use Windows, try Qimage (DDI software) I've been able to do 6m prints. I did have to downsize the resolution to 150ppi. Never had any issues with length size using the Z3100 driver in conjunction with Qimage.

Neal

Colorwave · « **Reply #5 on:** February 29, 2008, 08:25:49 pm »

FWIW: The Postscript PPD for the Z3100 does not have this length limitation.
-Ron H.

Recked · « **Reply #6 on:** February 29, 2008, 09:33:51 pm »

Hello,

I just happened to speak with John from Colorbyte Software as I have a previous version of ImagePrint I used with an old Epson 2200 and the problem he outlined has to do with third party papers and ink lay down (likely not the correct wording in printing terms but hey). He said they were forced to purchase some very specialized hardware to remedy the situation and did not at present have a date for release.

Having purchased the full verison of 6 I felt a bit pissed to be quite frank and not trying to upset the mods here, but I also realize that HP has changed the firmware a number of times since release and that likely hasn't made it any easier for a smaller shop like Colorbyte.

I appreciated John being frank and while I am not sure what I will do re: rip for the Z it was nice to hear back from him.

thanks

rdonson · « **Reply #7 on:** February 29, 2008, 10:31:34 pm »

I'm sure that the folks at Colorbyte are great people. They've done some marvelous work over the years.

At this point though I don't know what ImagePrint would bring to the Z. I've already bought APS and have Qimage Studio. All the canned profiles that makes ImagePrint great doesn't make a lot of sense to me for the Z.

Min · « **Reply #8 on:** March 01, 2008, 01:21:28 am »

Im having the same problem at 124". Is it because i dont have the GL/2 upgrade? I cant find documentation on what the largest size the Z will take. As far as file size goes, HP says up to 1GB for XP, so thats not the issue. Will Qimage help. Ive tried printing from CS2 and CS3... application handling color.

When the print is sent to the spooler it sits in there a long while, theZ say 'receiving data'...then it disappears from the spooler and the printer goes back to ready mode...like i never asked anything form it...weird. Tried it on 2 diff machines, same result

I have not upgraded firmware, driver etc to the latest yet.

also found this thread, will try it.

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=21599

thanks

Min

Min · « **Reply #9 on:** March 01, 2008, 08:39:35 pm »

Qimage worked like a charm. Cant beat it for $49.95

min

williamrohr · « **Reply #10 on:** March 02, 2008, 07:12:36 am »

Onyx Postershop or Production House seem to work beautifully with my Z3100. Both are expensive but since Poster Shop will run two printers at a time and Production Shop will run four ... if you have more than one large format printer the price becomes more reasonable. The downside is that it only runs on a PC but you can use it with a Mac (as I do) by sending files from the Mac to a virtual printer on the PC (instructions are easy). In addition to number of printers, Production House has full profiling software included and is worth the price difference alone compared to separate high-end profiling software. Since setting up the system I have had a unified consistent platform and haven't looked back Bill

bristolc · « **Reply #11 on:** March 02, 2008, 08:05:59 am »

Thanks for all the replies - I solved the problem using the Adobe Postscript printer installer and the ppd supplied with the printer - I can print up to 3500" or so with a postscript custom page size.

The only slight problem is that the HP Utility won't talk to the printer over the network anymore only via USB.
Andrew Stagg

Ernst Dinkla · « **Reply #12 on:** March 03, 2008, 11:58:39 am »

Quote

My comment on the RIPs was based on the experiences others have related with RIPs and n-channel printers like the Z3100 here.

One example might be ImagePrint by Colorbyte - they've said for almost a year now that support for the Z is "coming soon". No credibilty left there.

You might check Neal Snape's site for a review on the EFI designer and what it can do.

I think Ernst has mentioned the shortcomings of Ergosoft's RIP and the Z here.

I think some of it boils down to what are you looking for from a RIP on the Z. If its just image placement then maybe Qimage is all you need although its limited by the HP driver. If you're looking for better color profiles do you expect the RIP to work with the built-in spectro? Are you looking for better ink mixing algorithms?
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Sorry, but I only reported the Wasatch SoftRip shortcomings in dealing with the 12 channels of the Z3100. No experience with Ergosoft.

My experience with Qimage, XP Pro, the Z3100 driver on a network connection has been that I can't bring it above 2.70 meters. But it looks like I'm more the exception than the rule in this case as others have printed longer lengths even with the same setup. There's one thing that stands though: if you can not print above 2,70 meters from any application with the normal driver then Qimage will not solve it either with the Poster/Tile method as that requires a "banner" mode in the driver that the Z3100 doesn't have. So the driver has to do it in a normal mode and should as the driver says it can print up to 91 meters / 3582 inches. I would be happy with just 15% of that :-)

As soon as I can find a way to get above 2.70 meter with the driver I will report that. I can not test much these days as ithe printer is occupied with steady work.

Ernst Dinkla

try: [a href=\"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/[/url]

Author Topic: Larger than 129" length Z3100 (Read 4951 times)