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Author Topic: Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows  (Read 3078 times)

photosbyjoec

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Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows
« on: November 25, 2013, 09:50:24 am »

I work on a Windows 7 platform and I just purchased Harrington's Quad Tone RIP.  I'm a real newbie at this, so patience please!  I get the general gist of working with the gui (as that is the only option for Windows users).  When I browse the files in the Quad Tone folders, I see a lot of profiles for various papers and ink sets (I print on an Epson R3000).  I don't see any way of accessing those profiles through QTRgui.  Am I missing something, or is this just the way it is for Windows users?  I don't have a densitometer or spectrophotometer to create my own curves, so I'm really looking for some guidance here.  I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who can help.  Thanks!!
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Some Guy

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Re: Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2013, 11:08:10 am »

Been a while since I used it, but try Tools > Curve Creation > Select your Printing Model (Printer) > File > Open> which opens a window of inksets and paper and choose whatever paper mentioned is close to what you have Matte, Velvet, etc. from the included paper names shown.

Fwiw, I am running Windows 8.1 and the program has some error codes that pop up from time to time, I think it was in the Curves generation portion too.  It leaves a lot of residual background things running that I have to shut down in Task Manager too.  Seems support for Windows has waned since the guy who wrote the GUI interface has left (Has the appearance of being written in the Windows 98 era.).  I wasn't happy with the lack of print sharpness either which may be due to ink bleeding verses some other Windows programs for printing.  It's better for Apple now as the author seems to support it better himself, imho.

SG
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photosbyjoec

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Re: Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2013, 12:40:59 pm »

Thanks for this tip!  I'll give it a shot this evening.  I do get the impression that Mac support is much better.  That's too bad, as I've seen this RIP get a lot of great press.  I'll post to the forum if this works out.  Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts.
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Some Guy

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Re: Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2013, 01:00:28 pm »

Thanks for this tip!  I'll give it a shot this evening.  I do get the impression that Mac support is much better.  That's too bad, as I've seen this RIP get a lot of great press.  I'll post to the forum if this works out.  Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Good luck with it.

I wish the maker would get it up to speed of Windows 7-8 as it seems to have some potential, aside from its quirks.  I suspect much of the "great press" is due to it being "inexpensive."  I think BowHaus "InkJet Control and OpenPrintMaker" for XP ($250) or Ergosoft "StudioPrint 14" ($1,300) might be better for current Windows OS, just the cost!  Ugh!

I'm holding out for "StudioPrint 15" that might appear in maybe the 3rd quarter of 2014 should Epson come out with some new printers with their new head design.  Not crazy about maybe shelling out $700 (or whatever they decide for an upgrade) to go from "StudioPrint 14" to version 15 so I'll wait a bit more.  No rush.

SG
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photosbyjoec

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Re: Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2013, 03:08:25 pm »

I am learning a great deal from you!  I've read Jeff Schewe's book on The Digital Print.  He really likes QTR as a 3rd party RIP as it is economical and he likes how it performs.  But then again, he's working on a Mac.  When I first started down this rabbit hole I had no idea what I was getting into.  I do like SOME of the technical aspects of this, but the bottom line is getting a good looking B&W print.  Epson's ABW tool isn't bad at all.  I have just read that QTR can be a lot better.  When you used it, did you use a single curve, or did you combine curves?  Some of what I've read indicates that for piezo print heads and K3 inks you must only use a single curve.  That kind of defeats the entire purpose of QTR, doesn't it?
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Some Guy

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Re: Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2013, 05:24:13 pm »

I am learning a great deal from you!  I've read Jeff Schewe's book on The Digital Print.  He really likes QTR as a 3rd party RIP as it is economical and he likes how it performs.  But then again, he's working on a Mac.  When I first started down this rabbit hole I had no idea what I was getting into.  I do like SOME of the technical aspects of this, but the bottom line is getting a good looking B&W print.  Epson's ABW tool isn't bad at all.  I have just read that QTR can be a lot better.  When you used it, did you use a single curve, or did you combine curves?  Some of what I've read indicates that for piezo print heads and K3 inks you must only use a single curve.  That kind of defeats the entire purpose of QTR, doesn't it?

When I played with it, I set up the maximum black percentage first as I wanted a blacker black than what I was seeing.  Later on I used a ColorMunki Photo to read the steps off the 21 step target that comes as part of some download off the QTR site.  Then I plugged in those numbers into QTR's Curve Creator array and generated a curve that set up the linearization too for that paper and ink setting off the Epson printer.

I let my B&W photos stay in Adobe RGB though and didn't save them as a 2.2 Gray image in PS.  Mainly because I wanted to add a tone (red or a selenium bluish) later so I had to leave Adobe RGB in the image else the printer turned off the color inks in ABW mode.

My QTR difficulties, aside from the very old Windows GUI, "Error 32" codes which seem to date back years now in their users group, hanging up in Curve generation, and sundry instances of the program remaining in the background when closed or crashed (Task Manager to the rescue!) was in getting shadow detail in the blacks.  Once the black density is optimized for a nice rich black, the shadow detail blocked up badly.  Even the 21 step tablet bunched up in the black end.  So linearization is needed to fix that (different black inks like LK LLK called into the curve) and the ColorMinki Photo generated some numbers to set up a straight line (All those "L" things in that curve tool and text chart it makes that should appear as a straight line.).  I have an i1 PhotoPro 2 as well, but as long as I had some spectrometer numbers it helped there in the curve generation end one needs to fill in that curve generator chart.

My biggest issue was my prints were not that sharp using it.  Didn't notice it until I put a print out of Qimage next to the QTR one and it was apparent the QTR wasn't that sharp.  My thinking is that the extra back ink to hit a better dMax black was also bleeding a bit into the printing paper itself to make it appear soft and not as sharp as out of Qimage which seems to have a much better print sharpening engine in it.  So QTR is sort of retired for me now until I find something else to play with.

I also had some issues of getting a neutral black from the lightest to the darkest steps in that 21 step chart.  So I had to apply a bit of magenta and cyan in some of the blacks as they are not truly neutral in color, plus the paper may color it too.  So some colors had to stay on, plus leave it out of the ABW so that the print might need color hence it remained in Adobe 1998 for any coloration correction needed.  I believe Epson ABW has a bit of color (Sepia, etc.) that it can apply within the driver so it may be that Adobe 1998 might not be a big issue if one sets it up right.

Easiest is to use their supplied charts, and modify those as needed if you can with a spectrometer.  Sometimes creating a brand new chart from scratch crashed it for me in Windows 8-64.  The Mac guys seem to be having issues with the new OS 10.9 with Colorsync in sundry programs, and QTR seems better addressed for that system overall.  No cakewalk now no matter the OS system.

SB
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Joe S

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Re: Help with using Quad Tone RIP from Windows
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2013, 03:03:15 am »

You access the stock curves in QTRgui.   Go to "curve setup" and select one or more curves.   For a neutral tone combine the cool and warm curves 50-50 or until you are please with the tonality.   Using the stock curves is very easy.   You can linearize them or create your own from there.   It is a great program not just because its cheap but because it delivers great results.
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