Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: TJM on January 02, 2009, 07:55:46 am

Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: TJM on January 02, 2009, 07:55:46 am
I've always left the gloss enhancer in economode on my printer as my understanding was that it would only cover the photographs I print rather than the whole page.  I found though that the gloss enhancer was only laid on top of where ink was laid, so where the highlights were blown out (pure white - no ink) no gloss enhancer was laid and an inconsistent look on the photo (is this gloss differential?).  Is there a way to get the printer to lay GE on the whole picture but not the whole page - that is if i'm printing one 8x12 off of a 24" roll to not cover the whole 24" with GE but to cover the whole photo?

Thanks for your time,

TJ
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: walter.sk on January 02, 2009, 09:42:39 am
Quote from: TJM
I've always left the gloss enhancer in economode on my printer as my understanding was that it would only cover the photographs I print rather than the whole page.  I found though that the gloss enhancer was only laid on top of where ink was laid, so where the highlights were blown out (pure white - no ink) no gloss enhancer was laid and an inconsistent look on the photo (is this gloss differential?).  Is there a way to get the printer to lay GE on the whole picture but not the whole page - that is if i'm printing one 8x12 off of a 24" roll to not cover the whole 24" with GE but to cover the whole photo?

Thanks for your time,

TJ
What I do is, after the image is optimized and the softproof tweaked, I add another adjustment layer of Curves.  I pull the top right of the curve from 255 to 253 so that there are no unglossed spots on the  image itself.  I am left with white borders around the image with no gloss enhancer, and I don't notice a loss of 2 levels in the whites in the image.  I suppose a better way would be to pin the curve at several points so that the only part that gets changed are the very top levels, but I am satisfied with the results they way they are.

Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: Thomas Krüger on January 02, 2009, 10:18:28 am
Z3100 Smart Econo Mode action from Outbackprint to turn all pixels with values (255,255,255) into (254, 254, 254):
http://www.outbackprint.com/printinginsigh...y.html#20070413 (http://www.outbackprint.com/printinginsights/pi046/essay.html#20070413)
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: Ernst Dinkla on January 02, 2009, 10:29:25 am
Quote from: walter.sk
What I do is, after the image is optimized and the softproof tweaked, I add another adjustment layer of Curves.  I pull the top right of the curve from 255 to 253 so that there are no unglossed spots on the  image itself.  I am left with white borders around the image with no gloss enhancer, and I don't notice a loss of 2 levels in the whites in the image.  I suppose a better way would be to pin the curve at several points so that the only part that gets changed are the very top levels, but I am satisfied with the results they way they are.


To get all image elements covered with gloss enhancer I edited a gloss APS ICC profile by a curve change in Photoshop RGB 255,255,255 to 254,254,255 (Kodak Custom Tools). That worked in Photoshop + driver and I didn't notice a shift to blue either.

As that method didn't work in Qimage's CM I made a print filter in Qimage that shifts the Red only from 255 to 254. Strange but that's enough to get gloss enhancer on all the image parts and no color shift to be seen. It doesn't affect the extra border white that one can add with Qimage. So gloss enhancer on the total image and no gloss enhancer on the white border. No need for special profiles either.


Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/)
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: TJM on January 02, 2009, 06:09:09 pm
Thanks for the great help guys,

TJ
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: Colorwave on January 03, 2009, 01:09:01 am
Hmmm . . . all I do is use full page gloss enhancer, but set my page size to the size I want covered with GE.  If I print a horizontal 11" x 17" and want a 2" border, my page size is 13" x 19" and the GE covers just that size, not the full 24" wide roll (or heaven forbid, the 44" roll if that is what was loaded instead).  I personally like the same sheen to cover the full printed and unprinted area of the trimmed print.
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: namartinnz on January 03, 2009, 04:18:20 pm
Quote from: Colorwave
Hmmm . . . all I do is use full page gloss enhancer, but set my page size to the size I want covered with GE.  If I print a horizontal 11" x 17" and want a 2" border, my page size is 13" x 19" and the GE covers just that size, not the full 24" wide roll (or heaven forbid, the 44" roll if that is what was loaded instead).  I personally like the same sheen to cover the full printed and unprinted area of the trimmed print.

I do this as well, setting the page size using Qimage. I had used an action to alter the curve adjustment but couldn't get a satisfactory print
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: Ernst Dinkla on January 03, 2009, 04:34:02 pm
Quote from: namartinnz
I do this as well, setting the page size using Qimage. I had used an action to alter the curve adjustment but couldn't get a satisfactory print


Strange, it works alright with a print filter that does the job on the fly in Qimage in the process to printing. Nothing else than a small curve adjustment as written above.


Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/)
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: namartinnz on January 05, 2009, 05:33:44 am
Quote from: Ernst Dinkla
Strange, it works alright with a print filter that does the job on the fly in Qimage in the process to printing. Nothing else than a small curve adjustment as written above.

Ernst Dinkla

Yes, was strange that it didn't work. I didn't really try again - I've always been happen using full GE setting since and been very happy with the results
Title: Using gloss enhancer on z3100
Post by: Ernst Dinkla on January 06, 2009, 07:37:46 am
Quote from: namartinnz
Yes, was strange that it didn't work. I didn't really try again - I've always been happen using full GE setting since and been very happy with the results

Well I like the subtle difference between the image gloss and lower gloss of the borders that's possible on some satin media with the economy mode. Qimage gives the flexibility on border sizes and adds the easy cut marks to keep them equal in size, the prints nicely nested on the available paper size.


Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/)