Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: Denis de Gannes on January 22, 2018, 02:45:48 pm

Title: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Denis de Gannes on January 22, 2018, 02:45:48 pm
I am trying to set up my Settings and Color management. I have have set up the Media and set the color management to be carried out by the Qimage software. In the pinter properties I have selected Color Matching and Quality & Media as shown in the attached files. Up till now I only have experience in printing from Windows with little knowledge of printing from my iMac. See the attached screen captures.
Any one has experience with printing to the captioned printer?

Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 22, 2018, 03:05:03 pm
Can't comment on Qimage yet but the ColorSync dialog you have (3rd) doesn't look right set to sRGB unless Qimage has some odd way of accepting data that way.


Some software products are using a private (undocumented) SPI called kPMApplicationColorMatching which you see in Photoshop and Lightroom and the Adobe Color Print Utility. When you set Application Manages Color, the area of the driver that controls Colorsync will alter the radio buttons such they are grayed out. X-Rite’s i1Profiler has also implemented this SPI. Be nice if Qimage did too, then it would appear this way:

Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Denis de Gannes on January 22, 2018, 03:36:08 pm
Can't comment on Qimage yet but the ColorSync dialog you have (3rd) doesn't look right set to sRGB unless Qimage has some odd way of accepting data that way.


Some software products are using a private (undocumented) SPI called kPMApplicationColorMatching which you see in Photoshop and Lightroom and the Adobe Color Print Utility. When you set Application Manages Color, the area of the driver that controls Colorsync will alter the radio buttons such they are grayed out. X-Rite’s i1Profiler has also implemented this SPI. Be nice if Qimage did too, then it would appear this way:

If you look at the image I posted  "Verify Printer Settings" the last paragraph refers to this setting.
also the following from the Qimage One help files has me a bit confused.

Quote "Important Note: Qimage One will make the necessary changes to the printer driver settings to support your ICC Color Profile selection. It is important that you do not make changes in the printer driver Color Matching section afterwards as this could result in double-profiling and incorrect color output. Qimage One tags the image data as sRGB after it has performed any needed color profile conversion and instructs the printer to print sRGB. You should not be concerned about seeing sRGB as the selected color profile in the printer setup dialog. This is simply the way that software color management is achieved on macOS. Some printing applications gray out and disable the Color Matching controls, but Qimage One does not."
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 22, 2018, 03:59:00 pm
Unnecessarily confusing, but good to know.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: MHMG on January 22, 2018, 07:05:35 pm
Can't comment on Qimage yet but the ColorSync dialog you have (3rd) doesn't look right set to sRGB unless Qimage has some odd way of accepting data that way.


Some software products are using a private (undocumented) SPI called kPMApplicationColorMatching which you see in Photoshop and Lightroom and the Adobe Color Print Utility. When you set Application Manages Color, the area of the driver that controls Colorsync will alter the radio buttons such they are grayed out. X-Rite’s i1Profiler has also implemented this SPI. Be nice if Qimage did too, then it would appear this way:

So, here's how I think Q1 does it. If you select the Q1 option for "Color management off" it assigns sRGB to the source image, then forces color matching/colorsync to sRGB in the "default printer driver setting" thus creating a null transform to keep RGB values untouched. Likewise, if you use a "Q1 manages color" approach by selecting a specified ICC profile for your printer/ink/media destination, then Q1 converts the source file data to the destination file data with your chosen ICC profile and rendering intent, then further assigns sRGB to the converted file data, and simultaneously forces color matching/colorsync in the default printer driver setting to sRGB, thus creating another null transform and essentially achieving application managed color. That's clearly a different approach than application managed apps which handle the Mac ColorSync pipeline with the private (undocumented) SPI called kPMApplicationColorMatching. The Q1 approach does work, but to anyone who's been using Photoshop or Lightroom, etc. for application managed color where the color matching dialog box gets greyed out it does seem "wrong". It's not, but it's another weird flavor of application managed color and also "Color management off", so what else is new? Nearly a quarter of a century of color management work arounds. This is just a new wrinkle.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 22, 2018, 07:16:43 pm
The Q1 approach does work, but to anyone who's been using Photoshop or Lightroom, etc. for application managed color where the color matching dialog box gets greyed out it does seem "wrong". It's not, but it's another weird flavor of application managed color and also "Color management off", so what else is new? Nearly a quarter of a century of color management work arounds. This is just a new wrinkle.
Thanks Mark. And yes, it does appear wrong and appears the author needs to study the Mac a bit more. For example, a 'competing' printing product (QTR Print) does this as expected without the kPMApplicationColorMatching API which is even better for any end user!
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: MHMG on January 22, 2018, 07:21:12 pm
Thanks Mark. And yes, it does appear wrong and appears the author needs to study the Mac a bit more. For example, a 'competing' printing product (QTR Print) does this as expected without the kPMApplicationColorMatching API which is even better for any end user!

Yup, Q1 version 1.0 teething pains I hope!
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 22, 2018, 07:23:14 pm
Yup, Q1 version 1.0 teething pains I hope!
The author also needs some assistance from a few better experienced Mac beta testers I believe.  ;D
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: MHMG on January 22, 2018, 07:26:42 pm
The author also needs some assistance from a few better experienced Mac beta testers I believe.  ;D

I gather you weren't a beta tester :). Neither was I. I bought it, I'm trying to use it. It's got promise, but it still seems like it should be in beta! Too few features yet to make it really stand out from other printer pipelines. Too slow to browse folders, no search, drag and drop only when you drag a file to the dock icon (not any of the open windows in the app), and I seem to crash it quite frequently when I try to use it. I may be the poster child for application bug finding on the Mac!
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 22, 2018, 08:21:36 pm
Hello All,

I'm happy to have joined the community here as it looks like a good place to share and hopefully while I'm here, I can provide some assistance for those using Qimage One as well.  As my first post, let me try to shed some light on a few things mentioned in this thread.

First, on the occasional crashes, we did find some instances where certain types of printer profiles could cause a crash under some specific conditions.  Those crashes were confirmed fixed by today's macOS release (2018.105).  Those types of issues (ones that require a specific set of conditions to reproduce) simply cannot be flushed out in beta testing but thanks to feedback from various users, we were able to correct the problem in about 48 hours.  We are not aware of any conditions that cause a crash in 2018.105 so if you still have any issues after updating to that version, please let us know.  As of now, all users who have reported crashes confirm that 2018.105 has fixed the crashes.

Regarding color management, we probably included too much technical detail on our webpage regarding settings and made it sound more complicated than it is.  As a user, all you need to know is: don't change the color matching options.  That's it!  Qimage One already sets the color matching options in the driver to those needed for the selection in the software (either let the driver handle color, or selecting a specific profile).  Using sRGB for a "null transform" is the accepted method for disabling color management on Mac printer drivers; the difference being that other software may gray those options out so you can't change (or potentially even see) them.

Qimage One has a "deeper" connection with the printer driver than many other driver-based printing apps in that you can change things like media type, media size, source, and other options without having to go into the driver.  Similarly, it is able to make the appropriate selections to turn color management off if it sees you are using a user-specific ICC profile.  Simply put: make whatever settings such as quality, etc. in the driver but just leave the color matching options at the bottom of the driver alone: Qimage One sets those for you.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Bart_van_der_Wolf on January 22, 2018, 09:01:02 pm
Hello All,

I'm happy to have joined the community here as it looks like a good place to share and hopefully while I'm here, I can provide some assistance for those using Qimage One as well.  As my first post, let me try to shed some light on a few things mentioned in this thread.

First, on the occasional crashes, we did find some instances where certain types of printer profiles could cause a crash under some specific conditions.  Those crashes were confirmed fixed by today's macOS release (2018.105).  Those types of issues (ones that require a specific set of conditions to reproduce) simply cannot be flushed out in beta testing but thanks to feedback from various users, we were able to correct the problem in about 48 hours.  We are not aware of any conditions that cause a crash in 2018.105 so if you still have any issues after updating to that version, please let us know.  As of now, all users who have reported crashes confirm that 2018.105 has fixed the crashes.

Excellent, for those who have been affected. We (or at least, I) do, appreciate developers who are directly addressing issues in this forum (although some responders may seem a bit less appreciative ;), frankly, their problem).

Quote
Regarding color management, we probably included too much technical detail on our webpage regarding settings and made it sound more complicated than it is.  As a user, all you need to know is: don't change the color matching options.  That's it!

As a Qimage Ultimate (for Windows) user I could understand a culture shock for some users. But then, Windows OS users grew along with the philosophy. New users will need to catch up ... Direct communication usually leads to a better exchange of ideas.

Quote
Qimage One has a "deeper" connection with the printer driver than many other driver-based printing apps in that you can change things like media type, media size, source, and other options without having to go into the driver.  Similarly, it is able to make the appropriate selections to turn color management off if it sees you are using a user-specific ICC profile.  Simply put: make whatever settings such as quality, etc. in the driver but just leave the color matching options at the bottom of the driver alone: Qimage One sets those for you.

Cheers,
Bart
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: MHMG on January 22, 2018, 09:31:14 pm
Hello All,


..Qimage One has a "deeper" connection with the printer driver than many other driver-based printing apps in that you can change things like media type, media size, source, and other options without having to go into the driver...

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.

Yes, and I applaud the concept, I truly do, but until Q1 enables control of all printer driver unique features in addition to the obvious media settings and page size setting (e.g., gloss optimizer options, uni-directional printing, advanced user settings like ink density, etc.) one still has to dive into the printer driver menu to check those values, all the while making sure not to tamper with settings Q1 has already set or move away from the "default" preset. At this point in time, this situation is likely to be just as difficult if not more so for longtime Mac-only users compared to what they do already, namely to choose all the necessary printer driver settings in one go, and save a preset in the driver window named appropriately for those specific menu choices. Q1 disallows those custom presets, forcing one to use only the "default" setting which means one cannot quickly change advanced printer driver options like, for example, gloss optimizer "full coverage" versus gloss optimizer "economy mode" and/or high speed "on" versus high speed "off" etc., etc.  One possible solution is for Q1 to allow the user to choose one of these custom presets at the Q1 GUI, but then modify them just like Q1 does the default driver setting.

And while I'm here in this thread trying my best to offer both praise and constructive criticism, also note that I did perform one update already, but it sounds like there's already another. That's impressive, but honestly, the update procedure is also incredibly un Mac-like. It's a process that only a PC user could love (folks, please don't flame me, I run both PC's and Mac's, and I see virtues in both platforms).

kind regards,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 22, 2018, 09:48:48 pm
Using sRGB for a "null transform" is the accepted method for disabling color management on Mac printer drivers; the difference being that other software may gray those options out so you can't change (or potentially even see) them.
Can you provide one example, other than your product, on the Mac, that shows the GUI with sRGB as you've coded?
No argument the setting can't or doesn't work. That's besides the point. You're now working on the Mac OS for Mac users and there are protocols, long standing, that exist. There is one widespread GUI which I've shown from Roy's product. There's a better mousetrap that is also 'allowed' even if not well documented and a very few companies use it as I would suggest you consider that as well.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 22, 2018, 10:40:35 pm
Yes, and I applaud the concept, I truly do, but until Q1 enables control of all printer driver unique features in addition to the obvious media settings and page size setting (e.g., gloss optimizer options, uni-directional printing, advanced user settings like ink density, etc.) one still has to dive into the printer driver menu to check those values, all the while making sure not to tamper with settings Q1 has already set or move away from the "default" preset. At this point in time, this situation is likely to be just as difficult if not more so for longtime Mac-only users compared to what they do already, namely to choose all the necessary printer driver settings in one go, and save a preset in the driver window named appropriately for those specific menu choices. Q1 disallows those custom presets, forcing one to use only the "default" setting which means one cannot quickly change advanced printer driver options like, for example, gloss optimizer "full coverage" versus gloss optimizer "economy mode" and/or high speed "on" versus high speed "off" etc., etc.

Not at all.  You only have to set the driver preferences once per printer and media type.  The next time you select that media type for that printer, all the driver settings and program settings come back from the last time you used that printer and media!  In addition, if you use the same media type for multiple papers (say from different manufacturers or even the same paper at different sheet sizes), you can save setups by name and recall them.  One click on the load button and selecting your saved "Red River Arctic Polar Satin" will bring up all the printer settings (including driver settings) for that paper and you are ready to start adding prints.

Can you provide one example, other than your product, on the Mac, that shows the GUI with sRGB as you've coded?
No argument the setting can't or doesn't work. That's besides the point. You're now working on the Mac OS for Mac users and there are protocols, long standing, that exist. There is one widespread GUI which I've shown from Roy's product. There's a better mousetrap that is also 'allowed' even if not well documented and a very few companies use it as I would suggest you consider that as well.

In your screen shot, you can't tell what is selected for Profile because the selection has been made invisible.  If they are following the Apple documented procedure for printing with color management off, they are using sRGB as well and you just can't see it.  As I said, we haven't grayed out or made those selections invisible but it's something we may do in a future release only to prevent users from changing those settings.  In the mean time, grayed out or not, invisible or not, the procedure is correct and the only way you can get incorrect results is if you change the settings manually.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 22, 2018, 11:14:36 pm
And that presumes you only want to use that specific printer and media combination with only one set of printer driver-specific settings. This simply isn't a valid assumption. Sometimes, for example, I want to print in a quick draft or high speed mode, whereas at other times I insist on highest quality settings. Sometimes I want to avoid use of gloss optimizer, sometimes I want full coverage. I typically handle these basic alternatives with two or more custom presets for that printer/media combination so that I don't have to keep diving deeper into all of the printer driver submenus. That's indeed the beauty of custom presets, ie, the ability to choose alternative print quality/media/advanced settings without always having to dive deeper into the printer driver weeds to set what you want. Q1 disallows that convenience by insisting only the default driver setting is allowed.The default driver setting can be set up with only one custom settings choice, not two or more! If only given the option to use the "default" setting, you have to continuously go in manually and alter all those custom settings you want to change for a specific print job in the "default" setting that Q1 currently doesn't manage.

Am I missing something here about how Q1 currently addresses the more sophisticated printer driver settings?

kind regards,
Mark

That's the beauty of how it works.  If you want one setting for draft quality and one for high quality, save two setups and just name them accordingly such as Epson Luster (Draft) and Epson Luster (HQ).  You might save setups such as:

- Epson 3880 Luster (Draft)
- Epson 3880 Luster (HQ)
- Canon Pro-2000 Semi-Gloss (Roll 1)
- Canon Pro-2000 Luster (Roll 2)
Etc.

When you pick Epson 3880 Luster (Draft), it loads all the driver settings that you used for draft mode including chroma optimizer, paper size and type, quality settings, etc. and loads the ICC profile, sharpening and other settings for the software.  There is no limit to the settings you can save and the driver settings within.  And you load your settings the same way for all printer models: no navigating through potentially different menus for custom settings in the driver: they are simply not needed since your saved setups will load literally every app and driver setting you chose.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: MHMG on January 22, 2018, 11:31:32 pm
That's the beauty of how it works.  If you want one setting for draft quality and one for high quality, save two setups and just name them accordingly such as Epson Luster (Draft) and Epson Luster (HQ).  You might save setups such as:

- Epson 3880 Luster (Draft)
- Epson 3880 Luster (HQ)
- Canon Pro-2000 Semi-Gloss (Roll 1)
- Canon Pro-2000 Luster (Roll 2)
Etc.

When you pick Epson 3880 Luster (Draft), it loads all the driver settings that you used for draft mode including chroma optimizer, paper size and type, quality settings, etc. and loads the ICC profile, sharpening and other settings for the software.  There is no limit to the settings you can save and the driver settings within.  And you load your settings the same way for all printer models: no navigating through potentially different menus for custom settings in the driver: they are simply not needed since your saved setups will load literally every app and driver setting you chose.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.

OK Mike, I just removed my original message you quoted (and don't know how to "restore" it to the thread), probably just a moment before you replied, because it occurred to me you might indeed have already included this feature, essentially re-established another way to accomplish a custom preset, and I have so far overlooked how Q1 does it. Forgive me. I will go back and re-learn how to create a custom preset for the printer driver in Q1. It's a learning curve nonetheless, but one I'm game to try because I do see a lot of potential merit in Q1. :)  That said, I'm not yet truly seeing this new Q1 interface for Mac users as easier, just different, except when printing multiple images to a single printed page from photoshop where Q1 definitely aggregates the multiple open files to be printed in a nicer way than printing one at a time in Photoshop.

kind regards,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Abdo on January 23, 2018, 05:42:35 am
For example, a 'competing' printing product (QTR Print) does this as expected without the kPMApplicationColorMatching API which is even better for any end user!

That's a fact, QTR is a very simple software, which for years has no update but works perfectly. Besides being very light, easy to set up. It has an advantage, who needs to write directly on the printout works very well. Worth the Price.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 23, 2018, 07:24:33 am
That's a fact, QTR is a very simple software, which for years has no update but works perfectly. Besides being very light, easy to set up. It has an advantage, who needs to write directly on the printout works very well. Worth the Price.

Certainly a valid tool to have in your printing toolbox.  Each tool will have a different focus and different way of going about things.  I'm not really here to compare and contrast; that's up to the end user.  I'll try to just assist those who are using Qimage One to address the why's and how's, feature requests, etc.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Abdo on January 23, 2018, 07:29:29 am
Certainly a valid tool to have in your printing toolbox.  Each tool will have a different focus and different way of going about things.  I'm not really here to compare and contrast; that's up to the end user.  I'll try to just assist those who are using Qimage One to address the why's and how's, feature requests, etc.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.

Mike,

I believe in your work, so much that I bought the software on the first day. I'm following up and I know what software will grow.
We just have to have patience for new features to be placed for MAC users.
Thank you for your comment and also for coming here to participate in the discussion, we can only help improve Q1.

Sds
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 23, 2018, 10:14:43 am
In your screen shot, you can't tell what is selected for Profile because the selection has been made invisible.  If they are following the Apple documented procedure for printing with color management off, they are using sRGB as well and you just can't see it.  As I said, we haven't grayed out or made those selections invisible but it's something we may do in a future release only to prevent users from changing those settings. 
Let me try again as maybe I wasn't clear. There are AFAIK two possible GUI's that follow Apple guidelines. One is an API, rarely used but used none the less which makes this entire area of the driver moot: it sets everything correctly (sRGB or otherwise) and grays out the radio button. While few companies have gone this route, none the less they can and have. Even smaller companies like X-rite. This is the path I suggest you examine now that you know about it!  ;) 

The 2nd path is found everywhere else as far as I know (hence my question to you which I'll ask again for clarity below). We see it in Roy's Print QTR, we see it in the OP's screen capture. We see it elsewhere in products, lots of them! It shows the CS ratio button ON and Automatic with the correct profile selected. This absolutely follows Apple GUI guidelines. Or the user can follow the instructions burned into the GUI ("Select a custom profile that matches your printer model and paper/media type"). sRGB isn't.

Now we have your software. The same GUI where the GUI should show Automatic, you tell the user to pick sRGB despite the GUI telling the user they should be selecting a profile that matches their printer and paper/media setting. That isn't sRGB! So you have to provide a long tale of text about how the user should pick that anyway. Confusing and unnecessary. So back to my original question that has nothing to do with the API that grays out the ColorSync Radio button: What other software besides Qimage asks users to do what you're asking?
Quote
In the mean time, grayed out or not, invisible or not, the procedure is correct and the only way you can get incorrect results is if you change the settings manually.
It's a brave new Mac world for you and there are standards of behavior expected from many of those customers. Having to tell them to select sRGB in long bits of text outside the driver, while the driver tells them to pick a custom profile is kind of a kludge acceptable on perhaps other OS's but you'll get heat doing so on the Mac. You did! NO one said the sRGB setting is wrong for your software! I said I didn't know about your product and it looks wrong. That it looks wrong is a GUI issue of yours so again, can you tell us of any other software on the Mac using Application Manages Color where the user has to pick sRGB? I don't. Mark?
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 23, 2018, 10:19:48 am
That's a fact, QTR is a very simple software, which for years has no update but works perfectly.
Very recent history shows otherwise. That's a fact.
 That's why some of us are trying to aid the author and the OP. Better vetting of beta's would have made much of this discussion moot too.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 23, 2018, 12:26:54 pm
Let me try again as maybe I wasn't clear. There are AFAIK two possible GUI's that follow Apple guidelines. One is an API, rarely used but used none the less which makes this entire area of the driver moot: it sets everything correctly (sRGB or otherwise) and grays out the radio button. While few companies have gone this route, none the less they can and have. Even smaller companies like X-rite. This is the path I suggest you examine now that you know about it!  ;)

We are well aware of that path.  If you are aware of a link that shows these Apple guidelines that state you must gray out the radio box and make the profile invisible as part of their protocol, please share.  In fact, if that is such an important part of their protocol, why would they tuck it away in a private API that is only available upon request through the developer program (we started that process weeks ago and are working with Apple to get what we need). 

Quote
Now we have your software. The same GUI where the GUI should show Automatic, you tell the user to pick sRGB...

We are doing no such thing.  In fact, we do the opposite: we tell the user specifically not to "pick" anything.  When the solution is "don't touch it", it's not a problem to dwell on given the other capabilities of the software, many of which exist nowhere else, even at this early stage when we are still taking feature requests!

Quote
So back to my original question that has nothing to do with the API that grays out the ColorSync Radio button: What other software besides Qimage asks users to do what you're asking?

You are implying that I said that other tools "show sRGB" or do things the same way?  I never claimed that nor is it even relevant.  What I did claim is that other tools, if they follow the protocol, are doing that behind the scenes and the only difference is that the other tools gray out or make controls invisible so you can't see what they are doing.  That is a good thing which is why we have been working toward that end, but we are at the mercy of Apple to provide the private API that allows modification of those controls.  That code is not readily available!  In the mean time, we are breaking no documented guidelines that I am aware of and we have found no one who believes it is a show-stopper to simply not make changes to those controls.  This is particularly true considering once you confirm your settings and you are getting great prints, you can save the setup including all driver settings for future use.  That's something many other printing tools don't offer and it's actually much more likely to make a mistake in the driver (like forgetting to change chroma optimizer or a quality setting) which won't happen when using verified/saved setups.

I feel like there are so many other features in Qimage One relevant to photo printing that spending two pages talking about two controls that are live versus grayed/hidden is not a good use of forum space so I'll stop here.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 23, 2018, 01:07:52 pm
We are well aware of that path.  If you are aware of a link that shows these Apple guidelines that state you must gray out the radio box and make the profile invisible as part of their protocol, please share. 
There is NO such protocol. If there was, massive numbers of current and older drivers wouldn't do what they do today and have for years. As shown to you from another product. I stated, I thought clearly, that there are two possible paths.
I'll ask my question again then move on: What other software besides Qimage asks users to do what you're asking: set sRGB in the dialog shown more than once here? Or what Apple doc's state it's just fine to ask the user to select an RGB working space (sRGB) rather than what they specifically ask the user to select in THEIR dialog? If you cannot answer, may I suggest more research?
Quote
You are implying that I said that other tools "show sRGB" or do things the same way?
No, I'm asking who else besides you do so on the Mac OS?
Quote
What I did claim is that other tools, if they follow the protocol, are doing that behind the scenes and the only difference is that the other tools gray out or make controls invisible so you can't see what they are doing
No dispute! We're talking about following Apple GUI protocols. You either are or you're not. Which is it? What other Mac OS product, in order to produce a Null Transform asks the user to pick sRGB (or any RGB working space)? Or what Apple doc's state it's just fine to ask the user to select an RGB working space (sRGB) rather than what they specifically ask the user to select in THEIR dialog?
Quote
That is a good thing which is why we have been working toward that end, but we are at the mercy of Apple to provide the private API that allows modification of those controls.
You are indeed at the mercy of following Apple guidelines unless you don't, then some people with decades of familiarly with the Mac will call you out.
Ever think of making an sRGB profile that a user could select named say "Qimage Null printer profile" or something like that such the user doesn't have to know it's sRGB, you get them to select what you wish (until and if you implement the API's that gray out the radio button), then, you're not going against what Apple demands be inserted into that dialog which clearly tells the user to select? At least it wouldn't be an RGB working space called sRGB, it would have a name users would probably easier recognize as the profile you want for the null profile? It's still a hack and a kludge but slightly less so.
Or maybe I'm way off base and you can provide an example of another Mac product that asks the user to select sRGB where you ask them to do so. Can you?
Quote
That code is not readily available!
There might be some here who could assist, those who have inside sources at Apple, Adobe and X-rite who have be able to implement that code.
Quote
In the mean time, we are breaking no documented guidelines that I am aware...
Easy enough to verify for some. But again, if you can find another product that does the same, that be useful data to back up the awareness depending on who's software it may be, if such software exists.
Quote
...we have found no one who believes it is a show-stopper to simply not make changes to those controls.
It isn't about stopping the show, it's about producing software on an OS that follows protocol. Examine the OP's first post here and the first reply: what you're doing is confusing because it appears to be incorrect. Even the dialog box strongly suggests that. As I said, this is a new ballgame making Mac products.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 23, 2018, 02:35:55 pm
Andrew, this is a bit of mountain out of molehill....lotta words for minor nit, that Mike already said they are working at changing.  They don’t have to do any research, just because you ask....particularly since it was a meaninglessness request.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 23, 2018, 04:56:37 pm
Andrew, this is a bit of mountain out of molehill....
Sounds like the comments from someone with no experience producing software for Mac users. Here's more molehills to ignore:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS)
https://developer.apple.com/macos/human-interface-guidelines/overview/themes/
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Ernst Dinkla on January 24, 2018, 07:52:12 am
This thread brings back all the memories of the idiot proof CM Apple implanted in the OS a decade ago and forced software companies to accept that fact. So idiot safe that color gurus complained for years to come. CM off for target printing became impossible. Apple made Adobe bend over, not once but twice, for OS-X and Windows. In anticipation that Microsoft would follow Apple. It never did. Three months later Adobe offered a Color Print Utility for target printing and it was buggy. Users invented the "Null transform" route to allow target printing from Photoshop till that was made impossible too on Macs. Not a Mac man but I guess the greyed out Colorsync choice Andrew likes to see is the symptom of that. The Colorsync route for CM off was not trusted either. This was around 2012. Roy Harrington wrote a print tool to make CM off printing reliable again for the OS-X crowd that does not have access to X-rite profile creation programs, 39 dollar solution. Meanwhile Qimage users could print targets with CM off like nothing had happened over the last 15 years. Now we see a discussion that is essentially about a CM kludge being camouflaged and made API official versus the same CM kludge that is transparent. A kludge that has its roots in that idiot proof CM approach Apple/Adobe once introduced. I guess it will take three months to get the API in function on Qimage One, the kludge however works but is just not canonized. Three months if Apple does not throw a spanner in the wheels. The complaints about that Apple/Adobe move without decent solutions for months if not years seem to be forgotten and what remains of it is now declared holy. I predict there will not be a CM problem in Q1 for years to come like it was for Mac users and the interface will soon be smooth enough for idiots too.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 24, 2018, 08:02:52 am
Sounds like the comments from someone with no experience producing software for Mac users. Here's more molehills to ignore:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS)
https://developer.apple.com/macos/human-interface-guidelines/overview/themes/

I have no idea how your links have anything to do with the conversation.  Sometimes you logic seems to get lost.

I was just commenting that you were spending a lot of words on what many felt a non-issue.  If you are correct, Qimage One will fail and you can smugly sit back and grin. 

Somehow, I think Mike Chaney will be the one grinning.  He has a track record of delivering and is offering a product which is needed in the Mac space.....and is worlds above any printing offering by Adobe or Pixel Genius.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Abdo on January 24, 2018, 08:07:42 am
I do not understand why so many critics, when we can help.   :-[ :-[ :-[
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 24, 2018, 09:21:21 am
I have no idea how your links have anything to do with the conversation.
Of course you don’t! ;)
More like the comments from someone with no experience producing software for Mac users.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Rand47 on January 24, 2018, 09:23:39 am
I have no idea how your links have anything to do with the conversation.  Sometimes you logic seems to get lost.

I was just commenting that you were spending a lot of words on what many felt a non-issue.  If you are correct, Qimage One will fail and you can smugly sit back and grin. 

Somehow, I think Mike Chaney will be the one grinning.  He has a track record of delivering and is offering a product which is needed in the Mac space.....and is worlds above any printing offering by Adobe or Pixel Genius.

OR, perhaps Andrew is just trying to provide valuable insight, albeit a bit tersely. No need for “winners and losers” as you suggest, just robust discussion with optimal outcomes in mind. 

Rand
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 24, 2018, 09:38:35 am
Of course you don’t! ;)
More like the comments from someone with no experience producing software for Mac users.

So imperious, as usual.

Why don’t you explain for us “unwashed”.  Be a lot better than being “mystical” and asking questions for others to go off and research for you....or for you to attempt to win arguments with questions rather than answers.

Quite simply, what is wrong with what Mike is doing and the plans he has expressed....oh wise one?
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 24, 2018, 09:40:01 am
OR, perhaps Andrew is just trying to provide valuable insight, albeit a bit tersely. No need for “winners and losers” as you suggest, just robust discussion with optimal outcomes in mind. 

Rand

What insight has he provided.  He has complained, not provided information nor guidance.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 24, 2018, 10:22:34 am
What insight has he provided.  He has complained, not provided information nor guidance.
None you understood. Time for you to end up on the ignore list.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Abdo on January 24, 2018, 11:27:09 am
Update 1.06 .... color sync off... :P

Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 24, 2018, 11:32:27 am
Update 1.06 .... color sync off... :P
Tough love, free feedback based on color management knowledge, and fast efficient coding  by Mike as a result.  ;)
Imagine if someone who had done beta had mentioned this GUI messiness months ago had brought up the subject outside the public forums; none of the below (or above depending on forum preferences) would have been necessary. Kudo's to Mike for 1.0.6!
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Abdo on January 24, 2018, 11:35:03 am
I think you need to improve now:

1. cutting marks ...
2. rule in the pages ...

 ;D
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Denis de Gannes on January 24, 2018, 01:40:43 pm
Thanks for the update Mike, its appreciated. In the Windows Driver for my printer there is an option to select no color matching when Qimage is managing the color profile. See the screen capture.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 24, 2018, 03:08:23 pm
All's well that ends well.  As I previously pointed out, we signed up for the Apple Developer Program long ago, before even the first beta was released, primarily to gain access to "undocumented" features like being able to gray out those controls.  Acceptance into that program turned out to be more involved than we expected and since we had no real expectation on when we would get approved, we decided to release the software without making those controls grayed or invisible.  We knew users would appreciate being able to get great prints without worrying about two grayed/invisible controls since: (a) the solution worked and got people on board about 2 weeks early and (b) we weren't breaking any guidelines.  If you think we were, you may want to think of the irony of explaining how something that is undocumented can be considered a guideline!

In any case, as luck would have it, our approval came in yesterday which allowed us to spend one of our support tickets obtaining the private code we needed.  I have to say kudos to Apple: they replied with the code the same day!  Credit to Andrew (Wilford) for incorporating it and testing it so quickly.

Happy Printing,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 24, 2018, 03:15:02 pm
Thanks for the update Mike, its appreciated. In the Windows Driver for my printer there is an option to select no color matching when Qimage is managing the color profile. See the screen capture.

If you have an ICC profile selected in Qimage One, that is the proper setting: "None".  The helper dialog that appears alongside the driver should tell you that as well.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 24, 2018, 03:24:35 pm
Tough love, free feedback based on color management knowledge, and fast efficient coding  by Mike as a result.  ;)
Imagine if someone who had done beta had mentioned this GUI messiness months ago had brought up the subject outside the public forums; none of the below (or above depending on forum preferences) would have been necessary. Kudo's to Mike for 1.0.6!

You are impressed with yourself.  All you did was disrupt.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 24, 2018, 05:52:29 pm
If you think we were, you may want to think of the irony of explaining how something that is undocumented can be considered a guideline!
IF it really were totally undocumented, how did Mark and I know to pass this on to you and others this week how did you end up coding it? This SPI has been around at least 10 years if not more. I've got email from an Apple engineer dating back to 2007 about it. Nothing new. Glad you found it and incorporated into your product. Seems it wasn't 'big engineering' and again, I applaud you for making it so. Again, had someone, somewhere in the past brought the older behavior of your product with respect to picking sRGB, wouldn't this entire thread be moot? Yes and now it is.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: enduser on January 24, 2018, 08:30:22 pm
Years ago I read Mike's reasoning as to why he'd never develop a Mac version of Qimage. He must have anticipated the attitude problems we're now seeing.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Ernst Dinkla on January 25, 2018, 03:27:41 am
Years ago I read Mike's reasoning as to why he'd never develop a Mac version of Qimage. He must have anticipated the attitude problems we're now seeing.

That reasoning was more based on Apple's cooperation as I recall it. It now looks like Apple users are harder to please than Apple itself :-)

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 25, 2018, 09:19:51 am
It now looks like Apple users are harder to please than Apple itself :-)
If you've ever worked for Apple (yes I have), you'd know that's not true but close! ;D
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 25, 2018, 10:58:23 am
IF it really were totally undocumented, how did Mark and I know to pass this on to you and others this week how did you end up coding it? This SPI has been around at least 10 years if not more. I've got email from an Apple engineer dating back to 2007 about it. Nothing new. Glad you found it and incorporated into your product. Seems it wasn't 'big engineering' and again, I applaud you for making it so. Again, had someone, somewhere in the past brought the older behavior of your product with respect to picking sRGB, wouldn't this entire thread be moot? Yes and now it is.

The whole subject of graying out those controls was moot from the start!  I used the word "undocumented" because you've been using it (and "private") in your own posts for years.  A quick search on Google will prove that:

https://www.google.com/search?q=kPMApplicationColorMatching+private

Now, after referencing your posts on the subject, I should point out that they are not really accurate WRT graying out the color controls since we've been using kPMApplicationColorMatching from the start: that part is public.  kPMApplicationColorMatching is a public/known parameter that you can pass to the driver in order to set Colorsync when you want the application to manage color: we've been doing that all along.  I don't want to go into detail about the private function since it is marked private, but it is not called kPMApplicationColorMatching and the private function is not listed anywhere on google as you'd expect: it's private.  I'm not expecting you to know that since I don't think you're an Apple developer but we figured that out a few months ago which is why we started down the path to obtain the code to do that.  In the mean time (in all versions prior to 106), we've been using kPMApplicationColorMatching per Apple's documentation, simply without using the private function to gray out the controls.  Apple's own documentation indicates that the private function is to be used for specialized purposes and not for general applications.

Hope that will clear things up about using kPMApplicationColorMatching versus using the private function (which I will not name but is not called kPMApplicationColorMatching) to gray out controls.

Regards,
Mike Chaney
Binartem, Inc.
ddisoftware, Inc.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 25, 2018, 12:07:45 pm
Mike, I am not an Apple developer, my two engineers are.
If anything, glad to see the “tough love” comments got your product to implement a better, more intuitive method of setting the CS radio button. No need to find another product that behaved so oddly by asking users to set sRGB, dialogues to instruct them to do so and introduce, as Mark well spoke of (more CMS oddities), conforming to GUI standards and so on. Time well spent above and beyond some OT comments from a few with zero experience developing software who are on my ignore (ignorance) list.

Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 25, 2018, 12:11:51 pm
Mike, I am not an Apple developer, my two engineers are.
If anything, glad to see the “tough love” comments got your product to implement a better, more intuitive method of setting the CS radio button. No need to find another product that behaved so oddly by asking users to set sRGB, dialogues to instruct them to do so and introduce, as Mark well spoke of (more CMS oddities), conforming to GUI standards and so on. Time well spent above and beyond some OT comments from a few with zero experience developing software who are on my ignore (ignorance) list.

Good grief.  You are so impressed with yourself that you do not read what others write.  Your “tough love” had nothing to do with what transpired.  You are much like a current, well known, public figure who things that all good things are the result of his actions and bad things are fake news.
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Denis de Gannes on January 25, 2018, 12:20:30 pm
Quote "comments from a few with zero experience developing software who are on my ignore (ignorance) list."

And what is that supposed to mean. :o
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 25, 2018, 12:41:25 pm
Quote "comments from a few with zero experience developing software who are on my ignore (ignorance) list."

And what is that supposed to mean. :o

Me. 😀

Of course, he has zero info on my experience.  And I have no plans of going down that “rat hole” with the likes of him.  😀
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 25, 2018, 03:44:00 pm
Now, after referencing your posts on the subject, I should point out that they are not really accurate WRT graying out the color controls since we've been using kPMApplicationColorMatching from the start: that part is public.  kPMApplicationColorMatching is a public/known parameter that you can pass to the driver in order to set Colorsync when you want the application to manage color: we've been doing that all along.
Better?

Products should be calling:
   PMSessionSetColorMatchingMode(printSession, printSettings, kPMApplicationColorMatching)
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: jrsforums on January 25, 2018, 04:24:45 pm
Better?

Products should be calling:
   PMSessionSetColorMatchingMode(printSession, printSettings, kPMApplicationColorMatching)

IF that is correct....and IF you knew it from the get-go (doubtful??) why did you not  share it then rather than go through all the BS?
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 25, 2018, 06:57:08 pm
I feel like we've been around the barn and back chasing a chicken, only to realize we had some in the fridge.  Anyway, hopefully we've all ended up at the same dinner table in the end.  I won't say any more than that as I'm finding it uncomfortable talking about Apple's privates.  ;)

Regards
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: MHMG on January 25, 2018, 07:32:05 pm
I feel like we've been around the barn and back chasing a chicken, only to realize we had some in the fridge.  Anyway, hopefully we've all ended up at the same dinner table in the end...

Regards
Indeed we did with respect to current Apple color management protocol. "Documented", "undocumented", "private", or whatever, as a Mac enduser of numerous application managed apps on the Mac, all I know is that "typical" no color adjust and even application managed color pipelines on the Mac nowadays invoke a "greyed out" colormatch menu in the printer driver. It's not just adobe or Xrite that follow this protocol. It's Apple itself, and one can clearly see this method displayed in numerous Apple apps like Pages, Numbers, even Apple Colorsync utility. So, it's great that, despite some heated discussion here in this thread, the Qimage software team has now implemented the "greyed out" approach which today's Mac using printmakers have come to know (and love?) on the Mac.

So, Mike, while we have your attention in this thread, may I beseech you personally to prioritize another new feature for Q1. For those of us who routinely print on rolls, how about an auto page length feature like the big expensive RIPS have. That would be a rather unique feature, IMHO, at Q1's price point. By that I mean, when choosing "roll" rather than cut sheet as the media, it would be great to be able to dump a number of files onto the page area and have Q1 calculate how much roll length is needed, then tell the printer to set that page length so as to efficiently print the chosen image or set of images. Right now, I find I have to guess or pre-calculate that length and manually enter it into the custom size field. The roll width is known. That's easy. But the length of paper optimally defined to be just enough to accommodate the images selected for print must now be manually entered by the enduser. Choose too much length and you waste paper.  Choose too little and image "shrink to fit page" starts occurring.

Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: digitaldog on January 25, 2018, 08:28:40 pm
Indeed we did with respect to current Apple color management protocol. "Documented", "undocumented", "private", or whatever, as a Mac enduser of numerous application managed apps on the Mac, all I know is that "typical" no color adjust and even application managed color pipelines on the Mac nowadays invoke a "greyed out" colormatch menu in the printer driver. It's not just adobe or Xrite that follow this protocol. It's Apple itself, and one can clearly see this method displayed in numerous Apple apps like Pages, Numbers, even Apple Colorsync utility. So, it's great that, despite some heated discussion here in this thread, the Qimage software team has now implemented the "greyed out" approach which today's Mac using printmakers have come to know (and love?) on the Mac.
Well put! Protocols (rules) at least on the Mac OS should be followed.
Joseph Campbell — 'Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.'
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Ernst Dinkla on January 26, 2018, 02:47:56 am
For those of us who routinely print on rolls, how about an auto page length feature like the big expensive RIPS have. That would be a rather unique feature, IMHO, at Q1's price point. By that I mean, when choosing "roll" rather than cut sheet as the media, it would be great to be able to dump a number of files onto the page area and have Q1 calculate how much roll length is needed, then tell the printer to set that page length so as to efficiently print the chosen image or set of images. Right now, I find I have to guess or pre-calculate that length and manually enter it into the custom size field. The roll width is known. That's easy. But the length of paper optimally defined to be just enough to accommodate the images selected for print must now be manually entered by the enduser. Choose too much length and you waste paper.  Choose too little and image "shrink to fit page" starts occurring.

Mark,
Qimage Ultimate has a feature "Set paper length" for that. You define and save a very long print page in the driver. Call that size from QU, fill it up with images with Optimal nesting (least paper waste) and right click on the print page preview to let "Set paper length" act, the unfilled part is cropped away. I see even two choices for that there. Not yet implanted in Q1.  BTW it works with most Windows printer drivers but not with the HP Z3200 PCL3 driver, the PS3 driver does it better though. Not all drivers are created equal, that is a rule you will encounter more often with QU.

BTW. when Binartem gets its own Q1 forum I suggest the creation of a wish list there too, like the one I suggested for the QU forum;
http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate-wish-list/

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 26, 2018, 03:01:37 pm
So, Mike, while we have your attention in this thread, may I beseech you personally to prioritize another new feature for Q1. For those of us who routinely print on rolls, how about an auto page length feature like the big expensive RIPS have. That would be a rather unique feature, IMHO, at Q1's price point. By that I mean, when choosing "roll" rather than cut sheet as the media, it would be great to be able to dump a number of files onto the page area and have Q1 calculate how much roll length is needed, then tell the printer to set that page length so as to efficiently print the chosen image or set of images. Right now, I find I have to guess or pre-calculate that length and manually enter it into the custom size field. The roll width is known. That's easy. But the length of paper optimally defined to be just enough to accommodate the images selected for print must now be manually entered by the enduser. Choose too much length and you waste paper.  Choose too little and image "shrink to fit page" starts occurring.

We've been taking notes regarding the features that people find most important and I can tell you that auto page length is one of the things we'll be working on.

Regards
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Abdo on January 26, 2018, 03:13:27 pm
my dream was to be able to have cut marks .. with defined edges.
example: image has 24x24 .. and I want 2 more white margin and appear the marks in 26x26 .. can you understand Mike? ::) ::)
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Binartem on January 26, 2018, 05:22:03 pm
my dream was to be able to have cut marks .. with defined edges.
example: image has 24x24 .. and I want 2 more white margin and appear the marks in 26x26 .. can you understand Mike? ::) ::)

Sure.  With the initial release, we wanted to concentrate on users being able to easily get high quality prints at any size.  From there, we evaluate the market as to other features (beyond just printing the photos) that help with the photo printing process in general.  People have expressed a need for things like crop marks, guide lines, borders (which gives you the ability to get your margins around prints that you mention for the guides), text such as image info, auto paper length features for roll printing, and so on.  As you can see, many such features are related and we have a plan to implement them in a logical order.  Not all will come at once of course, which is why we are paying attention to what is most important to those who use Qimage One and factoring that into what comes next in each update.

All I can say is... stay tuned.  ;)

Regards
Title: Re: Qimage for Mac-Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mk II Printer Settings and Color Management.
Post by: Abdo on January 26, 2018, 05:57:20 pm
Thank you ! And I'm sure of your success!

The important thing is not to be fast, but to do with quality!   8) 8)