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Author Topic: Mirage RIP question?  (Read 8580 times)

ahphoto

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Mirage RIP question?
« on: June 15, 2017, 05:03:22 pm »

Does any one know if the Mirage RIP works in a similar way to Imageprint? i.e. bypassing the Epson driver and directly controlling to printer.
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Anthony Hobbs
Photographer Kilkenny, Ire

donbga

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2017, 06:01:32 pm »

Does any one know if the Mirage RIP works in a similar way to Imageprint? i.e. bypassing the Epson driver and directly controlling to printer.
Yes.

http://mirage.dinax.de/

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ahphoto

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2017, 06:19:09 pm »

Thank you donbga.
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Anthony Hobbs
Photographer Kilkenny, Ire

BobShaw

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2017, 08:01:52 pm »

Hi. I'm not sure how it works but I know it works really well. After 5 years I can say that you would never print from any application again once you get  Mirage. There is a plugin for Photoshop but I never use it. Just export a 16bit ProPhoto TIF and print the same every time.
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Farmer

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2017, 10:25:18 pm »

Bob and I agree on something :-)  Mirage is very good.
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Phil Brown

Ernst Dinkla

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2017, 04:02:31 am »

Does any one know if the Mirage RIP works in a similar way to Imageprint? i.e. bypassing the Epson driver and directly controlling to printer.

Be informed that Qimage Ultimate is ported to the Mac, fall of 2017 available;

http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=118544.0
http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/mac-version/?PHPSESSID=sjte4c0rb4rrjgo8gavet9bou2

Pricing probably nicer, uses the OEM drivers so not limited to one printer or printer brand.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2017, 04:27:48 am »

Yes.

http://mirage.dinax.de/


Hi,

I'm not so sure. There is no mention of it on their website that I can find. To me, it always looked like a nice frontend to the printer driver, and since I already have Qimage, which additionally does add functionality that improves image quality before sending the data to the printer driver, I have not tried the more expensive Mirage software.

Cheers,
Bart
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Farmer

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2017, 05:09:33 am »

Mirage definitely takes advantage of the printer as do other RIPS.  To a lesser extent in many ways, but for photographers in all the important ways.  It is not bound by the driver and is able to directly address the device.
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Phil Brown

Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2017, 09:21:30 am »

Mirage definitely takes advantage of the printer as do other RIPS.  To a lesser extent in many ways, but for photographers in all the important ways.  It is not bound by the driver and is able to directly address the device.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for confirming. I suppose that's why it is required to purchase different versions for different (inkjet only) printers/brands (only Canon/Epson), unlike Qimage which works for any (even non-inkjet) printer that is supported by the operating system with a driver that's maintained by the printer manufacturer, without the need to also purchase an additional dongle for use on multiple computers.

It's a bit strange why they never seem to explain that on their website though, and the trial version seems to be enabled for all supported printers, but gets limited for a specific model license. The manual also doesn't mention it, as far as I can find. They also do not mention future upgrade pricing, or cross-grade pricing when switching brands or Computers (the license seems to be linked to the Computer). One needs to assume that past upgrade/cross-grade pricing remains as it was in the past.

Cheers,
Bart
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ahphoto

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2017, 12:23:14 pm »

I have used Mirage for the trial period and it seems to be excellent, maybe not all the functionality of Image print but good enough for me to purchase. Image print is way overpriced in my opinion.
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Anthony Hobbs
Photographer Kilkenny, Ire

Farmer

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #10 on: June 16, 2017, 07:10:33 pm »

Thanks for confirming. I suppose that's why it is required to purchase different versions for different (inkjet only) printers/brands (only Canon/Epson), unlike Qimage which works for any (even non-inkjet) printer that is supported by the operating system with a driver that's maintained by the printer manufacturer, without the need to also purchase an additional dongle for use on multiple computers.

It's a bit strange why they never seem to explain that on their website though, and the trial version seems to be enabled for all supported printers, but gets limited for a specific model license. The manual also doesn't mention it, as far as I can find. They also do not mention future upgrade pricing, or cross-grade pricing when switching brands or Computers (the license seems to be linked to the Computer). One needs to assume that past upgrade/cross-grade pricing remains as it was in the past.

Yeah, I don't know.  I suspect that the limits on which models can be used is just a pricing matrix for marketing and sales purposes - everything is under the hood - it would be a nightmare maintaining multiple versions of the code otherwise.

Most RIPs don't go out of their way to say "we don't use the driver" - that's just pretty much assumed in that part of the market.  All these RIP vendors work directly with the manufacturers to gain access to the necessary materials to make their RIPs.
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Phil Brown

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #11 on: June 16, 2017, 07:26:19 pm »

Mirage definitely takes advantage of the printer as do other RIPS.  To a lesser extent in many ways, but for photographers in all the important ways.  It is not bound by the driver and is able to directly address the device.
One example is the ability to print long panos. You can't do that with the driver.
Never having to worry about resizing is a huge advantage also. it just works it out.
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2017, 08:02:13 pm »

One example is the ability to print long panos. You can't do that with the driver.

Maybe, it depends. On printers that use a printer driver that supports Roll paper, Qimage can also print lengths that the printer driver doesn't offer in the presets. It simply prints multiple pages seamlessly edge-to-edge as long as there is paper. A regular printer driver often limits the maximum print length due to page-buffer memory limitations, but Qimage sends the printer data in chunks instead of a single page to avoid buffer overflow. Apparently, Qimage is limited to 1 Giga-byte input file size, don't know if Mirage has a limitation.

Quote
Never having to worry about resizing is a huge advantage also. it just works it out.

Agreed, and that has a lot to do with the printer's page-buffer capacity, and the speed/chunk-size with which data arrives at the printer.

Cheers,
Bart
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Jimmy D Uptain

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2017, 08:58:49 am »

Hi Phil,

Thanks for confirming. I suppose that's why it is required to purchase different versions for different (inkjet only) printers/brands (only Canon/Epson), unlike Qimage which works for any (even non-inkjet) printer that is supported by the operating system with a driver that's maintained by the printer manufacturer, without the need to also purchase an additional dongle for use on multiple computers.

It's a bit strange why they never seem to explain that on their website though, and the trial version seems to be enabled for all supported printers, but gets limited for a specific model license. The manual also doesn't mention it, as far as I can find. They also do not mention future upgrade pricing, or cross-grade pricing when switching brands or Computers (the license seems to be linked to the Computer). One needs to assume that past upgrade/cross-grade pricing remains as it was in the past.

Cheers,
Bart


Hi Bart, The purpose of the dongle is so that one can use the software on different computers, at least that's what I understood.

Also, anyone wanting to get the LR plugin, don't. It's a waste of money. It's pretty much a preset, which anyone could create.

And lastly, one feature that I have recently started using is the Job Archive. If you have a print or set of prints you tend to re-print,

it will not only remember the settings, it remembers the file as well. So all you do is go into the Mirage Job Archive app, find the job and just hit print.

I sell postcards to a small company and works perfectly for that.
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unesco

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #14 on: June 17, 2017, 09:09:50 am »

Does any one know if the Mirage RIP works in a similar way to Imageprint? i.e. bypassing the Epson driver and directly controlling to printer.

As far as I know, the answer is NO. It is thougtht to be so called "extended driver".
I have tried Mirage for my 3880 and P800 and in all cases it have used THE SAME ICC profiles (downoladed from Mirage www in packages) as the profiles from paper vendors for Epson driver...
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Ernst Dinkla

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #15 on: June 17, 2017, 11:42:41 am »


Hi Bart, The purpose of the dongle is so that one can use the software on different computers, at least that's what I understood.

Also, anyone wanting to get the LR plugin, don't. It's a waste of money. It's pretty much a preset, which anyone could create.

And lastly, one feature that I have recently started using is the Job Archive. If you have a print or set of prints you tend to re-print,

it will not only remember the settings, it remembers the file as well. So all you do is go into the Mirage Job Archive app, find the job and just hit print.

I sell postcards to a small company and works perfectly for that.

Sounds like describing some of the features of Qimage Ultimate but the dongle, QU does that without a dongle. Not all the QU features described though.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

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

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #16 on: June 17, 2017, 12:14:13 pm »


Hi Bart, The purpose of the dongle is so that one can use the software on different computers, at least that's what I understood.


The purpose of a dongle is to LIMIT use of the software to a single computer.  You may have the option to move the dongle from computer to computer.  One thing to keep in mind about dongles is how they attach to the computer.  Many are USB 2 and in this day and age of frequent standards changes such as the recent USB-C, Thunderbolt, etc.  the dongle could drive you crazy when your computers don't offer the same connection method.  If the dongle dies do you have to purchase a new one?

I used dongle software once and swear I'll never do that again.
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Ron

Jimmy D Uptain

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #17 on: June 17, 2017, 11:16:06 pm »

The purpose of a dongle is to LIMIT use of the software to a single computer.  You may have the option to move the dongle from computer to computer.  One thing to keep in mind about dongles is how they attach to the computer.  Many are USB 2 and in this day and age of frequent standards changes such as the recent USB-C, Thunderbolt, etc.  the dongle could drive you crazy when your computers don't offer the same connection method.  If the dongle dies do you have to purchase a new one?

I used dongle software once and swear I'll never do that again.

Well, that's what I was saying. You aren't limited to a single computer but to a dongle.  Move the dongle to whatever computer you are using.

Now the USB "version" is a valid concern and to be honest, I hadn't thought about it till you mentioned it. When I decided on Mirage, it came down to Mirage Vs Print Tao. At the time Print Tao didn't offer canvas presets, so I opted for Mirage.  I'm about as loyal to printing software as I

am with toilet paper. QImage for Mac may be a game changer. I'll look into it when the time comes.
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BobShaw

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #18 on: June 18, 2017, 01:51:58 am »

Now the USB "version" is a valid concern and to be honest, I hadn't thought about it till you mentioned it.
Well the answer is to go onto the mirage.dinax.de website and ask them I guess.
I just tried removing the dongle and putting it on a hub and it worked fine, so I suspect that as long as it is mounted it will work.
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Jimmy D Uptain

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Re: Mirage RIP question?
« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2017, 08:42:27 am »

Well the answer is to go onto the mirage.dinax.de website and ask them I guess.

The last two times I had questions, their "support" never responded. But that's another topic for another thread.
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