How do I add a new printer to QTR?

[dgberg]

 Now that I have a new grayscale profile made and inserted into Lightroom? I downloaded the software again but do not get the selection page to add another printer.
I want to add my Epson P8000 to QTR so that I can print through QTR with it's controls.
It seems to be a good profile as the green tint is now gone, just too dark.
Thanks

[guido]

Windows or Mac?

[dgberg]

Mac Mojave

[guido]

Sorry I'm just a windows guy. Best luck solving things!

[Ferp]

I spend more time in Windows that Mac, but my recollection is that there should be an install command in the folder for the P8000 that you need to run.  You need to re-run it if you add new QTR "curves".  If that doesn't help and no-one else chimes in, I'll jump on a Mac and double-check.

[guido]

I thought the install curves command was only with piezeography curves. The default epson ink curves should be there in the initial installation.

[nirpat89]

I don't think you can add printers.  Printers that work are the one that show in the selection menu.  New printers have to added by Roy Harrington, the author of the software. 

There is a QTR forum where you can ask about your particular printer, if there is a substitute that can be used for example. 


https://groups.io/g/QuadToneRIP/topics


:Niranjan.

[Ferp]

Niranjan is right that a new printer model has to be added to QTR by its author.  The P8000 was added in QTR 2.7.8.  We're currently at 2.7.9, or 2.7.10 for those on Catalina.

On Mac, QTR installs as a printer driver, so you end up with two printers - the regular P8000, which runs using the Epson driver, and QuadP8000.  (I don't have a P8000, but that's the naming schema for other printers I've installed in QTR in a Mac.)  If you want to print via QTR, you print to QuadP8000.  To create this printer, you run InstallP8000.command in /Applications/QuadToneRIP/Profiles/PSeries-UC.

However I assume that this is the converted dye sub printer referred to in another thread, and I wonder how QTR is going to handle that inkset.  You've created an ICC profile, but you need a QTR curve(s) that matches the printer and inkset in question in order to print via QTR.  That's a whole new ballgame.  Before I comment too much further, how did you create that ICC, Dan? I assume you printed and measured a test chart.  How did you print the chart?  Via QTR or the Epson driver?

[dgberg]

I printed Scott Martin's 51 step grayscale image through my Xrite i1 Profiler software on to Dye sub transfer paper. After drying I than pressed the transfer paper onto my hi-gloss white chromaluxe metal. Went back in to the i1 profiling software program and read the printed grayscale 51 step chart off of the metal with my 1i Pro2.
Not sure this is going to work either.
I printed and pressed 3 B&W metal prints and they were really dark with shadows heavily blocked.
Printed straight out of Lightroom B&W conversions they looked pretty good. If I converted to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2 those were the worst of the batch.
Was hoping if I could print through QTR I could make an adjustment that would be good for all B&W. Wishful thinking, maybe.

[NAwlins_Contrarian]

Because you're struggling and I'm willing to potentially embarrass myself by showing my ignorance, I'll take a crack at it:

(1) Is it possible that the 51-step grayscale file is in some format, or created with or intended for some gamma, that the X-Rite software is not correctly interpreting it? Between RGB files versus grayscale files and linear versus 1.8 gamma versus 2.2 gamma versus 2.4 gamma etc., that seems to me like a plausible explanation of what you're reporting. In other words, is it possible that the profile-building part of the software thinks that the values that were printed to make the profiling target are different from what they actually were?

(2) Is it possible that the spectrophotometer cannot correctly read the printing on the aluminum? I've heard that even "metallic" papers can give trouble, so actual ink transferred onto an aluminum panel seems even more likely to not be read correctly.

[dgberg]

I have a really good color profile I made with the same equipment except to QTR software.
I struggled making the QTR Grayscale profile until I read that it had to be made using the QTR RGB script.
Now the only thing left to do is figure out how to add the printer as a QTRP8000. Still may not work but I am gonna keep trying.

[David Sutton]

Hello Dan.
I see support for the P8000 has been added:
http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRoverview.html
Just out of curiosity, what advantage is there for printing out of QTR? I've several options for printing but still use LR6. Using a profile from a stepwedge and the QTR colour space, I no longer softproof as the print to screen match is exact. When I had an Epson printer I never used the ABW settings. I was never happy with the amount of control over the print, and preferred to use a curve in Photoshop.
David

[dgberg]

I am trying anything and open to suggestions. Thought I would give the QTR a try since the output from Lightroom was less than ideal. I presently print through Lightroom on all printers. It is fairly expensive to shake this out on dye sublimation as the metal can be costly. I have printed a dozen throw aways and am no closer. Dye sub B&W is very tricky. The prints look great off the printer but when pressed have a strong green tint. What I have going on is a strong color shift after pressing. Change any of the parameters when pressing and the shift changes slightly. I never get a really strong neutral B&W. The heat, time and pressure settings when adjusted can affect the final product. Would like to find someone that has nailed dye sub B&W printing/pressing to find out the trick. I am probably barking up the wrong tree as my profile and printed image seem to be fine before pressing. Right now I feel like a cat chasing its tail.

[David Sutton]

Well and truly out of my depth, and I see Ferp already mentioned the addition of the P8000. Oops.
I had a green colour cast in the shadows in my B&W prints and was going to correct it by adding a curve in Photoshop, until I realised the printer wasn't set to monochrome (Canon printer). But that's no help and it sounds like something else is going on.
Best wishes.

[Ferp]

I printed and pressed 3 B&W metal prints and they were really dark with shadows heavily blocked.
Printed straight out of Lightroom B&W conversions they looked pretty good. If I converted to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2 those were the worst of the batch.

If I understand you correctly then I would have thought that this should work reasonably well. Print the test chart using i1Profiler, but don't measure it until you've fully mounted it or pressed it or whatever into final form, then measure it and create the profile using the QTR-Create-ICC-RGB, and print the image with the profile the usual way, either from LR or PS.  Is that right?  People use these ICCs generated by QTR-Create-ICC with processes like ABW so in theory it's possible.

My understanding is that you're not going to be able to use a profile created this way to print via QTR.  To do that you'd need to print the target via QTR.  I understood that you need to print the target the same way you will print images.  But I don't think printing via QTR will cure your green problem.  These QTR curves rely mostly on the three warm blacks, with small quantities of the color inks to achieve neutrality.  Creating a QTR ICC isn't going to change the amount of those toning inks used in the QTR curves and so won't make the green tint neutral.  You could tweak the toning inks to compensate, but it's a rare skill to be able to do that precisely.

Which on refection has me scratching my head about whether the first approach would work either.  I don't see how a QTR-generated ICC will cure your green cast when printed through the Epson driver, it's just a monochrome profile.  Based on my experience with using QTR ICCs with warm monochrome inksets, what the QTR RGB ICC will do is show you the color tinge in the soft-proof.  But I don't think you can correct for it using this workflow, because you've converting to a monochrome ICC when printing.  You'd lose any color adjustments.

I'd have thought that your best chance at neutrality would be to create a regular color profile by scanning in a color target that had been through the entire dye sub process into final form.  I'd have thought that approach would correct for the green cast, in much the same way that regular color profiling takes into account warm and cool papers.  (I wonder if the digitaldog would agree with this.)  Printing B&W using a color profile isn't what I'd normally recommend, but you can get quite acceptable monochrome prints this way with a modern Epson printer.

I'm not sure we have the expertise here to fully help you, either individually or collectively.  I've redrafted this multiple times as I keep thinking through the issues.   I'll stop now.  Best of luck.

[richardboutwell]

I am trying anything and open to suggestions. Thought I would give the QTR a try since the output from Lightroom was less than ideal. I presently print through Lightroom on all printers. It is fairly expensive to shake this out on dye sublimation as the metal can be costly. I have printed a dozen throw aways and am no closer. Dye sub B&W is very tricky. The prints look great off the printer but when pressed have a strong green tint. What I have going on is a strong color shift after pressing. Change any of the parameters when pressing and the shift changes slightly. I never get a really strong neutral B&W. The heat, time and pressure settings when adjusted can affect the final product. Would like to find someone that has nailed dye sub B&W printing/pressing to find out the trick. I am probably barking up the wrong tree as my profile and printed image seem to be fine before pressing. Right now I feel like a cat chasing its tail.

Can you send me a link to the dye-sub ink set you are using and how you make the QTR profiles you're printing with. I have some internal software that allows me to model the color of the gray + individual color channel and can control and preview the color for the blend of the 3 gray+ color components as they would print through QTR. I have to do this for the different material it is printed on, and personally, I don't use or care to make metal prints so it isn't something I would invest on on my own. If you can send me some initial measurements from a QTR ink separation image after transferring it to your final support it would be a good start for me to sort it out.

[richardboutwell]

Now the only thing left to do is figure out how to add the printer as a QTRP8000. Still may not work but I am gonna keep trying.

Go into Applications/QuadToneRIP/Profiles and create a new folder called P8000-dye-sub

then find the folder within Applications/QuadToneRIP/Profiles named PSeries-UC and copy the InstallP8000.command file to the folder you just created

change the name of the install command to: InstallP8000-dye-sub.command

Then make sure the printer is connected via USB and run that newly renamed install command. It will create a new printer called QUADP8000-dye-sub and allow you to choose it from the printer selection menu in any app.

The standard ink descriptor files and curves that come with QTR will not work for that ink set so you will need to create them from scratch. I am happy to do a remote consulting session to help you get that setup, but is too much to try to do through a forum post or email.

[dgberg]

Thank you Richard, knew you might pop in at some point.
let me see if I can get the first part accomplished.

[Ferp]

You're in good hands now Dan for the QTR-based approach.  As I said, it's a rare skill to be able to do that precisely.  I'd be interested in how that turns out.  I still think that the regular color profile approach is worth considering. 

[dgberg]

You're in good hands now Dan for the QTR-based approach.  As I said, it's a rare skill to be able to do that precisely.  I'd be interested in how that turns out.  I still think that the regular color profile approach is worth considering.

Thank you kindly for your assistance.