Digital BW, The Print

can someone explain what "dotless" means. My black and white prints 
using the piezo plug-in appears dotless until you get them under a 
loupe then you can see dots or actually what appears more like old 
fashion film grain. thanks Pj

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pjkealey" <
pjkealey@y...> wrote:
> can someone explain what "dotless" means. My black and white prints 
> using the piezo plug-in appears dotless until you get them under a 
> loupe then you can see dots or actually what appears more like old 
> fashion film grain. thanks Pj

The following is a little dated now....

http://www.inkjetmall.com/store/compare-mis-piezo.html#sidebyside

It shows side by side of one quad ink manufacturer's technique of printing 
their quad inks which was in use right prior to the release of PiezographyBW. 
You can see the big dots of the EPSON 3000 on one side and the "dotless" 
PiezographyBW version on the other side.

When PiezographyBW plugin was first released there were not yet other 
popular methods of printing which produce dotless, or near dotless effects. 
This is not to say that others had not figured out how to do this. They just were 
not popularized at the time. The 3000 plugin product was especially good in 
this area, because the 3000 had a huge dot which was several times larger 
than current printers - so printing without  (visible to the eye) dots was quite an 
attractive feature. We introduced it at PhotoPlus with magnifying glasses! The 
more recent plugin printers take advantage of the smaller dots available in the 
printers themselves, and many users which have both the 3000 and the 1280 
for example, prefer the visual quality of the 3000 system.

We first printed in a dotless manner with the ConeTech Digital Platinum for 
IRIS quad system which eliminated the visual dithering in the IRIS printers. 
We publically debuted that product two years prior to PiezographyBW at 
PhotoPlus with magnifying glasses and compared it to other IRIS prints. At 
that time, EPSON printers were not yet popular and we were developing on 
the much more expensive IRIS continuous drop technology platform. That 
product had been in development since mid-90s. Of course, IRIS went out of 
business years ago now.   :(  For the curious, it was a $125,000 inkjet printer 
which was the most popular at the time for photo-printing! A single nozzle 
(which could break at any time) cost more than an EPSON 2200 costs today! 
We have come a looooong way with much to be thankful for.

And today of course, there are many, many methods and products which can 
hide dots! The good tricks are still done though, when it is done on the 3000 
with its huge picolitre sized dots!!   :)

One more curious tid-bit....  IRIS printers could print 31 different variable sized 
dots of ink at any single location if driven properly. Today, some EPSON 
printers can print 3 different variable sized dots at any location. 

Inkjet printers of course whether IRIS or EPSON, print with dots of ink - so the 
concept is visual rather than mechanical.


regards,

Jon Cone
Piezography Software and Inks

Many thanks for  the response,
 I have a better sense of "dotless" and at this point with my 1280 and piezo plug-in, the prints do appear "dotless." When the new profiles are released what will the advantage be over the Pplug-in?
pj

piezobw <piezobw@...> wrote:
--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pjkealey" <
pjkealey@y...> wrote:
> can someone explain what "dotless" means. My black and white prints 
> using the piezo plug-in appears dotless until you get them under a 
> loupe then you can see dots or actually what appears more like old 
> fashion film grain. thanks Pj

The following is a little dated now....

http://www.inkjetmall.com/store/compare-mis-piezo.html#sidebyside

It shows side by side of one quad ink manufacturer's technique of printing 
their quad inks which was in use right prior to the release of PiezographyBW. 
You can see the big dots of the EPSON 3000 on one side and the "dotless" 
PiezographyBW version on the other side.

When PiezographyBW plugin was first released there were not yet other 
popular methods of printing which produce dotless, or near dotless effects. 
This is not to say that others had not figured out how to do this. They just were 
not popularized at the time. The 3000 plugin product was especially good in 
this area, because the 3000 had a huge dot which was several times larger 
than current printers - so printing without  (visible to the eye) dots was quite an 
attractive feature. We introduced it at PhotoPlus with magnifying glasses! The 
more recent plugin printers take advantage of the smaller dots available in the 
printers themselves, and many users which have both the 3000 and the 1280 
for example, prefer the visual quality of the 3000 system.

We first printed in a dotless manner with the ConeTech Digital Platinum for 
IRIS quad system which eliminated the visual dithering in the IRIS printers. 
We publically debuted that product two years prior to PiezographyBW at 
PhotoPlus with magnifying glasses and compared it to other IRIS prints. At 
that time, EPSON printers were not yet popular and we were developing on 
the much more expensive IRIS continuous drop technology platform. That 
product had been in development since mid-90s. Of course, IRIS went out of 
business years ago now.   :(  For the curious, it was a $125,000 inkjet printer 
which was the most popular at the time for photo-printing! A single nozzle 
(which could break at any time) cost more than an EPSON 2200 costs today! 
We have come a looooong way with much to be thankful for.

And today of course, there are many, many methods and products which can 
hide dots! The good tricks are still done though, when it is done on the 3000 
with its huge picolitre sized dots!!   :)

One more curious tid-bit....  IRIS printers could print 31 different variable sized 
dots of ink at any single location if driven properly. Today, some EPSON 
printers can print 3 different variable sized dots at any location. 

Inkjet printers of course whether IRIS or EPSON, print with dots of ink - so the 
concept is visual rather than mechanical.


regards,

Jon Cone
Piezography Software and Inks




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--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Patrick Kealey <
pjkealey@y...> wrote:
> Many thanks for  the response,
>  I have a better sense of "dotless" and at this point with my 1280 and piezo 
plug-in, the prints do appear "dotless." When the new profiles are released 
what will the advantage be over the Pplug-in?
> pj

Here are a few advantages: 

1) Not needing Photoshop if you use other apps to print your grayscales.

2) All supported printers will produce a true 1.8 Gamma, so that all supported 
printing systems will match each other.

3) Many microbanding problems will be eliminated (as long as the printer 
does not also microband with OEM driver).

4) Using the features of Print with Preview in Photoshop.

5) Using the Soft Proof feature of Photoshop to preview inks color, paper 
white and black ink on the grayscale image.


Jon Cone
Piezography Software and Inks