QTR-Quadtone RIP

Thanks Ed for your additional thoughts. I use a solux lamp to view
prints plus sometimes a tungsten lamp (since most of my prints will be
displayed under tungsten lighting). I position the prints a distance
from the light that is appropriate for the light intensity. Also, I
print at 1440 dpi. As far as the process, I used the linearise
procedure outlined on the NorthLight Images website for using the
PrintFix Pro. I hadn't look at the eye-one-readme.pdf since it
appeared to be oriented to using the the GretabMacbeth Eye-One
hardware. But I'll look it over and see if there is anything that may
apply.

Best wishes,

Ken

--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "edrudolpho" <erudolph@...> wrote:
>
> Ken, let's see if anyone else has any thoughts on your method and your
> problem.
> 
> A couple of things occur to me.  One is your viewing environment.  Is
> the light illuminating the print of the right brightness?  After all,
> the monitor is emitting light.
> 
> Another is the dpi.  I believe virtually all the QTR profiles are made
> at 1440 dpi, but some folks like to print at 2880.  This would result
> in a lot more ink being laid down.  So, if you are using a 1440 curve
> and want to print at 2880, you want to decrease your ink limit in the
> QTR driver to about -35% (I think).
> 
> The third thing is, did you read the Eye-One read me in the Curve
> Design folder that comes in the QTR 2.4.1 download. It describes two
> parts to the process.  Linearizing a curve for your printer, and
> building an ICC profile for printing and soft-proofing.
> 
> Ed
> 
> --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "prof_mgt551" <prof_mgt551@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Ed,
> > 
> > The procedure I used was outlined in an article on the NorthLight
> > Images website for using PrintFix Pro to linearise the QTR output.
> > Here are the steps that I used:
> > 
> > 1. Converted the Step-21-gray file (contained in the eye-one folder)
> > to the QTR-Gray-Photo Paper space, saved as a tiff and printed the
> > file using QTR and the Ilford Smooth Pearl curves provided on this
> > website.
> > 2. Read the L values of the printed 21 step scale and entered these
> > into a tab delimited text file.
> > 3. Used QTR-Create-ICC program to convert the tab delimited text file
> > into an icc file.
> > 4. Converted the original Step-21-gray file into the new icc space
> > created in step 3, saved this file and printed again in QTR
> > 5. A reading of this new print showed that the scale was linearised.
> > However when compared to the screen view of the image in Photoshop on
> > a calibrated display, the printed version is slightly darker or
heavier.
> > 
> > So the process did linearise the gray scale, but the new icc profile
> > does not create a close softproof match. The print doesn't look bad at
> > all. It looks good when viewed by itself, but when compared to the
> > display verion, then some difference can be seen. The difference is
> > not dramatic, but enough that it is not possible to accurately adjust
> > a gray scale image in Photoshop based entirely on what is viewed on
> > the display.
> > 
> > There is something not quite right and I am not sure exactly what
> > might be causing the problem. I prefer not using the gamma adjustment
> > slider in QTR to correct the discrepency between the printed and
> > display version, since I assume this would cause the output to no
> > longer be linear, thus in some respect degrading the image quality.
> > 
> > Thanks for input on this.
> > 
> > Best wishes,
> > 
> > Ken
> >
>