Printing Images
Printing is done separately from the editing of a file. You should edit your file as an ordinary grayscale image. When you want to print set the Image Size to the size you want on the paper. PPI is not critical but should be between 240ppi and 720ppi. Save the image as a grayscale, in TIFF file format.
Before you print an image you need to set paper size and orientation and you need to select the tone curve blends that you desire. You will also specify the placement of the image on the paper and the number of copies of the image you wish.
The Paper panel has a drop-down list of common page sizes. Select one of these sizes or select Custom and provide the width and length of your custom paper. (Note, printers have minimum and maximum page sizes. You will not be able to set a size that is larger than the maximum or smaller than the minimum.) Don't forget to set the units to inches or millimeters. Also set the Orientation to either Portrait or Landscape depending on the image you will be printing.
The Placement panel lets you select Centered or specify the placement of the top left corner of the image. You can also use the mouse to drag the image icon into a new position if Centered is not checked. (Note: QuadToneRIP printing models specify minimum margins depending on the printer. QTRgui will reset any margins that are less than the minimum or greater than the maximum allowed margin.) Next to the placement panel is the Scale panel . Checking To Fit will size the image to fit into the printable area of the page. Alternatively, you can also specify a scale factor for the image.
To change curves open the Curve Setup controls if they are closed. Select tone curves from the Curves drop-down selections. Use the sliders to set the blending of the curves. (The number to the left of the slider shows the percentage value for the curve.) The names of the curves indicate the kind of ink/paper they were created for. You can view a graph of the curve by clicking the mouse right button while the cursor is over the curve name then selecting Show Curve Graph.
Set the image resolution to the output quality you desire with the Resolution drop-down and the Speed drop-down . On some printers you can select the type of black ink to use with the Black Ink drop-down .
Open the Advanced Adjustments controls if you wish to adjust the Dither Pattern or Ink Limit and Gama settings. You can make fine adjustments by sliding the Ink Limit and the Gamma Adjustment sliders. Ink Limit effects the darkness of the shadows. Reducing Ink Limit can help unblock shadows. Gamma Adjustment controls the amount of ink in the midtone range. You can lighten or darken the appearance of the print by changing this slider. Change the Dither setting from the Dither Algorithm drop-down. In general there is little difference in the output between these options. However, Ordered seems to run a little faster.
You can select the image you wish to print using the file menu followed by the Select Image item or you can choose an image from the list of previously selected images. Select Image will give you a folder browser. Use this browser to navigate to the image you wish to print, select it and click the Open button. The name of the image you have selected will now show in the Image panel. The Print item of the file menu and the Print button will now be enabled for printing this selected image.
You can also use Drag & Drop or Folder Monitoring to print your images.
