Roll Paper Maximum Joy
To enable Maximum Joy setting when using Roll paper I utilize User Defined paper sizes in the driver.
Before getting into the driver I usually either make a quick trip to Image Size in Photoshop (Alt+Ctrl+I or right click on the file title bar). If I'm not working in centimetres at the time I toggle document size to cm and make a quick note of the width and height. Or if I'm in Russell Brown super user mode I alt click on the status bar and read the document dimensions there - I usually have the status bar set to Scratch or Document sizes.
I round both values up a little - there's usually room to spare anyway on the width but I like to add a little extra heightwise so the printer doesn't trim too close to the print, suits how I matt the prints.
Then enter dimensions sans the decimal point in the User Defined dialogue, no brain-ache and Maximum Joy is enabled :)
The driver's preview is especially useful when it comes to User Defined paper sizes - the preview is the only real check that you've set the size correctly before printing.
posted by Pete Walsh @ 11:30 AM 11 comments
At 12:34 PM, Nill Toulme said...
Speaking of Maximum Joy, I want to tell you and your readers how thrilled I am with Qimage in conjunction with the 4800. I switched to it at the same time, and I'm kicking myself for not having done it sooner, notwithstanding all the great things I've heard about it over the last couple of years.
It's doing for my printing what BreezeBrowser and Capture One have done for the earlier portions of my workflow. I might even have a fighting chance now of catching up with my year-long backlog of print orders — and moreover the quality of the results is surpassing what I've been getting with PSCS and PK Sharpener, and with virtually no work.
I've also gotten some very nice (and quick) B&W results with it by converting in CO using Outback's B&W profile and Film High Contrast, and printing in regular RGB mode.
Best,
Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
At 12:09 AM, diesel said...
I've used QImage almost from the beginning when I went "digital".
Before the print was even all the way ejected from the printer, I could tell it was sharper than the print I made through PS7.
I've used QI for printing ever since.
Highly recommended!
Scott
At 10:01 AM, andrew said...
Qimage is impressive, if quirky as far as the interface goes. But it means we have to use the nasty Windowsss, not our nice Mac.
At 9:35 PM, Pete Walsh said...
It's been ages since I checked out Qimage. I can't even remember why I wasn't sold on it - might have been the interface. Sounds like it's time to revisit it.
So would you guys say the main benefit is the sharpness of the print, or is there more to it?
At 10:05 AM, Nill Toulme said...
Pete for me it's a happy combination of excellent results — better in most cases than what I've been getting with PSCS and PK Sharpener — with less (in fact, almost no) work, and (one you get a handle on the, shall we say, non-standard interface, extremely fast and efficient printing workflow.
On the quick and efficient end, I'm a long way toward catching up with my year-long print orders backlog.
On the quality end, I printed up a 16x24 last night and was just blown away by the quality and detail and natural look. This was a Capture One conversion with CO's default sharpening fed directly to Qimage, no PS, no PK Sharpener, nada. It looked fantastic and the customer was knocked over.
Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
At 12:36 PM, diesel said...
Hi again Pete,
For me, it's the Pyramid and Vector interpolation methods. They, imo, blow away anything in PhotoShop or Genuine Fractuals.
Also, I love the "smart sharpening options in QImage.
If I sharpen in PS, I turn it off in QI.
Give it a try. You could probably download the latest version again on a trial basis.
Scott
At 12:17 AM, Pete Walsh said...
Sounds good Nil and Scott - will definitely put Qimage on the list of things to check out.
I was aware of the additional interpolation methods in Qimage but use a hack with Panotools when I need to res images up, which isn't that often for me. I don't usually print single file images beyond the native size they are at 180ppi.
I've been a fan of PK Sharpener, so even from that angle alone it sounds like it's worth taking Qimage for a spin. Thanks guys!
At 12:48 AM, Nill Toulme said...
Another cool thing about Qimage is that it lets you save and readily restore various printer setups.
Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
At 12:41 AM, Nill Toulme said...
Pete this just struck me as I was rereading your Max Joy entry ... why do you define a page width based on document size rather than the roll paper's actual width? I understand the need to set an arbitrary length, but why width?
Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
At 2:41 PM, Pete Walsh said...
Hi Nil, probably just habit with setting the width from the 2100 (it probably wasn't needed there either). I can't recall to be honest. I'll need to check again - I guess it doesn't hurt and at some point I must have been messing around and wanted to minimize trimming to one side and keep everything neat... control freak!
The main reason I posted re the user defined sizes is that I read a few problems people were having with roll paper that seemed to stem from not using user defined sizes.
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