Quad Tone RIP setup question

[Jim Andrada]

I just installed QTR but the "manual" PDF file is obviously out of date compared to the software - maybe about 8 years out of date.

Is there a more recent document that describes how to set it up/build a curve for a given paper etc?

I'm using an Epson 4880 with the normal ink set. Windows 7. Would like to set it up for Museo Silver Rag

[Tin Can]

Strange i was just reading this. I am no expert and learning slowly, but at least it made sense. The link was still loaded!


http://www.jnevins.com/tutorials.htm



I just installed QTR but the "manual" PDF file is obviously out of date compared to the software - maybe about 8 years out of date.

Is there a more recent document that describes how to set it up/build a curve for a given paper etc?

I'm using an Epson 4880 with the normal ink set. Windows 7

[Ken Lee]

Try http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/QuadtoneRIP

[Peter Langham]

For Windows, read Tom Moore's tutorial first. Then look at some of the more Mac centric ones like Lou Dina's and Amadu Diallo's. None are new, but they will all get you going. I don't think much has changed. You should be able to find all of them in the files section of the yahoo group mentioned above.

[Peter De Smidt]

Also check out:
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/QTR-Flatbed.pdf
Paul uses a scanner to find the densities, but you can use a spectro, which is a better way to do it.


1) Open QTR.
2) Click on Tools > Options > Calibration mode.
3) Choose your printer.
4) The ink calibration chart should be loaded. Under Placement choose “centered”, and under Scale choose “To Fit”.
4.5) Choose "2880 dpi" in the Resolution menu and "Uni-directional" in the Speed menu.
5) Make sure that the paper size is correct, and the ink calibration should be 100.
6) Load your paper and click “print”
7) Use a hair dryer to dry the print for about 5 minutes.
8) With you print fix pro, a spectro, enter the measure mode. Calibrate, take about 20 quick readings and calibrate again. This allows the system to warm up a bit.
9) Place the printed page on a piece of matte board.
10) Take readings of the darkest ink. I take a number of them until there’s one steady reading. Write that by the square. Repeat.
11) Mark the first patch in of the darkest ink where the density increase is smaller that 1.0 L units. That is your ink limit. Usually this is between 50% and 80%. When in doubt, use a lower limit.
12) Print another calibration page changing the Ink Calibration setting to the percentage that you just determined in step 11. All the other settings should be the same.
13) Dry the print for 5 minutes with a hair dryer.
14) Do steps 8. to 10. for each square of the black ink, and for each 100% square for all of the other inks, writing the density number by each square. This is the hard part!
15) Compare the density of each of the 100% squares of the non-black inks to black. The percentage of black where the density equals the 100% density of the lighter inks is the density that should be entered in curve creation for that ink. Note that the density of each ink is the percentage of the black ink that gives the same print density.
16) Go Tools > Curve Creation.
17) Enter the number determined in step 11 in the Default ink limit box.
18) For the black ink, enter 100 in the density box.
19) For each other ink, enter the number determined in step 15 for that ink in the density box.
20) Once all of the densities are entered, hit “show curve”. Save the curve.
21) On the main screen, load a 21 step step wedge. Paul has one somewhere that’s easy to read. Place it on the top of an 8.5x11 piece of paper. You can fit 8 or so of them on a page. Print it using the profile you made and the settings you determined. Dry it with a hair dryer. Read the densities. Compare the densities to the ideal densities listed in at the end of the QTR user guide.
22) Adjust the curves to get as close to the ideal spacing and dmax as you can. This involves a bit of trial and error. Don’t obsess too much.
23) When you get a step wedge with well-spaced densities, linearize it. Bring up the curve in the tools > curve creation menu. Click the “linearize” tab. Enter the density readings from the lightest to darkest densities of the 21-step tablet.
24) “Show Curve” and save.

[Tin Can]

Thank you Peter, now I am starting to understand. I'll keep at it.

Thanks for the list and link!

[john borrelli]

I just downloaded the trial version of the Quadtone software and without doing any calibration, I was pleasantly surprised by my first two black and white prints.

I print with an old Epson r1800 printer and scan with an Epson 4990 scanner with a better scanning station. I am using Adobe Photoshop CS3. I scanned one image made with Fuji Acros and one with Ilford HP5+. Both images were accidentily overexposed by about one stop. Both prints were extremely neutral and in this regard were indistinguishable from a traditional analog print. There was no unattractive tint that I get, 8 out of 10 times, prior to the Quadtone software. All I did was follow the steps outlined in the tutorial. My printer works best with glossy paper,so I used an Ilford Bartaya type glossy paper.

The strange, unfortunate thing, is that I definitely noticed that the Quadtone print was less sharpand more grainy than the straight Epson print, so I changed from my standard print size of 11X14 ,from the 4X5 original,to 8X10.

[Andrew O'Neill]

1) Open QTR.
2) Click on Tools > Options > Calibration mode.

Peter, how to you actually open QTR? I use QTR all the time to make digital negatives, but I don't understand how you actually "open" it. I'm using a mac. Pardon my ignorance...

[Peter De Smidt]

With Windows it's a standalone program.

[sanking]

With Windows it's a standalone program.

You can also print with the QTR driver with MAC OS systems using the QTR Print Tool. http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRprinttool.html

If you are using any version of Photoshop later than CS3 with any version of MAC OS later than OS 10.4 the print tool can save you a lot of problems because it allows printing with No Color Management, something you can not do with more recent versions of PS and MAC operating systems.

Sandy

[Darin Boville]

You can also print with the QTR driver with MAC OS systems using the QTR Print Tool. http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRprinttool.html

If you are using any version of Photoshop later than CS3 with any version of MAC OS later than OS 10.4 the print tool can save you a lot of problems because it allows printing with No Color Management, something you can not do with more recent versions of PS and MAC operating systems.

Sandy

Sandy, do you know of any examples of what differences might be produces using the standalone Quad print program vs printing from within Photoshop--I'm using Piezography inks. I read all the warnings, did a few comparisons, and could find no difference at all. Also couldn't find actual examples of the problem on the web or descriptions of practical effect of the problem. Ever run into it?

--Darin

[sanking]

Sandy, do you know of any examples of what differences might be produces using the standalone Quad print program vs printing from within Photoshop--I'm using Piezography inks. I read all the warnings, did a few comparisons, and could find no difference at all. Also couldn't find actual examples of the problem on the web or descriptions of practical effect of the problem. Ever run into it?

--Darin

Darin,

Have a look at Jon Cone's article on the subject. http://www.piezography.com/PiezoPress/blog/piezography-technical/the-differences-between-apples-and-apples/

There are workarounds to print monochrome prints and digital negatives with QTR and more recent PS and MAC OS systems, as Jon outlines. However, the method varies by version of PS and MAC operating systems, and may give slightly different results than printing with true No Color Management. I don't have any examples of the problem to share but I have tested it several times and I can tell you for sure that it is a real problem. In some cases perhaps not one you would notice, in others there could be a catastrophic difference in results. Problem is with MAC and Adobe you are dealing with something of a moving target. In my workshops I use QTR to make digital negatives for carbon transfer printing and just can not take a chance with the workarounds. The QTR print tool is a neat piece of software, quite inexpensive, and completely solves the problem.

Sandy