ColorBurst RIP on Mac G5

[Ed Gurrie]

I have read all I can find about using a RIP on a G5 on this site and anywhere else online. I just bought the ColorBurst X-Proof software ($1500 bucks !!!) and installed it. To be honest, I am new to the digital darkroom and all it entails. With that in mind I can say that I do not see the big difference with this RIP vs, using the Epson driver. I am a retired guy who is setting up a high end digital darkroom to scan 4 x 5 color trannies for my son and myself. We have a Creo IQSmart2 flatbed scanner with oil mounting station (4300 dpi optical across the entire 12 x 18 inch platen), G5 (2.5gig) with 6 gig ram and twin 250 gig HDs and a 7600 Epson wide format printer with Ultrachrome inks.

Is the big deal that it does things faster or better? Can anyone convince me that it is worth it for what i want to do? If not, I think that I will use the Epson print driver for my applications. Any interest in this software email me! Thanks for your replies in advance. I love this site !!!
Ed

[Bruce Watson]

Just because you don't know how to use a tool doesn't mean the tool is broken or faulty. A RIP isn't something that you just turn on and it works. Taking the default settings will get you a default image that should be very close to what you get with the Epson driver. To get the best out of a RIP, you have to learn how it works and how changing the settings changes the print. To learn that, you have to make some prints.

Practice, practice, practice. Same thing is true of scanning. The more scans you make, the better you get at scanning, unless you just aren't paying attention.

The quickest easiest solution for you might be to take a class, if the ColorBurst people offer one. Like most things though, YMMV.

[Jim Rice]

Still, for 1.5K i would want a peck on the cheek, anyway.

[julian_4860]

Ed,
You'll need a device (spectro) for settingup the rip. For every type of paper you need to linearise the inks and then create an icc profile. Rips give you a number of advantages. You ensure that the inks are layed down exactly evenly (ensures for accurate colour and minimum colour casts), you fine tune the rip for each paper to get optimum results on the paper. If you like semimatte or the RC papers you can set it up to laydown the maximum ink without bronzing. For fineartr papers you can laydown max inks without pooling - many ripowners claim better dmax. Merely using profiles and the epson driver doesn't allow you to linearise the inks or to lay down more or less ink. The epson driver compresses the shadow detail, rips get around this. Rips often give you different microweave options. You also get the ability to queue printjobs, arrange smaller prints on the paper with minimum paper waste. Don't forget to profile your monitor too otherwise you'll have a nightmare trying to match paper to screen. There is a big learning curve here, just as in the wetdarkroom

[Ed Gurrie]

Jim,
I hope you are not the Red Sox Rice. If so we live about 10 miles from each other.

Julian, Thanks for this. I still need a load of help. First of all what do you mean by "spectro"? I also have loaded ColorBurst new upgrade ver 3.8 and I still have the same problems. It won't come up. Keeps telling me several things are wrong and stuff is missing. Thanks for your encouragement. Is there anyone who is running this RIP on a Mac who I can contact and get some help. I sure would appreciate it. Thanks. And I did profile my monitor.
Ed

[julian_4860]

Hi Ed,
A spectrometer is a devise for measuring colour.I don't know that rip, but the first thing you'll need to do is to linearise the inks for the paper you use. You print of the test charts from your rip and 'read' them back into the rip with your spectro. When this is done you follow the routine in the rip for profiling. Again you print off a few colour charts and read them back. The rip creates (or studioprint at least does!) an adjustment or profile to make sure the colour the rip prints are exact. You select this profile whenever you print with that paper - in studioprint this is all controlled in a print 'environement' which you create for each paper

[Ed Gurrie]

julian,
i knew that. i never heard it called a spectro before. what do you mean by that? is this done thru epson manual for the printer or thru the RIP software. I also need to calibrate the printer which is more learning etc. Any ideas on that as well? i did get the gretag macbeth eye-publish package. it is really nice. i have profiled my lcd monitor and was going to do the printer next but can't get the RIP to work correctly. ColorBUrst tech service is very slow...too slow for me. Does anyone have any experience with this as well.
ed

[julian_4860]

hi Ed, I only know the StudioPrint rip and in that you do all the
linearising and profiling through the rip. It takes you through it step by
step and you don't need the whole profiling package, just the spectro
device. There are people out there who will come and do it all for you, set
the rip up and profile everything. Might be the quick answer. Sorry i can't
be more help. All the best with it

Julian