OK, if I go with Cathy's Profiles, I'm looking at $120 for 3 profiles - not too bad. But if I go with Chromix, I'm looking at $300 for 3 profiles.
When I was up at Jerry Greer's he was using ImagePrint RIP for printing. This costs approx. $495. I know VERY little about RIP, and understand even less.
My question - Is RIP a replacement for custom profiles, or simply a supplement? If it's a replacement, would it make more sense to spend a little more and be able to print on any paper I choose rather than be "stuck" with only the 3 I would have profiles for?
Just looking for opinions here - not trying to pin anyone down or asking for guarantees, etc.
A RIP replaces the printer driver and uses its own profiles. In other words it replaces not only the ICC profiles used by Photoshop for color conversion but the Epson printer software as well.
ImagePrint might make sense if you anticipate printing on a lot of different kinds of papers and want access to a large database of custom profiles, or if you plan to use both color and B&W extensively - the RIP generally does a better job creating color-neutral prints than the Epson driver does.
To expand upon what Guy has said, RIPs are mostly beneficial to the production environment or to those trying to obtain truly neutral b/w prints. A RIP replaces the Epson driver and tells it precisely which inks to fire (and which NOT to), even if it's an eight color printer. For most of us, RIPs are highly unnecessary and prohibitively expensive. Moreover, not all RIPS are the same. ImagePrint provides a massive library of accurate profiles, other RIPS do not.
My advice is to pick a paper or two that has the texture and look you want (disregard shadow detail, color accuracy, and such for now). Once you've got them, get a custom profile from Chromix. If it's too expensive right now, get a Cathy profile. If her profile doesn't quite deliver the results, get her to tweak it or pay the money to get a solid Chromix profile.
Discussion
2 repliesWhen I was up at Jerry Greer's he was using ImagePrint RIP for printing. This costs approx. $495. I know VERY little about RIP, and understand even less.
My question - Is RIP a replacement for custom profiles, or simply a supplement? If it's a replacement, would it make more sense to spend a little more and be able to print on any paper I choose rather than be "stuck" with only the 3 I would have profiles for?
Just looking for opinions here - not trying to pin anyone down or asking for guarantees, etc.
Thanks.
A RIP replaces the printer driver and uses its own profiles. In other words it replaces not only the ICC profiles used by Photoshop for color conversion but the Epson printer software as well.
ImagePrint might make sense if you anticipate printing on a lot of different kinds of papers and want access to a large database of custom profiles, or if you plan to use both color and B&W extensively - the RIP generally does a better job creating color-neutral prints than the Epson driver does.
Guy
My advice is to pick a paper or two that has the texture and look you want (disregard shadow detail, color accuracy, and such for now). Once you've got them, get a custom profile from Chromix. If it's too expensive right now, get a Cathy profile. If her profile doesn't quite deliver the results, get her to tweak it or pay the money to get a solid Chromix profile.
Good luck.