[pisquee]

Hi,
Trying to find info on RIPs, as we've always used Epson printers and the print drivers, we've never gone into RIPs, so it's very much an unknown.
I have read in the past some threads here mentioning them, and remember MultiRip being able to split an 8 colour Epson printer into two CMYK printers, but that company seems no more.
What my question actually is, based on what MultiRip can/could do - can RIP software take, say, an 8 colour printer and just use 6 channels, and leave the other two empty, to save on ink costs, if there is no need for that amount of colours?
Also, how does profiling work - we currently use a Datacolor SpyderPrint for making ICC profiles for different substrates, but from what I read, RIPs need CMYK ICCs and our system only does RGB ones.
Any advice, or links to info appreciated, as Googling hasn't found me what I am trying to find.
We're wanting to move from 42" printing to 64" and looking at different used printer options.

 

[Signature Series]

First, you really do not save ink per say when going from 8 color to 6 or 4 colors. What you are saving is having to inventory additional colors. Where you can save ink is by controlling the amount of ink used. We tested the standard profile we received and was able to reduce ink by 10% without any loss of detail or color. You may give up some detail on photographs printed to such things as aluminum with a 4 or 6 color but of fabric little difference can be seen. Any RIP can do what you want. You will want to have a profile for the printer and ink brand you use. Virtually all legit ink suppliers will have the profiles for you. Is one better than the other? There may be differences in vendors but for us once we had the profiles installed we have not touched a thing in almost 7 years.

 

[customprinted]

Hi,
Trying to find info on RIPs, as we've always used Epson printers and the print drivers, we've never gone into RIPs, so it's very much an unknown.
I have read in the past some threads here mentioning them, and remember MultiRip being able to split an 8 colour Epson printer into two CMYK printers, but that company seems no more.
What my question actually is, based on what MultiRip can/could do - can RIP software take, say, an 8 colour printer and just use 6 channels, and leave the other two empty, to save on ink costs, if there is no need for that amount of colours?
Also, how does profiling work - we currently use a Datacolor SpyderPrint for making ICC profiles for different substrates, but from what I read, RIPs need CMYK ICCs and our system only does RGB ones.
Any advice, or links to info appreciated, as Googling hasn't found me what I am trying to find.
We're wanting to move from 42" printing to 64" and looking at different used printer options.

I got my RIP when I bought my mimaki from a private party, its from SAI, I had to learn how to create profiles since I didnt use the mimaki ink and jteck didnt have profiles for the.printer, so I bought a spectophotometer from ebay and used the color profiler on the RiP to create profiles, I also have a epson 4000 and I made a.profile using only CMYK with no light colors, that made me save a lot and had the posibility to print everything in only 4 colors. You can probably skip the DIY profiling if you find a ink dealer that has profiles for your.printer/application. That way you just buy ink and your set. Or DYI it up with your custom profiles using your device, just make sure the profiling software is compatible with your device, doing this inside the RIP is the best way to go since you will have control over pretty much every aspect of your printing output.



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[pisquee]

OK, thanks for help so far
Another question then, theoretically, if a printer had a broken ink channel - blocked/broken head, but all the other channels were running perfectly, you could then knock out that channel in the RIP, and say use an 8 colour printer with just 7 colours?
Also - do you therefore have complete control over what ink you put in what channel - so you could swap things around if say the cyan channel was broken?
Or you decided you wanted to use other colours instead of the light cyan/light magentas, and put red, orange or green in them?

 

[customprinted]

I know.there are rips that have assignable ink chanels but Ive never had the need.to do what you say regarding the clogged head example, you would have to ask the rip vendor.

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