CTS rant

[TCT]

Well not so much a rant about CTS in general, more about the RIPs. Just wanted a catchy title so I could draw in more participation 

Has anyone else found it frustrating and odd at the same time that there really no videos out there from any of the CTS manufacturers on the interface or how to's for their RIPs? I'm researching possibly upgrading our CTS and one thing I'm really interested in is the RIPs and how the work(file prep, format, ect.). Probably mainly because our current RIP is not the most convenient, but I knew that going into it. I did end up emailing Alex M from M&R, and in his what seams like always immediate replies, he said we could do a TeamViewer session. I'm going to take him up on that, and thanks Alex. That situation aside, I just think it is so odd that there has not been more demand for videos online even if just for training.

Am I alone here on this guys?

[Dottonedan]

Contact Alex Wisniewski in the Digital Dept.  He knows all you can possibly do with these RIPs.
I don't know anything about the RIP being used for the older "slant models" and Epson based.
Ripping via those older ones seem much more cumbersome than the newer I-Image models.

I do know that there are other ways to use other file types such as individual color separations saved as .tif for example.

You can run those individually through the Color Print, or you can run them direct via the Printer Control program on the machine. This enables those few shops who has had other brands for a few years that have recently purchased an I-Image, to be able to use the same old art files on the new machines.

[markdhl]

This is exactly why our RIP is not proprietary.  You can export the tiffs via Photoshop, Wasatch, or go with our easy to use work flow added to the Harlequin RIP.  All the rip actions are separate from the CTS unit.

We do offer team view sessions to demonstrate or train.

Wax jet technology with now more speed ..... from Douthitt

Mark Diehl
Douthitt Corporation
313 515 8635

[TCT]

So why are there no videos out there on its features or how it works?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Alex M]

I think partially bc of how the RIP can be installed multiple ways and tailored  to each customers needs.
Could there be videos on basic features, yes, but a video on the entire work flow process and all the different ways that can happen... I think you would fall asleep.
This is why companies do teamviewer sessions, we can ask about your scenario and show you how it would currently work and maybe suggest a new way to do things easier with your current system.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Doug S]

I guess my main complaint with the slant model rip is that you can send a postscript over and most of the times it will open the first time and then when there is a re-order, it may take 8 to 10 times to re-open the same file.  There are a few other complaints as well but that is the main one that gets me.

[mk162]

I would personally like to try installing FilmMaker for wide format printers to see if I could get better control and halftones.  The only issue would be sending the files to print, as I usually do this in a strange order to group things together.

[jvanick]

I guess my main complaint with the slant model rip is that you can send a postscript over and most of the times it will open the first time and then when there is a re-order, it may take 8 to 10 times to re-open the same file.  There are a few other complaints as well but that is the main one that gets me.

I hacked the .ppd file and it made this problem way less frequent.. and the latest update of illustrator CC (2015.3) seems to have solved the problem completely (knock on wood).

make a backup of your .ppd file, and make the lines at the end of the file look like:

*% === Halftone Information ===========================
*ScreenFreq: "50.0"
*ScreenAngle: "22.5"

not sure why that made such a difference, but these are way more sane than what's in the file to begin with.

other thing I changed was the memory usage in the iBlock application (I'm not in front of the machine today, but I remember changing it to the max).

the other little tricks which I'm not sure if they help or not but we do on every job:

expand all your fonts
expand and merge all strokes
ONLY have spot colors on multi-color documents

[AAMike]

We  have a wasatch RIP and and I don't believe any dot gain comp built in. I did hack the PPD to set-up our standard 55lpi 22.5 set-up. This is an area I need to learn more about to get consistent results on the high-end prints.

[blue moon]

We are running the FIlmMaker on the rocket launcher and it works just fine.

pierre

[mk162]

Hey pierre, can you send me a bootleg of that version of FM?  I kid, I kid, i'll just download one...again, I kid.

I might get around to swapping it, which version are you running?

[blue moon]

Hey pierre, can you send me a bootleg of that version of FM?  I kid, I kid, i'll just download one...again, I kid.

I might get around to swapping it, which version are you running?

running version 3XL. I think later version of 3 supported the 17" printers without needing to go to the XL.

pierre

[SI]

TCT I was able to get Accurip to work with our I-screen.  Not sure what RIP you used pre-CTS, but it is much easier than going through I-block