How to print rasterized images through FilmMaker using Photoshop?

[Raw Paw]

Hello warriors of the print realm.  Just got our first rip set up after nearly 10 years in the business, in anticipation for our T3270.  We are getting it to print (using Canon Pixma ix6820), however, cannot get around one issue.  We prepare all of our artwork in Photoshop, and cannot figure out how to send a rasterized image through the FilmMaker rip without it bitmapping the image.  We are thresholding / bitmapping / dithering everything to get it to print through the RIP, but it would honestly be far more ideal if I could print that soft rasterized edge through the rip, without it automatically making a stairstepping pixelated edge.  I am new to using a rip - got it set up with the help of a Chromaline tech, but he was unsure of how to fix this particular issue.  Attached some photos to hopefully help explain.  Thank you!!!

[Sbrem]

A bitmap automatically removes any gray, so no soft edge. However, try increasing the resolution of your image before you change to bitmap, for instance, 1200 ppi, and though you'll still have a "stair step" they'll be so small you can't see them.

Steve

[screenxpress]

I'm having a difficulty with the terms RIP and Bitmap used together.  Don't they step on or tend to cancel out each other? 

What do I know, lol.  My output from PS goes straight to a Postscript file for printing.

[inkman996]

It has taken me many years to finally accept what I see on screen is not what I will see once art has been printed, exposed, developed and then printed through mesh. I have the tendency to full screen art I am working on and being bothered with all the imperfections, thinking it will show in the actual print. In reality all those tiny imperfections are so small they never show on the actual print.

[Raw Paw]

A bitmap automatically removes any gray, so no soft edge. However, try increasing the resolution of your image before you change to bitmap, for instance, 1200 ppi, and though you'll still have a "stair step" they'll be so small you can't see them.

Steve

Thanks for the reply, you know what I'm talking about here.  Increasing dpi definitely occurred to me, however files can handle so so slowly at 600 dpi and above.  I know bitmap automatically removes any gray, hoping to find a way to print through the rip where it doesn't automatically halftone everything.  I am handling all the halftoning / bitmapping manually in photoshop as I have for years, so I don't need the rip for bitmap purposes.

Wanted to add - this doesn't occur when printing vector type through photoshop.  It interprets the hard vector line as not having any gray in it.

[Raw Paw]

I'm having a difficulty with the terms RIP and Bitmap used together.  Don't they step on or tend to cancel out each other? 

What do I know, lol.  My output from PS goes straight to a Postscript file for printing.

Precisely.  I am bitmapping the artwork in photoshop, so no need for the rip to bitmap anything.  Some artwork  just works and looks better (and is faster to separate) with a rasterized edge.  Wondering if any printers out there print through their RIP with a soft, rasterized edge, but it's looking like higher dpi or vector are my only two options

[screenxpress]

I've been using the free open source RIP (GhoatRIP and GhostScript) for many years and it's done everything I have ever needed to print fine halftones and smooth edges from PS

[Sbrem]

I'm having a difficulty with the terms RIP and Bitmap used together.  Don't they step on or tend to cancel out each other? 

What do I know, lol.  My output from PS goes straight to a Postscript file for printing.

Precisely.  I am bitmapping the artwork in photoshop, so no need for the rip to bitmap anything.  Some artwork  just works and looks better (and is faster to separate) with a rasterized edge.  Wondering if any printers out there print through their RIP with a soft, rasterized edge, but it's looking like higher dpi or vector are my only two options

Converting the file to Bitmap is your image itself, so in the Bitmap dialog box, make the output resolution high, I like 1200. A Bitmap image is only one bitmap deep, grayscale is 8 levels deep, RGB 24 levels, etc. So once  a bitmap, it's smaller than the others. A RIP on the other hand, tells your printer what to do with the image. I only ever got a RIP to make it easier for the artists to deal with, and frankly, it was money well spent. When you halftone a grayscale image to bitmap, experiment with one at 300 ppi, then a second at 1200 ppi, zoom in and see how much cleaner your dots are at 1200. The same holds true for diagonal lines and curves as well. I also have halftoned many images this way, in fact, there's a Stratocaster on press for the morning that I did this way.

Steve