Wasatch SoftRip/Epson 4800 Linearization-will it make a big difference?

[Rockers]

This is going to be totally new for us. We will attempt to linearize our Wasatch unit in the next few days. We have never done that before. So now I`m wondering what I can be expect from our Wastach SoftRip/Epson 4800 combo to do differently once linearized.
What does the linearization actually do, will the result be noticeable compared to a none linearized printer? Would it be advisable to do different linearizations based on different SoftRip set ups.

[Rockers]

Bump

[jvanick]

what are you linearizing for... dot size on the film, or dot size on the print?

my gut would say that for a specific LPI if you're just linearizing for film, you'll be able to have 1 setting (maybe even 1 setting for all the LPIs if the droplet size that the printer is putting down is small enough.

if you're lineariziing for dot size on the print, you'll also have to take into account the mesh count, coating technique, print parameters. 

But to the differences -- the answer is YES, the result will be noticeable if your new linearized settings are majorly different.

[Sbrem]

We don't use Wasatch, but when we linearized AccuRIP, I could notice the difference... much better in the mid tones through the darks...

Steve

[ABuffington]

With accurate halftone readings on the film you will see better tonal values from 50% on up in the print.  Typically above 70 the tonal will go solid, with linearization you will have a smoother transition.  In Wasatch there are two linearization adjustments.  One for the film, and one to curve for print dot gain.  I have played with these two curve adjustments for awhile.  The first is a linearization adjustment the second is a press curve adjustment where you can control dot gain on press.  You can choose to adjust the second one or not, but the S curve to control both positive and negative dot does come in handy, or to eliminate tones below 4-6% or above 95%.  However Photoshop does this as well and doesn't lose as much data IMO>

Al

[Rockers]

With accurate halftone readings on the film you will see better tonal values from 50% on up in the print.  Typically above 70 the tonal will go solid, with linearization you will have a smoother transition.  In Wasatch there are two linearization adjustments.  One for the film, and one to curve for print dot gain.  I have played with these two curve adjustments for awhile.  The first is a linearization adjustment the second is a press curve adjustment where you can control dot gain on press.  You can choose to adjust the second one or not, but the S curve to control both positive and negative dot does come in handy, or to eliminate tones below 4-6% or above 95%.  However Photoshop does this as well and doesn't lose as much data IMO>

Al

I`ve noticed there are some ready made correction  curves in Wasatch, like "Dotgain high, medium or low" or "overall enhance". Might be  good to start playing around with those?
Eliminating tones below 5% and above 95% where would I do that. Within the same correction curves? or can this be done within Photoshop already for each channel? Would I bring the lower end of the curve up so that "output" starts at 5% and the upper end of the curve down so the output value ends already at 95%. Sorry these adjustments are just fairly new to me and there seems to be no proper explanation online regarding eliminating certain percentage halftones.

Cheers.
Matthias

[ABuffington]

You can use Photoshop to control tonal values in the art.  This saves more data IMO.  The RIP can do it as well but I notice a loss of information on film output.  There are multiple controls in the curve dialog.  There are 3 eyedroppers below.  One for black point, one for grey point, and one for white point that my artist used to first adjust the image.  Then you can grab the lower left corner and move it.  Watch the input and output boxes.  Input could be 6%, but when you grab the lower left corner of the diagonal line you can move it to the right and make output 0% for an input of 1,2,3,4,5, up to whatever tonals you want to output at 0.

Someone mentioned how to use the eyedroppers in another post.  But basically by setting the white point you eliminate having any values appearing in white and results in 0% tonal in the white background.  Doing it for black keeps 98-99% tonals from appearing in solid black areas.  There are others here who can advise better on the curve functions in Photoshop.

For Wasatch the linearization is for film, the second for press adjustment.  Dot gain on press can also add 20% and completely close in 70-90.  A reflective densitometer is needed to apply a second linearization.  Or you can manually adjust and experiment here.  Quite often tonals above 60 can be massaged to stay open on press better by estimating dot gain in these areas.  Press set up, and squeegee parameters need to be duplicated, linearization doesn't fix tons of squeegee pressure.

For most common sim process on blacks the punch contrast and other auto adjustments in Wasatch in combination with linearizing film output can produce very nice prints.

Once you have dialed in your linearization make sure to save all your hardwork.  You can have several depending on line count, angle, shirt type, etc.