List of issues & work aropunds with your RIP?

[Dottonedan]

As a separator, I experience different shops using all sorts of methods and RIPS to print films. Sometimes, the standard process or technique is unconventional to the defined process of that RIP manufacturer.  In addition, each device has it's own quarks. Can you please take a few moments to reflect on your own experiences with your RIP's and describe any work arounds to issues.

PRINTING ISSUES FROM THE WHITE SEP:
One common issue seems to be with the color white in separations. I have heard various anomoly's with printing a white separation. Some examples are:

1 Getting additional unwanted white %'s  in the background (outside) the print area.

2 Some of the image reads and prints but gets cut off.

3 Color seps print, but on the white sep, none of the white image (of the art) prints but the registration marks and color names do print.

It appears that some rips sort of wig out out when it reads WHITE in a color channel. The assumption is that it does not recognize white or gets confused when a color assignment of white is applied, possibly since we do not print white in standard cmyk printing and photoshop is not designed for printing white as an ink (so to speak).

Thoughts/experineces?  Please indicate what RIP you are using and if any (unconventional) processes to print films.

[Frog]

When I was starting out with Computer Graphics Programs, it was in CorelDRAW 3 &4, and it wass pretty much stumbling around, self teaching.
Back then, I often substituted another color for white to make my life easier (after all, the screen doesn't know what color ink is going in)

At least since v8, there is a printable white. Does Photoshop have this? If not, or if it giver trouble, how about substituting another color in the seps as a workaround like I used to do?

[squeezee]

A spot colour is a spot colour, I can't see PS getting confused by a white channel.  Try it as a different name but I doubt that it will make a difference, more likely a PBCAK error.

[ebscreen]

The percentage fill around an actual fill is an error in the separations.
Too much info drawn for the underbase or hilite or whatever. I hate it when that happens.

Ghostscript here, but thinking of upgrading to something else just to smooth workflow.

Photoshop seps saved as PSD (if raster art originally) into
Illustrator
Reg marks/film info added
All seps converted to black, nested on film accordingly
Print to PS file using Adobe PDF driver
Open in ghostview, double check one last time
Print


Films from GS are awesome, way better than anything else I've ever seen.
Workflow is a bit clunky, a RIP would prevent me from saving a file and re-opening in GS.
I do like that there is one last preview before film is committed, as well as the fact
that the PS files used are copies of what was actually produced and can be re-opened and
edited if need be.

[mk162]

That is what I like about our RIP.  Except it no longer works on 7, so I have to install it on the server and use a print queue that is a laser printer.  I have the same setup for my vinyl cutter as well. 

[Sbrem]

haven't had an issue with printing white, in Illy it's changed to be a spot color, and in PS, under base or highlight, I usually use Cool Grey 1 (so I can see it better), but importing those channels into Illy for output, it prints out fine. I would kind of think that's more a file prep type of issue, as opposed to a RIP. But, let's keep this going, it could be good for some having issues.

Steve

[jsheridan]

I'm using Accurip and have zero issues. I color my whites to a very light blue and name my white and black spotwhite spotblack and they always print, that is if i remember to make them spot colors  :P

I did have an issue printing from Photoshop printing the background in a 5% dot for some reason. It's a CS5 print issue that resolved when I print from CS4.

[blue moon]

same here, if there are any issues, I do not remember them. I do use a CG1 for white in Illy, also to make it easier to see and prevent any mixing (visually) with the original white. It also show in separations preview unlike regular white. For a while, I did not know that you can click on the swatch and convert it to spot color which then prints (illustrator).
In Photoshop, if the white is in its own channel it prints fine no matter what it's called.

I'll second GhostRIP as having excellent output. Dots are better than some commercial software I tried. Using FilmMaker now and it is even better. It does offer the preview which comes in very handy.

pierre

[tshirtdr1]

I use Wilflex Easy Art with photoshop for seps, which creates spot color or halftone output. Then I print films with the gutenprint driver in GIMP in Linux on my 1400. I don't use a commercial RIP. I get darker output with Gutenprint.

[Dottonedan]

A spot colour is a spot colour, I can't see PS getting confused by a white channel.  Try it as a different name but I doubt that it will make a difference, more likely a PBCAK error.

2 things.

1, In my post, I am more so referring to issues caused by the RIP and not Photoshop.

2, The naming of colors can be affected. Case in point, while I had a newer updated version of the pantone color list in my new photoshop, Other, more older versions of photoshop would not see the new colors.  The fix, was to simply shift the color numbers over anywhere so that is was not on a specific new pantone color. You could easily just choose a close pantone of the lower numbers... (but still have them mix and print the original intended new color).  2nd case in point, Often times, when RIPS don't see the white, I just chance the name in the spot color title and it prints.

[Dottonedan]

The percentage fill around an actual fill is an error in the separations

Typically, had I not experienced this first hand and had I not been well versed in file prep, I would agree that it's a sep issue. As a full time service doing seps for all levels of shops all day, I know a good bit about file set up. In this particular case, or on several occasions, I came across printers who were printing files that had 1-3% in the background that they could not get rid of....(it was not in the seps to burn out).  The rip was adding it. Another customer for some reason had issues of adding 12-15% more tone in the halftone percentages. I never did get the rest of the story on that one. One thing that kept happening that indicated something had gone hay wire with the rip is that it would stop short of spooling half way through. After resetting the printer and restarting AcuRip, it still did it.
Then we checked all of the printer setups and it was on target but still the same issues.

I think using a PC for my separations has something to do with it. Very quarky that PC.