Ben Altman
Allowing Ads
Hi Wiz,
I've found your posts very informative and helpful. Thanks!
I'm curious about your use of many different dilutions. What is the advantage of your method over using, say, three dilutions, but all the cartridges - so on a 2200 maybe two dilute cartridges, four medium and one full-strength?
I'm working on the assumption that the more nozzles I can get firing to contribute to a particular tone, the smoother that tone will be. Is this a good assumption? It means that, in order not to have too much ink laid down, each ink channel is working at fairly low volume. Is this better than one or two channels at higher volume to produce a given density?
I've put together a spreadsheet routine for QTR that roughly models the total blocking and total ink volume, based on measurements of QTR calibration strips for each ink (only in blue, with a calibrated scanner, I don't have a UV gizmo). This seemed to work pretty well for the UC inks once I figured out the correct curve shape to give good tone separations in the print. It can be tweaked with a few trial prints of a step wedge. The final result is still grainy, as I didn't do the research you described above on least grainy colors/densities. This was an interim stage - I'm moving on to a more monchrome set-up and an 1800 next, so would love to have your input from you or others on these questions.
Oh, and one more - what's your experience of the different dither options on the blocking and grain?
I'm printing in Ziatype right now, but I may want to do some silver stuff later.
Best,
Ben
I've found your posts very informative and helpful. Thanks!
I'm curious about your use of many different dilutions. What is the advantage of your method over using, say, three dilutions, but all the cartridges - so on a 2200 maybe two dilute cartridges, four medium and one full-strength?
I'm working on the assumption that the more nozzles I can get firing to contribute to a particular tone, the smoother that tone will be. Is this a good assumption? It means that, in order not to have too much ink laid down, each ink channel is working at fairly low volume. Is this better than one or two channels at higher volume to produce a given density?
I've put together a spreadsheet routine for QTR that roughly models the total blocking and total ink volume, based on measurements of QTR calibration strips for each ink (only in blue, with a calibrated scanner, I don't have a UV gizmo). This seemed to work pretty well for the UC inks once I figured out the correct curve shape to give good tone separations in the print. It can be tweaked with a few trial prints of a step wedge. The final result is still grainy, as I didn't do the research you described above on least grainy colors/densities. This was an interim stage - I'm moving on to a more monchrome set-up and an 1800 next, so would love to have your input from you or others on these questions.
Oh, and one more - what's your experience of the different dither options on the blocking and grain?
I'm printing in Ziatype right now, but I may want to do some silver stuff later.
Best,
Ben