Charles, I’m doing an "alternative photo process" to be sure, which is why its a bit confusing. I’m using a light-sensitive film to create an etching plate (based on a digital image) that I then ink up and run through an etching press. It’s sort of a modern version of photogravure, but not nearly as detailed.
So, what I’m trying to do is create a transparency made up of ‘dots’ of color, with ‘spaces’ of clear film around them (similar to a bitmap image), which gives me the "etch" on my plate–I then use this transparency to expose my plate in a UV exposure unit.
The reason I’m using the Quadton RIP is because I have to print at a lower resolution (using 1440 dpi) than I can do with the Epson native program to create the "etch" in my print. The Quadtone RIP also always me to select any of the ink cartridges (from all of them, including non-process colors) and to determine how much of each ink will be laid down. The native Epson driver for my printer does not offer this level of control.
The Quadtone RIP is an inexpensive program that is mainly using by people doing fine art black and white images. It gives you control over the inks and how they are laid down. Some people also use 3rd party ink sets or bulk ink systems along with this. See: <
http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRoverview.html> if you want to know more.
Having said all this, I may have found a solution to my problem with a Photoshop plug-in that creates stochastic screened (also called an aquatint screen) images from my photos. See Toby Thain, "bitmap and mimicing stochastic/aquatint screen" #1, 2 Sep 2008 8:00 pm </webx?13/0>
Sorry if I’m rambling, but seemed like it needed more explaination than I gave before.
Regards, David.
I know a number of people who use an R2400 to output; none use a RIP.
Does a RIP for the 2400 control of the individual non-process inks such as Magenta and Light Magenta?
What if you just used some default standard color management and sent an RGB file to the printer without a RIP?