![]() ![]() I don't quite yet grasp the Hextone transition values but experimentation has led me to put a Hextone transition value going from 0.1 for Hextone 5 to 0.5 for Hextone 1 to work well. The test print should print reasonably well but will probably have transition problems. For each of the value's put in the relative density. 5 being the next darkest ink after black. There should be a section for each Hextone value from 5 to 1. * Output Controls Extra 5 -> Scroll down to the Hextone section. * Printer Features Common -> Change Inkset to MIS Six tone * Output Control Common -> Select Photograph for the media type * General -> Adjust resolution to 5760x2880 dpi unless you want faster printing times at the expense of quality * When printing go to "Printer Features" in the System print dialog. * Install GutenPrint, add a printer using the Mac Dialog box select the printer and "Select Software" to find your Gutenprint driver for your printer If your next darkest ink has a density of 1.6 then it's relative density is 1.6/2.0 = 0.8 Photo black should be 1.0 and has a density of say 2.0. ![]() * Use QTR to print off a calibration chart and then use a scanner or densitometer to get the relative densities of your inks. Since you only need 3 inks it's quite economical. I based mine off mixes of ConeColor Pro Photo black, Light black and Light light black ink available from Inkjet Mall. Sandy King's recently released manual of Carbon Printing has detailed instructions on designing and creating a custom B&W inkset. * Mix your ink as you would normally and fill up your refillable cartridges. ![]() Here's the basic procedure for using an Epson 1430 with a custom B&W inkset with GutenPrint on a Mac. GutenPrint has evolved since so you have more fine grained control with more algorithms available for things like Dither method etc QTR is based off an earlier version of GutenPrint (then known as GIMP Print). * Many many more options are customizable. Results are visibly sharper, with the disadvantage being very slow printing times (not a concern for me) * GutenPrint has a 5760x2880 DPI printing mode for Epson printers which QTR seems to lack. The caveat being I'm not sure how many non-Epson printers have a defined Quadtone inkset type yet available for customization. * Better printer support- this procedure could be used by printers other than Epson since GutenPrint supports many more printers than QTR. * Density is easily controlled using Print driver settings - if you want a digital negative with more ink blocking you can up the density at the time of printing by changing "Output Controls Extra 1 -> Density" when printing. I've managed to come to a working solution with GutenPrint after some experimentation. As far as I can tell no one has attempted this except possibly the GutenPrint developers. So recently I started looking at GutenPrint () as a custom RIP for a custom B&W inkset. unsharp results compared to the Epson driver, ink running off the paper when limits are too high etc. It's output for me has always been subpar and error prone. It's still worth the install if you're a Tiger user, but the latest version requires at least 10.3 Panther.Maybe I'm not doing something right but I've never been a fan of QTR. I have used Gutenprint for a while but failed to check if it was installed before I started using the package. Update: Thanks to Charley and Olligarski for commenting that Gutenprint drivers are now included in Leopard. If you have an Epson Stylus Inkjet printer, you will then also be able to use "escputil" from Terminal to do printer maintenance like head aligning and cleaning. All of the necessary PPD's and drivers will be copied to your computer, and you will be able to select Gutenprint drivers when adding printers. dmg (5.2.3 is the latest version) and install the package. So I installed the Gutenprint package, switched all printers to the Generic Gutenprint PCL driver, and the printing issues subsided. I initially just used Leopard's built-in generic Postscript or PCL driver, but I had many issues with printing speed (the speed of spooling and job submission, not the speed of the physical printing process) and print quality. Since I do a lot of Mac system imaging and deployment, I don't like to install a bunch of separate print drivers on a seed image. It has driver support for over 1300 printer models, and adds a GIMP plugin for better print customization and color adjustments. Gutenprint (formerly called Gimp-Print) is an open-source package of improved printer drivers and utilities that can be installed on Mac OS X to enhance printing functionality and add additional support for older printers. ![]()
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