RIP's

[ken_dunn1]

I am not really sure what RIP's are and if I need one. I hear they

do help in quaility, but how? Mmore accurate? I have as designjet

130 and thinking about getting one if it will help. Any suggestions?

[bruce watson]

Raster Image Processor. The name comes from the days when you needed a program to take a vector image (think type faces) and turn it into dots (a raster image) for an output device. The RIP typically also drives the output device.

 

You need one if you can't do what you need to do with your current driver. So... if you haven't bumped up against the limitations of your driver yet, you probably don't need a RIP.

[robin_sibson1]

Many RIPs are actually software implementations of PostScript, the page description language introduced by Adobe for the original LaserWriter circa 1985 and subsequently developed to handle sophisticated colour output devices. Some printers have PostScript built into the firmware, either by default or optionally. If you don't have PostScript built in but want to use it, you need a PostScript RIP. The good news is that there is a free version, Ghostscript, and a nice viewer that runs on top of it, GSView. The bad news is that the kind of things PostScript is good for don't really relate very closely to digital photography.

[jtk]

Here's another type of answer, though I don't know if it applies to your 130:

 

With a lot of tinkering my 2200 produces good B&W from B&W scans using Epson's standard driver. However, with QTR / Quadtone, $50 (free test), it does as well "automatically" in various tone combinations on various papers WITHOUT using *anything* other than standard Epson pigments. http://www.harrington.com/QuadTonePC.html

 

There appear to be more sophisticated B&W RIPS, but this one's very good at my stage of the game.

[ken_dunn1]

Balck and white is one of the areas that I hear that RIPs really help, although I am pretty happy with the 130 black and white, I am sure it could be better. Funny how we can be satisfied with something, but if we here there is a better way (even without seeing it) we have to have it, lol.

[kelly_flanigan1]

RIPing a giant file takes time. A printer uses a RIP box to juggle priorities in printing aunt marys sunset poster; Goobers nascar dozen posters; banners. Better RIPs allow nesting a mess of oddball dinky 11x14; 16x20; super B's; on a larger 36, 42, 54 inch printer; to save paper. Some jobs may be on glossy paper; some matte; some go to a dyebased printer; some to a pigment based printer.. Some rips can drive several printers; a color copier engine; and are Lan connected. Some rips can be setup so JOE is king of the hill; and always gets full priority when being ripped; and JACK has an average priority; and JIM has the lowest. The RIP box might get saturated; and JIM's job is waiting to be ripped. JOES can appear then on the RIP; and then jump ahead of JIM the grunts job; and get Ripped first. In selfservice shops; the customer job JIMBO might just be average in priority; and ripped and held; but NOT printed; so a mess of paper is not wasted; until the job is checked; or paid for.

[thomas_kolbo]

HP offers two RIPS for this machine. One is rather generic and is "their" so called rip and as an accessory sells for about $200. The other is called EFI Designer by a company formerly named Best which supplies high end RIPS to the printing industry.

 

Although the HP designjet 30 and 130 are good for printing photos, they are also in competition for gliclee or fine art printing and basically any printing one would want an RGB type injet for. Both RIPS offer Postscript III. With postscript, you have control over fonts and other vector based design work that you may want to appear free of the "jaggies". Postscript defines a font in terms of "paths" or a perimeter line that gets infilled. Thus, if you want to blow up or scale up some artwork that has text, the font still looks as sharp as it did at any other size. Essentially you are not simply enlarging a fixed raster image of dots. The same is true of line and other artwork that can be considered "infilled". Postscript is preferred by desktop publishers and utilized in printing from programs such as Pagemaker, Quark Express etc.

 

The other thing the RIP is good for and particularly with the Designjet 130 is in controlling ink flow and saturation...hence the color output of the device (printer). With the EFI RIP, HP employs closed loop color calibration in conjunction with their ICC profiles inks and papers. The EFI RIP allows you to also calibrate for any paper and profile in a non-closed loop manner and stillhave the Poscript advantage of the RIP as well as ability to do color separations etc. The cheaper HP RIP does not.

 

I am going to get the Designjet 30 basically because I can't afford the 130 and don't have space for it. They are the same printer functionally except for paper size. You might want to do some more research on the RIPS...I do hear that printing can be slower though.

 

TDK

[kelly_flanigan1]

Brand XYZ printers links to have brand XYZ RIPS's; for their brand XYZ papers; and brand XYZ inks. This is a good system; for a dont care budget; in a non competitive arena. In printing for the public the material costs are a grave concern; and often the system is to calibrate with sets of inks and papers that are not XYZ; that are close; and cost 70 percent less. A rip that will drive many different brands of printers is used; that allows calibration with any paper you may have. This helps with pricing :)