Epson 9800 Transparency Issue, printing from Driver

[Jackie]

Hi there, we're trying to give our clients more printing options and are starting to print large format signs and posters from our Epson Stylus Pro 9800 which is primarily a proofer. We are currently printing from PDF using the Epson SPro 9800 printer driver, version 8.6.4 from a Mac Server running OSX 10.5.8 Leopard. For the most part it works well but when we encounter a PDF containing transparency there are issues.

Would purchasing a basic RIP (Like the Onyx RIPCentre) eliminate those problems or is there an easy fix that I'm just missing? I have tried various PDF based solutions trying to flatten the PDF's but they don't always work.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jackie

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Why can’t you use your proofing RIP to produce the posters?

Sure a dedicated poster RIP can offer different features, however it does not sound like you are doing posters day in/out. You should be able to setup a new queue/hot folder that does not simulate a press condition and simply uses the full gamut of the inkjet and media in question.


Stephen Marsh

 

[WharfRat]

See if you like:

In the Advanced tab of Acrobat
try
"Simulate Overprint"
-
Just from memory - but it is in there somewhere.

MSD

 

[Jackie]

Thanks Stephen, I think I need to do a bit of research on how to specify a bunch of different media in Prinergy. That seems to be the issue, it's alot of one off jobs on all sorts of substrates. Be nice to have something dedicated to that.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Thanks Stephen, I think I need to do a bit of research on how to specify a bunch of different media in Prinergy. That seems to be the issue, it's alot of one off jobs on all sorts of substrates. Be nice to have something dedicated to that.

Jackie, if you have Prinergy, are you using Kodak Proofing Software or a third party proofing RIP? You install the media configuration file in KPS and then Prinergy will pick up the media configuration. You will need to create either a “generic” proofing process template and change the media configuration and profile on the fly each time - or you will need to setup a new template that has the specific media configuration and colour profiles locked down.

You need to have a media configuration installed in KPS, this controls how the printer lays down ink. You will also need to have a ICC profile created for each media configuration you are using. If these are third party media, do they provide KPS media config files and profiles? If not, then ideally you would create a new media configuration for each media. This will require a spectro and can take around 3 hours. Then you will need to print a chart and create an ICC profile, so add another 30min to 1 hour. You will probably use around 3 metres of media to set this all up for a single custom media, and this is for each media! Otherwise you will have to sacrifice on colour and or quality and see if you can “cheat” by using a media configuration and colour profile designed for a different but similar media.


Stephen Marsh

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Jackie, as you have Prinergy, are you currently printing the original client PDF from Acrobat - or the refined Prinergy PDF from Acrobat?

If you are doing poster printing using the refined PDF, you may have to perform a separate refine specifically for poster work, that flattens the PDF when refining. You would then only use this PDF for poster file processing. You will likely have to consider whether to colour convert or not and whether to include ICC profiles.

To get the best out of wide format printers for poster work, files should not be blindly processed and handled exactly the same as for press, there are usually different requirements.


Stephen Marsh