RIP Software & PPD Fail to Mirror Image During Print to CTS Printer

a_kisner

New member
PROBLEM: The RIP software being used is unsuccessful at applying (or possibly ignores) the PPD’s mirroring setting, but it seems to successfully apply the other PPD settings. QUESTION - How can mirroring via the PPD be established?

NORMAL WORKFLOW: A graphic designer sends artwork from their vector graphics editor to a CTS (computer to screen) printer. The CTS printer was recently upgraded and now ALWAYS flips (mirrors) images sent to it. A PPD (Postscript Printer Definition) file was developed to flip the image before it reached the printer, so that the final printed output will have the correct, left-to-right, orientation. RIP software applies the PPD to the image before saving it as a TIFF file. A printer operator drags the TIFF file into rasterizing software on the CTS printer’s control PC to actually print the image onto a mesh screen.

TECHNOLOGY USED: CorelDRAW; RTI RIP-Kit software (on server); DirectJet Rasterizing software (on CTS printer control PC)

CURRENT WORKAROUND: The printer operator finds the source artwork and loads it into a copy of the vector graphic editor on their system. They then mirror the image within the graphic editor before resending it to the CTS printer.
 
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RTI rips are usually Harlequin based. You should be able based on the device plug in (I don't know the CTS plugin) edit the page setup in the Page Setup Manager and select/deselect the mirror setting. If it's only a problem some of the time you can create a copy of the page setup, one mirrored, one not.

I have worked with various other Harlequin plug ins and sometimes they don't configure logically.
 
Reply...RIP Software & PPD Fail to Mirror Image During Print to CTS Printer

Reply...RIP Software & PPD Fail to Mirror Image During Print to CTS Printer

RTI rips are usually Harlequin based. You should be able based on the device plug in (I don't know the CTS plugin) edit the page setup in the Page Setup Manager and select/deselect the mirror setting. If it's only a problem some of the time you can create a copy of the page setup, one mirrored, one not.

I have worked with various other Harlequin plug ins and sometimes they don't configure logically.

I have been in contact with Support at RTI Global. They suggest pretty much the same thing as what you posted... playing with the page setup for the printer. We'll be doing this, perhaps with RTI looking over our shoulder in Team View. Your lightening quick response is MUCH appreciated. Thanks.
 
RIP Software & PPD Fail to Mirror Image During Print to CTS Printer

RTI rips are usually Harlequin based. You should be able based on the device plug in (I don't know the CTS plugin) edit the page setup in the Page Setup Manager and select/deselect the mirror setting. If it's only a problem some of the time you can create a copy of the page setup, one mirrored, one not.

I have worked with various other Harlequin plug ins and sometimes they don't configure logically.

BillJ (or anyone else reading this post) can you refer me to anyone having Postscript language and PPD expertise? We need to configure our CTS printer's page setup in the Page Setup Manager on our RIP server. There are a number of custom settings -- other than mirroring -- being applied from the PPD file that we are looking to eliminate from our print process. We don't know who authored/modified the PPD file on our RIP server and none of us are familiar enough with PPDs to find and pull out the settings that can be used to configure our CTS printer's page setup property sheet.

PLEASE HELP!!! A very BUSY screen print process is being hampered by this problem!

Thanks,
a_kisner
 
Did you work with RTI? This shouldn't be a difficult problem to resolve. I'm not a postscript specialist and the PPD shouldn't change it's characteristics. If RTI can't help there should be a competent Harlequin somewhere in your area. They may be used to using it on a CTP system but would still know the nuts and bolts of the rip.

The only time I edited a PPD was for an old rip running on OS9 and the customer was sending from OSX. There was a small change to correct for OSX because there wasn't an updated PPD. I changed 1 item in the file. It's been so long I don't remember the details.
 
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BillJ,

We had a conference with RTI Global this morning. One is set for tomorrow also. We agreed to throw out the PPD and just set things at the CTS printer's Page Setup on the RIP server. RTI has little, if any, PPD or Postscript expertise in-house. It's not enough to turn ON mirroring at on the Page Setup. Whoever authored/modified our PPD placed in it custom settings that we need to get into the Page Setup. The author is long gone. We don't know what constitutes a valid setting in the PPD that we can use in the Page Setup or that we absolutely need for our print process.

RTI says that looking at our RIP server they can monitor a job sent to our CTS printer to ferret out some details. But, there are settings being transmitted from CorelDRAW and also the PPD that we need to identify as important to our print process. Ultimately all of this needs to be set in the CTS printer's Page Setup. We also need to learn enough about what commands are being transmitted from CorelDRAW and the PPD so that we can properly enable, or disable, 'overridable' checkboxes in the CTS printer's Page Setup property sheet.

Can you steer me to a Postscript/PPD expert or can you tell me how to get ahold of a "Harlequin" expert in the Cleveland, OH area.

Thanks,
a_kisner
 

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