Wide format RIP suggestions for home use?

[wonderings]

I am contemplating what to do with an aging RIP. I use Fiery XF 6.2 for my Epson 9900. Had a family print shop, a few years ago we merged with a larger company and I decided rather then sell I would keep the Epson and RIP and use it as home. So not looking to spend a fortune for printing for family and friends now and then. The issue is with the Fiery XF6 client. I can only upgrade to 6.2 and that is not supported in MacOS after Mojave I believe, it will run in Mojave but needed to be installed in an older version of MacOS first. I am thinking of upgrading my MacBook Pro to a new one with M1 chip so that leaves virtualization out of the question (that is what I do now to run in Big Sur). I have a price of around $1700 to upgrade the Fiery XF to 7. Not sure if there are other options that give me similar features to XF. One important feature is to be able to print edge to edge on the sheet as I don't have a cutting table anymore this saves a lot of hassle when I can print full bleed and get a finished print right out of the printer. No one seems to want to list prices for their RIPs, and not looking to pay monthly, looking to purchase outright if there is a reasonable priced RIP out there.

Any recommendations and the price you paid would be very helpful. Trying to avoid tons of interactions with sales people at the moment as I am purely at an information gathering stage and not wanting the constant calls or emails from a salesperson.


Thanks!

 

[benstarr]

What is the primary use of this RIP? I'm assuming Photo since it's home use but you know what they say about assumptions.

Upgrading Fiery XF is a decent option, price wise I think you might be looking more like $1,900 now. The other consideration is the server portion of Fiery XF 7.x is that it only runs on Windows so if you only have Mac this will have to be considered. There is still a Mac client. A big advantage here is any existing profiles you have will still be valid.

If you are looking to switch up RIPs I'd look at ImagePrint (Black or RED) and PrintFactory, both are Mac or Windows.

• ImagePrint is geared towards photo reproduction, the Black version has tons of profiles with and and better integration into the printer driver, it runs about $2,500 for a 44" printer RED does not have profiles (But you can use those supplied by paper manufactures) and it's $600 for anything over 24".
• PrintFactory has tons or features built into it lots of production features that you may or may not use, also you'd have to make all your own profiles, I don't have an exact price but you're probably a little less expensive than the upgrade for Fiery.

 

[wonderings]

What is the primary use of this RIP? I'm assuming Photo since it's home use but you know what they say about assumptions.

Upgrading Fiery XF is a decent option, price wise I think you might be looking more like $1,900 now. The other consideration is the server portion of Fiery XF 7.x is that it only runs on Windows so if you only have Mac this will have to be considered. There is still a Mac client. A big advantage here is any existing profiles you have will still be valid.

If you are looking to switch up RIPs I'd look at ImagePrint (Black or RED) and PrintFactory, both are Mac or Windows.

• ImagePrint is geared towards photo reproduction, the Black version has tons of profiles with and and better integration into the printer driver, it runs about $2,500 for a 44" printer RED does not have profiles (But you can use those supplied by paper manufactures) and it's $600 for anything over 24".
• PrintFactory has tons or features built into it lots of production features that you may or may not use, also you'd have to make all your own profiles, I don't have an exact price but you're probably a little less expensive than the upgrade for Fiery.

Nothing heavy right now, I have thought about potentially offering poster printing services cheap on FaceBook. Simple cash jobs, but nothing set for that right now. Would prefer to keep XF, I know it, it is setup to work with the media I use. I did get a price for the upgrade which is not as bad as having to buy the RIP new again, but scoping things out as again I am not in a rush or a panic to do anything, just want to be able to keep this running and not have to keep old legacy hardware running and pray it never breaks. I prefer to keep on a Mac, I do have a PC I built a few years ago though that I could use if needed.

I was not aware that XF 7 was Windows only, again can make it work but not what I was hoping for. I wonder if the updates to XF6 beyond .2 will still work and if I can even purchase those.

 

[tastar]

Just use the Epson driver and not a RIP. If you use Epson paper, or a paper where profiles are available for your printer, you'll get good color with RGB files. Print shops use RIPs for color accurate proofing, for Giclee printing, art posters, etc. RIPs are pretty uncommon.

Tony

 

[benstarr]

Just use the Epson driver and not a RIP. If you use Epson paper, or a paper where profiles are available for your printer, you'll get good color with RGB files. Print shops use RIPs for color accurate proofing, for Giclee printing, art posters, etc. RIPs are pretty uncommon.

Very good point. This is an option for low volume, although I find the driver frustrating when printing on a roll.

 

[Widmark]

I posted a similar question not too long ago discussing RIPs for OSX. https://printplanet.com/threads/another-rip-question-which-for-osx.291422/

Research took me around in circles but I'm circling back to Printfactory/Proofmaster which is quite affordable, especially if you do the software subscription model. I plan on making my own profiles.

 

[StewartMultitasking]

Mirage from Dinax, no monthly subs, supports OSX from 10.9.5 upwards, have a peek on youtube lots of videos.

 

[Widmark]

I bought Mirage, especially on the recommendation of Les Walking, who's youtube clips, and a seminar I took, have been very educational. He also made some suggestions for some workaround for how I can certify GRACoL proofs outside of Mirage. I plan on using Mirage until/unless I can get PrintFactory working, which is more of a full RIP with certification, spot color tuning, etc. If I can get that running without crashing I'll try to compare the quality of the results of the two.