new rip for me

[Drip Dry]

I've been using Versaworks with my versacamm for years and I like the ease of use. I now have the HP 360 and am using
Flexi as the rip. It's Ok, but there is a lot to learn.

I'm wondering if there is another rip I should consider before I really invest the time to learn Flexi


Is there something that I can load and basically have it work for me. I don't to be a software genius. I don't want something I have to fiddle with adjustments to get the right color. I'd like to load a PMS color and have it print the right color.
I just want something simple but works well. Is there such a thing ?

 

[nate]

I've been through versa works, Wasatch, onyx and Caldera. Caldera is by far the best of that bunch.

 

[AF]

Check out Colorgate. It has the simplest interface but all the power and now supports HP Wallart. They are running a discount right now as a promotion for HP. Runs on Windows and has full multiprocessor support, even using multiple cores to speed up single file ripping. The HP drivers are solid and they seem to be the first to adopt the latest APPE. Can't say enough good things.

 

[FrankW]

It is not easy to suggest a RIP because this softwares do more than just preparing jobs to print. And every software have its advantages and disadvantages.

Specially the Latex 300-Series makes the choice more difficult, because one reason for buying a RIP was often "for which RIP do I get the profiles for the media I use", because on the Latex 300 every downloadable Profile works with every RIP.

FlexiPRINT is a software which is very easy to use. And it is very integrated with that printers, for example there is a possiblity to manage the profile library from the PC.

Caldera have a lot of functionality, but some people don't like the user interface, which have an appearance of the 80's. And that they need to use a separate Linux-PC (if they don't have a Mac).

Onyx Postershop is a little bit difficult to use, but have nice color mapping features and very enhanced possibilities for automated contour cutting specially with summas.

 

[dypinc]

Check out Colorgate. It has the simplest interface but all the power and now supports HP Wallart. They are running a discount right now as a promotion for HP. Runs on Windows and has full multiprocessor support, even using multiple cores to speed up single file ripping. The HP drivers are solid and they seem to be the first to adopt the latest APPE. Can't say enough good things.

I have always liked the functionality of Colorgate also, but I can't seem to get as good of profiles out of it's profiling software. When I have used it I would use other profiling software to create the profiles and was much happier with its output that way. My own personal favorite is Fiery XF which comes with Fiery Color Profiler which is hard to beat for generating outstanding profiles. I guess one of the cool things about the L360 providing you use the onboard calibration is that you can create a profile with any software and use it with any other RIP. One thing about Fiery XF if your really into color management and want to push the gamut you can dial in higher ink densities (limited to no faster than 12 pass though) on the printer and then still do your per channel limiting and total ink limiting on the RIP. It also lets you re-linearize so you have the ability to measure what may have changed if you notice color inconsistencies from job to job, as in why did the same job print different today as opposed a month ago. Also be careful about downloaded profiles as there were major changes to firmware starting with 06_02.10 that made the any profiles created before it no longer correct and you could not correct then with just doing a calibration.

The thing I would suggest is to get demos (they all have them or should) and try each one out to see which you like the best.

Here is a post about my finding on the 4 different ways that one can do color management on the L360 providing your RIP supports them.

http://www.signs101.com/forums/show...onsistency-is-not-there&p=1285961#post1285961