What RIP is best?

[ridewraps]

We have a JV3 and we are using the rasterlink software that came with our machine. We have alot of trouble matching colors and to to be honest we have never been all that impressed with the prints. After reading alot of information on here I am really starting to wonder if it is something as simple as the RIP not being the one for us. Any help would be great I personally have heard great things about FLEXI just want to know which one is best or to just keep what I have. We mainly use this machine for vehicle graphics with spot colors and some digital picture prints for banners and decals.

Thanks

 

[Cmind335]

I have been using Wasatch for the last 6 years and it works great. It has its problems here and there, but they are all manageable. I also know in good faith that Onyx is a good program too. Once you get your new RIP program, talk to your vendor to see if they have PROFILES for the materials that you use as well as the INKS. Good luck!

 

[Dice]

RasterLink Sucks, plain and simple. You won't be able to get Flexi to print good color either. I couldn't, maybe someone else can chime in.

The two best rips right now are Onyx and Wasatch. You can get a demo of both. Try them out, see which works best for you.

 

[robracer]

We have used Flexi for 13 years & cant fault it, we also use an Onix Rip & Serendipity Rip but they just don't compare in terms of ease of use. Flexisign Pro is not only a signage programme but a rip as well & having the combination allows for a seamless production flow, now I am bias about Flexi but we are not computer experts & Flexi keeps it simple so that really suits us with production & with training new staff.

 

[Rooster]

Rasterlink is a good rip that's capable of so much more.

It's too bad Mimaki keeps it so closed and charges such an astronomical amount for the color profiling option.

I've been using Wasatch and it's been pretty good. Like someone else mentioned, if you're not doing your own profiles you should research who's got profiles for the medias you use with the different rips. I'll add that if you're not doing your own profiles, you're probably not going to see any better results with a different rip.

 

[robracer]

We had a tech come in & create some ICC profiles for us to suit the Mimaki & Flexisign Pro, so yeah it is achievable to get good colour matches. One of the biggest mistakes that guys down here make is what to send RGB or CMYK files lol

 

[John Butto]

Shiraz

http://www.applied-image.com/

 

[Stealth Ryder]

I like Flexi the best, have used Wasatch and Onyx but Flexi produces the best colors in my humble opinion...

 

[MikePro]

I use Onyx, really good stuff. Bit pricey if you're just jumping into it, 4k for software i believe. Version 10 is comming out soon, worth lookin' into.

 

[sjm]

Have tried Cactus, WISP, Shiraz, ColorBurst, EFI, must agree from Imagez to Postershop it does the job day in and day out.

 

[M@CK]

If i had to do it all again I'd seriously consider Caldera, lots of great options.

 

[johnnysigns]

I have limited experience w/ Caldera and it's options, but it works fine for our flatbed. I handle minor prepress stuff at our place when I have to so I'm not the authority on the subject. I have more experience w/ Onyx over any of the other mentioned programs and for what I'm printing it works great for us. I don't think it's even fair to compare flexi to anything that's a viable rip program. I used Flexi at a previous employer and it was a trainwreck to get remotely consistent color matches. It was like bizarro-rip compared to Onyx w/ the same files and as close as we could get settings.

 

[signswi]

We've been happy with Onyx ProductionHouse 7, we can get a lot more quality out of it than was ever possible with Flexi. Took quite a bit of time to really learn but now that it's dialed in we're highly automated with very few issues. I'd love to try Caldera VisualRip+ sometime though for sure.

 

[Mochistlan]

there are few good ones

for your mimaki wasatch, onyx, caldera or colorgate
can be a good choices

 

[jmcnicoll]

I have tried a few and think they all have some issues. Have been using the EFI colorproof xf for about 2 years now and love the color!

 

[eyecandy]

Never had a problem with Rasterlink. I think the colors look great. Have used Flexi and raster seems better to me. I dunno why but it's easy. Maybe it could the way your files are sent. Make sure they are at the highest quality and that they are CMYK to start out with.