So what's the deal with a RIP?

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So what's the deal with a RIP?

RIPS (raster image processor software) were at one time the only way that people could translate their line art into pixels for printing. Most professionals used or imported Postscript files and made large format print graphics from these files. Printers have a specific printer language they understand and they do not print lines. They print dots of inks. And what we hope they do is print pixels of computer graphic files accurately and with a great degree of control over color. The RIP makes the translation from line art into pixels into printer dots. Well they are expensive, so there must be something that makes them worthwhile! And there is truly.

Today most people are already using pixel based images (Photoshop) and a RIP seems like it may be unnecessary. Well yes and no. It is true you can print directly from Photoshop to a large format inkjet printer. But - there are a number of things you can not do. For example, while you could create a 1000MB image file in Photoshop, printing it might be too large a task for the operating system to handle. Also, the best use of a wide format printer is to print multiple images at one time! And a RIP can do that irrespective to image resolition, while setting up multiple images on a Photoshop canvas requires that they be the same resolution.

RIPS can also put cutting marks around images, or print job information below them. RIPS also do something that is indespensible when the highest standard of color management is required. They linearize a printer's individual ink heads. The best way to descibe that feature is to think of a ramp of ink color. We can choose the cyan or yellow or any color for that matter. The RIP prints out a series of gradation targets from 1% to the maximum of 100%. But on a particular paper which can not fully load 100% ink, the second process will notice this as it takes measurements of the gradation patterns. And if for example, maximum density is acheived at only 60%, the RIP then takes the output value of 60% and moves it to the input value of 100% and smooths the ramp out between the new maximum density point and paper white. WOW! Yes a printer in its maximum peak condition on a particular paper, when brought through the color management profiling process produces ICC profiles which are extraordinary.

And then there is the dream that someone who writes RIPS software might produce an ICC profiling application that works from within the RIP. Who would know better how to make an ICC profile for a RIP than the RIP guys? Well it happened recently with ErgoSoft's StudioPrint RIP and their GPS Color Management module. Now all this comes at a price - but for a print for pay studio and for many professionals, time is money. And when you need to faithfully reproduce what is seen on a monitor, and produce neutral grays, and perfectly smooth color transitions wihout artifacts or blending errors - then the investment usually pays for itself quickly.

I focus on StudioPrint because StudioPrint focuses on me

Truly, they built in support for my PiezoTone and Piezography inks with an ingenious method of linearizing the printer to make perfect gray ramps. Their RIP allows a user to assign up to six different ink channels when used with PiezoTone inks and their monochromatic mode. My customers can choose combinations of PeizoTone inks and do a number of things. Lets take the EPSON 4000 for example. On this eight inks printer, a customer can have a set of carbon sepia inks, a set of selenium tone inks, and both of my black ink options. The StudioPrint RIP can be used to produce monochromatic ink linearizations of the the carbon sepia set, or the selenium tone set, (with either black option), as well as blending the two sets together to create a third tone, or to split from one ink set into another... mind boggling!

RIPS are powerful

If you heard that RIPS are fast, its true. That 1000MB file I talked about at the beginning? Well if it was destined to become a large print - it would take Photoshop and your operating system a long time to sort it out in a combination of virtual memory and scratch disk space, and potentially choke half way through. With StudioPrint, the saved file prints nearly immediately.

And because StudioPrint does not license the printer, but rather the user, one could connect several printers to one PC and simultaneously send jobs to each! Yes I said connect to a PC. There is not a MAC version available. But RIPS are designed to be printer servers and the PC platform is superior for directing print operations. They're inexpensive and connect effortlessly to Mac OSX networrks.