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Why
do I need a RIP?
It's a good question and worth asking!
There are a number of answers which can
mostly be summarized as follows:
A
RIP is specialist software, that takes
artwork from any software designing
package, and prints this out quickly and
correctly (color accurately and/or consistently)
onto a wide range of 'large format
digital printers', using any ink and
media combination with the minimum of
complication.
There
are also a number of other factors that
constitute what a RIP should and
shouldn't do and this summary is only a
small part of what FutureRIP SE does and
is capable of doing...
The
following is a summary of RIP software
and why you should consider using
FutureRIP SE in your business.
RIP Printing Fundamentals
Large Format Digital Printing can be a highly rewarding, profitable and enjoyable business. It can also be frustrating, embarrassing and very costly! Which it doesn't need to be, if you take some time out to-learn-the-basics and obtain a good understanding of COLOR and how it works with varying printers, inks & media.
Whether you're new to this field, the industry, or have owned and operated a Large Format Digital Printer for years. You are strongly recommended to read this topic through carefully, to obtain a basic understanding of the elements at hand and how they affect FutureRIP. Which will greatly improve your capability in achieving professional results.
What is a RIP?
The expression R.I.P. is an acronym which stands for Raster Image Processor (RIP). Generally speaking, RIP software takes your artwork and tells the printer how and where to place each dot of ink onto the media. However this process only forms part of this software program so commonly referred to as a ‘RIP’ these days (though it is the core (engine) of the software). However, RIP software such as FutureRIP and others have a great deal more functionality and components to them than just their respective RIP engines.
Technically Speaking, RIP refers to the method FutureRIP loads in and examines any artwork and applies various processes and strategies using a range of settings that are specific to the output device (the printer). Which are in-turn expressed by the software as ink combinations in the output device’s computer language (emulation). This information is then read in by the output device with the printout appearing the-way and in the colors, at the correct size and position ‘the designer’ of the artwork and ‘the operator’ of FutureRIP expected it to.
Sounds simple enough! and although there is a great deal of debate on the best methods to use and decades of color research and modeling. In reality, it's a difficult job to do correctly - let alone well! Though it's relatively quick and easy to develop a just tolerable RIP which many people basically put up with. However, it's very much another to develop a functional and color accurate RIP that is also easy to use such as: FutureRIP SE.
Important Note: FutureRIP is device specific software and you will need all the relevant plug-ins and drivers for your particular make and model of printer. These may not be available on the supplied CD because new printers are being continuously manufactured and we are always updating these components for our user’s benefit. Therefore you may need to download or request these components from Future Corp or provide specific information about your printer.
Why can't I just use my Printer's: Printer Driver?
In most cases you can. But you will be disappointed with the output quality, loss of color information and the time it takes to print out your work. You'll also find, that you have very little or no control over color enhancement strategies (Gamut Mapping), the targeting of spot colors , tile, bleed and crop settings, rotation and mirroring and Contour Cutting etc. This is further complicated with the vast range of inks and media flooding onto the market. Therefore a standard ‘Printer Driver’ just isn't capable of doing the job well and that's why it's imperative to have professional RIP software - that is up-to-the-task.
So how do I use FutureRIP?
Generally speaking FutureRIP is used like the layout section of a graphics or CAD
package. It has specialist tools and features for handling, positioning and printing very large artwork and most importantly deals with color reproduction (accuracy and consistency) on a much more sophisticated level than regular graphics software or printer drivers do.
Typically you publish your artwork to FutureRIP from a Window's based program, such as: Acrobat,
CorelDRAW™, Flexi Sign™, Photoshop™, Sign Lab™ or VinylMaster Pro® etc. much the same as you'd send your artwork to print.
Except in this case the artwork loads directly into FutureRIP as an FutureRIP Layer. From where you can apply all your settings, position and add to your artwork then RIP & Print and/or Cut. You can also open FutureRIP as a stand alone program from where you can import various image formats and overlays (Layers) to form new artwork, which can then be laid out and processed for color accuracy and just as importantly color consistency by the RIP for printing and or print/cutting.
What's so important about Color Accuracy and Consistency?
Everything! this is what it's all about. The more accurate and consistent the print out is and matches or improves the original artwork or logo the better. There are a lot of companies these days, that demand very accurate spot colors when it comes to reproducing their artwork and logos in print. Coca-Cola™, McDonalds™ and Ford™ are some well known examples. These guys expect nothing less than near perfect color accuracy, especially when it comes to their name 'up in lights' and the last thing you want to do is disappoint them on a big job!
This expectation has filtered right through to many small businesses and franchises that are big users of one-off and short-run printed posters and signs. So being complacent about color may not only cost you a job or two, but your customer's satisfaction and possible loyalty as well!
What is Color?
It's a simple enough question. But a lot of people really don't know what color actually is or how it works. Firstly you must know a little about light and how it affects everything we see to have a general understanding of what's going on.
Essentially light travels in very small waves (light-waves) which are measured in nanometers (nm) from a light-source e.g. the sun or a lamp. These light-waves come into contact with all objects in their path, with some of the light being absorbed by the object, some reflected and some actually bounce about inside the object and come out at other points! Of course this also depends on the composition of the object itself e.g. white paper will 'reflect' most light-waves, black velvet will 'absorb' them, while a pane of glass will allow most to pass straight on through and so on - as shown
below:
 When this occurs around us (when the lights are on), everything comes into view and depending on how much light is present, will
determine what color everything appears to us. However, the less light present, the more gray, brown or black everything will appear.
We (humans) can only see a section or band of all light which is commonly referred to as white-light. This narrow band of light is approx. 380nm through to 700nm.
Now this is where it becomes quite interesting and easily confusing! White-light is made up of the all light-waves that our eyes can actually see, but let's say you were only presented (or could only see) light-waves at 680nm what would this look like? If you answered 'red' you'd be spot on! So what this all means, is that various frequencies of light-waves appear as different colors to our eyes. So when light comes into contact with an object and particular bands of light-waves are absorbed by the object, our eyes will only see the reflected light-waves and this is what 'color' the object appears to be.
Take a red apple for example. The apple isn't really 'red' it only appears red, because its skin actually absorbs the green and blue light-waves, while the red light waves are reflected right off the apple's skin into our line of sight and so we see 'red'.
 A well known example of this, is a beam of white light entering a prism with an array of colored lights appearing from another side, as shown on the left which looks similar to how a rainbow does, on a sunny day when it's raining. This array of colors is simply the varying bands of light-waves that make up white-light as we see it.
So that's 'generally' how we see colors around us. Though you should also be aware that different types of lighting e.g. a brightly sun-lit room versus a fluorescent or tungsten-lit room will effect the colors of the same objects within them to varying degrees. And also that our eyes well our 'brains' really, automatically adjust what our eyes see, so that contrasts between objects and images look more intense than they actually might be.
If you really are interested in learning more about color and how we perceive and see it, please visit the
links page and see the 'color' web-site links, you'll be quite amazed about how much information there is on the topic and how in-depth it quickly becomes.
So how is this all relevant to Large Format Printing?
Quite Simple! If you understand how 'color' really works and why. You can take steps to overcome foreseeable problems that you will encounter in the course of your day to day work. Or at the very least understand why your 'Printer's Ink Gamut' can't obtain the expected results from particular artwork and explain this to a demanding and or unrealistic customer.
What's Gamut?
Your printer's ink 'Gamut' is the full range of all printable colors using the available inks in your printer. You most likely know that when you mix Cyan (bright blue) with Yellow, you get Green and by varying the quantities of each ink you can obtain a darker or lighter green. These shades of Green can be further modified by adding a little Magenta or Black and or by leaving white space between the printed dots. All these combinations can be mapped onto a chart, which define your printers 'Gamut'. You should also be aware that different brands or types of ink i.e. indoor or outdoor ink will have varying Gamut's and can have quite an effect on how well or how poorly a job prints out.
Your computer's monitor also has a Gamut based on its 'Red, Green and Blue' (RGB) glowing phosphors and as it's a light source itself (additive primaries) it has a significantly larger Gamut than your printer. Which is quite a problem, because many of the colors that you can see on your monitor, simply can not be printed with a 4 color (CMYK*) printer.
Even with the latest 6 and 8 color printers your monitor can still display colors they simply can't print out. Though this gap is narrower and the Gamut of these printers (using the right inks) is quite superior to the older 4 color printers, as shown in the general example on the right:
*C = Cyan M = Magenta Y = Yellow K = Black
6 color printers typically use CMYK + 50% Cyan and 50% Magenta or Orange and Green inks.
8 color printers typically use CMYK + 50% Cyan, 50% Magenta, Orange and Green inks, or two sets of CMYK for extra fast throughput. Some have Red and Blue Ink as
well.
What’s Gamut Mapping?
Essentially, Gamut mapping is the method of fitting colors that form part of any given artwork, that are outside the Printer's Ink Gamut to fit (map) back within the Printer's Ink Gamut and thus be printable, as show on the right:
This is how RIP software helps to overcome the limitations posed by printers having less Gamut (color range) than the artwork they are trying to print out has. There are various 'schools of thought' on this subject and a great deal of debate about which method is better than any other.
We have spent a great deal of time researching every method available and have considered them all. Mostly these methods have been developed over many years for typical process printing (plate to press) which has fundamental differences to large format 'digital' printing. Therefore and quite typically of Future Corporation, we have developed our own and unique Gamut Mapping Approaches.
This is further enhanced by using FutureRIP’s proprietary 'Color Profiles' (FuturePROFILES) which provide you with much more specific control on your printed results.
What are Color Profiles?
Color Profiles are a grid of small colored squares printed from each make and model of printer using all brands of ink onto various types of media. Each colored square is made up from preset amounts of ink across all the printer’s ink channels. These colors are then scanned in by Future Corporation using a spectrophotometer. This device measures each color in nanometers and is then recorded as the actual color which is made up by combining the particular inks used when printed by the given printer onto the given media.
This information is then used by FutureRIP to accurately predict a Job’s colors when printing it out from the given printer/ ink/media combination. There are 2 types of Color Profiles: Generic and Custom. Generic Profiles cover most printers and applications while Custom Profiles deal with a specific requirement, such as a 3rd party ink and or
Specialty Media etc.
The reason why this must be one is because each make and model of printer will print entirely different colors when compared to another printer, even when using the same settings! This is because each make and model of Printer has a different ink delivery system (Printing Head) and may use a different type of colorant (inks, ribbons and toners) that it can print onto a vast range of different media from transparent to gloss vinyls, matte to high gloss papers, banner materials, and even textile cloth etc.
This immense range of possible combinations is a significant problem in the printing industry as each printer requires a different Color Profile for all combinations. FutureRIP tackles this problem head on by allowing you to produce Custom Color Profiles for any printer/ink/media combination that you may have or require at a later date.
Where do I get my Color Profiles?
FutureRIP comes bundled with a number of generic Color Profiles that cover most applications which is growing continuously and can be
downloaded from
this web site. However if you require a Color Profile/s for a specific printer/ink/media combination that is not part of the Generic Profiles you can generate one or several from within FutureRIP directly and have this processed as a Custom Profile by Future Corporation at a modest cost. There is a specific help topic under ‘Profiles’ in the ‘Printer’s Settings’ window, see Topic 4.4.
Essentially you create a color swatch/s that prints out at regular Letter Size (A4) onto your media, which is then sent to Future Corporation for processing. The Color Profile is then e mailed back to you or sent on floppy disk and must then be generated on your computer. This is done with a few mouse clicks and takes 1 to 10 minutes per Custom Color Profile.
Understanding your ‘Artwork’ and how to get the best from it…
Images (bitmaps)
An image can be a single picture or combination of pictures in the form of a bitmap. So what's a bitmap? A bitmap is a digital representation of a picture and/or text made up of a grid of square dots, that when viewed from a distance create the illusion of the picture and/or text - much the same as newspaper/magazine print or a digital photograph does.
As the amount of computer memory required to store a bitmap can be significant, there have been a number of compression formats devised to minimize a bitmap's size in memory. Some of the more well known image formats that use various compression routines are *.gif, *.jpg and *.tif
FutureRIP will allow you to open all of the popular formats, then RIP and Print these. However and depending on the compression technique used, these formats do away with certain information that is permanently lost e.g. the *.jpg format removes parts of the image that we can not see and *.gif only uses a maximum of 256 colors. Both these formats can cause problems when adjusting brightness and contrast etc. and are best used in the state they are presented in. *.tif however, loses very little if any image quality and is a highly compatible image format and therefore is usually the best format of choice. *.bmp files do not usually use compression and can be very large, but they do maintain full quality.
Bitmap Issues
It has become common place these days to see *.tif files as large as 200Mb so that the printed artwork looks well defined (sharp) when printed. This is usually done because text and drawn shapes (vectors) are included with a background picture and print out jagged, unless the entire image is rendered with many more pixels than would otherwise be required - thus increasing the artwork’s size to mammoth proportions. This simply means that when the artwork is printed out all the extra pixels tend to smooth out any jagged areas. This is basically a work-around and does not adequately address the problem.
However a significant time and print quality advantage can be obtained using FutureRIP. This can be done by combining vectors and text as FutureRIP Layers over a background image (bitmap). This is because vectors take up far less memory and computer resources whilst maintaining super high quality at print time. The background image can be rendered with significantly less pixels (without any loss of quality) and when printed with the vector layers produces superior results than a *.tif file of the same artwork.
Vectors
A vector path or vectors are curves and lines (paths) that follow through control points i.e. Curves, Lines and Text. Vectors are constructed mathematically and can therefore be resized without losing their shape, accuracy or smoothness, much unlike bitmap images which lose quality when resized. They also require significantly less computer memory to render.
Vectors are loaded in as FutureRIP Layers in FutureRIP and play a significant role in its high quality output, because they retain their high resolution no matter what dpi the job is being printed at (see dpi below).
DPI or dpi (dots per inch)
This subject can easily create confusion because it sounds simple enough! but it can become quite confusing when you start talking about dpi and printing. The first thing to understand is that an image (bitmap) is made up of a grid of small dots (as explained above) and that this grid has 'no physical size' until it's either rendered onto your monitor from a program or printed out.
For example: If you had a photographic image e.g. a digital camera shot that was say: 1500 x 1500 dots and loaded it into a graphics program and set its size to 30” x 30” (762 x 762mm). The image would need to fit its 1500 dots over the 30” which when calculated (1500 ÷ 30 = 50) works out to 50 dots per inch.
Now when sending this image to a printer at the same size of 30” x 30” there are still only 1500 dots to work with so the image would therefore print 50 dots per inch.
Now this is where it can become confusing! because the printer can be set to a range of dpi settings such as 300, 600, 720, 1440 or even 2880dpi etc. depending on the make and model? So how does a printer take 1500 dots, print them over 30” at 600dpi for example? well what it would do in the case of 600dpi would be to print 12 small dots to make up every 1 full dot of the image. So in other words it would use 18,000 very small dots to print 1500 larger dots over 30”. By doing this the image appears to be much smoother and well defined, especially along sharp edges like text, see example below.
So why not print everything at the highest possible dpi of the printer? There are several reasons as follows:
1. There becomes a point at which printed dpi is unnoticeable at a given viewing distance e.g. a billboard printed at
300dpi would look just the same as if it was printed at 10,000dpi from the highway driving past at 60mph. In fact
billboards are usually printed at between 25 and 100dpi (depending on size and location).
2. The time it takes to print each square inch is greatly increased when printing a higher dpi.
3. As the dpi is increased so is the amount of ink used to print the job. In fact this can up to a lot more than you may
think! This all combined significantly increases the costs.
However and in the reverse, reproduced ‘Fine Art’ displayed in a gallery needs to be printed out at much higher printer dpi, because the audience can look very closely at the image and see the resolution.
So as a general rule of thumb, design and print large scale works that are viewed from a long distance at a lower dpi (design with 1500-3000 pixels across and print at 100-200dpi) and for small scale works that are viewed from a short distance design and print your artwork with a higher dpi (design with 1500-3500 pixels across and print at 600+dpi). Note: These figures are a very general guide only.
FutureRIP and dpi
To help compensate for images that may not have enough dots and or are to be stretched and printed onto a large area, FutureRIP has some specialist settings: Render dpi and Bitmap Interpolation.
Render dpi: Increases the number of dots within the image using the software (similar in concept to how the printer does) and Bitmap Interpolation: blends the dots together using an algorithm which gives the effect of smoothing the image. Both of these settings are set using sliders or a preset quantity and the effect each has on the image can be viewed in real time in the ‘Preview’ window of FutureRIP. These settings significantly improve the printed output and are easily implemented.
They work together by displaying a small area of the image approx. 1-2” square (25-50mm) roughly as it will be printed out. This is very helpful because you can get an idea what the image will print out like in this small area. But remember your viewing the image right up close and if it’s a poster that people are going to view from several feet if not tens of feet away (meters) you should stand right back from your monitor to get a better idea of what the image will look like when printed out.
Recommendation: For small scale works up to approx. 10’ x 10’ (3.0 x 3.0M) set Render dpi to ‘Best’ and Bitmap Interpolation to 100% as it greatly increases output quality without taking up all computer’s resources. However for larger scale works both these settings are better set mid-range as Windows imposes certain limitations that may not allow you to use the higher settings. PLUS any extra quality will not be appreciated due to the long viewing distance.
FutureRIP SE Layers
FutureRIP and EMF Layers (Enhanced Metafile) are both native to Windows. FutureRIP incorporates these Layers as part of the final artwork for printing.
The advantage with this method is it allows artwork to be laid layer upon layer to create the finished work ready to be printed. These FutureRIP Layers are created when publishing to FutureRIP from a Windows based program e.g. from applications such as CorelDRAW™, Flexi Sign™, Photoshop™, Sign Lab™ or VinylMaster Pro® etc. The main advantage with FutureRIP Layers is that any vector components such as Text and Shapes made from curves (paths) will maintain their sharpness when printed regardless of the Job Size. Plus they require very little computer resources as compared to image (bitmap) artwork that is usually created with lots of extra dots to compensate for text and shapes rendered as part of the bitmap. This is completely overcome when publishing text and shapes to FutureRIP.
Note: Some graphics programs can export artwork in the EMF format. But be aware that most DO NOT create the artwork or allow you to create the artwork at the finished size, rather just using the screen resolution of 72/96dpi which in most cases produces very poor results when printed. Therefore it is recommended to Publish your artwork into FutureRIP.
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