ImageNest is happy to announce that we will be supporting the Epson 4900 prior to its shipping date.   The Epson 4900 will be supported on both OSX 10.5 and 10.6   In addition to support for the Epson 4900 ImageNest is also adding the ability to Interpolate to native printer resolution automatically and apply print sharpening to all images in the ImageNest Photo Layout

The Epson 4900 is a replacement for the Epson 4880 and will include many improvements in speed an Image Gamut:

Key Features:

• 11-colour UltraChrome ink set (CMKY, Light CMY, Very Light K, Photo black, Matte Black, Orange, Green)
• Print speed of 46ml per hour
• High capacity front-loading cassette
• 200ml high capacity cartridges
• Optional inline SpectroProofer
• Automatic switching between cut sheet and roll paper
• Automatic switching between photo and matte black inks, which are pre-installed
• Energy Star qualified
• Choice of paper paths – cassette, top and front manual board feed or roll
• Print on media up to 1.5mm thick

Turning off color management (which is necessary for printing targets) is something on our list of features and we hope to have it in the new year.  Since color management methodology has changed in Mac OSX 10.6 many people are having problems printing out ICC profile creation targets on 10.6.

Here is a very easy way to print targets without color management.

1: Open Apple’s Preview application (you will find it in the Applications folder in Mac OS 10.6.x or 10.5.x.)

2: Open your Print Profile creation target in Preview.  Your print target will not have an embedded source ICC profile and Apple Preview will not force a source ICC profile into your image (which some applications do)

3: Select Print

4: Select your printer from the Printer pop-up menu in the print dialog

5: In the Print pull-down menu, choose Color Matching, and select EPSON Color Controls.  This will bypass any color management that colorsync would apply.

6: In the same print pull-down menu choose Printer Setting and locate the option for Off (No Color Adjustment) or Off (No Color Management), and select it. It may be in a Color Settings menu, or in another color-related menu.  The dialogs differ slightly from printer model to printer model.

7: Select Print to print your target or other image.

This is the simplest way to get a ICC color profile creation target to print properly.  This target can be used to create an ICC color profile for any application that utilizes the Epson Print driver.   This includes:  PhotoShop, ImageNest, Lightroom, Aperature, and many other print applications.

ImageNest RIP and Epson Advanced Black and White Mode:  Epson€™s advanced black and white mode functions without any ICC color management so any output (printer class) profile should not be applied.   Clicking on the €œEpson Color Controls€ will allow the Advanced Black and White to work properly.   Epson€™s Advanced black and white mode will not work if €œColorSync is selected as the ColorSync controls will try to apply an ICC profile which interferes with Epson€™s Advanced Black and White mode which is a non-ICC process.

To set up your HP Z series Leopard driver correctly first make sure you have €œPrinter Manages Color€ set as the default in your ImageNest preferences. The first settings to configure when in the print dialog is the “Color Matching setting. Once configured remember that all settings can be saved under €œPresets€.

Pull down the €œProfile€ menu and choose the profile for your printer and media combination. With this method only profiles made by Hewlitt Packard will show up and be available. If you are using a custom made profile scroll to the bottom of the list and choose “Other Profiles”. This will load all the profiles in your ColorSync folder and make them available for use with the print driver.

Next, go to the Paper Type/Quality setting to configure your paper type.

The paper type you select needs to match the profile selected in the previous step. If using a custom profile, be sure to use the same setting that was used when creating the profile. The Paper Type/Quality setting has a large effect on color. If a profile is used for the incorrect setting color results will be severely compromised.

Once you have made your Paper Type/Quality setting you can save all the settings you have made as a set. Now you can select the setup whenever you wish to print without having to redo your settings

Always remember that ImageNest can print to any printer you have.  We are a Epson RIP, Canon RIP, and an HP RIP

To set up your Canon Leopard driver correctly first make sure you have €œPrinter Manages Color€ set as the default in your ImageNest preferences. The first settings to configure when in the print dialog (more…)

To set up your Epson Leopard driver correctly first make sure you have €œPrinter Manages Color€ set as the default in your ImageNest preferences. To get to the print dialog click the €œPrint€ icon or select (more…)