Direct printing from Photoshop, Aperture, Lightroom, or similar applications using standard drivers is not always the best solution, because:
Photoshop can only print directly using manufacturers’ own printer drivers.
Photoshop offers no easy way to print multiple images on a single page.[167]
Printing black-and-white photos in color requires special settings that are not available in Photoshop.
If you don’t want to make individual settings for every image, you need a print server to color convert and print your work.
This is where specialty print software and RIPs come into play. These two types of software often overlap in terms of functionality.
Dedicated print software prepares image data for printing using a preinstalled printer driver and preselected profiles and settings. Once it is set up correctly, it saves you time spent making individual print settings.
Digital Domain, Inc. sells the powerful and relatively inexpensive Qimage package [65] for use with Windows operating systems. Qimage includes basic RAW conversion and image optimization functionality, but is best when used just for printing. Its automatic scaling and output sharpening tools are excellent.
Epson offers its own Epson Print Plug-in for free download, which can be run as a standalone or as a Photoshop plug-in. Once installed, the plug-in version can be found in the Photoshop File menu under Automate ▸ Epson Print Plug-in.
An RIP performs the same tasks as a print application and additionally rasterizes the output according to its own, built-in dithering method. RIPs are often capable of producing excellent color gradients and neutral monochrome prints, and can help reduce metamerism and bronzing effects. They can also be used to print images with different source profiles (or color and black-and-white images) on a single sheet without losing image quality. An RIP can control several printers simultaneously.
Note
Dithering determines the patterns used by an RIP to construct the colors contained in an image from primary-colored ink droplets.
We have had very positive print experiences using ColorByte’s ImagePrint RIP [62]. The software is available for Mac and Windows and (for a price!) offers the following advantages:
A wide range of free paper profiles are included
Direct 16-bit image processing support
A simple interface compared with other RIPs
Virtually metamer-free monochrome prints using standard UltraChrome inks
Tonal fine-tuning support for warmer or cooler blacks
Individual black point setting support (version 5.6 and later)
Ultramodern dithering methods, making you independent of printer manufacturer dithering inadequacies
The software functions as a server that receives job instructions from the print client. This immediately frees up your image processing or all-in-one application for other tasks as soon as the print job is sent to the printer (the same as PostScript printers).
Note
Like most RIPs, ImagePrint requires its own profiles and does not function properly using the ICC profiles provided by printer or paper manufacturers.
We have used ImagePrint with our older Epson 7600, 2200, and 4800 printers as well with our HP Designjet 90, and we are very happy with the results. We also use it with up-to-date new printers.
EFI Designer Edition software [117] is cheaper than ImagePrint, but is nevertheless capable of outputting PostScript and PDF files. It includes excellent digital proofing tools but lacks some of ImagePrint’s better monochrome functionality.
Roy Harrington’s Quad Tone RIP (QTR) is an inexpensive, purely monchrome RIP that is available for Mac and Windows. On a Mac, it works like a printer driver that is addressed directly by Photoshop, whereas the Windows version is more like a set of batch programs controlled by the operating system’s built-in standard printer drivers. The Windows version used to be quite difficult to handle, but received a new interface in its 2.3 version that has greatly improved its user-friendliness. QTR is shareware and a real bargain at $50. You can download test software or purchase a full version at [85].
The QuadTone RIP is available at: http://harrington.com/QuadToneRIP.html
QTR supports non-compressed or LZW TIFF files but doesn’t support PostScript. The program is simple and fast, and it can also print color images, automatically converting them to black-and-white for output.
QTR supports a wide range of Epson desktop and large-format printers and various Epson ink sets, including UltraChrome, UltraChrome K3, Neutral K7, QuadBlack, and Ultratone.
QTR also includes various highly specialized monochrome ICC profiling tools. However, you need access to a spectrophotometer in order to use them correctly.