Onyx RIP Discussion

[ScottyDoo]

I'm not sure how many Onyx users we have here, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. Maybe it's just that smaller shops don't have the need for a pricey RIP package, who knows. Either way, I'd love to open up a thread for us Onyx users to talk about the products they offer.

I'm sure those of you out there are excited about the 7.0 release. Atleast you should be. It's just the beginning of many changes and improvements to come from Onyx. I know I'm running a pre-release copy of 7.0, and I'm excited to really dive into it and get using the new features. I'm having one communication issue with my Colorspan, but the Roland is running flawlessly.

[eye4clr]

Communication with a ColorSpan - no - it can't be so!!!

[ScottyDoo]

Yeah, no kidding. They've been complaining to them for awhile now that they need to work on the drivers, but they wouldn't provide them with another printer, so that makes it kind of hard. They just barely got another one in house however, so we'll see how things develop.

[Rick]

I've been running Onyx ProductionHouse for the last 3.5 years. Probably won't upgrade from 6.5 to 7.0. I already have the hardware (GM spectroscan) & software (Profilemaker) for making ICC profiles. The auto rotating feature in v7 does sound handy though.

I did attend the two-day training class last year in UT and that was very valuable. The "manual" in my opinion is very poorly written. Once I went thru the training at Onyx with John B, it all fell into place. Once I got home, I wrote out my own profiling procedure and it's now pretty quick and really easy. Amazing what a little education will do!

-Rick

[ScottyDoo]

Their manual is very poorly written and employees at Onyx would agree, which is one of the reasons they wrote a new manual for 7 rather than just updating the 6.5. I have not had a chance however to read through it yet to see if there are any improvements, though it is available online now.

What I'm personally excited for in 7.0 that made it a necessary update for me was the new layout tool. Many features in it were actually directly implemented due to my requests because my brother was the lead programmer on the product. I lucked out in that area...so many things that I thought it lacked before for me, are now a part of it.

PS: Would love to see what you wrote up for your profiling procedure if you ever felt like sharing it =)

[Rick]

This is the procedure I wrote up for myself after attending the Onyx class. Sorry if it doesn't make sense to anyone else reading this but if you use Onyx, it might at leaast make some sense.

Making custom ICC profiles using Onyx ProductionHouse & GM ProfileMaker:
0. Create a new media specifying the paper, resolution, dot pattern, and printer & ink.
1. in Onyx, turn all profiles OFF.
2. Set Xi = xi = 100% and set transitions = 4. (Xi and xi are ink levels of each color where X = dark ink and x = light).
3. print ink_restrictions_swatch.pdf.
4. Adjust Xi and xi so that there's no bleed, puddling or other artifacts at high % area fills.
5. Find % area fill with no bleed and set xi to that level.
6. Print ink_restriction_verification.pdf and look for bleed in high % area fills.
7. Adjust xi so that there is no bleed.
8. Print linearization swatch and measure it with spectrophotometer.
9. Build linearization using "basic density curve". Set N factors as follows:
C = M = 1.4, K = Y = 1.2.
10. Drag highest density points in the linearization data for each color to the top of the plot to set 100% density.
11. Print ink_limiting_plot.
12. Set ink limits using "advanced" tab in software based on bleed, puddling, or no further increases in ink density for each color.
13. Print your ICC plot file and measure it.
14. SAVE the ICC data.
15. Import the ICC data into Onyx and Save this new profile.
16. Enable this new profile in Onyx and print the Onyx Quality Test plot. Saturated colors should look good, color ramp should look ~ linear, skin tones should look good, there should be no bleed, puddling, etc., & grey scale ramp should look ~ neutral.

Again this may not make much sense unless you use Onyx but the principles apply regardless of whatever system you use. You have to linearize the ink density, then set ink limits & ink restrictions, then measure an ICC plot and all of this is strictly valid for a specific combo of ink, paper, resolution, dot pattern.

-Rick

[eye4clr]

Rick...

Nice outline. I hope it's helpful to folks.

Do you do your ink restrictions for gamut or grey balance?
Have you played with the ink transitions for variable dot printers?
How do you like to set your K start and GCR?

[Rick]

I set the ink restrictions based mainly on avoiding artifacts like puddling or excessive drytime. Grey balance is addressed by modifying the "N" values in Onyx to tweak the colors to get a nuetral grey but it all depends on the media. When I do this for fine art or photo reproduction applications using my Epson 9600, then grey balance is really important (especially in dealing with photographers). When I do this for vehicle wraps and vinyl banners using the Roland 545ex, then saturation and "POP" is most important and not so much the grey balance.

I usually set the ink transitions to "4" as per the recommendations from Onyx and haven't played with it much. Dark and light ink levels seem to be a bigger knob.

K start and GCR in the last step of making the actual ICC profile using GM ProfileMaker again depend on the application and the printer. K is set to start anywhere between 10 and 30% and GCR is usually set to GCR2 or GCR3 in ProfileMaker. The important thing is how the "Onyx Quality Plot" looks after all of the steps have been completed. Like I said, it depends on whether it's fine art on the Epson or signs on the Roland.

-Rick

[eye4clr]

I've recently gotten into measuring the chroma values of the individual C, and M ramps. I look for a drop in chroma and set ink restrictions there. I set Y for grey balance and do K by lightness (not density). I've been surprised to see chroma actually increase with less ink at times. This happens more in solvent and UV inks, but is still fun to reduce ink and get more color.

[ScottyDoo]

I'm sure you'll all be suprised, but according to tech support, Colorspan printers are not officially supported in 7.0 yet. That's a real shocker that they'd still be having issues with colorspan. Fortunately it's not their fault, or a lack of skill on their end.

Hopefully they get it figured out shortly as I really could have used the new layout tool this week, would have really saved a ton of vinyl.