Rip Advice Please

[Gordon Forbes]

Do you have the Signlab Thermal module to print with then?

[cw products]

I’m currently using signlab 5 with everything and no how it all works, the thing is I no all the short cut and don’t want to learn other programs like corel and illustrator if I don’t have to, plus the extra £1000 for the rip if I can upgrade to signlab 7.1 for £350 just didn’t no what benifits there were?
chalk

[David Rowland]

You may also find that SignLab runs a Mimaki printer that I was talking about.

It’s down to preference and how much support you have for profiles, getting the colour right on materials maybe something you may or may not be interested in.

[Dave & Rob Lowery]

If you are buying a new Cadet, see if they will throw in the troop sofware with it, as I received it free when I bought mine. It’s a good piece of software and even lets you open and convert PDF files.

[RobGF]

quote cw products:

… What are the benifits of using a serparate rip than using signlab.
Any advise please. Chalk

I think it depends on your workflow. I prefer to have the RIP software running on a separate box. Processing complex postscript files with lots of data and complex operations can take lots of time and I certainly wouldn’t like this to be happening in the background on a workstation I was using. I’m guessing that this isn’t an option with signlab but feel free to correct me… You might also find once you have your solvent/ecosolvent printer installed you can grab a bit of the print for pay market. Depending on how much of this you get it might drive you insane to be processing work on your primary station.

I can’t speak for the quality of Signlab’s rip but it seems to me that products like Onyx, Wasatch, and Shiraz (that’s for Dave 🙂 ) own the lion’s share of the digital market and consequently have a very rapid upgrade/improvement cycle and have some pretty neat features/options… For example, Wasatch can do variable data.

Again, not being a signlab guy I won’t knock it, but the colour management is very solid in all of the major players. You should research if signlab gives you the same flexibility for the icc workflow as the big players. For example, Onyx and Wasatch will allow you to have complex colour processing where your profiled media can be made to match the profile of another media. Very cool stuff there.

As an aside, it’s great that you know Signlab but doesn’t focusing on one application limit you? I would think that with your increasing your digital opportunities you’d want to keep that device as busy as possible and therefore becoming comfortable with some common graphic programs.

Just some thoughts. I am often full of it. Good luck.

Rob

[David Rowland]

One thing the Shiraz users (not just dave 😕 ) can do is setup print que for different medias (say white vinyl que, banner que, etc) then each designer on your network (PC/MAC/Linux) can then print to the server and it prints.

[RobGF]

quote Dave Rowland:

One thing the Shiraz users (not just dave 😕 ) can do is setup print que for different medias (say white vinyl que, banner que, etc) then each designer on your network (PC/MAC/Linux) can then print to the server and it prints.

Dave, I was just kidding as I’ve read a number of times how well Shiraz has worked for you 🙂

On the topic of media specific queues, those features are available on the other two big players as well.

[David Rowland]

:lol1: :lol1:

[mark walker]

I use 7.1 for print requirements most of the time. Not had any bad experiences so far and in all I would say that it is far easier to use than the colorip that I have used a little. The other side of this arguement is that not having used the colorip much I’m no expert to place a positive ay or nay. In my experience signlab prints nicely, conour cuts nicely and does what it says on the box. As for colour matching etc. thats’ a nightmare I would rather stay away from. There is very little in the way profiles within signlab for various vinyls but using the ones contained have worked for me. Still learning myself about adjusting the amounts of ink etc. but have hac some varied success of late. I am positive that at the moment I am using less ink than with the color rip but it may be possible to adjust that also within the rip. Go with what you want and stick at it. You should get a rip with the machine or how else would you be able to print? Any way, good luck and I’m sure you will love the new toy! I just love to see m ine working away!!

Cheers, Mark.

[Gordon Forbes]

In signlab I’m sure you get the option to use another rip if you so choose Sure I seen it in there somewhere.

Goop