What is RIP software?

I am looking at an iPF6100 as my first high end printer, and the learning curve is steep even before I buy it. I have seen the WIKI, and without some basic terminology, it is sometimes hard to follow.

So, that leads to this question: What is RIP software? Where do I get it? What is it used for? Within the context I have seen the term, I am guessing it is used to create profiles. Is that right? Can profiles be created without it? It also seems as though the printer does not ship with RIP software. Is that right? Or is it like Canon's Camera RAW, it ships, but there are better alternatives? What happens if I don't have it, can I still print?

Thank you for your help. And if you have any insight on the iPF6100 in gereral, please respond in this thread: http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=22724

Rad

I think you are better off heading to the printer forums. Most of the people with the printer you are looking at (or similar printers) are probably not checking the beginners forum.

A RIP is used to print. A simple RIP would be Qimage. A RIP does not create profiles.

Outback photo has The Art of Digital Fine Art Printing available as an e-book. (I think it is also available as a regular book. I think I've seen it at borders.) Mastering Digital Printing by Harald Johnson is also good if a little old at this point.

RIP is an acronym for Raster Image Processor. A "raster" is a set of horizontal lines composed of individual pixels, used to form an image. Any digital image (TIFF, JPEG, etc.) will have a raster of pixels. For photographic output, a RIP is any device, hardware or software, that processes rows of pixels from source to output device (printer, computer screen, billboard vinyl, etc.).

A RIP can process data for many different kinds of output: halftone dots on plates or film for lithographic printing, or ink droplets for inkjet printing. A RIP nowadays is usually software-based like ImagePrint, ColorBurst or Qimage. Back in the day, companies such as Linotype made hardware RIPs with proprietary hardware & software, but became outmoded as computer processing power became accessible to the masses.

A RIP for an inkjet printer is designed in a manner that allows the user to output images without ever using the standard printer driver that comes with the printer. To design a RIP like this requires an high level of knowledge in how each model of printer makes an ink dot, how accurately it is placed on the substrate, how the head moves, how the paper advances, and many other aspects of the hardware. The RIP must control all aspects of the printer for it to provide better output than if one were to simply use the standard printer driver.

This might help:

http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200609_rodneycm.pdf

Thanks for the link. I read the article, and now it seems that RIP software is a fine tuned print driver. I went to the site for the product called ImagePrint, which was mentioned. I was floored at the pricing. Though the iPF6100 is not listed, the price for the comparable Epson 7xxx series is $1,495 - fifteen hundred dollars!

I am already stretched pretty thin ponying up $2,495 for the printer itself. I hope that another 60% on top of that isn't required just to get the printer to work! (For than kind of money, I would expect a fork lift to deliver it!)

Are there any other options that are more realistic?

Rad

Are you planning high volume? If the printer driver is fine you could just use Qimage if you have volume printing. If you don't then just print out of photoshop or lightroom.