Multiple images can also be manually laid out on the same page, and better still each can be based upon a different colour space - sRGB, Adobe RGB, ColorMatch images can all be mixed on one page and ImagePrint will ensure each is accurately rendered. Below we see a screen shot that shows the colour adjustment tools, although as I mentioned above these are not functional with the LITE version. The Colour Control tools also include Tone & Contrast adjustment, Colour Balance and most useful of all a facility for adjusting the Ink Limit. Double clicking any 8-bit colour or grayscale image brings up a high resolution preview image with its own dedicated toolbar complete with Zoom, Move and Crop tools.

 

ImagePrint Page Layout and Colour Controls

Colour Management and B&W Support

ImagePrint is a fully colour managed standalone application that supports a number of file formats (Photoshop PSD and Tiff to name but two). Unfortunately ColorByte have chosen to store the ICC profiles in a  dedicated ImagePrint colour folder. This means that the system monitor profile must be copied to this folder to enable accurate Softproof previews (a simple alias to the user ColorSysnc folder doesn't work; actually it will cause ImagePrint to crash on startup - a bug!). There are literally dozens of ICC media profiles available for download from the ColorByte web site to ensure that good quality prints can be achieved from a wide range of media types. If your preferred media isn't yet supported they'll create the profile for you.

 

 

ImagePrint has the added advantage of allowing the user to enhance grayscale images by introducing Tints to warm or cool the final print. The control for Tints is provided via the Colour Management dialog but before it becomes active the user must select one of ColorByte's proprietary greyscale profiles. The following screen shot (a quad tone image by Nick Wheeler downloaded from the ColorByte web site) shows a few examples of  tints or tones that can be applied to grayscale images. Since the ImagePrint preview is showing the user a softproof of the final image it is fairly easy to see the effects of even small tint changes.

 

ImagePrint Tints - Image Courtesy of Nick Wheeler

 

The folk at ColorByte have obviously spent a lot of time perfecting the mix of inks for Black & White printing and this results in no sign of Metamerism when using the special gray profiles. They have also significantly reduced Bronzing effect that plagues the new Ultrachrome ink printers from Epson. As ColorByte continue to improve the dither patterns I now find the output from ImagePrint to be the equal of Epson. Actually, the level of detail from shadow through highlight is vastly superior to that of the Epson driver. ImagePrint excels at printing B&W images on media such as Archival/Enhanced Matte, Epson Velvet and other 3rd party matte finished surfaces when the Epson Photo Black ink cartridge is replaced with Matte Black.

20 April 2003

As part of the version 5.5 update ColorByte have added a couple of  new features that directly impact on image quality; the first is auto-fill. Basically, when you select a ColorByte ICC media profile, the Quality Mode and Inkset are automatically configured in the Printer Set Up window. All that remains for the user to do is select the paper size and number of copies. A warning is given if the selected profile doesn't match your printer. Currently auto-fill only works with profiles supplied by ColorByte Software and the new Epson printers: 2100/2200, 7600, 9600 and 10600.

Another  feature  but alas not available for the Epson 2100/2200 is an ink optimisation process which goes under the banner Wide Gamut Technology. This new ink limiting process replaces the traditional means of dealing with total ink limits and black generation. It is based on new proprietary technology which allows ColorByte to separately ink limit in different chromatic areas rather than overall as in traditional methods. This results in ImagePrint apparently [I can't test it :-( ] delivering wider gamut output than previously possible along with reduced "bronzing" which tends to effect colour images. Wide Gamut Technology is only available for the Epson 7600 and 9600 7-color Ultrachome printers. I wonder if I could convince Epson to give me one of these?

 

Whether it be Colour or B&W the final print quality, flexibility and speed of ImagePrint mean that it far exceeds anything possible from standard print drivers. Even with the benefit of high-end hardware/software profiling applications the Epson driver comes a very poor second, especially in B&W. For a long time my benchmark for printing extended shadow detail has been Piezography BW; ImagePrint easily matches this in both colour and B&W. However, Piezography is only suitable for B&W printing so it was still necessary to use the Epson for colour.  That was until ImagePrint came along. Now? Well,  if you print Colour and B&W images I think it is probably better to purchase ImagePrint LITE and use the generic ColorByte profiles in lieu of the Epson driver and custom profiles. The quality of B&W printing from ImagePrint means that it has for the present completely replaced my previous Piezography BW system.

If ImagePrint has a weakness it is the Interface - it  is not the most pleasing to the eye and does need some serious work to remove some clunky aspects. To be fair much of the clunkiness is specific to the Mac OSX version. A feature that is not currently included with ImagePrint is visual feedback on the amount of ink still remaining in the cartridges; we need it badly. I also mentioned above that I find the OS X version will occasionally crash for no obvious reason. This level of instability along with the poor but slowly improving GUI seems to be the price we need to pay for much improved print quality and flexibility (note: version 5.5 appears more stable). Most of the weaknesses I found with ImagePrint stem from the fact that OS X has only recently reached the point were it itself is able to handle the complexity of driving a printer. Epson, Canon, HP et al are all struggling to produce OS X drivers that offer similar functionality to their Mac OS9 and Windows equivalents. ImagePrint on the Windows platform has been around a lot longer and by all accounts a lot more stable. ColorByte seem keen to improve matters and ensure that bug fixes and updates are provided free to Licensed users. A special download page from which updates and bug fixes can be obtained is provided for this purpose.

I have been evaluating ImagePrint since the Beta version became available for Mac OS X (early December 02) and have been very impressed with what's on offer; likewise the support provided by ColorByte. Even using the ColorByte generic media profiles I produced excellent colour prints with no additional editing or tweaking. As mentioned above there have been some issues regarding stability and not all of the advertised features were operational at first. However, as of April 2003 many of the absentee features seem to be functional and stability has greatly improved.

Being a RIP ImagePrint does a lot more than simply provide an alternative driver for printers such as the Epson Photo 2100/2200 - Further details of pricing and a demonstration disk can be obtained by emailing ColorByte Software. If you're still unsure about what ImagePrint is or does you might find the thoughts of Cris Daniels, a long-time user, helpful http://www.luminous-landscape.com/1photo-pages/i/imageprint.shtml and http://luminous-landscape.com/1photo-pages/i/imageprint-4.shtml

 

23 July 2003

As part of ColorBytes policy of continuous improvement they have recently updated ImagePrint for Windows and Mac OSX to version 5.6. This new version includes one significant new features   and a few bug fixes. The main new feature is called Monitor Black Point Compensation and  is found in the colour management system tab. The default slider position is 50 and at this value will produce a slightly more saturated and dense print than ver. 5.5.

 

 

RGB source profiles such as Adobe RGB (1998) are derived from monitor colour spaces. They refer to black as being infinitely black L=0. If treated as such when matched up with a printer profile we would see no or very little shadow detail. In version 5.5 ColorByte treated the black point at a fixed level which would be equivalent to 100 on the slider. As this level ImagePrint gives exquisite shadow detail ColorByte acknowledge that there are types of images that one would prefer to control this point. By decreasing the slider the blacks are pulled down resulting in more contrast and saturation in the output with the sacrifice of some shadow detail. This feature is tied directly into the CMM so all previous profiles are still valid. Monitor Black Point Compensation only has an effect of images in an RGB source space.

 

Other New features include:

• Application level printing (requires PostScript option)

• Moving regions with arrow buttons

• Moving regions strictly vertically or horizontally with Option-Mouse

• Launching SpoolFace from button on the toolbar

• Chimes after providing new job to queue

• Text edit features enabled for IPManage and SpoolFace

 

Bugs Fixed:

• Holding Template window visible after clicking in the main window

• Enabling "Snap to Grid" for templates frames

• Using output CMYK profiles