What is a RIP?
No, it’s not a headstone displaying those comforting words, rest in peace. In printing, RIP stands for raster image processor and was traditionally used exclusively for sending postscript data (a complex language) to printers. Basically, they took digital data, text, and images and converted them to dots for printers. Today’s inkjet RIP software programs (ImagePrint, ColorBurst RIP, Oynx Postershop) are a little different in that they are not all postscript (though you can add postscript for a higher price) and have various uses and feature sets. The modern RIP software for Epson, Canon and HP printers do many more things than just convert data into dots.
Do I need a RIP?
This can be a quick yes or no question to answer or a little more “gray” depending on what your application is. If you are proofing postscript pages from applications like Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, or QuarkXpress then you must use a postscript RIP (ColorBurst X- Proof or Prepress) with Epson printers. Postscript is a language that must be interpreted before being sent to a non postscript printer like Epson inkjets including the EPSON Stylus Pro 4800, 7800, 9800, and 10600. Also you may require that your proofs are SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications) certified and only certain Epson RIP software can guarantee that.
If you are a photographer, film lab, or fine art giclee printer and printing photos, images and Photoshop documents then the question becomes a little more ambiguous. You certainly can print to an Epson inkjet printer without RIP software and get very sellable results. Combined with DTG’s custom ICC profiles for Ultrachrome, Photographic Dye, or Archival inks and Epson, Fredrix, Ilford, Hahnemuehle and various other papers you can get high quality results on watercolor paper, photo papers, luster papers and canvas. That said, RIP software can do so much more for your prints and workflow as described in the features and benefits section below.
What are the features & benefits of a RIP?
Epson RIP software that DTG sells including ImagePrint and Colorburst, hands down make better prints then the standard Epson driver does. They do this by creating very specific “recipes” for laying down the ink in the best way for each combination of ink and paper type yielding a more accurate and widest possible gamut print. ImagePrint has a huge ICC profile library for a variety of Epson Ink and media combinations from manufacturers including Ilford, Fredrix, IJ, Hahnemuehle and more. Both ImagePrint and Colorburst also have specific grayscale profiles for printing much higher quality black and white prints. In fact, if black and white printing is an important part of your needs then we believe that one of these RIPs is an absolute necessity.
Another benefit of RIP software programs are the many tools and features they offer. ImagePrint for example offers automatic package (5x7’s, wallets, etc.) printing, image nesting, page tiling, step and repeating, hot folder printing, grayscale toning, and more. They also offer a more robust network printing solution then the standard driver. For example, again with ImagePrint, multiple users in a network can send jobs to a printer and the RIP will nest those jobs across the width of the paper, therefore utilizing the width of larger rolls saving paper usage.
Which “version” of the RIP do I need?
It can be pretty confusing selecting the correct version of the RIP software you need. Most Epson RIP software is priced based on the size of the printer that you are using so when you are looking at the description look for specific sizes or words like “large”, “medium”, etc. For example, with ImagePrint the “large” format is for the Epson 10600, 9800, 9500, 9000 series. The “medium” format works with the Epson 7800, 7500, and 7000 series. The “tabloid” format is for the Epson 4800 printer, and the “Desktop” format is for the Epson 2200, 2400 and now the EPSON 3800. All of the ImagePrint versions allow you to download ICC profiles for Epson Ultrachrome, Photographic Dye, and Archival inks and various types of paper free of charge.
The only other option to look for with some software RIPs is postscript printing ability and SWOP certification.. Again, with ImagePrint you will see two versions (raster or postscript) for each format size and platform. As stated above, if you are only printing images, or from programs like Photoshop, then you will only need the lesser expensive raster version. If you need to proof pages or from programs like Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, or QuarkXpress then you will need to get the postscript version.
I’m still confused, do I need a RIP?
Well, don’t worry. If you are confused, have doubts, or have any questions please feel free to contact a sales or technical rep at Digital Technology Group. Please call 1-800-681-0024 if you have any questions regarding RIP software.
