Onyx PosterShop PostScript RIP software for wide format inkjet printers
Postershop is a highly regarded software Postscript RIP for large format inkjet printers such as Hewlett-Packard, Encad, etc., from Onyx Graphics. Onyx Graphics was a division of GretagImaging, then part of Oce. Currently Onyx Graphics exhibits in its own booth, not as much within an Oce booth. Onyx Postershop is not only in the Top 10 software RIPs for large format printers, it is in the upper tier
Based on discussions at trade shows in Germany and the USA and product analysis at the Center for Advanced Imaging (St. Louis) several years ago, my favorite software RIPs for large format plotters were: Wasatch, BEST, PosterJet, and 3M Cactus. But about five years ago 3M Cactus has languished, and is therefore fallen from our list of recommended RIPs. BEST got absorbed by EFI and lost many of the original BEST software engineers and personnel, both in Krefeld, Germany and outside Cincinnati. We don't have an update on Onyx PosterShop, so know the other RIPs better of which we have the year 2002 updates from 2002 and for Shiraz, PosterJet, and Wasatch, for 2006.
At a PMA trade show in Las Vegas it was possible to get an even better picture of the capabilities of Onyx PosterShop directly from the president of Onyx. Earlier, in Germany, I had a brief opportunity to see RIPstar in action. RIPstar is the Ilford variant of Onyx PosterShop. This experience demonstrated convincingly that software RIP was more flexible than hardware RIP (such as EFI Fiery RIP). Ilford has no inkjet printer technology of its own other than with its excellent inks and nice media. So Ilford does not attempt to sell printers much any more. ScanvecAmiable RIP is more for sign printers. We prefer a more generalized RIP that can handle a wider range, and especially a RIP that has sophisticated linearization and ICC profile color management capabilities.
Next step is to get Onyx PosterShop installed on a Windows NT Pentium PC print server in the FLAAR test center and learn the features of Onyx PosterShop inside out. That way it would be possible to give more space to reporting on the advantages, especially of the newest release. The Ilford version has arrived at our facility at the university in Guatemala where we were in those years. But the aged Encad NovaJet Pro died before we could use the Ilford RIP. Too bad, because we found out that if you use Ilford media and the impressive Ilford Archival eXtreme pigment based inks you get outstanding longevity. To use Ilford inks and media you might want to be sure to have access to the advantages built into the Ilford RIPstar. What I like about Ilford is that they offer a total solution, everything your office needs, from scanner through printer and rip to laminating machine and cutter
Your Macintosh is much happier having the PC RIP the files (this means your Macintosh is available do all the preparation of the files in Photoshop, QuarkXpress, PageMaker, or InDesign). If you stick your Mac with the chore of RIPing, since current Mac OS cannot do multitasking, you choke your Macintosh with the RIP process. It is much more effective to opt for the Ilford solution. Yes, it can run three printers simultaneously (remember, PCs can do multitasking, especially with NT server software managing things). In other words, you need a separate computer dedicated to doing the RIPing.
The market potential for software RIP is enormous, in part because so many people had bought the HP DesignJet 2500CP, HP 3500CP, HP 5000ps or 5500ps without any RIP (they relied on the internal "RIP" substitute). Of course once users actually tried the HP 2500 and 3500 they quickly found out that the HP 2500 and 3500 was slower than molasses if you depended on the internal RIP. But, if you add any software RIP to your system, you turbo-charge the HP and release all its potential. The Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 2500CP and 3500CP are acceptable large format printers but primarily when speeded up with really good software RIP. PosterJet RIP, for example, starts printing after about 8 seconds.
Same with the nice HP 5000ps and HP 5500ps. People buy it with its on-board ps RIP but within a month or so they realize they need a faster RIP which has more features. We find PosterJet, Wasatch, ErgoSoft, and AIT Shiraz all excellent RIPs, and relatively fast. Onyx PhotoShop is popular elsewhere, but we don't have any recent version in-house, but do have PosterJet at both universities.
In the meantime, for information on PosterJet RIP, in USA contact is Ken Stokes, telephone (800) 350-1366 FAX (805) 684-7090, e-mail ken@scarabgraphics.com
|
Large-Format-Printers.org >