I work at a screen printer and were looking to upgrade our printer after attending the Long Beach ISS show and my boss is interested in purchasing the new Epson 4880 and I was wondering what RIP software would you guys recommend?
It comes with a ColorBurst Rip edition, but it only controls pantone colors and not separations. Can anyone a) give me recommendations on good RIP software and b) give me a better printer recommendation?
I know of FastRip from the US Screen guys and we DONT want to buy from them or deal with them. Bad experience with them in the past.
Thanks for any help you guys can offer.
Dan
12 Comments
jimmyheartcore said 8 months ago
Use Illustrator!
emosamurai said 8 months ago
Ok, well thats not really exactly what I was looking for. In order to print halftones and excellent separations, we will need a printer with RIP software...any help on that?
betterthanhuman said 8 months ago
Jimmy is right. The built in dialog that Illustrator has is all you need. It works with any Postscript printer.
You can control every aspect of your halftone printing (ie: dot shape, angle, frequency) as manage spot colors.
emosamurai said 8 months ago
Ok, but what if we dont have a postscript printer, say an inkjet printer? What Rip software would you recommend then?
Cole said 8 months ago
i use photoshop
Weston said 8 months ago
I always thought that a rip software was a must for process work. Am I completely wrong on this???
Cole said 8 months ago
mostly, id imagine.
Weston said 8 months ago
^Well, nonethelees I still hear its supposed to cut down on production time and is a must for larger print shops.
Cole said 8 months ago
that could be true. but why spend all that money when you already have photoshop and illustrator that can do it for you...
Weston said 8 months ago
True. I guess I could see it being a waste for most small to medium sized shops.
betterthanhuman said 8 months ago
Even at our larger shop we use a dry film image setter with no rip. We do process and simulated process stuff all the time with no trouble at all. As far as the Epson 4880 in question, Its drivers are postscript. I checked the specs. All you will need is AI and youre set.
Chris Martin said 8 months ago
We use photoshop for all separations... never have touched rip software in our lives, and we do art separation for pretty much every image that gets sent to us...
We also have the 4800 (so does jimmy) which is basically the exact same as the 4880, and it works wonders!