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I bought a coffee today

By spacejack (Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 04:04:51 PM EST) NSWF, boobies (all tags)

and the cashier gave me an American quarter in my change. Shit, thats only 24.853725¢.

Why isn't there a NSFW topic?

Ink and graphite stick this time.

I'm gradually assembling candidates for a book of my stuff. Partly to help with the gallery hunt, and also for a few people who have asked for something like this.

I've been spoiled by the web; I forgot how slow everything gets when you're dealing with dozens of hi-rez images in a single file. I also forgot how much stress there is in worrying about whether something will print right or not. How did I ever manage to do this stuff back in the 90s?

It's a nice, sunny, brisk fall day today. The leaves, they are a changin. Can't say I'll be sorry to see the humid weather go away.

< Hey 606! | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >

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I bought a coffee today | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

I have an acquaintance who claimed to buy rolls by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #1 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 04:23:57 PM EST

of Canadian quarters and use them in exchange for American quarters a few years ago, making nearly 10 cents per dollar.

I remember a school trip by spacejack (2.00 / 0) #2 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 04:38:59 PM EST

to Washington DC back in grade 8 when we went to an arcade and the manager yelled at us and threw us out for using Canadian coins in the machines.

BTW, if you have time for a link, out of these machines, I guess it'd just be the Xerox and Epson printers that would do small (eg 20 copies) print runs?

[ Parent ]

Yeah, the Hiedelberg presses by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #3 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 04:50:13 PM EST

are offset, so there's setup time to get the plates on there, and then time to dial in the settings, I doubt 20 copies would be feasible. They sure are impressive running at full tilt though.

I can't speak of the Epson, but the other one is fine for doing 20 copies, or even 1 copy, up to 12x18 or SRA3. What sort of RIP does it have?

[ Parent ]

No idea... by spacejack (2.00 / 0) #4 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 04:54:55 PM EST

they were recommended to me. I've sent off an email requesting more info, but I've been out of the print world so long I'm starting over from scratch.

How would the RIP affect things?

[ Parent ]

Unchauvinistically by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #6 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 05:01:02 PM EST

The three RIPs should all process a PS/PDF acceptably and give you good output. They may have slight color differences, and some are better than others at printing, say, Powerpoint. Ick.

Unless you're doing some very high volume customized personalized job, any RIP should do.

Chauvinistically, one is developed by whackoes in California, the other claims to fix stuff without testing.

[ Parent ]

He says "any RIP should do" by muchagecko (4.00 / 1) #7 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 06:59:48 PM EST

if you are color blind.

Honestly, it all depends on what you want and how much control over the final output you need.

You are creating prints of your paintings? I'd contact someone in the pre-press/production department to get some specs. Tell them what you are working in and what you expect the final product to look like.

You should request 1-off proofs to check your settings with what they output. We do that a lot. The guy that does National Geographic gets pre-production proofs of his images. And then once he gets the images right, he'll get color proofs of the images in the art. But it's National Geographic - color is critical.

If you weren't so far, I'd offer to do prints. We've got some great equipment.

"It means more if you have to earn it, even if it's by doing something as simple as eating a meal." Kellnerin
[ Parent ]

That may not even be the weakest link in the chain by spacejack (4.00 / 1) #8 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 07:22:24 PM EST

I'll be re-shooting all the paintings, but the best camera I have access to is the Canon Rebel, which I can borrow from a friend. Then I have PeeCee hardware & monitor which I have NO idea how to calibrate properly.

I did some books myself wayyy back (heck, I was probably one of the first people in the world to do it) in 1992 with regular film, scanned to photo CD, printed on a first generation colour Xerox (with whatever RIP that would've come with.)

I never could get the colours to look quite right; everything had a pinkish hue. Luckily it was my dad's shop, so I had the opportunity to try and re-try to adjust the colours. In the end it was a pretty heavy compromise, colour-wise.

I've had much better luck recently using my digital Canon (pocketsize, 7 megapixel) shooting in sunlight with a tripod, printing to my own Epson. I figure if the shop has an Epson, then I might be able to print colour proofs myself. Not sure what pricing is, but I suspect the Xerox will me more affordable. Anyway, I've only just started researching printing today really.

[ Parent ]

Splash maybe, or that funky Creo running AIX? by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #10 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 07:31:39 PM EST

Was it the 5775 (meh color) or the Fuji Xerox ones (better color).

I can print you a sample, though the local turnaround time would probably be quicker.

[ Parent ]

: Splash and 5775 by spacejack (4.00 / 1) #13 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 07:43:37 PM EST

sound familiar, but I really can't remember. My dad's shop was always the super-low end, stealing away less-demanding customers from more expensive printers. I'll see if he remembers.
Crikey, I remember tinkering around there late at night, trying to figure out how to manage to print both sides of an 11x17" without it jamming, by printing just the right side of each page. That thing would jam for almost no reason. Or the RIP would conk out when the resolution of the images on the page was too high, spending hours in Photoshop resizing and tweaking images that were way too big for the Macs of that era. It sort of put me off the DIY print thing for a while :)

[ Parent ]

You've got too many variables by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #14 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 11:28:27 PM EST

in the mix. To eliminate several, you could send your art or scans to a color house. I don't know their prices, but many of our clients use them.

We've got a drum scanner (a bit of a dinosaur these days, but there's nothing that gets color more accurate.) Drum scans are pricey - we only have a few clients who still want to pay for them.

Good luck.

"It means more if you have to earn it, even if it's by doing something as simple as eating a meal." Kellnerin
[ Parent ]

Yeah, National Geographic is way beyond our gamut by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #9 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 07:23:22 PM EST

pardon the pun. But mass mailing and pictures we do nice, we're betting the business on the 1-off model.

I could do proofs, but my machines aren't used to test image quality, so the color may be off.

[ Parent ]

There's always going to be by spacejack (4.00 / 1) #11 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 07:33:04 PM EST

quality that's too high for me to afford. I've got to strike the right balance between affordability and colour-correctness. Which basically means getting the best I can out of the low-end. I'll be happy if it looks fairly decent, without being to light/dark or a noticeable tint of one shade or another.

[ Parent ]

: I'm generally happy with my photos by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #12 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 07:40:25 PM EST

you can tell with a loupe they're not photos, but to the naked eye they look fine.

[ Parent ]

You'd be just the guy by ana (4.00 / 4) #5 Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 05:00:14 PM EST

to come up with a SFW icon for an NSFW topic.

Power up your flaming yo-yos already! --StackyMcRacky

Very nice drawing [nt] by debacle (4.00 / 1) #15 Mon Oct 01, 2007 at 11:04:30 PM EST

"I'm very responsive to certain stimuli, and pain is pretty much at the top of that list." - BadDoggie

I bought a coffee today | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback


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