Author Topic: Wax CTS RIP options  (Read 1693 times)

Offline SI

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Wax CTS RIP options
« on: April 05, 2017, 10:17:56 PM »
We just bought a used Douthit machine, have it printing very well, but... it did not come with a RIP and the RIP is currently out of our budget.  We currently use a work around where we export each color of illustrator as a Tiff file, and then open in photoshop and convert to Bitmap.  The issue I am seeing is 1, it is very time consuming, and two, I think there is an issue with illustrator not exporting the files exactly the same as we are seeing screens off as much as 1/4" on press, completely defeating the purpose of having a CTS in the first place.  I could see maybe my loading technique is a little off, but no way does that explain a 1/4" difference when going to press.  We previously had the 1rst gen M&R i-screen and would register over 90% of screens without toucing a micro.

  So I have been looking at different Rip options out there and just curious if anyone has recommendations for an affordable RIP solution to convert illustrator to bitmap Tiff files without having to convert in photoshop.  This is mainly for spot color vector images.  Any seperation files we handle exclusively in photoshop and havent seen the alignment issues on press


Offline Sbrem

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Re: Wax CTS RIP options
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2017, 09:55:35 AM »
you might want to look into the Color Halftone; in Illustrator, Effect-Pixelate-Color Halftone (under Photoshop Effects). Check out this link  https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-create-halftone-effects-in-adobe-illustrator--cms-25121

Steve
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Offline shaneds

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Re: Wax CTS RIP options
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2017, 12:57:29 PM »
we have a Douthitt and use the Xitron - Harequinn RIP per Marks recommendation. Yes it's pricey but it saves so much time its a necessity.

Offline ebscreen

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Re: Wax CTS RIP options
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2017, 01:37:34 PM »
Ghostscript/view, assuming there's a Windows driver for the machine.

Print from Illy/PS to a .ps file, open in GSView, send to printer.

After you have that working you can setup Redmon to act as a dummy printer and pipe it
(yes that's correct terminology) to Ghostscript and then the Douthitt.

We ran that way for years and years, the quality was superb and the workflow the same as anything available
commercially. We only switched to FilmMaker for better control over actual inkjet density, which I'm guessing may not be
necessary with your machine.