30 years, never used an external RIP. Now I need one. Help!

[Steenland]

Hi All,

I need advice and suggestions on what RIP to use with an HP Latex 365 or 560.

And forgive my ignorance, but I would also like to know how the Mac-to-RIP-to-printer process even works! Believe it or not, with 30 years in the industry, I have never used an external RIP. When I was in digital prepress, our Agfa imagesetter had an internal RIP. And since I started my shop 22 years ago, I have had a series of HP Designjets with internal RIPs.

It’s time for a new printer, and I’m considering an HP Latex, which means I’ll need an external RIP. I’ve been a Mac user for over 30 years, and the prospect of getting a Windows-based system gives me the willies, so I'm hoping to find a Mac-based RIP.

I’m a one-man shop, specializing in exhibit and trade show work. My customers are all Mac-based, and 98% of my jobs come in native InDesign format.

Thanks! I come here often for advice and information, though I rarely post. Usually what I need to know has already been discussed!

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Only RIP that I am aware of that has a Mac variant is Caldera (it actually is only available on UNIX-like systems (Linux(what I use) and Mac). Otherwise, looking at a Windows based system.

 

[rjssigns]

Printer should come with a RIP. Probably Flexi.

Forgot the Mac part. Could run Bootcamp but I run my RIP on a PC and design on a Mac. I like having one or more systems in case one goes down.

 

[jimmmi]

HP 365 and 560/570 don't come with RIP. Only lower 310 etc come with Flexi hp edition. If you want to continue use Mac you have to buy Caldera. Very goood RIP, fast etc but pricey

 

[iPrintStuff]

I work mostly on macs then just have the Mac desktop loaded as a drive on the RIP pc. Just open it as if it’s a normal folder.

Means that the PC can do it’s thing and rip/print while I work away on the Mac without any lost processing power.

works great for us!

 

[greysquirrel]

get yourself Onyx...you have more available profiles from manufacturers if you choose to not create your own from scratch. Best support amongst caldera, Flexi, shiraz...

 

[Dan360]

I'm a fan of running it on a separate computer, especially if you're working on large files on your design machine. We run Onyx on a separate PC and I've had to run an autoclicker to keep a job going because Onyx can be weird like that. I've also had my mac crash several times when working on problematic files (need to upgrade), don't want that in the middle of running a job.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

If having to go with a Windows based one, my first choice is to VM Windows on the Mac, providing that the Mac is spec'ed out appropriately to essentially run 2 computers at the same time. If it isn't a powerful Mac to handle that, don't do it.

If that doesn't work, my next suggestion would be to use a NAS to have the working files on, do the design work on a Mac and RIP from the Windows.

The last route that I would choose is to share the folder from one computer to the other directly (not much of a fan of that one, but it does work).

 

[Johnny Best]

I am Mac user also and have been running Shariz RIP with an Epson, HP and Mutoh.
https://www.shiraz-software.com/
You can download for free to test it out.

 

[Steenland]

Thanks everyone. Great info and lots to consider!

I don't need bells and whistles. Just need to send files to the printer since I don't do any design work, and I do all color adjustments, imposition, and nesting in InDesign. Probably a Windows-based app on a separate platform makes the most sense.

 

[P Wagner]

Thanks everyone. Great info and lots to consider!

I don't need bells and whistles, so a product like Shiraz seems pricey. Just need to send files to the printer since I don't do any design work, and I do all color adjustments, imposition, and nesting in InDesign. Probably a Windows-based app on a separate platform makes the most sense.

In the USA, all HP Latex 300 Series printers include a perpetually-licensed SAI RIP in the box - this includes the 315, 335, and 365.

 

[Steenland]

Deleted

 

[Steenland]

In the USA, all HP Latex 300 Series printers include a perpetually-licensed SAI RIP in the box - this includes the 315, 335, and 365.

That's good to know! I had been considering the 560 over the 365 for the spindle-less loading, but with a perpetual RIP license, perhaps the 365 is the one for me. I'm a one-man, low-volume shop, so not having to pay $50 per month (or more) for a RIP license sounds nice!

 

[Steenland]

Deleted

 

[CCDoug]

Print Factory supports mac OS
https://www.printfactory.cloud/rip-2/

 

[Ere]

We purchased an HP 115 because we are small also. It comes with flexi. We pay a little more for ink but we love our printer. We also use macs and purchased a windows computer just to print from. No biggie. A big company like HP should support macs. Too bad they don’t. Good luck to you.

 

[Seth Griffin]

Correcting color in InDesign/Photoshop/Illustrator/etc. is a real crapshoot. If you need to hit critical colors--Pantone, for instance--you're going to be better off creating a spot color layer, and then letting your RIP software handle the color. I'm currently running Onxy Thrive (I'm still on an evaluation copy), and built my own profiles, but if I have to hit spot colors, I can easily print out swatches, select the swatch that best represents that color to replace that spot color layer with, and then substitute that value for that Pantone. ...Whenever I'm using the same profile; if I switch media or print modes, I'll need to use a different profile, and I'll need to print new swatches to get the same color.

I don't have to worry about getting exact color matches very often, but it makes it a lot easier to repeatedly get exactly the same color for the same client, 6 months down the road.

That said, yeah, Onyx is MS Windows only, and it's moderately expensive. I'm running Adobe CC on a PC though, so I do my image editing and ripping from the same workstation.

 

[Steenland]

Correcting color in InDesign/Photoshop/Illustrator/etc. is a real crapshoot. If you need to hit critical colors--Pantone, for instance--you're going to be better off creating a spot color layer, and then letting your RIP software handle the color. I'm currently running Onxy Thrive (I'm still on an evaluation copy), and built my own profiles, but if I have to hit spot colors, I can easily print out swatches, select the swatch that best represents that color to replace that spot color layer with, and then substitute that value for that Pantone. ...Whenever I'm using the same profile; if I switch media or print modes, I'll need to use a different profile, and I'll need to print new swatches to get the same color.

I don't have to worry about getting exact color matches very often, but it makes it a lot easier to repeatedly get exactly the same color for the same client, 6 months down the road.

That said, yeah, Onyx is MS Windows only, and it's moderately expensive. I'm running Adobe CC on a PC though, so I do my image editing and ripping from the same workstation.

I occasionally need to color-match to a paint, fabric, or offset-printed swatch, and have developed, over the years, a pretty streamlined swatching process (starting with a color spectrophotometer). But it's time-consuming and wastes media, so it will be very nice if the RIP makes the process more straightforward and consistent!

 

[Seth Griffin]

>I occasionally need to color-match to a paint, fabric, or offset-printed swatch, and have developed, over the years, a pretty streamlined swatching process (starting with a color spectrophotometer). But it's time-consuming and wastes media, so it will be very nice if the RIP makes the process more straightforward and consistent!

The new Onyx version does, yeah. It's the only RIP that I'm familiar with, so I can't speak to other RIP solutions. As long as you calibrate your printers on a regular basis, you should be able to have consistent color fairly easily.

Now I just need to convince my boss that we need something a bit newer than a 15yo spectrophotometer for profiling and calibrating...