Question Anyone using Flexi on an S40600/80600?

[Saturn]

Anyone using Flexi on an S40600/80600?

Just curious if anyone had decided to forgo the bundled Onyx and go Flexi instead? I'm coming from a Mutoh/Flexi combo and have appreciated the simple color profiling in Flexi. I don't think the free bundled Onyx that comes with the Epson will profile out of the box, will it?

I don't do anything crazy. Just stickers and cutting on a Summa, so I know any old RIP will do, but since I'm already in Flexi-ville... Just checking to see if anyone else had made that pairing specifically and if there was a good reason NOT to.

Also, Flexi cloud is around $60 a month which is fine with me, whereas a 1-printer Onyx RIP (w/ICC profiling) is.... ??

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Onyx Go Plus is $99.95 month which supports two printers, 4 simultaneous RIPs and ICC profiling:
https://www.onyxgfx.com/products/onyxgo-subscription-ripsoftware/
so a considerable amount more than Flexi. We've never used Flexi though, so I can't comment on it.

 

[Snydo]

Flexi plays nice with the entire SureColor-S line.

 

[Medina Signs]

Anyone using Flexi on an S40600/80600?

Just curious if anyone had decided to forgo the bundled Onyx and go Flexi instead? I'm coming from a Mutoh/Flexi combo and have appreciated the simple color profiling in Flexi. I don't think the free bundled Onyx that comes with the Epson will profile out of the box, will it?

I don't do anything crazy. Just stickers and cutting on a Summa, so I know any old RIP will do, but since I'm already in Flexi-ville... Just checking to see if anyone else had made that pairing specifically and if there was a good reason NOT to.

Also, Flexi cloud is around $60 a month which is fine with me, whereas a 1-printer Onyx RIP (w/ICC profiling) is.... ??

As far as I know you can rent Flexi for a month and try it out.

 

[Glavin_ID]

We use both Onyx and Flexi with the S60600. Never had any issues with Flexi rip. The only reason we even started using Onyx is because we got it for our flatbed printer/cutter and it came with an extra licence. Over time we have found that Onyx is more versatile but again, we would have never switched if we didn't have the extra licence.

 

[rjssigns]

When I bought my Mutoh I paid extra to get the unlocked Flexi Pro 12.xxxx. See if that's an option. I don't like the SaaS model at all.

 

[chester215]

We use an old version of flexi that does not support the newer epson printers, version 11.
We still do all of our design work in flexi with cut lines, etc.
Export the file from flexi as a PDF.
Then open the PDF file in Onyx rip-que and it will print & cut the file the same as if it was designed in Onyx.
No need to upgrade since the onyx rip-que that comes with the printer will print /cut from a PDF file exported from flexi.

The only catch we have found is in printing multiples of the same copy.
You have to pre-arrange them in the PDF before exporting.
We did try the onyx Tru Fit and it worked great. the only catch is the price , around 2k.
It is a lot for something that I think should already be included in the program.

 

[balstestrat]

The only catch we have found is in printing multiples of the same copy.
You have to pre-arrange them in the PDF before exporting.
We did try the onyx Tru Fit and it worked great. the only catch is the price , around 2k.
It is a lot for something that I think should already be included in the program.

I guess you mean mostly other than squares? As squares you can easily select the copies and it won't waste. Anyways I know what you mean.
I'm not going to go to deep into the why and if it should be included in the RIP already but Trufit is made by Tilia labs, just re-skinned for Onyx.
So basically it's a 3rd party program and doesn't really have anything to do with the RIP.
And if they included that to the RIP, well you know... the price would be higher.

But really if there's a lot use for it I don't think the 2k is too much.
You run 2000 jobs with it and it's only 1$ per job and it's paid. Like some good tool for construction guy or something.

 

[Evan Gillette]

We have been using flexi with our S40600 for a couple years with no issues.

 

[SameDay Signs]

I

We have been using flexi with our S40600 for a couple years with no issues.

love Flexi but i have a hard time ripping files from flexi to the epson via ethernet it seems to take a long time compared to onyx yet our mimaki via usb cable was so much quicker in flexi? do you have this issue?

 

[Evan Gillette]

I

love Flexi but i have a hard time ripping files from flexi to the epson via ethernet it seems to take a long time compared to onyx yet our mimaki via usb cable was so much quicker in flexi? do you have this issue?

We never even installed onyx so I don't have a good comparison. It doesn't seam to be fast, but it isn't unbearable either (for most files). When we had a Mutoh and the Epson both set up they would rip at the same speed over ethernet and it seemed a bit slower than over USB to the old mutoh 1324.

 

[Saturn]

Alright, so now that I have the printer (80600) in the shop I am up against two things.

Would love to use Flexi as that's what I've been using with my Mutoh and Summa already to do roll to roll barcode cutting on lots and lots of short run stickers. However, I can't seem to build myself a decent CMYKOR profile yet, keep getting verrrrry orange skin tones. So if anyone has even a halfway passable CMYKOR ICC for Flexi that I can tear apart just to see where I've got values wrong, I'd LOVE to hear from you.

Obviously had to give Onyx a shot since I don't have endless time to let swatches dry, and even found a canned Avery profile that gives good results and doesn't lay down too much ink, but when it comes to the RIP/Cut I'm a little less impressed. Mostly since I'm used to Flexi I guess, but it seems like the included GammaPrint version must be pretty slimmed down? What's the current Onyx of choice for a single printer shop? Is OnyxGoPlus the same as Onyx21, just one is a subscription and one is a single-purchase?

 

[balstestrat]

Alright, so now that I have the printer (80600) in the shop I am up against two things.

Would love to use Flexi as that's what I've been using with my Mutoh and Summa already to do roll to roll barcode cutting on lots and lots of short run stickers. However, I can't seem to build myself a decent CMYKOR profile yet, keep getting verrrrry orange skin tones. So if anyone has even a halfway passable CMYKOR ICC for Flexi that I can tear apart just to see where I've got values wrong, I'd LOVE to hear from you.

Obviously had to give Onyx a shot since I don't have endless time to let swatches dry, and even found a canned Avery profile that gives good results and doesn't lay down too much ink, but when it comes to the RIP/Cut I'm a little less impressed. Mostly since I'm used to Flexi I guess, but it seems like the included GammaPrint version must be pretty slimmed down? What's the current Onyx of choice for a single printer shop? Is OnyxGoPlus the same as Onyx21, just one is a subscription and one is a single-purchase?

What is the part you are not impressed in Onyx cutting? I don't think there's much difference in cutting even if you upgrade to Onyx Thrive.

Onyx go is the subscription yes and you get what is listed. Then you have the full purchase version, RIP center which is cheapest for one printer, Postershop that has some additional things and up to two printers I think and then Thrive that is full version and you can have more printers and RIPs.

 

[Saturn]

In an ideal world I come up with a nice CMYKcmkOR ICC profile built in Flexi and keep running the way I have on my Mutoh with the Summa, just for convenience and my limited brain cells.

My issues with Onyx right now are probably all superficial and I just need to dig into it a little more. I'm not crazy about the extra massive margins Onyx seems to want on all sides. Didn't seem to pick up on my CutContour spot color right away, and it wanted to print summa regmark jobs within a second set of summa regmarks... I know there's a solution to those last two, just greedy about my time.

I finally realized that an EMX file through the Epson Control Dashboard might work in Flexi as well as Onyx, but after following this walkthrough and loading an emx file onto the target printer, I didn't seem to be able to get it to load in Flexi (the Download ICC step).... Thought my problems were solved, but no. Will probably see if Flexi support can help, maybe it's a bug in 21? If you read the PDF I link, it seems pretty straightforward.

Frustrated and thinking out loud here, so I appreciate all the good feedback.

 

[balstestrat]

I'm not crazy about the extra massive margins Onyx seems to want on all sides. Didn't seem to pick up on my CutContour spot color right away, and it wanted to print summa regmark jobs within a second set of summa regmarks... I know there's a solution to those last two, just greedy about my time.

There should be close to zero margins by default but there might be differences between printer drivers. The main margin is set on top of the print preview window, hit the cogwheel and there is your margin.
Another place where might be some safety margin is in the printer settings. Go all the way top of that print preview there should be small button for printer settings and there can be a hidden margin setting that will reduce your page size by 1" from both sides for example.

Onyx is very sturdy with the CutContour so if it doesn't pick it up either your file is not bueno or you have the name written different. You can check if it sees the spot color by double clicking the job in the list and on the left there is "Named colours" list. You will see all spot colors in the file there.
If you use some other name like FlexCut or something you have to add that to the quickset and it will then recognise it.

You don't happen to have already put summa regmarks in your printfile before? I don't see why else it would do double marks So you only want to have your cutcontour in the file but no summa regmarks if you select the cutter in Onyx.

 

[Rollout]

In an ideal world I come up with a nice CMYKcmkOR ICC profile built in Flexi and keep running the way I have on my Mutoh with the Summa, just for convenience and my limited brain cells.

My issues with Onyx right now are probably all superficial and I just need to dig into it a little more. I'm not crazy about the extra massive margins Onyx seems to want on all sides. Didn't seem to pick up on my CutContour spot color right away, and it wanted to print summa regmark jobs within a second set of summa regmarks... I know there's a solution to those last two, just greedy about my time.

I finally realized that an EMX file through the Epson Control Dashboard might work in Flexi as well as Onyx, but after following this walkthrough and loading an emx file onto the target printer, I didn't seem to be able to get it to load in Flexi (the Download ICC step).... Thought my problems were solved, but no. Will probably see if Flexi support can help, maybe it's a bug in 21? If you read the PDF I link, it seems pretty straightforward.

Frustrated and thinking out loud here, so I appreciate all the good feedback.

Checking back to see if you were ever able to get a profile for flexi that works for the s80600?
going through this whole experience right now...

 

[Saturn]

Checking back to see if you were ever able to get a profile for flexi that works for the s80600?
going through this whole experience right now...

I never did. I ended up biting the bullet and just using the bundled Onyx software. It's been a while, so I'm more used to the Onyx workflow at this point, but it really seemed to be a matter of the red/orange ink not playing nice with Flexi's integrated profiling module at the time. Good chance I was just missing something fundamental...