Best RIP? Most Reliable? Fewest Problems?

[The Sign Depot LLC]

Hello everyone, as the title says, I'm just looking for thoughts on most trouble free printing experience across the board.

A little background knowledge:

I've run Roland Versaworks, SAI Production Manager and now ONYX Thrive 22. Versaworks honestly seemed the most reliable but limited. Production Manager has great click-print ease of use but probably the most problems. ONYX seemed pretty solid with 21 but 22 is giving us fits.

We run a Roland XC-540, HP Latex 570, HP FB500, HP R1000 and Epson P5000. We also have a Graphtec plotter. We also do in house profiling with an i1.

 

[FrankW]

All the RIPs have their own advantages and disadvantages, you will have no chance to have something what we in germany name a „Eierlegende Wollmilchsau“ (a pig wo lays eggs and give milk and wool).

I do software RIP support for several brands, and depending on the purpose I mostly suggest Onyx, Flexi, Caldera or Printfactory.

 

[greysquirrel]

what's giving you fits with 22? did you update all of your print drivers to 22?

 

[marsuni]

Try the Superb ERGOSOFT RIP!!!

 

[FrankW]

Try the Superb ERGOSOFT RIP!!!

I do support for Ergosoft too. I think it is expensive, complicated to use, some features are of low functionality (for example color replacement), and lot of customers have problems with stability and reliability (v16).

 

[Ahmed Samy Nagada]

Wasatch is my choice, very easy, robust and straight forward.

 

[garyroy]

Roland was very smart years ago. Build a RIP just for their printers. It created ease of use and good functionality.
People bought 2, 3, 4 or more because of the convenience. Shops that have several brands of printers now have to use several different RIP's.
That's why up till now we have stuck with Roland's. That will probably change in the upcoming months.
Flexi has a free trial download. Try that one and see how you like it.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Hello everyone, as the title says, I'm just looking for thoughts on most trouble free printing experience across the board.

A little background knowledge:

I've run Roland Versaworks, SAI Production Manager and now ONYX Thrive 22. Versaworks honestly seemed the most reliable but limited. Production Manager has great click-print ease of use but probably the most problems. ONYX seemed pretty solid with 21 but 22 is giving us fits.

We run a Roland XC-540, HP Latex 570, HP FB500, HP R1000 and Epson P5000. We also have a Graphtec plotter. We also do in house profiling with an i1.

This doesn't exist, all options have issues, bugs, and glitches.

I have used Flexi, and it's great for starting, but lacks the power for a high-output shop.

Caldera is great because it has a similar usability to Flexi, but you are stuck with Mac or Linux and their Support has gone downhill after their buyout.

We have been Onyx Users for year's, once you learn how it works and how to use it, it is a very powerful tool with great Color Management.

Ultimately we have decided to switch to PrintFactory, it provides tools and options far superior to any of the others, along with Excellent color management and production automation tools.

 

[The Sign Depot LLC]

what's giving you fits with 22? did you update all of your print drivers to 22?

We are having an issue on 22.0.0 where ONYX will crash every time a job is submitted to a hot folder using the same media loaded on our HP Latex 570. To be more specific, if we have the option checked that allows ONYX to automatically update the media to the media loaded on the printer and then bring a new job in with that same media, it will crash every time. The only way to get ONYX to start again is to remove that job from the work folder. We discovered if we turn the option off to automatically update the media to what is loaded in the printer then everything works except with manual update which isn't a huge deal.

On 22.0.2, we have problems with our Graphtec FC8000 cutting accurately.

 

[The Sign Depot LLC]

This doesn't exist, all options have issues, bugs, and glitches.

I have used Flexi, and it's great for starting, but lacks the power for a high-output shop.

Caldera is great because it has a similar usability to Flexi, but you are stuck with Mac or Linux and their Support has gone downhill after their buyout.

We have been Onyx Users for year's, once you learn how it works and how to use it, it is a very powerful tool with great Color Management.

Ultimately we have decided to switch to PrintFactory, it provides tools and options far superior to any of the others, along with Excellent color management and production automation tools.

I agree, Flexi is great starting out and for halftone machines like Rolands and our old HP FB500. However, we had all sorts of weird issues with our HP Latex 570. And don't get me started on the Epson P5000 being on the supported printer list but being sort of functional in Flexi 19 and completely unusable in 21.

I've never heard of PrintFactory. What made you switch to it away from ONYX?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Color Management is second to none since it's devicelink and not ICC. Also they have a lot of production automation tools, unlimited rips and instances, and their layout and editor tools are a competent replacement for illustrator and photoshop for prepress.

 

[FrankW]

Color Management is second to none since it's devicelink and not ICC. Also they have a lot of production automation tools, unlimited rips and instances, and their layout and editor tools are a competent replacement for illustrator and photoshop for prepress.

Devicelink is ICC too, but with direct conversion from one to another gamut without PCS inbetween. And at minimum optional device link is offered by other RIP´s like Fiery, Flexi and Onyx too.

I like the Onyx color profiler too. You can feel that a big number at the ICC board, Max Derhak, is "principal Scientist" at Onyx.

But I´m a fan of Printfactory too ;-).

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

DeviceLink in PrintFactory is based on GMG VISU which is as you mentioned a fully integrated ICC profiling method, although you can use normal ICC profiling.

While Onyx and others also uses a Form of DeviceLink, it's used differently than PrintFactory from our testing. The VisualMatch protocol in PF doesn't limit the gamut of any machine and it appears to process the production file to allow for a visual appearance match.

We have done extensive testing with Onyx and PrintFactory to this point, our findings show that either option will get you great color, but PrintFactory get you there faster and with Less Experience. It also has a better tweaking and tuning, that is easier to understand for most production staff. I have been very happy with Onyx for almost 20 years, it was just time to automate more parts of the business and get my team to a different level of production and color expertise. The Additional Tools that PrintFactory provides and the savings of canceling Onyx Advantage and a few Adobe Licenses more than make up the cost.

 

[greysquirrel]

We are having an issue on 22.0.0 where ONYX will crash every time a job is submitted to a hot folder using the same media loaded on our HP Latex 570. To be more specific, if we have the option checked that allows ONYX to automatically update the media to the media loaded on the printer and then bring a new job in with that same media, it will crash every time. The only way to get ONYX to start again is to remove that job from the work folder. We discovered if we turn the option off to automatically update the media to what is loaded in the printer then everything works except with manual update which isn't a huge deal.

On 22.0.2, we have problems with our Graphtec FC8000 cutting accurately.

for the 570, I would make sure the printer firmware is up to date. I might even try to force a new update of same software if necessary. I would download a new 570 print driver in Onyx as well. You should also send them a ticket to open a case if it does not resolve the issue. Did you update to new version of Onyx or do a clean install? I find after 2-3 updates of the software, it's best to just blow it up and re-install.

 

[Wintersun]

Im looking for the PC installers for Ergosoft PosterPrint 12 and the PDF reference manual or alternatively Mistral 12, if anyone could be so kind. I own the bonafide licence for it, i have a HASP dongle and serial etc.. just need the installers as ive had a virus go through the network and all backups have made them vanish into thin air.
Ive already asked Spandex and Ergosoft who want thousands for the new version, which im not interesting in whatsover.
Apparently supplying old customers with links for the old software you bought is regarded as support now !

 

[bteifeld]

I do support for Ergosoft too. I think it is expensive, complicated to use, some features are of low functionality (for example color replacement), and lot of customers have problems with stability and reliability (v16).

I'm curious- could you please elaborate on what is deficient in color replacement in Ergosoft?

 

[FrankW]

I'm curious- could you please elaborate on what is deficient in color replacement in Ergosoft?

If you use onyx, you just can point on a colour in an image or graphic to select a color to replace. In Ergosoft, on-the-fly color replacement leads to getting lists of all colours of a specific mode, and you need to select the color from that list. And, color replacement wont work with all imported file formats.

 

[500orange]

I do support for Ergosoft too. I think it is expensive, complicated to use, some features are of low functionality (for example color replacement), and lot of customers have problems with stability and reliability (v16).

We print thousands of jobs per day and after testing EpsonEdge (came with printer...), Caldera, Onyx and Ergosoft, only Ergosoft could handle the volume without crashing or lagging. They have some of the best and most advanced automation features that I could not find in other RIPs, amazing support and good enough ICC generator. It does have a learning curve but once you understand the logic it becomes very easy to use. It is definitely worth the price.

 

[yannb]

If you use onyx, you just can point on a colour in an image or graphic to select a color to replace. In Ergosoft, on-the-fly color replacement leads to getting lists of all colours of a specific mode, and you need to select the color from that list. And, color replacement wont work with all imported file formats.

Devicelink is ICC too, but with direct conversion from one to another gamut without PCS inbetween. And at minimum optional device link is offered by other RIP´s like Fiery, Flexi and Onyx too.

I like the Onyx color profiler too. You can feel that a big number at the ICC board, Max Derhak, is "principal Scientist" at Onyx.

But I´m a fan of Printfactory too ;-).

Hi, I believe you’re in Germany? Are you familiar with Colorgate?

 

[FrankW]

Hi, I believe you’re in Germany? Are you familiar with Colorgate?

Yes, I‘m in germany. I have some experiences with colorgate (some profiling and troubleshooting), but with the focus on other RIP-solutions.