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Best RIP software for small business...

SolitaryT

New Member
Getting a new computer, Adobe CC, etc. Looking for the best RIP software to run a Mimaki JV3. Leaning towards Onyx or Wasatch. Anyone have strong feelings for one or the other?
 

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
The software that new Mimakis come with is a Wasatch RIP branded for Mimaki. I would assume that would give Wasatch a slight edge as they have worked together with Mimaki to optimize the workflow. I have heard good things about Onyx but not enough experience to give you more info.
 

SolitaryT

New Member
I've worked with both, and I thought Wasatch was easier to work with. I did see that they offer a "Mimaki Exclusive" edition, which pushes me even further in that direction, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't off the mark. ;-) Thanks!
 
Both RIPs are solid choices that will do a good job driving the Mimaki machine. One issue to consider is Media Profile availability for each RIP, that is assuming that you are not building your own.
 

artbot

New Member
had a jv3 for years used the rasterlink pro. it is a dream to work with but didn't know it at the time. it has more color features than you will ever need and tones of canned profiles and everything is accessible in tabs . then moved to onyx production house and now down to onyx 7. both onyx rips are a nightmare to work in. extremely frustrating interface. ...extremely.
 

Hotspur

New Member
Onyx all the way

had a jv3 for years used the rasterlink pro. it is a dream to work with but didn't know it at the time. it has more color features than you will ever need and tones of canned profiles and everything is accessible in tabs . then moved to onyx production house and now down to onyx 7. both onyx rips are a nightmare to work in. extremely frustrating interface. ...extremely.

Onyx all the way - simple queue to set up and use - most number of profiles in the industry - period.

If you are finding it a nightmare to work in you may be using it in the wrong way.

A real production rip like Onyx should be there to automate and streamline your workload.

The best users I see with it rarely even have a monitor attached let alone switched on!

If you are finding you are spending any more than a few minutes a day in it then you are using it in the wrong way - use the quicksets to set up all your automated workflows and then leave it alone.

Spend your time where it counts - on the workstation with your apps. The lesser rips all want you to play around in them and have flashy user interfaces.

Believe me this is not what a production rip is for - it isn't an app its an automated queue that exists to remove pain from your workflow and does this for millions of users.

If you are not having the same experience then I would recommend some setup advice from Onyx.
 

wallprint

New Member
i use caldera and it is very nice, user friendly, powerfull. I think it is the best RIp on the market. many features and RIP fast all files types. I use often Tiling+ and nestomatic.
 

k_graham

New Member
I purchased a HP Latex printer last winter - we demoed Onyx Thrive (adobe rip) and Caldera on a Xeon 3.5 ghz quad core unit with 16 gigs of ECC RAM Nvidia graphics.

Onyx was set up with 2 drives, a Samsung 256 Gig SSD, Windows 8, and Terabyte Seagate -

Onyx Thrive (adobe pdf rip) - had no manual, online or offline
Color Profiling would have been extra - never was told the price
Tech support was quick, but would have been expensive had we purchased it
The issue was it crashed so many times a day it wasn't funny. The last time I had something that bad was when Fiery included faulty CD setup disks - onyx sent setup media and maybe that was the fault, or Windows 8 - but Windows 8 wasn't crashing with it.

Caldera on same Computer different Terabyte drive (though since moved to the Seagate formerly used by Onyx.)

Caldera - (Adobe pdf Rip) running on Linux
Nvidia graphics required to use 2 monitors
We still have the Windows on the SSD, system boots to Windows boot manager and lets us choose to go to Windows or Boot other drive running Linux. This lets us run the cutter if desired outside of Caldera.

Color closely matches our Xerox 700i with (adobe pdf rip) but the 6 color makes it even nicer than the proof from the 700i

We had color matching issues initially but Caldera remoted in and found the switch enabling the color profile turned off since then color has been top notch.

The only issue has been turning color off where a client wants only greyscale and has provided a color pdf, otherwise ready to print. On our other printers its simple send and select greyscale or use a queue with black only selected on the Xerox 700i with pdf workflow.

I still have not got it figured out on the Caldera, other than to create a greyscale pdf ahead of time.

Ken
 

Hotspur

New Member
Just for balance

There certainly is a Thrive online manual - just hit F1 and you go straight there or click the Help button...

Profiling option price varies although if you buy any version other than the base version of Thrive it is included.

Crashing is a local issue that would need investigating - I have multiple installs and none crash like that I'm afraid so it was something locally that needed someone in support to take a look at.

Anyway good luck & hope you get on fine - you can make a workflow that only utilizes the K channel in both Onyx and Caldera - although you shouldn't need to.

Doing this will create a very grainy print as you lose the definition provided by using all the printheads - your media profiles should be giving you good gray balance to make this unnecessary.

Maybe making sure you have good accurate profiles should be your goal?
 
C

ColoPrinthead

Guest
had a jv3 for years used the rasterlink pro. it is a dream to work with but didn't know it at the time. it has more color features than you will ever need and tones of canned profiles and everything is accessible in tabs . then moved to onyx production house and now down to onyx 7. both onyx rips are a nightmare to work in. extremely frustrating interface. ...extremely.

I'm not sure why you think it is frustrating. I would say that the program is more left brain in terms of UI and has so many options it might be hard for a right brain to operate. There are a ton of options and a lot you can do with the RIP. Aside from the flaws with the beta of 7, it's been a great program for me to work with, although it did test my memory when I was first introduced.

I have worked with Colorburst and Versaworks and found them irritatingly simple, perhaps it's because I didn't use either for more than year. In my opinion anyone with software compentence shouldn't have a problem with Onyx especially given all of the online resources available. I've spent 11 years using Onyx on and off and learn something new about Onyx about once or twice a year; this tells me I am using powerful software built to do what I need to do before I even know it.

All of that being said, I have been curious about Caldera for years and would love to see it in action.
 

Markus59

New Member
We've been running Onyx for years, no problems until the latest upgrade to Onyx 11. If I have to do it over again I'll go with Caldera, looks to be much more user friendly.
 

Kreate !nk

New Member
Best RIP, Hands Down

I have used many rips, Wasatch over 13 years, Flexi, onyx, but I have to say. Caldera is by far the most advanced, and support is unreal. Wasatch is easier, but I will say this in all honesty....it has scaling issues. That being said it has the absolute best algorithm( digital mezzotint) no other rip can touch it period. Unfortunately, the cutting sucks, and it is a bit glitchy with the L25500. Onyx is powerful, but a bit cumbersome, but overall a better choice than Wasatch. Flexi...forget it. My Caldera is ran on a dual 6 core, with 16gb or ram on a SAS SSD Raid....Unreal...unreal. If the future is what your living for...than the decision is easy. It does take some setting up but I gotto say. my profiling between L25500, Vutek QS2000, Seiko 100s, and NUR Fresco II will blow your mind how close you can get between completely different insets, print platforms, & resolutions. Jus my thoughts..
 
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